Afriad of the tides changing. Afriad of breaking off all these fish in the sticks. We switched up to 25lb tippet and went barefoot wading today while out scouting for the next group of charters. Got on some sick action with countless shots at countless fish, none of them under 23 inches and all of them in 16 inches of water or less.
Tomorrow is open if anyone wants to get in on board last minute. Just give me a call and leave a message and I will return your call after 8pm tonight.
Today was filled with many moving targets and most of them were willing participants in this little game called fly fishing. Best fish measured 28.5 inches and kept David on his toes running in and out of the grass and mangroves that peppered thw salt flats of Mustang Island.
Hooked up again with a spare redfish on the sideloop
The tides are good and has steadily kept the fish moving up shallow and they are eating heartily. David learned the various techniques to entice those skinny water redfish quickly and displayed good form in waiting for those reds to set themselves up for the best shots. We fished only one area all day, never having to fire up the outboard engine until time to head home.
Nonstop action
All in all it was a fine day on the saltwater flats of the Texas Coast and much to be remembered.
Some dates in June are still available if you want to get on board and take your own shots at some of these fun filled redfish. Give me a call ASAP to get your preferred dates booked!
Some redfish have been visiting the shallows and these fish are up skinny on the feed. No nonsense, with a good cast these fish are pouncing the fly like a cat on a mouse.
Pothole redfish
When visibility is limited working the potholes strategically can also produce some decent fish.
I even tried taking a little video of the redfish feeding up shallow. Gotta watch the top of the frame to see it, and I don’t know if the quality is good enough.
Back at it tomorrow. I have some dates available this summer. Just give me a call and leave me a message. I’ll gladly return your call once I get off the water!
Hitting it hard tomorrow but Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday this week (June 7/8/9) are forecast to be excellent sight casting conditions!
Blue Bird Days are coming!
I am open these days so give me a call ASAP to book one or all three of these awesome days of fishing we have coming! 361-500-2552
The tides are beautiful and the fish are hungry! Right about this time last year the winds quit entirely and the skies turned blue for almost an entire month!
I am beginning to love the effects El Nino is having on our fishing! The abundance of fresh water from the heavens last year has made for a super abundance of food for the fishes! The fishing has been way above average lately not counting against what madness went down in February.
Considering the quality and quantity of fish that I am finding… take your pick! Do you want shots at good numbers of fish or a few good shots at quality fish of several species? And even despite inclement weather, some fabulous fishing is occurring for dedicated anglers.
Gator trout pre-release
Fortunately, the new Beavertail Skiff is the driest ride I have ever had on a flats skiff and even in rough conditions this boat performs very well.
By any measure this new boat goes everywhere the old boat could get. That’s the most thrilling part! Or, well, maybe seeing more than a dozen trophy trout in one day is a little more thrilling but nailing a 28-inch below average trout really got the blood pumping. Our imaginations have soared for the week following and still continues to grow and call us back to the water.
I have been running into a real mecca of giant trout and even on the days we couldn’t sight cast we got them dialed in on topwater flies. Some glorious fish have been revealing themselves putting on the feed-bag, and even sometimes when the angler least expects it. Lessons are learned by all in situations like that… “Never take your eye off the fly!”
chartreuse and black fly
The redfish are also hungry and some 20+ fish schools of oversized redfish are begging to be caught. Chartreuse shrimp and mullet flies are my go to color and choice flies of all time regardless of light conditions. Then I go to blue crab flies (bigger is better if you ask me) and don’t forget to have some plain white topwater flies ready to zing! The majority of the black drum have been a little scarce from my normal operating areas the last week but those that I did find were close to 10lbs and have even found at least 1 drum per trip between 25-40lbs. Ya Ya!
Here also is a little video of my good buddy Bob playing tug-o-war with a very respectable trout on a fine day last week while breaking-in the new skiff. Give me a call directly to book your next Texas Fly Fishing Adventure! Capt Kenjo 361-500-2552
Salty Bendo on a 5 wt hooked up to a nice 22inch redfish in 6 inches of water
So I get this call, last minute, and Matt says, “Can we go fishing tomorrow?”
