How many fly fishermen on here.

[AtTheWall]

Thank you Quarterback!

[noflyzone]

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[noflyzone]

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[Mountaineer]

Cozumel


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[oldtestamentman]

I guide on Baffin and have a great technical poling skiff, arguably the best to get the job done. Extreme shallow action.

[Redlegwar]

I will be traveling to Jackson hole this year for my honeymoon. I'm very interested in fly fishing around that area.

Do you guys know of any good place to practice in North Texas.

I've seen some guys below the Texhoma **** catching huge striper on fly rods. Looked like a blast!


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[AtTheWall]

I guide on Baffin and have a great technical poling skiff, arguably the best to get the job done. Extreme shallow action.

Yup!

Here's mine. Runs 38 mph, ranges 180 miles on a 20 gallon fuel cell and drifts 6.5" of water. 10 degree deadrise and silent hull - no wave slap noise against the hull. Very directional control on the pole and drifts silently, dead down wind, with my Yamaha engine skeg just touching the water - I can steer it port or starboard just riding the wind.

Has an automatic 500gph pump.....needed it in Port Mansfield one afternoon. Winds got up to 35mph and I took a wave over the bow that flooded the cockpit. Pulled the cockpit scuppers, auto pump kicked off, and we sailed back into the Port M harbor dry again. I wouldn't want to run a flats skiff without a good automatic pump....they truly are built for skinny waters and not open 2 - 3ft seas. When the winds are up, I stay skinny and ride the wind. Port Mansfield, Rockport and stretches of Matagorda and Corpus Christi are too deep for windy days. So I plan trips accordingly and adjust. Port M, I hauled Uncle Saggy down for a fish - he wanted to go there bad so we went. Winds came up late afternoon with us behind PINS. Had to run that open bay back with an outgoing tide. Got a bit nautical

Wireless PowerPole - working a super long spoil island(s) drift in the Laguna, and when the wind is favorable, against the King Ranch shoreline are my favorite spots to fish.

Many times, since I'm not on the water around the clock, I cover areas that have produced for me through the years. I'll use casting tackle as my locator rods and shift over to fly tackle, once I find a good pattern.

Works for me and it's nearly like cheating - using a flats skiff like this. I never need to wade, this boat covers everything the skinny water regions Texas has to offer me.













Compuerta Pass - Baffin Bay

[AtTheWall]

My push pole is a TFO Mangrove 19' built using Rod Bond rod building epoxy. The Rod Bond is formulated to bend and hold - excellent for locking in custom rod reel seats. Used on the Mangrove Push Pole - worked perfectly! Super light with a lot of grip on the pole. I'm happy with it's overall performance and super light weight.

[oldtestamentman]

Nice Skiff atthewall.
I have a NewWater Boatoworks "Stilt".
It took 16 months to build, but worth it.
Place off HWY 37 S. of San Antonio, Tim Clancey
Got mine with a black onyx hull, its invisible on the flats.

[AtTheWall]

Nice OldTestamentMan!

I do know exactly where NewWater boatworks is. Shopped them when I started looking for a true technical poling skiff. They are very close to home and there are a few that run them on Calaveras periodically, with some of them, rolling over to to check rides from the boat works.

Floating freely in kayak deep water, really opens up a lot of prime fishing!

The rocks of Baffin - line up the wind and go! I chart plot the rocks as I drift. Probably take a lifetime to cover it all

[oldtestamentman]

I usually start at 9 mile hole and then Yarborough to the meadows and then Baffin S Shores from los corolles to black bluff. With light boats like ours you have to get out early before the wind, then sail back at about 20 knots full positive trim with the chop, or hug the S shore. God I love my boat. It is like hunting much of the time.

[AtTheWall]

Yes it is hunting....a slow stalk. I play the wind and sun a lot with my setups. Just like reading the wind for scent, different senses like sun, shadow and wind set and drift come into play,. It's all the same play sheet like hunting. And you can cover a lot of water silently floating skinny.

I've had drum and reds swim literally up to the boat without a care in the world. Even worked in on a 80 to 100 fish strong school of tailing redfish along the King Ranch shoreline one morning, and the entire school circled my boat. I watched individual fish feed and root around me. They would only move down about a hundred yards and regroup, after I hooked one in the school. I had an older friend in the boat, bent of fishing live shrimp under a popping cork....so I let him go to town, cast after cast.

I've watched so many fish take the lure fishing this skiff. I've stalked large trout, who were stalking small schools of figerling mullet, setting up and making presentation casts with the reward of watching them hook up.

Or big schools of small black drum in 1.5 ft of water where they turn upside down and sideways taking a shrimp fly. They have to roll to get their mouth in position to take the bait.

I fish pretty much from Port Mansfield up to St Charles Bay above Rockport. I trailer down from Boerne so I play the wind and water conditions before hand, and roll. When I fish the Laguna, I typically launch and the Packery Channel boat ramp and run the ICW down, fishing Nighthawk, the Spoil Islands, King Ranch shoreline, Bird Island and down to Baffin and Compuerta Pass and The Badlands.

