It was brisk again down here on the Texas coast with friends Brian Iannacchione and guide Jako Lucas. I say brisk, but it was nothing as bad as yesterday’s fridged 46° and windy. This morning at sunrise it was already 56° and the local pelicans actually showed some life.
While we’re always open to all fish, the goal this week is for Brian and me each to land our first sheepshead on fly. Sheepies primarily feed on oysters, clams, barnacles, mussels and only the occasional crab or shrimp. That makes them tough to fool with a fly. Yesterday, our day 1, the sheepies were nonexistent likely due to the cold so we didn’t even get a chance to test a fly. Fortunately the redfish and black drum cooperated.
With today’s warmer conditions we had higher hopes for the sheepshead. Jako took us straight for a wading spot. This is my second trip down to TX with Brian and Jako. Brian generously invites me to join him. I let he and Jako lead the way and then I started my usual venturing off on my own. I ended up off the open bay and into the marsh.
On the edge of the bay the bottom is hard and it’s easy to wade. The only thing you need to be careful of are stingrays. Once you get in the marsh you sink in mud almost every step. It wasn’t long before I was about to give it up because I was struggling to walk. But then popped an oversized redfish tail.
The redfish coaxed me deeper to get a decent cast. He was poking around in a side channel hardly big enough to hold a fish. I made the cast and managed to land my shrimp pattern gently without spooking the red. Somehow the redfish didn’t see my fly and left my view due to the mud he created and some cloud glare. I waited but he seemed gone.
Sure enough the redfish tail popped again and naturally it was another 50 feet away. He was in a big open area now. In a way it was good because if I hooked him I’d have a better chance at landing him. My wading struggle was back in action and not wanting the fish to disappear again, I slogged my way there quickly. I got another cast and this time I know that red devil saw my olive shrimp. He simply wasn’t interested.
These days fly changes take longer than I like, especially today because not only is my close range eyesight garbage, but my hands were cold too. Instead of changing the fly I cast again. Then again. And again. And just when I thought I was out of luck, the redfish made the kill. I strip set and it was game on.
The open marsh bay worked to my advantage as expected. This fish made several long runs. Had he gone down any of the tiny channels around me I doubt I’d have landed this fish but eventually I did. My photos are terrible but being alone, cold, and sinking in mud, you get what you get sometimes. You can tell it was a nice red though.
I don’t need to tell you that after I released that red I didn’t care about sinking in mud. I went deep in those marsh ponds and channels and was there for a couple hours. I saw a half dozen redfish and managed to land two more. I had so much fun that even though I came to TX for a sheepshead, if I don’t get one this trip, I’m all good. This morning session redfishing on foot has made my trip.
I could see Jako and Brian most of the time while I was up in the marsh. Around 11 AM I saw them heading back my way so I headed for the bay to meet up. Their morning wade was much different than mine. They saw exactly zero fish. I was lucky to take on some mud because the marsh is where the fish were this morning.
The sheepies eluded us again today. After our morning wade session we spent the afternoon fishing from the boat. We hunted for sheepshead and found three total. All three were idle over thick weeds. They looked almost frozen and there’s no doubt from our observations, sheepshead hate the cold. Luckily, the redfish don’t care as much. Brian nailed a beautiful redfish to end our day.
It was Cathy’s night down here on the coast. We were hungry. We fished hard and during the time when you fish hard, sometimes you don’t eat much. For dinner we absolutely destroyed a half and half of shrimp – 7 broiled and 7 fried. We are back on the water first thing in the morning. The weather continues to heat up so hopefully the sheepshead will finally be on the flats in the morning.