Redfish On The Fly ~ Op Cobra Kai ~ CoWW In Rockport, TX 03Apr22-06Apr22

Five SoCO fly fisherman boarded a plane for Texas and grabbed rides to Rockport for some redfish on fly rods from the gulf flats. This is a known challenging sport but our 6th, bro Haine, set us up with the best redfish fly fishing guides in south Texas and an AirBnB to match. We were very excited to arrive on Sun night after having stopped for provisions; this'd be the first time on saltwater for many of us and to do it with fly rods in hand, a deep seated need for us, was great. We had some beers, bobbed in our own private pool (& the canal), shaved heads in solidarity with Yvette, ate Rob's killer gumbo, and otherwise readied for Operation Cobra Kai to start in earnest.

We ate eggs your style and fruit every day from the CoWW house chefs. We met our 3 guides early at Conn Brown Harbor for a foray into Redfish Bay and Aransas Bay and the "lakes" and flats thereabout. Jeff took Rob & me, Sean took Matt & Rick, and Gibson led Jim & Greg. Redfish on the fly is a target sighting and casting sport done from a platform above a flat-bottomed boat bow polled slowly along the flats by the guide who is polling and spotting redfish. We drifted past mangroves and grasses growing from the bay. We wielded 8 and 9 wt rods over-loaded with shooting head heavy floating line finished with a 9ft leader and 12# tippet material. Rob & I used the Rodfather Redfish rods (effectively 9 weights) and loaded them with Rob's Hardy reel spun with SA Redfish Cold 9wt. Our imitation fly was primarily a lightly weighted black & purple streamer meant to imitate a baby crab. They are cool looking and pretty easy to cast with the big telephone poll rods and heavy line. The idea is to see/find a redfish, swimming or still, sometimes with its tail up out of the water (as it is feeding on stuff on the bottom of the bay) and quickly cast to it some 3-5 ft in front of and beyond it then strip and twitch the crab in front to elicit a vicious and aggressive kill strike. The reds have no predators in this habitat other than us fishermen. We knew from the outset going would be tough as there was a thick overcast blotting the sun (our sight was mostly gone). The result is that we often came too close to the redfish too quickly and spooked them. Plus, the lack of warmth was putting off the bite much of the day. Unfortunate conditions for a well-coordinated but pre-determined, as to dates not weather, trip.

Unfortunately on day 1 the team managed only a couple of fish; Greg caught a red using a open reel spinning outfit dragging a 3" top water plug and I targeted and landed a red via the desired scheme. Fishing was slow and there was some frustration. Fried shrimp (locally caught) in a decent non-alcohol  restaurant quelled most boiling.

Day 2 was similarly overcast and even foggy and results were only a bit better. Jeff's boat saw  Rob catch a trout (catch that fang) and a small red and Matt caught a nice red on a blind cast near the end of the day. Gibson scored with Rick (fish-on shot) and Jim & I on Sean's craft were skunked. It was maddening not being able to see the fish as typical (nee needed) for this kind of fishing. The sandwiches we made were great and we feasted on killer brat & steak sammies that night, and uh... some bourbon.

Day 3 started similarly but was expected to clear before a low rolled in in the afternoon. That's the way it played out  ~ so for some time we could see, but not cast well due to the building gale winds. Grrr. We did catch some more reds and these boys were happy. Rick even went out hunting for jacks for a bit. Matt & I with Gibson gave it our all and withstood 5ft swells for an hour, returning late to an inebriated team. We prepared awesome fajitas with tasty meats and caramelized onion & chilies with fresh pico de gaillo.

All in all it was great sharing time and catching my $1200 redfish with the boys; we all agreed the sport was cool AF, but we all sure wish there were more fish. I hadn't seen Rob in a minute so that was special - even though he over-touted the Buc-ees vibe ~ I got the pic anyway with some ghetto TX shades. Till next time you lucky redfish.