In Rockport, if the winds are right, I'll fish the flats and salt lakes along St Joe Island, and the main shoreline of the Island up to Long Reef. The mouth of St Charles Bay, the flats along the North Shoreline from Rockport to Ingleside and the spoil islands of Redfish Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. When the winds are up, I'll launch at Conn Brown and work water color and winds till I find a pattern.

Port Mansfield is good when the winds don't howl. Once it comes up down there, there really isn't any place to hide without getting exposed to strong South to South East or North to North East winds. Love fishing Port M, but it's pretty wide open to the North and you have to run a bit, to find the spoil islands and shallower flats further South. Running in and out of the Harbor, a few miles of deeper exposed water with some pretty good current at times, make it pretty bumpy.

Rockport can hold stiff winds fairly well without losing water clarity. The Laguna down closer to Bird Island can get there as well, no matter what the wind and rains do. So when it gets iffy wind and rain, I'll bail out into these areas to fish. Those Aransas \ Redfish bay islands, with a healthy seagrass bottom, keeps the waters crystal clear for the most part. The only drawback, boat traffic pressure. Weekdays are better fishing days there.

I'll let you know when I get a chance to head South your way again. Some excellent structure and unique channels and flats down there to fish. Low pressure as well. Always other spots to run to, when it starts to get crowded. More respect on the water down there with anglers as well. I run the lee side of the ICW, when the winds come up. Or work up through the backside of PINS or the King Ranch shoreline. Lot of options to run and or drift skinny when it's blowing. I use a drift sock when I really want to control my drift, making fine adjustments with the trolling motor or push pole if it's necessary.

[oldtestamentman]

Great info ATTheWall!

I agree, drum are the hardest to catch, what I've learned is to present the fly ahead of them then once they are over the line between their mouth and gills, I guess its their gullet, then instead of twitching the line once under them, I pull the line smoothly with 3 inch intervals. I think it tickles their spot much like the lateral line on a red then they have to beat things up before eating them, so allot of nose hook ups happen.

I always stay 5 to 10 yards from shore. There is usually a wave trough seam that I can slip into and work both sides easily. The first time I take clients out, they can't believe how many big fish lurk between the trough and the first grass line and reds literally 1/2 exposed in 2-3 inches of water right against the shore. I'm talking 20 to 30+ inchers.

I always play the wind and stay close to shore, this helps with exposing the boat. Save my high bluff spots for when the wind picks up. Always keeping the SE wind port astern with the sun astern as well.

Its great to go where other boats can't go and I only fish Baffin to 9 mile because I disagree Mansfield and Rockport etiquette. During the week I might only see 5-7 boats on Baffin, 10-15 on weekends. They usually have respect and keep their distance, only once did a few fly fisherman from Rockport poll along side me, then when I found them, they got out and waded right in front of the shore I was polling. I fired up and did a hole punch in 6" of water and shot out ahead of them again. This is normal on Mansfield, but rare on Baffin.

[justhrowit]

I've been getting out the last few evenings for just a short while. Not catching mush of anything. Same thing last night. I got out for about an hour and a half. The last half hour was lights out on Crappie. Nothing big. I managed one really nice keeper, and a yellow that both ended up in a stringer. I noticed a couple followers that turned away an olive conehead Wooly Bugger. Switched to a size 12, white, wooly and lit them up. I landed about 45-50 fish in the last 35-45 minutes. It was, almost literally, every cast. The second fish was a big 14" fish. After that, everything was averaging about 7"-8". I had a blast for those last moments. Fished with my glass 3 wgt.

[jaker_cc]

Great info ATTheWall!



I agree, drum are the hardest to catch, what I've learned is to present the fly ahead of them then once they are over the line between their mouth and gills, I guess its their gullet, then instead of twitching the line once under them, I pull the line smoothly with 3 inch intervals. I think it tickles their spot much like the lateral line on a red then they have to beat things up before eating them, so allot of nose hook ups happen.



I always stay 5 to 10 yards from shore. There is usually a wave trough seam that I can slip into and work both sides easily. The first time I take clients out, they can't believe how many big fish lurk between the trough and the first grass line and reds literally 1/2 exposed in 2-3 inches of water right against the shore. I'm talking 20 to 30+ inchers.



I always play the wind and stay close to shore, this helps with exposing the boat. Save my high bluff spots for when the wind picks up. Always keeping the SE wind port astern with the sun astern as well.



Its great to go where other boats can't go and I only fish Baffin to 9 mile because I disagree Mansfield and Rockport etiquette. During the week I might only see 5-7 boats on Baffin, 10-15 on weekends. They usually have respect and keep their distance, only once did a few fly fisherman from Rockport poll along side me, then when I found them, they got out and waded right in front of the shore I was polling. I fired up and did a hole punch in 6" of water and shot out ahead of them again. This is normal on Mansfield, but rare on Baffin.

I've fished Baffin my whole life and it's mind blowing sometimes how much it's changed. Weekends are packed!!! People do what you spoke of quite often, you can tell who knows what they're doing and who doesn't. I'd love to meet up with you or AtTheWall and get back into fly fishing the salt. I've missed it


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