“Absolutely!” I tell him. “Be at the dock at 9am. Tomorrow is a fine day to use the 5wt!”
And sure enough, while the main water bodies were frigid, getting skinny in my skiff was the key to finding the right water temperatures and those little lakes and creeks had loads of redfish in them.
Uber skinny water redfish on 5wt couldn’t resist the chartreuse shrimp fly!
We didn’t find a single fish in water deeper than 12 inches. Matt did pretty work with his 5wt Scott rod and landed 9 redfish before 3pm! We got some very aggressive eats from these fish and the big ones we chased kept the excitement levels on top of the roof!
Forget about the weather and leave that up to your guide and it is sure he will put you on the fish!
Schools of black drum and redfish all day in one spot. Only reason to change spots is to give the school you’ve been whacking a break.
Single and doubled up reds cruising the open sand flats midday on a slack tide crushing crabs.
Slurped a top water crab fly
Redfish working an isolated turtle grass bed nailing grass shrimp, crabs, AND silversides.
Gangs of redfish in the mud creeks racing the grassy banks busting shrimp. Their crushers doing major damage to the blue crabs.
78 degree, calf deep water.Tails up for hours and well past sunset.
Mugshot
Sight casting to tailing fish no more than 30 feet away every 3 mintues. Nailing a fish 8 ft from your tippy toes after 6pm. That’s not easy with a 9ft rod. It’s always good idea to work on your short game!
These are just a few highlights of how great the fishing has been lately.
Some exciting new stuff is cooking for 2016! Book your next Texas Coast Fly Fishing trip today!
The 2016 Fly Fishing Season is officially underway and the last month has been fantastic and should continue if our weather patterns hold. Give me a call ASAP to book your next saltwater guided fly fishing trip. Don’t let February pass us by without going fishing! We will dodge the cold fronts and the fishing can be exceptional this time of year! Schooling fish and tailing fish can be found and these fish are hungry and willing to eat!
Good fun on the fly!
Back in January I spent a week, or maybe it was two, chasing some trophy trout that were quite the size of my leg! I don’t particularly focus on these fish but this year I found so many giant trout in one general area that I continued to target them for a bit. It was a tough bite and was only able to get a handful of shots over the course of the week and finally I didn’t catch one of those tree trunks.
Monster Black Drum
Those chances are not entirely past either though as the possibility of finding more trout in the trophy class should last into March!
peanuts catch big fish!
In the meantime we continued to clean up on redfish in less than a foot of water and the sight casting opportunities just kept coming. Then the schools of redfish and black drum came.
They are schooling up thick and while they were picky I did manage to find out what they can not resist!
“It has been crazy!” to say it in as few words as possible. Somehow I thought being a sleep deprived fly fisherman all these years would make being a sleep deprived parent easier but let me tell you folks… There is no comparison. October was by far the busiest month of the year. Thank you to all my clients who fished with me during a crazy month and through some wild weather patterns!
Cat and mouse was played with the weather (and fish) all season, some of us got out there on some fantastic days and others persevered through cloudy days. A few others have had to reschedule.
The fish are still very prevalent and I am seeing schools of fish again mostly black drum and redfish mix throughout the day. The most consistent and persistent casters on cloudy days are seeing good action with speckled trout.
The redfish have been upper slot fish and I am seeing at least one over slot red per day. There are plenty of ham sized black drum around as well. It is beginning to look like the weather trend is 4-5 days between cold fronts with the day or two after the front subsiding being the best weather days… the day or two before the next front are trending to be cloudy but we’ll see if this farmer’s forecast pans out!
I’ve got a few days in November available, particularly before and after the holiday. Give me a call to take your chance to roll the dice!
Lastly, here are some of the photos that actually developed into halfway decent shots
Redfish Head First
Hooked up again!
I sight cast to this 40-inch heifer from the rock with a crab fly! Thanks to Bob for leadering the fish and shooting this photo!
Tom & Jerry
Rich Waldner’s Spoon fly tricked this 29-incher with Outdoor Journalist Phil Shook on the long rod and with the fly of choice!
David worked tirelessly on some of the toughest fish I have encountered this year!
