First Report, Last Report, Late Report, Redfish in Freeport

[karstopo]

First Report for me on TKF for 2020, might be the last one...I guess that’s an unknown and it’s a late report from last Saturday. However, the pattern of redfish associated with mud and shell seems to hold for much of the winter based on past experience so I’ll be going back to places with shallow mud and shell for another month at least.

Launched at noon. No one around, go figure, as it was a beautiful day of light winds, great sunshine, and otherwise chamber of commerce weather. Water medium levels, 1.5 feet visibility, slow, slow incoming, wind turned SE and slightly freshened over the afternoon. Paddled around some looking for fish and picked the wrong mud and shell at first, but then went to a different patch of mud and shell and there were the fish.

Tried my tried and true redfish crack to the visible fish sign. Finger Mullet were flipping in multiple locations, but the silver and white crack wasn’t getting any love. Tried a different color. Zero. Saw big old slots show absolutely no interest in what I offered. How about a chartreuse and white borski slider, nope, that wasn’t it.

Put on a gartside soft hackle streamer, chartreuse and white, bingo, it was on after that. Fish were concentrated over shell and mud in ~15” of water. I wasted time on finding the fish and then determining what they wanted, but in spite of that 8 good redfish, biggest was a 26” plus plus, came to hand, with some few more coming off. Wind came up some more and fish got hard to see. Left the scene at 4, smiling

[YakRunabout]

Great report, thanks for posting! It is good to know someone is still fishing. They can be picky at times, congrats on finding the desired combination -
Is it January yet? Perhaps we are skipping winter - mid November was it!!

[Chubs]

Thanks for the report Karst. Thanks for the structure info as well, very helpful.

Do you think throwing artificials (eg spinning\ casting outfits) would have been more or less challenging to get the fish to eat?

[karstopo]

It’s really hard to know if something like a paddle tail would have worked. The borski sliders and redfish crack are weighted somewhat like a jig Head with a paddle tail, more so on the crack, but they didn’t even draw a bump and I tried. I didn’t bring along my baitcasting rig so I never got to try something along the lines of a soft plastic or plug.

The gartside soft hackle streamer slowly sinks, more like a slow sinking Corky or suspending type and that might have been the key, the sink rate or maybe it was how it swims and looks which is basically the size and shape of a small mullet.

Sometimes, I might tie a bad fly, but I tried several this time around and a couple had already worked on previous trips. Once I put on the streamer, I didn’t have to put on anything else. I did switch rods from my 6 weight to a 7/8 weight for to handle the increasing wind and put the streamer that had been working on the 6 weight the 7/8.

I’ve run into redfish before that get very picky about what they want. These redfish weren’t tailing or moving particularly slow, more circling around on the structure and creating a few mud boils here and there. Little mullet were flipping, not the straight jumps mullet do, but crooked, more uncoordinated panicked looking flips and jumps, which has always been positive sign in my experience.

If it was always predictable and the fish didn’t throw some curves once in a while, how much fun would that be?

[kickingback]

Excellent report Kars! Thanks for sharing some great pics too!!

[Ron Mc]

He also reported this on FFR, which is a pretty good forum - there's a Spin page there, where my kayak fishing reports often end up, but I don't think we can get a kayak page.
https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/index.php

Tyler at corpusfishing has offered us a kayak page.
http://www.corpusfishing.com/messageboa ... /index.php

[Drifting Yak]

Wonderful to hear you smiling karst! Great report and pics.
Happy trails to you....Until we meet again...
Tight Lines Everyone....

[JW FunGuy]

Thanks for the great report and the wonderful pics. It sounded like a day I had just recently except I didn’t have a Gartside to tie on to change the game. But I am going to look up the pattern to try and tie some.
Thanks again!

[karstopo]

Before they ever get wet, this is how they look.




A plain white one in a redfish mouth from a previous trip. That day, redfish crack worked as well as the gartside soft hackle streamer.

https://www.jackgartside.com/step_sh_streamer.htm

I don’t use the hooks he does, I like Mustad or Gamakatsu stingers, and am doing them on size 1 hooks. I also add a thin craft fur tail before doing the marabou. I’ve been using gadwall flank feathers instead of mallard.

[karstopo]

I really don’t know what colors work best. In the saltwater, I’ve only tried a plain all white (except the duck flank) one that worked when there were fish around and the chartreuse and white, also when fish were obviously around. Haven’t tried them out in the saltwater more than the two times. I went on a couple of boat trips in between kayak trips and one trip I never got to fly fish and the other I fished with other patterns.

It is encouraging to have a couple work very well on the two trips I did use them. And to have tried and mostly true patterns for me like redfish crack and borski sliders get a zero and then the Gartside come through, that really gets my attention on maybe the pattern is a good one to carry. Full disclosure, the borski slider can be a dud at times, but it’s been a while since when the redfish crack has been a total dud.

I’ve tried them in freshwater a little more and chartreuse/white has worked and that tan chicken one has worked. I don’t think I’ve caught anything on red and white or some other combos, but it’s only been tried them a little or not at all.

[JW FunGuy]

My new plan for 2020 is to force myself to change things more when things aren’t working. For awhile I was doing OK with a Borski, but my main go to was a Clouser, or if conditions were right an epoxy spoon but those have been far and few lately. I think you are onto something with the slow sink thing. All the others had lead or bead chain eyes and might have gone right past the feed zone or into the muck.
Since this weather sucks I might as well tie some flies!
Thanks again!

[karstopo]

"The best fisherman I know try not to make the same mistakes over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them."
-John Gierach "Fly Fishing the High Country"


Good sentiment from the John Gierach. Try something new, make some mistakes, learn from them.

[JW FunGuy]

"The best fisherman I know try not to make the same mistakes over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them."
-John Gierach "Fly Fishing the High Country"


Good sentiment from the John Gierach. Try something new, make some mistakes, learn from them.

AMEN!