Tag Archives: flyfish

Wading for Spring

It is springtime now in Port Aransas, the tides are finally returning to the bay. And now the spring classic weather patterns are well established. We can experience fog, wind, light clouds, or fully overcast days, and plenty of bluebird days mixed in there too. What is difficult is predicting the weather. But, if you are prepared when wading for spring then you know what makes wade fishing the perfect method for catching more fish on the fly.

SPECIAL OFFER for dates remaining in April when wading for Spring Redfish

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wade fishing redfish on the fly

Get 15% off a full day of wade-fishing (single angler only) when you book a trip for any available date remaining in this month of APRIL 2022!!!

Call NOW or BOOK ONLINE ASAP!

Capt Kenjo 361-500-2552

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To get in the water with the fish changes the Angler’s experience entirely. In my experience, wading the marsh is more productive these days than poling it in the skiff. This lets us slow down and give the redfish and black drum a chance to come to us. Wading for Spring in the Texas Marsh can be exhilarating and if you have done it before you know it can be awesome sight fishing!

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wet wading for redfish

Wade fishing is an up close and personal experience with a redfish in the Texas Marsh. Observing the red drum do what they do best can be enthralling. Last year saw 5 months of cloud cover from February to June and we wade fished the whole time and caught lots of redfish and drum on foot. Wade fishing the marsh is a highly effective and excellent method for dealing with less than ideal conditions such as wind and low light. So get ready to do some wading (Get your Simms Zipits here) for Spring-time redfish & black drum! They are here and the feedbag is getting going good!

Gentle Casts

How to fly cast gently.

One fly casting technique that proves itself very valuable in the saltwater world is learning how to lay down the fly and line gently. Producing gentle casts can mean great catching and less spooking of the fish you are stalking.

The real challenge though is performing these gentle casts while your eyeballs are popping out of your own head in your excitement! Staying calm and not rushing the cast produces more hookups than trying to rush and hitting the fish too hard.

Here in this clip you can see David does a great job maintaining his composure. This pod of redfish are tailing along the spartina grass edges. You can hear us whispering to each other as he makes 3 casts in order to get the crab fly in the right spot.

On such a calm day you can be sure those fish would have spooked had the fly been too heavy or if he had cast “down” at the fish. Communication on the skiff in the moment is also key to our success.

Landing the fly softly is achieved by aiming your casting loop about eye level above the fish. When presenting the fly, be a little more gentle on the final forward stroke.

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David learned to keep his feet quite and got to work with several schools of healthy reds

To do this, stop the rod tip early in your forward cast. Leave it up a bit longer than usual as you let the weight of the fly line gently pull the rod down. It would go from the 1 or 2 o’clock position down in front to the horizontal position.

With a little routine practice, you can use your line hand to feather it all down slowly. This will help the fly line lay out straight and gentle. That way the fly lands right and softly. For those redfish, you want to be able to move the fly on the first strip. Then you will be able to set the hook properly. And that hungry redfish will then gulp down your crab fly. Fish on!

Book your fly casting lesson (off water) and then lets take it to the fish and put what you learned to the test!

Book NOW with Capt Kenjo! Great weather is in the forecast!

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Whether the Weather

The weather forecast looks amazing! Come on down and get in on the prime winter days before they elapse! Call Capt Kenjo NOW to get on board.

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Guest Photo: A Texas red drum glistens in the backlit winter sunshine

Whether the weather, or not, winter-time is some of the best sight-fishing of the year.

Once the skies go bluebird after a cold front passes through, high pressures kill the wind and warm the shallow waters. Now is the time to strike! The fish wont be everywhere but usually this time of year you will find greater quantities of fish in an area and often times, greater quality of redfish as well.

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Focus on niche areas in these seasons as extreme weather ebbs and floods and learn why fish are where they are when they are there.

fly fishing, wind, redfish, gale force, beavertail, skiffs, strike, wade, fishing, wading, wet, red drum, corpus christi, port, aransas, texas, rockport
Best fishing trip of the year? Yes, we got it done in 40 mph gusting winds and caught a lot of quality redfish, on foot.

All the different bottom types such as sand, grass beds, bars, mud, shell, back waters, and main shorelines all have potential to have fish at different times. The tide levels and weather patterns all dictate how and where we find the fish. It can be a slow feed on the fish’s part because when they are cold. Just don’t make them chase the fly down too far or too fast otherwise they will turn off.

Nonetheless, a slow feed does not mean the fish are not hungry because they certainly are. Miniscule strips timed perfectly with well placed and gently laid out casts will most likely get those cold but hungry redfish to eat the fly for you. Just think, this time of year, they cannot afford to pass up a meal either. Sight fishing is exceptional on the Texas Coast during the Winter months. Go outside and look up at the sky if you are nearby. Then call me ASAP to get on flats and catch some winter time redfish! Capt Kenjo can be reached directly at 361-500-2552.

Pulling on Hard Fish

We got lucky a few times recently and got to search offshore for tarpon and sharks on the beaches recently. Pulling on hard fish is one thing but not pulling too hard is another. On one occasion we got to take a few shots at some 4-5ft Texas Tarpon and Blacktip Sharks! We managed to hook into one and break it off right away and the sharks gave us a damn good run as well. Just look at the size of the hole in the water.

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The Winston Alpha Plus Super Bend! The camera played a bit of a trick while filming the fight with a 5ft blacktip shark. This is the moment in which I am in the process of “letting go” of everything!

The @winstonrods Alpha 9wt is in this shot, and as you can see, it was taking a beating! I’m not intentionally holding onto the rod but this shot was a screen grab of film and the fish surged so fast and hard while I was leadering the 5footer, the beast pulled the rod through my hands “as” I was letting go of the leader. Note: the rod did not break under this strain!

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Working with sharks can be exciting!

SIDE NOTES: If you want to book an offshore trip for September, October or November let’s go catch’em up! Do it, get on the books. The weather window is hard to predict but there is pretty good hope this time of year for very calm seas. It is my preference that you fish as a single angler because the boat can get quite crowded when we are working out front with more than one angler. Having a strong double haul in your cast also helps incredibly well. We hope to find bonita out there soon too along with tarpon, sharks ladyfish redfish and sometimes trout. If the seas are tooo rough we will stay in the bay and fish the flats for redfish drum and trout.

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Texas Coastal Fresh Water Rinse Down

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Determined anglers catch fish!

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