Fishing Chronicle: Thanksgiving 2006 - Redfish on the Flats - by Todd Fleming

JB Fish OnDuring the week of Thanksgiving 2006 I was fortunate to share a saltwater fly fishing trip with a friend who years ago had introduced me to fly fishing. J.B. was a family friend who lived in San Antonio when I was growing up. He was back in town to spend the holiday with his daughter and her family. J.B. is an experienced freshwater and coldwater fly fisherman, but has never experienced saltwater fly fishing. He took me on my first coldwater fly fishing trip when I was a kid on a summer vacation in Colorado many years ago. I remember it was a successful day on a small mountain stream – more like a narrow creek with places you could jump across without getting wet. We caught many rainbow trout that day on wet flies – it was my first fly fishing experience. When I heard J.B. would be making a trip back to San Antonio, I wanted to try to find a day in his schedule that we could sneak down to the coast, and introduce him to sight casting for redfish in shallow water. J.B.’s wife and daughter had pretty much planned his schedule for the week, but after checking the weather forecast I convinced him that Wednesday would be a great day for a fly fishing trip to the coast – lots of sunshine and little wind. I saw that Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, would be another good day to be on the water, but I knew that was out of the question for both of us. J.B. said Wednesday was good, and when Freddie Lynch told me he was also available, the date was set.

Our fly fishing trip to the coast was going to be a quick one – down and back in the same day. After a short night, we left early that morning – in time to meet Freddie by 6:00am on the island. We rigged up, loaded up, and launched Freddie’s shallow water Hells Bay boat from Bird Island and headed south to Freddie’s favorite spot – Nine Mile Hole near the Land Cut. It is truly a special place unlike anywhere else on the coast – maybe even the world. I think we had the whole lake to ourselves, and it was a beautiful day. The air was cool, the sunrise was spectacular, the water was flat, and almost immediately after arriving we started seeing tails giving us that familiar slow “parade wave”.

JB Black DrumJ.B. took his position on the casting platform, and started to get the feel of a fast action eight weight rod for the first time. It was a bit stiffer than the rods he was used to. Everything was new to him, but after just a few casts, J.B. was hooked up with a 25” black drum. J.B. had never hooked a fish with this much power! That fish quickly cleared all of the loose line, and was pulling drag on the reel. Black drum are sometimes difficult to catch on a fly, but we managed to catch two or three before Freddie said, “Let’s go find some redfish.” As usual, he knew right where to go. We soon saw redfish tails and backs above the waterline in some very shallow water. Their bellies were scraping the sandy bottom, and their bronze backs were reflecting the morning sunshine. I thought a slightly longer cast would be required to catch these fish, but I was surprised to see how close we could get to these fish without spooking them – they obviously hadn’t seen many fishermen. J.B. was starting to feel comfortable with the bow of the boat, and that eight weight rod. He was making accurate casts to redfish in only inches of water. J.B. soon caught several redfish that morning – two of which exceeded 28” in length. Unless you see it for yourself, you would never expect to find that kind of fish in that kind of water. Sight casting to redfish in shallow water was a new experience for J.B. It is a sport that I have come to enjoy, and one that I was anxious to share with J.B. I was glad it worked out on this trip, and that we were successful in finding and catching fish. If J.B. is back in San Antonio next year to visit his daughter at Thanksgiving, we may be starting a new tradition. Turkey and redfish, nowhere else but Texas!

Todd Fleming
Alamo Fly Fishers