Got a second chance at putting Stacy Lynn from Sportsman's Finest in Austin on some redfish. Last trip was horrible, with solid cloud cover and nasty winds. This time we got some sunlight in our favor and were able to work them over.
Started a little later than I normally would, due to cooler morning temps and someone's dislike of being cold. Birds were everywhere that we looked early and there were fish all over the skinny water. She got 2 solid fish in our first spot and we saw tons but they were very spooky with the water low and clear.
I told her we should work on some better fish and that they would be a little easier to see at spot two. They didn't let us down!! We spent 4-5 hours slowly working a flat in ultra shallow water and had crawling fish the entire time. These fish were so shallow that their backs were exposed sometimes from head to tail. Most of the afternoon I had the boat dragging the bottom to get within range of them. Many of the fish we would watch for minutes before we could get into range and present the fly.
Stacy has no shortage of casting skills and did an amazing job of presenting flies to some very wary reds. All but one fish were in the mid slot (23-26) range. We had one bigger fish on that we lost due to a knot in the fly line that wouldn't go through the guides.
She landed 8 solid fish on fly, spending time testing a couple of new patterns I have been working on. She wanted me to get a couple of shots, but poling the boat while its on the bottom takes a lot of effort. I was on deck long enough to land the 2 smallest fish of the day and lost one big one.
Highlight of the day was the final fish. We watched her with back exposed for well over 5 minutes, Stacy presented the fly 4 or 5 times. The fish was sitting still, back fully exposed and would turn to attack the fly then miss it and stay stationary again. I'm not sure if the fish stirred too much mud when she would explode on the fly or if she couldn't track it because he eyes were above the water line! LOL. Either way, it has to be one of the coolest redfish experiences I have ever seen!! The final fish was a fat 26 inches!
Will have some video to add to this later but for now... Enjoy the pics.
Started a little later than I normally would, due to cooler morning temps and someone's dislike of being cold. Birds were everywhere that we looked early and there were fish all over the skinny water. She got 2 solid fish in our first spot and we saw tons but they were very spooky with the water low and clear.
I told her we should work on some better fish and that they would be a little easier to see at spot two. They didn't let us down!! We spent 4-5 hours slowly working a flat in ultra shallow water and had crawling fish the entire time. These fish were so shallow that their backs were exposed sometimes from head to tail. Most of the afternoon I had the boat dragging the bottom to get within range of them. Many of the fish we would watch for minutes before we could get into range and present the fly.
Stacy has no shortage of casting skills and did an amazing job of presenting flies to some very wary reds. All but one fish were in the mid slot (23-26) range. We had one bigger fish on that we lost due to a knot in the fly line that wouldn't go through the guides.
She landed 8 solid fish on fly, spending time testing a couple of new patterns I have been working on. She wanted me to get a couple of shots, but poling the boat while its on the bottom takes a lot of effort. I was on deck long enough to land the 2 smallest fish of the day and lost one big one.
Highlight of the day was the final fish. We watched her with back exposed for well over 5 minutes, Stacy presented the fly 4 or 5 times. The fish was sitting still, back fully exposed and would turn to attack the fly then miss it and stay stationary again. I'm not sure if the fish stirred too much mud when she would explode on the fly or if she couldn't track it because he eyes were above the water line! LOL. Either way, it has to be one of the coolest redfish experiences I have ever seen!! The final fish was a fat 26 inches!
Will have some video to add to this later but for now... Enjoy the pics.
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