A day full of reds; SPI report

[wittich]

WHOOO HOOOO. Finally a good fishing day! Got out to the flats at 7 am. PHam caught 4 redfish! (versus seeing none with the guide). Largest was prob 23-24 inches. Got to see one red chase my fly and take it. If you are in Padre, the fly shop has this shrimp pattern that works great for redfish. I hooked a big trout on VIP popper, but lost it. I also landed one red prob 24 or so inches also. Next we went to the jetties where we saw the largest school of bull reds. For the last week or so the surf had been filled with hundreds of small ladyfish and I made the mistake of taking my 5wt out there. The large schools of ladyfish were not there and the only day I was in casting range to large fish I was undergunned. Muddy water was moving in past the jetties and PHam spotted a large golden cloud moving through the water. They surfaced and after a seagull cast its shawgow over them a bunch of fat reds scattered and then regrouped.Must have been like 50+ of them in there. Most of the time they stayed just out of casting range. We spent 30 min chasing them up and down the rocks hoping they would get a little closer. Pham and I got into the water and swam over to some boulders just outside the main jetties and to get into range. ( flyfishing makes you do some insane things like swimming off the jetties after hearing a report of spinner sharks in the area...) I launched a large clouser into the school and got a hook-up only to find out that the only ladyfish in the area beat the reds to my fly. They probably would have destroyed my 5 wt anyway. I eneded up landing a huge 24 inch ladyfish after a hard fought battle.Pham and I got a couple more good casts to them, but no takers (they were down lower and floating line wouldn't sink enough.....sucks b/c I always bring out a sinking line reel, but didn't today). . I went back to my car to get out my 8wt but by then the red had left. We walked out the end of the jetties and saw a pair of large tarpon rolling. This time I was armed with a 8wt and only a 30 lbs leader and was once again undergunned to take on these beasts. The water was very dirty and the fish were not able to see my flies.
We went back to the flats after this. Pham ended up getting a south Tx grand slam by landing a speck and a snook in addition to the 4 reds he caught earlier. I Never expected to see a snook caught in the bay. We caught a couple more big lady fish, but no more reds. . My hand/arms are dead from 2 weeks of fishing. Glad it ended on a good fishing day.

[bones]

Good report!! Ya had a great day.

Guess I had better get over to Pt. O'Connor next week and give it a try. About this time last year I hit that area one morning by myself and caught reds till my arms wore out.

Never caught a snook before, how do they fight? 10 years ago there was no such thing as a snook in Texas waters.

[TimOBrien]

I caught this snook a few weeks ago. The next day landed two 50 lb. tarpon as well. I love the laguna madre.

[bones]

That looks to be about a 7 or 8wt fly-rig..........or smaller.

I am a great fan of giving the pesca a fighting chance. I prefer a 6wt using 10# tippet and may switch down to an 8# tippet. Yeah, they are tired when I get them in but never has one died because of it. They revive well and live to fight another day............if they escape the grill. --123-3

[wittich]

That is one bad ass snook you caught. Tim were you fishing from the SPI jetties or the Boca chica? The snook we got into were only 12-16 inches and due to rough water conditions we pretty much set the hook and launched them out of the water and onto the rocks. The 16 incher put up a little fight but nothing compared to the huge skipjack on my 5wt.
Hey Tim have you ever hook a Tarpon off the jetties during murky conditions. I was casting to a few rolling Fish but the water was so brown I don't think they ever saw my flies. Too bad I did not you were in Harlingen earlier, my buddies and I just spent 2 weeks in Weslaco and were fishing Padre regularly. JWW

[TimOBrien]

wittich,

I caught the snook off the Boca Chica side. I had been throwing a 7 wt. with a red and white seaducer and catching a bunch of smaller snook. I was heading in when I saw a snook free jump about 30ft off the rocks. I grabbed my 9wt that had sinking tip and landed that snook. It was weighed in at 2 oz. lighter than Larry Haines Texas record. It took me 3 hrs to get to a scale. It lost a lot of fluids and I didnt have an icechest. I have landed tarpon in both merky and clear. To really hook a tarpon on the jetties is Gods intervention. It is hours of blind casting hoping to get a bite. But there are times that it has been crystal clear and schools of 30lbs tarpon were rolling. You can site cast to them and hook up. Good luck to those who try for both Tarpon and Snook. I will say though I have been exploring the lower laguna madre by boat, car, kayak, and plane. I have found places never probably fished. I have taken friends and given them opportunities to land snook and tarpon in shalllow waters. There are so many areas of the bay that hold other species then we are accustomed to. (not just SOuth Bay). Snook are being caught all the way up to Green Isand. There have been sitings of tarpon in west bay directly in front of the Dunkin House. For those of you who fish the laguna madre, try exploring new areas you would never think would hold fish. A 40lbs. snook was found dead after the freeze of 04' in a brownsville resaca, which creeks and canals connect with the brownsville ship channel.