Hey Folks!!! I am wondering if there is a time of the year that it is thought to be the best time to fly fish at the coast for reds and trout. I am wanting to try and put together a trip to camp and fish and am more than happy to do so with the regular rod and reel, but also would love to try my hand at catching something with my fly rod. Thanks!!!

October is a great month for both, depending on how and where you fish. I have also done really well in June. Trout can be caught most of the year under lights at night. Redfish can be caught drifting or wading the shallows.

Can trout be caught in the canals on a fly or are they too smart for that? if there are any that is?

October is the best month.

Optimum is a four tides a day and the dark of the moon, stay away from the full moon.

Trout can be caught on flies in canals or under the lights for sure. Might be one of the best ways to get them.

Best time of year? Hard to say. Comfort wise, probably Autumn. For sight fishing, hard to argue with a low wind, lower humidity, with mild temperatures kind of day, October and November get those days. Water often clears up as it cools down. Redfish rove around in the shallows in impossible to miss large schools marauding shrimp and crabs. I think my most fun days sight fishing have mostly been in the autumn.

Non-stop action can be had on the fly. The surf is one place that can happen with trout. May-September might be prime for that, but the surf is a fickle creature and the lack of wind opens that door and typically, the door doesn’t remain open long.

The dead of winter is another opportunity for crazy good fly fishing. Find a nice flat, find a drain or canal near that flat, wait for all the water to be blown off that flat, fish the water in the drain. Fish get concentrated and gorge on concentrated forage. I stake out my kayak and it’s Katy bar the door, fish almost every cast until you get sick of them. Fly or conventional, really makes little difference.

I’d say the Spring might be the worst time mainly because the winds tend to be relentless at the coast. It’s just hard to get comfortable in the wind, complicates a lot of logistical things.

karstopo, what is this "autumn" you speak of? I've never had much of a desire to fish the salt, except for the fact I've always wanted to catch tailing reds. Now, a fly rod might make me want to seek other species too!

Autumn.





Autumn is the time when the weather fronts begin to move in, water cools off and clears up some, fish get really intent on feeding on bait that might be shifting out of the way back marshes and into bigger water. Autumn is one big old pot stirrer that shakes up the summer stagnation.

Anything that will eat a lure will eat a fly. Some fish that are hard to get on the bigger lures are easier to get on flies. Autumn is a great time to get shallow with a fly rod. The fish above were November fish and that might be the heart of Autumn here. Most years, I’d put late September through mid December as prime.

1+ Always listen to karstopo when it comes to saltwater and a fly. Great pictures.