Hi everyone,
My wife and I just returned from Port Aransas after a three month stay. We kayaked several of the flats around lighthouse trails and shamrock bay, looking for redfish. I hate to admit that I was not successful (I am a fisherman afterall). My bigggest problem I think is lack of experience in what to look for. I just never could find anything that I could be sure were redfish. I found fish making wakes but I couldn't identify them and they ignored any flies that I threw at them. I never found any fish tailing but did see a lot of big mullet jumping.The weather was marginal most of the time with a steady succession of cold fronts.Temps were usually in the high 50's to low 60's and it was almost always breezy in the afternoons. I guess my question is..Are there (catchable)redfish on the flats at all in the winter?
I was able to catch some in the cuts and channels on spinning gear and soft plastics. My apologies for such a long post but I was a little frustrated. I love the Texas coast and plan on returning for 4 months next year.

I've been frustrated in worse places. I had the opportunity to live on N. Padre for 12 months several years back and I've missed that area since I left. I got a lot of good information from the Gulf Coast Connections magazine. Guides from all over the coast of Texas give monthly "reports". I think you can even see it online now. Check it out. Also, check out Corpusfishing.com. The guy who puts that out lives in that area and the site has great fishing info.

I hope this helps - GORP has the full copy of "Flyfishing The Texas Flats" here:

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/pruett/txcoast/intro.htm

It will be necessary to register but its free.

Thanks, I love the Texas Coast. I'd live there year round but I have a summer business in Montana. What I'm really looking for is advice on how to find fish on the flats. I have yet to see any 'tailing' reds (except on fishing shows). Learning to read the flat water is very challenging to me.

"I am haunted by water" Norman MacClean, A River Runs Through It

I've read everything that GORP has to offer on flyfing the Texas coast. That site and everything else I've read only talks about summer and fall fishing. Here's my dilemma, as much as I would like to be there in the summer, I can only make it from the 1st of December to the end of February. Where can I find decent fly fishing around the Port Aransas/ Corpus Christi area during those months? I'm limited to kayak and wade fishing (unless my wife gives in and lets me buy a boat). I've got all the right flies and equipment.I don't expect anybody to give up their secret spots but any information is appreciated.

Ugh. That is a dilemma. That is the exact period of time that a lot of good fisherman take a break for family or other important things. Then they sit around and watch and wait until the water temp gets back to 60 degrees again and BOOM! it's back on! But, since that is when you will be there thats when you'll be there. You gotta really watch the weather in the winter. The cold fronts will turn everything off for a spell. Find the sunny days in between fronts and take the kayak (if you get your wife to agree to buying a boat for 3 months out of the year you need to write a book about it and sell the movie rights just so the rest of the men on the planet know how you did it.) to Shamrock Cove on the backside of Mustang Island. (It and directions are on the Hot Spot Map) Every fish around will find the warmer water which will be over mud or shell. Spoon flies are a favorite of mine but you gotta put up with the weight of the rig. And by the way, keep at it. Seeing a tailing red or 2 (which probably occurs more in summer and fall) is a great experience but so is being out on a sunny day in the winter and paddling your [censored] off in Shamrock and having a school of 200 or more cross your path.

What is your summer business in Montana?

Thanks for the advice. How long after a cold front does it take for the fish to become active? How warm does the water have to be before the fish start biting? All the reds I caught this winter were on rubber tails fished in the deeper water along the cuts. I'm a flyfishing outfitter and guide. We also have a lodge. We close at the end of Oct and reopen on the 1st of May. That's how come I get to play all winter. Check out our web site. www.scenicvalleylodge.com My wife has already agreed on the boat, provided that a piece of real estate that we have on the market sells. I will not give up the kayaking as I really like slipping quietly across the flats. With a boat, I have the option to get up and go if there are no fish in the area that I'm at. I can also carry my kayak with me to access areas that are too far from launch points to paddle to.
It seemed like this year it was windy almost every day. I really had to paddle my *** off to get back to the launch point on several occassions.
OK, what the heck is a spoonfly? I have lot's of clausers, decievers, shrimp and crab patterns, even poppers, but I have never heard of a spoonfly. I almost feel like your pulling my leg.

LLama
I'm a fly fishing guide in Rockport/ Aransas Pass. I'd like to try to answer a few of your questions. Yes there are catchable numbers of reds and trout in the shallow water. I think the problem you were having, especially arround the Lighthouse Lakes is that you were too close to the gulf inlet at the jetties. Too much cold water coming in from the gulf.I spend the winter months fishing the flats and coves along the ICW in the AransasPass area. The ICW provides a warm safe haven for the fish during cold weather and they will come back up on the flats as the water is warmed by the sun. Generally speaking 2-4 days after a front are the best. I find most of my winter time fish over mud and grass in water 12"-18' deep.
You will not see many, if any, tailing fish in the winter. Not sure why but they just don't tend to tail a lot in the winter.
I fish froma Maverick technical poling skiff with elevated poling and casting platforms. This allows the angler to see the fish. Sitting low in a kayak you won't see the fish. Most of the fish are just lying on the bottom and are not moving around much duringthe winter. Blind casting into potholes (the light spot) on a grass flat may be your best bet. I wrote a short article on Winter Time Flats fishing and will email it to you if you'd like.

