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Spring Rains & The Big 3 That Got Away
Summer Availability: Last summer the winds died out July 1st and the bay went flat as glass and you could see tails to the horizon. And so it begins, we switch to super small patterns with short stealthy casts to target tailing redfish. Multiple fish days exist in July and August and the tailing redfish action is red hot just like the sunshine! Give me a call now to reserve your spot on the bow of the boat! Capt Ken 361-500-2552
Spring Report: This year has been incredible including last winter. Many fish on the flats and then up super shallow early. There were some very nice sized ones to boot. All the rains we have been getting this year (seems they really started way back in January) are producing some great fly fishing action. In between the cloudy and windy days are bursts of sunshine, usually with a T-head looming somewhere on the horizon. The fishing under overcast skies and stiff breezes is also decent and 2 recent clients, both named Mike, hooked fish that got the best of them. West Coast Mike stuck out 3 days of grueling winds and while we had trouble finding good numbers of fish the first day he just wouldn’t quit. On the first day we got well adjusted and felt a tight team had been formed between angler and guide. Calling the shots from the platform is no easy task, especially for the angler when truckloads of mullets to 3 lbs are rampaging the flats scarfing up the freshly grown green algae and grasses. Day two with W Coaster Mike was a bit more mellow and the twitches began to subside, partially from casting fatigue, and also from getting a good grade on Day 1. One shot is all we got on each school of reds that we found. If they spooked the school would split and then scatter. Then we found a huge tailer along a reef with its broad fat tail flopping size to side as the fish was cruising up onto the top of the reef with the extremely high tides.
Mike made the perfect cast and when the fish ate I felt the boat jump as West Coast Mike drove the permeable Tiemco hook deep into the fish’s tough maw. But that fish was smart, and got down in dirty and cut-off Mike on the oysters. A quick retie of the trusted chartreuse mullet fly and wouldn’t you know on the other side of the reef was another big fish with its tail up and getting busy! Mike hooked up to this fish too but with the powerful hookset the fish shook its massive head violently and parted the 15-lb tippet. Back to back, and all in two casts.
Not long after Mike nails a respectable southern flounder out of a pothole then later took a shot at a bull-rushing redfish and intercepted the fish with a well placed 70′ cast at which point it nailed the fly and ran upwind!
This one we landed and the sense of accomplishment and pride was almost overwhelming us both!
And so on for several more days we find a few fish that eat, but any mistakes are taken advantage of by the fish. East Coast Mike will attest to that, his only goal was to catch 1 fish but that make for a tough order sometimes!
All in all it was a thrill fishing with both of these fellas and while the sunshine is unpredictable and is good for sight fishing, fly fishing under less than gorgeous conditions can also be fun and rewarding!