FLY FISHING REDFISH THE TEXAS COAST
SALTWATER FLATS FISHING HAS TO BE MY FAVORITE WAY TO FLY FISH.
I had the great opportunity a long while ago to help build and manage a bone fishing lodge on a faraway island called Christmas Island. That is where I experienced my first-time fly-fishing saltwater. Bonefish, Trevally, trigger fish and many other species were available on the flats to target. I spent several winters there hosting clients from all over the world. It truly was an amazing opportunity to immerse myself in this kind of fly fishing.
I moved onto a different job after a while and started a family. However, I knew at some point I would get back into saltwater fishing. A few years ago, my mom, sister and her family moved to Austin Texas. My sister mentioned before one of our trips there that we would be going to the coast to camp. I asked where and she said Port Aransas. So naturally I investigated the area online. The campground where we were going to camp had several flats within walking distance. This piqued my interest quite a bit. I ended up getting out on the flats on my own in the mornings for a bit. I was amazed how quiet it was and how few people were around.
The only thing I knew about Red Fish was from what I had read about online and watched a few videos before I went. Again, with my past flats experience I had a general idea of what to look for and where to go. The first morning out I went with my brother-in-law, and we had some success with smaller reds and some smaller seat trout. Nothing of size and we were just blind casting into a deeper channel. Not really sight casting as the area we went was deeper and difficult to wade out. We had fun but I longed for some skinny water and seeing some tailing Reds. The second morning I went a bit earlier and to a different flat that was even closer to where we were staying. Just a 2-minute drive from our campground. When I got to the flats, it was a perfectly still morning. It had rained the night before so there was some low laying fog. It was dead quiet out. There was what looked like an Egret or white heron hunting in the shallows just like our Blue heron back home. It was super cool to watch as he stalked ever so quietly through the flat. I had limited time as we had to check out by 10am. So, I felt pressed to make it happen. As I worked my way along the shoreline, I saw what looked like a very subtle disturbance inches from the undercut bank. I watched intently and sure enough a triangle of a tail poked through the surface along with a dorsal fin. I quickly stripped some line out and presented the fly a foot or so from the fish, let it settle, one quick strip and the fish exploded on the fly! I ended up landing it a few minutes later and it was about 28-29 inch fish. So maybe in the 8-10 lb class. I was so stoked and bummed at the same time as I had to leave in a few minutes. This re-kindled my desire to get out flats fishing more.
From that point I started talking to some of my other friends that wanted to go, and we put a trip together last spring for a week just to fish. We had a great time even in spite of not-so-great conditions for part of the week. We caught fish every day and some notable ones as well. Now this upcoming trip I’m stoked for as we will hopefully have some opportunity at the “Bull” Reds. These are the positive 20lb fish. November seems to be the opportune time to try to target the larger fish.
The Texas coast is very interesting. As we know every so often mother nature does her thing and large hurricanes come through and reclaim much of the coastline. I was surprised that there really isn’t that much building going on there close to the shoreline like in other ocean front areas. But it makes sense due to the frequent storms. This gives it a much more open feel and it’s kind of nice not seeing tons of people there. I haven’t been there in prime-time tourist season, which is June through August. But I hear it gets plenty of attention during these months. For me in North Idaho, it’s a great place to go during their “off” tourist season. The weather is mild, big Red fish are around and not too many people to contend with. Works for me.
If you take time to look at a map. There is literally hundreds of miles of flats to fish on the Texas coast. Heck, for that matter it continues all the way up the coast to Louisiana, Mississippi, and all the way to Florida. There is Red fish all along the way. Among other species too. Tarpon in some areas, Black drum, Jack Crevalle, Speckled Trout and several more. This is a very diverse area from culture, history, food and many other sights to see. Let’s have a great adventure together and create some even better memories!