Mike, thanks for that advice. If everything goes right, I'll have a boat by the end of summer. I'd appreciate it if you could email that article to me. I'll bet it's pretty interesting. I only did the Lighthouse trails once, the rest of the time I spent kayaking the Shamrock cove area.

C'mon. I looked at your website. I saw the pictures. You could never give up your time in your dory. What an exquisitely beautiful place you have there. Prices looked reasonable too. I saved it to my favorites and will hope to visit. I even saved a picture for my desktop. Beautiful brown. Great photo.

Sounds like Mike has it wired down there. I think we could work out a tradeout. Mike agrees to take you fishing for two days next winter and in exchange Mike and I come up to Montana this summer. (broker fee - after all, there are two seats in the drift boat and I will even fish from the back:)

http://www.flyfishlouisiana.com/Spoon_fly_1.htm

OK, I am looking at your website. There really is such a thing as a spoonfly. Pretty neat. Naw, I could never really give up Montana. I always get whimsical this time of year. Especially since I Spent three months in Port A then arrived home to below zero and snow. The summers here are absolutely gorgeous as are spring and fall. Winter SUCKS! I'm amendable to some sort of trade-out that's for sure. Email me at scenicvalleylodge@msn.com. This forum is probably not the place to work out the details

I hate hard winters too. I had the opportunity to guide with an outfit in Summit county Colorado and every October for 3 years I would pack up and head back to Texas. And now there is not an August day that goes by that I don't think about waking up in Colorado during August and putting on a sweat shirt to wait for the sun to hit me. I always got a kick out of watching my Texan clients shiver because the 74 degress they were in felt so much different than the 100+ degrees they had just left. Good Times.

I hope Mike takes you up on the fishing trip exchange but if not, let me know. I have a buddy that lives on N.Padre that I'm sure I could broker a deal with. He is not a fly fisherman but has been there for years and works with the Corps of Engineers (he actually worked on the Packery Channel project.) and knows the area very well and can put you on fish. He runs one of those scooters I call em with a flat deck and jack plate cranked up so high only the propeller is in the water. Talk about getting up on plane fast and runs unbelievably skinny even with a cooler full of beer.

I know that the platform of a flyfishing guides Maverick is your first choice because it would be mine, but I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket. LOL.

Every once in a while I get to fish a private stream (My sisters ranch) over in Western Colorado. That's some pretty nice country. I always tell myself that I'm going to fish the Durango area and some of the other areas in colorado but it seems like for some reason or other I never get to it.
I have a bunch of clients from Texas. Had a group from SA up here over Labor day weekend a couple of years ago. It rained, sleeted,snowed, then got up into the 70's all in a three day weekend. The SA boys were pretty cold. We start wet wading in late June and don't usually wear waders until mid Sept. The water temp very seldom gets warmer th 65 degrees all summer, but the air temp is usually between 75-85 and 35% humidity. It's suppose to snow here Saturday #@&* !!!
Those scooters you're talking about look like a great fishing rig. Not the style of boat I would want personally but they look extremely prctical and fast. I'll be back in Port Aransas on Dec 1st. We have a house reserved for 4 months. I wouldn't mind meeting up with any of you guys and putting some kind of fishing trip together. Hopefully I should have a boat by the time I get there. If not I'm always willing to pay for the gas and bring lunch.

You can find Spoon Flies at your local bass pro shop or any place online. They look just like a silver or gold spoon you would rig on a batcaster but without the weight. Like the post above said, you will need some weight. The fly itself has no weight to it and thus just skips across the top of the water if you dont get it down enough. They typically have weed guards on them as well so it makes for a great fly (I dont know if you can consider it as such but for arguments sake thats what we'll call it). Make sure you strip it at a constant rate to make sure it spins, thats what will get a strike. The fish see it and the glare coming off of it and strike it on impulse.

Hell.....PM me with your address and Ill send you one or two of mine. I dont get to come down to the coast enough anyways, might as well get used. Maybe I can come and visit you in Montana one day and can throw me the right fly? Good luck, it truly is like nothing else in the world when you get one of those guys on the other end.

AggieRaf

Llama, I have fished a lot in the Durango area and would be happy to point you in theright direction. Endless supply of small streams, plus the San Juan is nearby.let me know. I am a new member and have posted my website. www.randymackbishop.com which consists of my artwork, which has a lot of flyfishing paintings and fish paintings. Maybe I could get some postcards done with info and see if any of your clients might want to have a portrait of one of their "trophy" trout. I have fished quite a bit in Montana, as I had a friend(he has moved back to Austin now) who lived in Red Lodge. Fished the Big Horn a couple of times and some friends and I fished Yellowstone, Madison, and Du Puys this last September. Weathe wiped us out on the rivers but we did ok on the DuPuys.Fly Fishing Fool