Angling Publications - Index

Angling Publications - Magazine - Index

56
Marauding jackfish show
up in the curling waves in
March. The biggest challenge
is punching casts into gusting
coastal breezes that rake the
gulf coast during the spring.
people, no trash. When I mentioned
the contrast, Sandifer asked quizzically,
“You don’t think I’d keep an
untidy office, do you?”
Having much more pronounced
bottom contours than the upper
Texas coast, the surf below the elbow
is easy to read. “I see everything as
light or dark,” explained Captain
Sandifer. “The sand bars are light
and the guts are dark.”
As we drove down the beach,
large semi-circular pockets of water
scalloped the shoreline. These pockets,
many three to four feet deep,
held aquamarine water. They also
held trout and redfish. Anglers can
stand on the beach and cast shrimp
and baitfish patterns into the first
gut. During summer months, the
best action is during the first few
hours of daylight.
Marauding jackfish show up in
the curling waves in March. The
biggest challenge is punching casts
into gusting coastal breezes that
rake the gulf coast during the spring.
Some Lone Star anglers have had
success with two-handed fly rods,
delivering payloads farther into the
surf than with traditional fly rods.
Regardless of whether you use a
one- or two-handed rod, you should
slip several big rods into the quiver.
Ten- and 12-weight rods are required
to defeat the wind and to fight the
occasional stud jackfish or tarpon.
After driving a few more pleasant
miles down the uninhabited
beach, we reached the Mansfield
Jetties, which provide fly rodders
easy access to deeper water
and the big fish that lurk there.
Arriving around July 4th, Spanish
mackerel are great sport for rock
walkers. Spanish Macarena flies,
developed by Lefty Ray Chapa specifically
for jetty duty, are especially
effective on toothy species, as they
are tied on circle hooks. The circle
hooks lodge in the corner of a fish’s
mouth, thereby reducing cutoffs
and freeing you from using a wire
bite tippet.
Due to the lack of “killer freezes”
in this semi-tropical area over the
last decade, snook populations
have migrated north from the Port
Isabel area. Snook are now routinely
caught at the Mansfield jetties. The
secret to catching them is to fish
deep when the tide is pumping the
hardest. Use heavily weighted lines,
short leaders and flies that sink
quickly. Allow your fly to sink for 20
seconds, or more, before beginning
your retrieve.