Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

I got over the flu and feel much better, but Saturday proved to be a typical windy spring day in South Texas. Of course I headed for the water anyway, and I spent a few hours working my new area, trying to spot those faint signs of patrolling reds with some extra chop on the water. I was also being stubborn and trying to catch them on a fly rod. Wind presents a challenge for fly fishing, but the winds were not that high and I had the big 6-weight with me, so I pressed on with the goal of catching a limit of reds on fly. The first fish I encountered was quietly hunting a clean piece of sandy shore, and my first cast placed the fly too far out front of the fish to be seen. The fish turned and began to head the other direction, so I adjusted to put the fly on an intercept course given the new direction. The fly landed about a foot ahead of the fish and it exploded ...right past the fly and into deeper water where it disappeared. I grumbled about a fish being to picky and continued on. A half mile later I was realizing that fish were going to be tough to spot, but then I saw my next target heading my way. His tail was poking proudly above the surface, giving me an easy target. It would disappear for moments and then reappear, but it kept giving me the information needed to place the fly where it would be seen. I got the fly into the water without a problem, and the fish approached without changing behavior. A short strip of the line to make my shrimp imitation jump and that was all it took. The fish whacked the fly and we were hooked up. I was reminded when the fish came near the kayak, that getting a fish into the net while attached to a nine foot long whippy fly rod is a different issue than landing fish with a spinning rod, but it all worked out and I got the first fish of the morning into the insulated bag.



At that point the wind was blowing pretty strong, so I put the fly rod into it's holder and picked up the old faithful spinning outfit. Fish were proving to be difficult to see, and there were not many feeding with the tide bottomed out. I knew they would be active as the tides returned later in the day, but that was not an option with my schedule today and I kept at it. Several fish were spotted and would spook because they heard me coming, or they didn't like the way the lure landed on the water, or they just had a bad feeling. I don't know why, but they were giving me fits. Finally I turned back towards the truck and crossed over to the semi-protected shoreline. I spotted several fish in the next couple of miles and most continued the nervous behavior I had seen earlier. Finally I saw a fish up in the oysters working very quietly. After a few moments his back poked above the surface and it gave me a target. I placed the bait softly ahead and waited for him to get within the right distance. A slow crawl of the Trick Shot produced the reaction I was hoping for and we had fish number two hooked up.



As I continued down the shore, I found another red up in the oysters, and this time my cast was immediately crushed. As I raised the rod to set the hook, the leader parted cleanly just above the hook. The oysters got me fair and square... so I retied and got back to work. A couple hundred yards farther there was another tail faintly visible beneath the rising sun. I put a foot down and waited for the fish to come closer, but then I lost it. I just sat still and waited, hoping it wouldn't show up inside of my rod tip, but he finally materialized on the edge of some shell about 12 feet away. A gentle cast worked as planned, and the fish ran up and thumped the bait hard. The fight was clean and in open water, so the fish came in without drama. I had my limit and was happy for it, given the tough conditions.



The next fish was not far away, and when I got within 20 feet I put the lure out ahead of it. A slow crawl brought the fish right to the lure, but he just looked at it. Clear water in this area made it easy to see what was happening. I moved the lure slowly and he followed, but wouldn't eat. I jerked the bait and the fish stayed right on it but would not eat. I sat the bait still and the fish just waited, hovering an inch above it like a kitten half-heartedly wanting to play the game. The fish finally disappeared as the bait came almost to the tip of the rod. I decided that with the clear water along this shoreline, I needed to switch to something that looked more like a shrimp or crab. My other rod was rigged with a Z-Man TRD craw and I knew fish would eat it if the larger bait wouldn't spook them as it landed. I worked the rest of the shore without seeing another fish, so it didn't work out the way I had hoped - but as I paddled for the truck I couldn't complain about having a nice limit of reds in the bag. If this is my definition of a bad morning, things are going pretty well, lol.

[awesum]

Very nice!

[ziacatcher]

I haven't used my fly rod around here in a long time. I'm going to have to take it in the boat with me after all these rains go through. As usual Glenn, nice job.