Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post Reply
User avatar
Prof. Salt
TKF 4000 Club
TKF 4000 Club
Posts: 4873
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Corpus Christi - or paddling over the horizon

Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post by Prof. Salt »

I took Matthew out to my shallow water playground again, hoping for better action. The last couple of trips had resulted in him catching one or two fish, but not a lot of action on his part. He was convinced that he was just bad luck, but I told him sometimes you just have to put in time on the water before it pays off. Thank goodness he liked the idea! We launched well before daylight and made the long paddle to my usual starting point, and we arrived about ten minutes before there was enough light to see fish against the shoreline. We waited and talked in the slough leading into the shallows to avoid accidentally spooking any fish until it got light enough to see. As soon as we could see well enough we made our way to a drain that empties a large area of water into the bay, and I told him that trout and reds usually hang around, especially if there is any tidal movement. I pointed out a small point at the mouth of the drain and how it usually had trout hanging close around the edges. His second cast resulted in a fat 20" trout, and he released a few undersized trout as well. Within a couple of minutes a pod of reds materialized just down the shore, and I redirected him to those fish. He moved ahead, paddling quietly to prevent scaring them. He was able to make a good cast and hooked a 25" fish without breaking up the school. While he was busy landing his fish I positioned myself up the shoreline where the school was headed and casted a crab fly just ahead of the disturbance for an instant hookup. It was a 19" red and he splashed on the surface enough to spook the school temporarily. I released my fish and the school formed again farther down the shoreline still working the same direction. Matthew hooked another fish but it was able to spit the hook, and I tossed a plastic paddle tail to them and managed a 27" stud. After that the fish were no longer visible so we left the bay and returned to the shallow lakes and sloughs.

It took almost 30 minutes of scouting before we found the next group, but all morning we found a few here and there. At one point I sent Matthew 600 yards across a lake to investigate shorebirds that were "hopscotching" down a shoreline. I knew they were on a school of feeding fish, so I left him to his own devices and went to another piece of shoreline to look for more of the same. I lost sight of Matthew for a few minutes, but I spotted a pod of moving fish ahead of me. Because we had a moderate breeze I had left the lighter fly rods at home and brought the 6wt and a big puffy crab fly. I positioned ahead of the fish, 40 feet from the shoreline and casted out to make sure there was enough fly line coiled on the deck to reach the shoreline. My first cast to the school resulted in a big "swing and a miss" as the fish came partly out of the water in pursuit of the crab, and I thought for a second the disturbance had blown out the small school ...but they materialized a few yards farther down the shore and still in range. A quick follow-up cast resulted in a second hookup on what turned out to be a lovely dark orange 26" red. By the time I got it on the stringer and laid out the fly line again my school was nowhere to be seen. When I checked on Matthew he had another 27" fish that had been plucked from his school. He was pleased that he had seen this large fish within the school and waited until he could put the bait in front of that individual. It worked, and I was proud to know that he was beginning to figure out how to handle schools against the shoreline and catch good fish, while taking steps to try and avoid spooking them. We teamed up in a slightly deeper area where gulls were diving on schools that were rarely visible but obviously feeding. The gulls did their usual thing and stayed low near the surface, diving when shrimp broke the surface, and it made keeping track of the schools easy. I was outside of fly range when one school began to drive baits to the surface, but a quick cast of the plastic bait resulted in my last fish for the stringer, another 27" bronze fatty. A follow-up cast got another redfish and I asked Matthew if he wanted a third red to ride on his stringer. He responded that he wanted to catch his own, but Saturday the chance just didn't develop after that and the feed activity ground to a halt. We paddled a total of 12 miles and enjoyed some great Fall fishing, just me and my son. It was pretty perfect in my book.
Image
Image
User avatar
Earl
TKF 1000 Club
TKF 1000 Club
Posts: 1139
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: DFW, Texas
Contact:

Re: Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post by Earl »

Thanks for the great write up. Way to go on pushing your son to not get deterred and now he is motivated for more. He will now learn faster and continue to sharpen the skills of learning to watch, listen and immerse himself in his surroundings. Fishing or hunting you can have the best equipment but if you don't have the perseverance and ability to look listen and learn you come home a bit more empty handed than those with lesser gear but they have the patience to watch and learn fish behavior and targeting locations.
Tombo
Moderator
Posts: 16909
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2003 3:32 pm
Location: Rockport, TX

Re: Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post by Tombo »

I did not know he was back home. Welcome Matt.
User avatar
Prof. Salt
TKF 4000 Club
TKF 4000 Club
Posts: 4873
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Corpus Christi - or paddling over the horizon

Re: Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post by Prof. Salt »

Tombo wrote:I did not know he was back home. Welcome Matt.
Tom he's been back for about a month, and I'm sure glad to have him here!
User avatar
shoffer
TKF 1000 Club
TKF 1000 Club
Posts: 1468
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:41 am
Location: Bellaire, Texas

Re: Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post by shoffer »

Great report, Professor. Spending time with my boys on the water is also a favorite pastime of mine.
User avatar
OldTownYakBoi
Posts: 389
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 9:46 am
Location: Galveston

Re: Teaching my son the ways of the flats

Post by OldTownYakBoi »

Great report. Sometimes all it takes is one great day on the water like that to get someone pumped and back into the sport. Congrats on the harvest


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post Reply