Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

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karstopo
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Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by karstopo »

Went out to Christmas bay this afternoon. Launched from the old Ernie’s about 13:30. Water was way up. Wind from the East and not too bold, more kind of tame. Water was a nice green, clearer in some places, more opaque in others. Tide was oozing out.

Found some bait getting messed with. Something big here and there would smoke the bait, mostly mullet, but there might have been some shad in the mix too. Finally, I saw some big redfish going after the bait just a few feet off my bow. I threw a number of fly patterns at the zone but never got a take. Water was a little deeper, 2-3’, and stirred up here, green but not clear.

Moved on to some old flounder spots but got nada. Went into some flooded stands of grass and tangles and saw a few drum plowing along, but the grass was so thick and intertwined it was pointless to cast at them.

I was working in back to the launch with the only fish of the day being a ladyfish that shook off after a jump. Out in a patch of flooded pasture, I see three or four gulls dipping over a spot. Could it be? I paddled through about 100 yards of thick grass to get to them, and yes there was a school of about a dozen, maybe 15 redfish. They were bulldozing into patches of grass sucking down little shrimp. It was shallow enough that the redfish backs were just out of the water. I enjoyed watching them for a while as they powered into the grass and the greedy sounds they made eating the shrimp, it was all pretty wonderful to see and hear.

The water was clear way back in there being filtered by all that grass. The whole school of reds were stuffing themselves in a patch of grass about the size of a bedroom. The surrounding water was free of tall grass for several feet around. I just stayed at the ready about 30 feet away. One, then another started to nose their way out of the tall and thicker stuff so I fired over a sliver wired slider just past the fringe of the greenery and brought it towards me and parallel 2 feet outside the edge of the grass. Flash of gold, Fish on! The other fish came out of the vegetation and followed the one that had taken the fly as it weaved in and out of the clumps of green. If the hooked redfish went right, so did the rest. That went on for a bit until I put some more pressure on the fish and arrested its progress. The rest of the school then peeled off, but not really acting too spooked by it all.

I got in the fish, a really handsome 21” or so redfish with deep gold and bronze tones, but lost track of the others while unhooking the one. I scanned around looking for them and shortly I picked up the others about 75 yards away. They were back to feeding and pushing into the scattered clumps of tall grass. As I paddled over, they all huddled up in a small clump of weeds. Slurp, slurp, little shrimp going airborne to attempt an escape, this became quite the show they put on. Most eventually came out the opposite side of the vegetation blocking a cast to them, but a couple cleared the zone to the left just enough to get a short 25’ shot at. This time, I saw the redfish turn and suck in my fly. This fish ran a bit and seemed a lot more ticked off than the first one. He got all his buddies riled up too. I get this one in and the two caught could have been twins with the same deep gold and bronze markings and deep shoulders for a fish that probably was no more than 22”. I looked around, but could not find the others.

That was it. I moved along in the flooded pasture, but didn’t see any more. I wished I had spent more time in the pasture, but hind sight is 20/20. Thank you gulls for the reset. Thank you redfish for being such a cool fish. I’ve had gotten sort of negative about the high water, but the birds and the shallow feeding school of fish turned it into a positive. The whole paddling around in a flooded pasture was a lot more fun than I thought it could have been. Anyway, it all turned out to be a great day
texnomad
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by texnomad »

Anytime it is a fishing rod in your hands instead of a shovel or sledgehammer it is a great day. Thanks for the wonderful report.
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Chubs
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by Chubs »

Great report karst. When I was in the area last week I noticed the water was way higher than it should have been, up over the road to get to the launch even. As I walked back to the truck after our trip I was seeing all sorts of little shrimp and bait fish in the grass that would normally be dry.
I'm sure the shrimp and crabs like getting to those areas for new food sources during the fall flood tides. And the reds are right behind them, I just didn't find them but glad to hear you did!

I'm also sure a trout support lure would work in the grass, but realize you use flys ;)
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YakRunabout
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by YakRunabout »

Great report, Thanks!!
Sounds like you had an enjoyable and relaxing outing.
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Dandydon
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by Dandydon »

Always enjoy your descriptive & exotic (few of us fish w/ FLIES!) fishing reports, Mr. K! And you win the Big Pickle Award for apparently finding the first Fall group of productive BIRDS working... Makes me want to go fishing in these 4 days leading up to a full moon...
I dream of bird action, except I prefer open-water seagulls hovering over schools of legal specks, like Shoffer & I feasted on last October in the bay fronting Sea Isle. In 30 minutes we both limited out.
About 4 years ago we did fish w/ super skiff master Capt. Scott Null, & he put us on a limit of big redfish in Greens Lake, North side of West Bay. That day we got into the big reds because 3 or 4 pesky TERNS were following them around, hovering over them for a heavenly 2 hours on a slow-moving tide. It was fun & intense.
I gotta say that close sight-casting to big slot reds under birds is terrific fishing. Hope to see you on the water.


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Ron Mc
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by Ron Mc »

I have Arroyo lined up in 3 weeks.
We always found big fall trout at SP running up the grassline and watching for pelicans feeding over the bare sand, turn the boat out and beach upwind, then wade downwind to sight-fish.
And yes, gulls feeding is a great sign on the grass.
It's always an amazing feeling when you have the sign of life on the flats, as opposed to miles of still water.
Nice blow-by-blow report- would be Great with a couple of photos.
I like seeing the water (Allyn's lake on St. Jo)
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karstopo
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by karstopo »

I should have stopped and taken a photo or two. The reds in the grass would have been a neat one.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by Ron Mc »

fish sign photos are the coolest, but that's a tough time to think about the camera
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crusher
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by crusher »

Congratulations for catching a couple reds back up in the flooded grass. In general, I have trouble getting the line caught up in the grass when I venture back in to the flooded grass areas. Obviously your cast accuracy is very good! My takeaways from your report is don't ignore a couple birds and don't hesitate to get back deep in to the flooded area that is normally dry. Great report as always, karst.
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karstopo
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by karstopo »

crusher wrote:Congratulations for catching a couple reds back up in the flooded grass. In general, I have trouble getting the line caught up in the grass when I venture back in to the flooded grass areas. Obviously your cast accuracy is very good! My takeaways from your report is don't ignore a couple birds and don't hesitate to get back deep in to the flooded area that is normally dry. Great report as always, karst.
I’m reluctant to get into the grass normally. I’ve had the same frustrations trying to get any offering to a fish with the grass all but being a wall or net preventing the lure or fly to get to the fish. However, I never ignore a little group of birds in real shallow water , these were the black headed gulls, Franklin’s or Laughing, dipping and hovering like these were because it has always meant redfish were underneath. I just got lucky that there was enough open space between the clumps of grass to make a cast feasible.

The experience changed my mind about these giant tides we’ve been having. I normally seek out submerged reefs to fish in super high water and mostly avoid flooded grassy areas. But I now realize some, a lot more than I thought, of these flooded pastures here in Brazoria County have a fair amount of open area without a lot of grass to snag a fly or lure. From now on, I probably won’t be so quick to paddle by them like I have been in the past, but rather take a better look and see if there’s any opportunities in them.
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kickingback
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by kickingback »

Excellent report Kars! Glad you caught some! Would love to get out and fish soon!
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karstopo
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Re: Christmas bay, the birds bail me out.

Post by karstopo »

Two lower slots to hand may not be the most exciting results, but when I go out and search and cover a good amount of water but find nothing that wants to play two lower slots are alright. Some days are easier and the fish almost fall in your lap and sometimes it’s tough to find them, especially with a limited time frame. The late in the day bailout always feels extra good.
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