Fly Fishing the Texas Flats

Saltwater fish are opportunistic feeders, and many fly patterns work well on the Texas flats.

Most guides choose simple, small, lightweight flies because they are easier to cast as well as to tie. Bigger flies will catch bigger fish in salt water, but it is difficult to position a large, wind-resistant fly when a 15- to 25-mph wind is blowing over your shoulder.

Small poppers from about 1 inch to 1-1/4 inches are effective on the Texas flats. Poppers larger than that are difficult to cast in the wind. The little 1-1/4 inch hard-body poppers tied on #4 stainless hooks that were developed by Houston fly-fishing outfitter Brooks Bouldin have become something of a phenomenon on the Texas flats.

Although at first glance they look like something you'd cast to sunfish on a farm pond, a steady, short-strip retrieve on the flats produces the perfect gurgling action of the finger mullet that is such a popular food for redfish and trout.

The little poppers in brown, yellow, or red are effective for blind casting and sight casting and often draw explosive strikes from redfish and trout. The East Cut popper designed by T. J. Neal of Port Mansfield is also an effective pattern on the Texas flats. On days when redfish are particularly skittish, Neal recommends no popping action on the fly, but a steady retrieve that creates a small wake behind the popper.

Crab PatternsTrout and redfish love small marsh crabs, so little crab patterns are effective, especially in the spring and early summer. Even the popping bug imitates a small crab up on the surface. When using this pattern, you can achieve a convincing gurgle action with a short, quick strip that makes the bug skip along the surface from side to side in a zigzag motion. Some guides don't like to throw crab patterns because they find them difficult to tie and cumbersome to cast; but you will frequently find small crabs in the stomach of a redfish.

Captain Scott Sommerlatte, a guide who fly fishes Matagorda Island's marsh lakes on the middle coast, has had great success with his Matagorda Fighting Blue Crab and Blue Crab Slider patterns. The Nix Crab and the Loring Baby Stingray/Crab are two other lightweight crab patterns that have proven effective on redfish.

Speckled Trout Patterns

Among the favorite foods of speckled trout are the croaker and the piggy perch, a member of the grunt family. Bendback fly patterns do a good job of imitating the piggy perch. Finger mullet 2 to 3 inches long are another favorite food of redfish and trout, and can be imitated with deer hair and hackle feathers. Ron Mayfield, an accomplished fly tyer from Pearland, Texas, has designed a deer-hair pin perch imitation, part of his Mohawk Minnow series, that is effective with trout.

Effective Shrimp Patterns

The predominant shrimp species in the Texas bay systems, the white shrimp and the brown shrimp, are two of the best natural summertime baits. When these shrimp are being chased by redfish, they jump away, backward, faster than you can blink an eye. The best saltwater fly tyers think like a game fish, tying shrimp patterns that can be worked backward, like a shrimp trying to get away from a redfish.

A number of shrimp patterns are popular on the Texas coast. When redfish are tailing in shallow water, or when trout and redfish are cruising or schooling in two to three feet of water, the most effective patterns are Cary's Crystal Shrimp, Brook's Shrimp, Nix's Shrimp, Scate's Shrimp, Sheka Rock Shrimp, Petrie Shrimp, and the Cactus Shrimp.

Baitfish and Streamer Patterns

The Rattle Rouser, a bendback pattern with a built-in rattle, works well in murky water because it makes a clicking sound similar to the sound that shrimp make as they propel themselves through the water. Other effective minnow-type patterns for the Texas coast include the Chico's SeaDucer, Lefty's Deceiver, Dahlberg Diver, Clouser Deep Minnow, Grizzly Deceiver, Matt Hoover's Forty, Naiser Slider, Eric's Choice, Cary's Mud Minnow, Cypert Sea Tiger, Scates Hot Butt Bendback, Brooks' Wooly Hair Bug, and Cary's Saltwater Dahlberg.

Pick a Color, Any Color

Effective fly colors include red, pink, white, and chartreuse. On tough days when fish are not actively feeding, guides recommend natural colors such as light browns and greens.

Covering the Water: From Poppers to Clousers

Some fly fishers will say that you should use certain flies on certain days—for example, dark flies on overcast days and light-colored flies on clear, sunny days. But after watching redfish behavior on the Texas flats for years in different situations, we are convinced that color, size, and appearance don't matter much.

If a fly is in the strike zone, the actively feeding fish is going to eat it. That is why having the right color is not as important as carrying a selection of flies that will cover the water column even if the water depth being fished varies only from 8 inches to 4 feet in the course of a day. That means carrying a selection that runs from poppers, slow-sinking shrimp patterns, and Seaducers to faster-sinking bendbacks and lead-eye Clousers.

Often, a bigger challenge than fly selection is making the proper cast and putting the fly in the strike zone of the fish. There are days when a guide will say, "Try this fly; No, let's try this one, no, this one" and go through every shade of color in the rainbow. On those days it often comes down to the ugliest fly in the box.

When Colors Do Count

There are shades of colors that seem to perform better in certain situations. In clear-water situations, guides will opt for darker patterns such as red, whereas chartreuse, white, and pink sometimes do better in off-color water.


© Article copyright Pruett Publishing.