Saturday at St. Joe's Island

[Animal Chris]

Along with 8 others, I participated in the monthly saltwater outing of the Texas Fly Fishers. We loaded out 'yaks out of Rockport and headed across Aransas Bay to St. Joe's Island for the day. Due to an equipment malfunction (the big boat had an injector pump go out) we were forced to ferry across in two trips. The top stringer was 11 (2 specs, 2 reds and 7 ladyfish according to the story), with most everyone else scoring at least 1 spec or redfish.

I found several spots that hadn't been bothered, but the water was full of big mullet and kept what should have been clear water cloudy. I did find one nice spot of sand in the middle of some very thick grass. After getting a tip from a friend who had similar conditions the previous week, I tied on a #6 Seaducer clone, Grizzly Chart body with a white with black stripes Neer Hair tail. I would cast across the sand and hit the grass on the other side and work it out into the open water. About half way through this excercise, the silence was disrupted when a 20"± red smacked it a put a bend in my rod. Not that the catch was all that impressive, but the strike made the whole day. I got him released in short order, but he just swam about 5 ft and buried his head in the grass. Oh well, at least one of us was happy.

About 3 pm we all gathered at the boat an lined up the yaks and rods for a group photo. After a post trip meal, all departed in different directions for home and, hopefully, to get ready for the South Padre trip in a couple of weeks.

Hope all had a good (and safe) weekend. Tight Loops, AC