Alex Esquivel booked a 1/2 day fly fishing trip with me today. He has fished for Rainbow trout on the Guadalupe river but had never gone out and targeted Red fish in the local marshes out of a poling skiff. This was a learning trip for Alex. Some times your way ahead of the game if you hire a guide to show you what flies and equipment you need in your area, other wise it can be a costly and frustrating experience. We had a beautiful cool morning with a light East wind stirring the flats as the skiff glided slowly across the water at first light. We started the morning fishing a Dalburg diver surface fly. Alex got a nice blow up after about 10 minuets but the hook missed it's mark, any way it was a great wake up call. We fished for a while with out any more interest so we changed over to a "Capt. Tom Hornby" Spoon fly. It wasn't long before Alex was hooked up with a healthy juvenile"rat" red fish that was hanging right up against the grass line. Alex was fishing an Orvis Zero "G" 8 wt fly rod that had a mid flex action. The Orvis store in Houston located on Westheimer carries these flies and rods. The size of these fish are just right for the tackle we were using. The further we pushed back into the marsh the more fish we started to see. The cooler water temperatures seem to have moved the Sheep's heads back onto the flats also as we saw several of them tailing in the shallows. We missed a few fish and spooked a few fish and wound up putting three of the beautiful Rat Reds in the boat. We didn't get any slot sized fish today but we did spook two of them. Apparently they were laid up in the back of a pocket asleep. Alex had made several good cast across the area before we poled in to fish the back side and the fish never moved until I pushed the skiff right up on them. It's amazing that a 26 inch fish can go unseen in 12 inches of water right under your nose even when your looking for them? Both Alex and I thought the trip was a success as Alex boated three fish on his 1st trip and greatly improved his casting skills. I'm looking forward to our next outing. With the numbers of 17 to 19 inch fish I have seen in the marsh this year I'm really looking forward to next spring when these fish will have grown into the mid 20 inch class. Studies have shown that juvenile Red fish stay in the same areas until they reach maturity and head out into the Gulf to spawn.

Tight lines,Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/