Texas Bayou

[TexasFlyaker]

Fished Texas Bayou yesterday for 8hrs with a buddy. He used conventional and I was on the fly. We caught specs, flounder, and one red. All small. The water was cleaner than normal and a lot of bait moving around. I caught several big croakers but if I stayed in the same spot, I always got a couple of specs too. It was a fun day, just nothing of size. we focused on cuts, and points. I'm a very knowledgeable freshwater guy that is trying to learn salt, so somebody else might have done better.

[karstopo]

Sounds like you did well. I fly fish the salt with buddies that use conventional gear and artificial lures. I get the odd ball fish like croakers, whiting and small drum that my buddies rarely if ever get using the lures with bigger hooks. Sometimes, the lure guys do better and occasionally the flies win out. It just depends on what’s going on and how the conditions set up. I think the two types of gear, fly and conventional, tend to compliment each other. One might work better in a place and then the other style can potentially make an adjustment to bridge the gap.

What type of flies did you use? I’m not familiar with Texas Bayou, is it very deep? Did you get some of the flounder? I like fly fishing bayous and drains if they aren’t particularly deep or if the fish are hanging along the drop offs, fringing shell, etc. In my experience, it’s nothing like blind casting, but rather very targeted casts and specific presentations along or over the structure.

[TexasFlyaker]

I was using a mix of no-name flies I tied. I had the most luck on a fly I tie and use fairly often in fresh. Picture a cactus chenille bugger with dumbbell eyes. I'm guessing it mimics a shrimp. I caught two of the flounder on it . I know people use popping corks for reds. I tried to copy this by tying on a pig popper and dropping a trailer on the back. no luck on that rig, but it looked good and I would try it again.

[karstopo]

https://www.discountflies.com/product/W-SCHM.html

Sounds a lot like a schminnow.

[KingO'Dinks]

I am in the process of converting from conventional tackle to fly, and one reason is to catch a greater variety of fish. I've had my butt handed to me by a couple of big reds on a 4 weight, but it's a lot of fun. A good size Ladyfish is a blast.

Thanks for the link Karstopo, Those are some pretty inexpensive fly's. Bookmarked.

[YakMack]

Where is Texas Bayou? Is that the same as Texas Point - the bayou off Sabine Pass?

[Ron Mc]

A fly rod is always an advantage with sight-fishing because of the stealth presentation.
For most blind fishing, conventional tack has the advantage because of longer casts at a small fraction of the effort.
One place a fly rod is worth blind fishing is passes and structure under conditions where you expect to find a concentration of fish.