Help! Fly Fishing Jetties?

[Trumpkin]

Alright, I've seen you guys tearing up the fish down on the coast of late, and I'm kind of tired of chasing carp, so...

Anyone on here fly fish off the jetties? Care to help a freshwater guy out? Not looking for a spot, I can guess about that. I really need to hear about fly fishing tactics. I'm debating going to Port A or Corpus this weekend, and taking some serious lumps in the salt.

I have an 8 wt, and I'm not afraid to break it! But I'll avoid that if I can... Am I asking to get my fly rod trashed if I walk way out and start chucking big deceivers, etc?

I don't know **** about timing tides, and I don't even know what all you might run into out there, but I feel like chucking big flies for big fish. I'm not really interested in filling a stringer, so much as I am tangling with something big and mean. There's black drum and Jack Crevalle out there, right?

[hrdwrkncwby76]

Make sure you wear stripping guards. Shrimp & baitfish patterns. Wear them out away from the rocks before you bring them in.


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[stickman]

Paging Rob-AtTheWall

[lovemylegacy]

This is gonna be fun

[AtTheWall]

LOL Chris!

Get a stripping basket from Linekurv and a good compartmentalized backpack for tackle, flies and a few extra fly spools.

You will be better served to fish sinking fly lines with weight forward tapers. And you can and should have a spare spool with a line a weight class or two higher than your blank, to cover wind and add more punch to your casts.

Jetties on SE predominate winds in Texas

Port Aransas, Fish Pass rock groins (false inlet), Packery Channel and or 4 wheel the 60 miles down to Port Mansfield. The further south you go, the more that SE wind starts to blow straight over your back forward and out over the channel.

All of these jetties, the South rocks will put your fly casts over the channel in deeper water. On the North rocks, you will cast your flies over the surf side.

Shop tarpon flies which are larger and typically tarpon bunny and or supersized clouser style flies. Just round up a large range of colors since the fly style isn't as important as the color the fish along the rocks prefer to feed on. A few quality shrimp fly imitations are great to finesse fish. With shrimp flies, a floating weight forward line, 6 - 9ft leader and tippet casting out over the rocks with the wind at your back, and allowing the floating line to act as a cork...is a great way to finesse fish the rocks up tight. Let the tide run the slow sinking shrimp fly down and follow it slowly stripping in line for action.

A few little split shots are great at getting stuff down quickly if the bite is deeper than the sink rate, water current and wind provide control to present.

Little mini Mister Twister colored plastic bodies are great to add a slow swim action to flies. Just impale the little plastic body to the hook shank and mix the colors up to a white and or chrome and or white/red and chrome/red style color. White and red and white/chrome with red are solid starting fly colors. Crab and shrimp colors are good as well.

Little rattle tubes wrapped onto the fly hook shank, using that as the fly body and wrapping fly material around that adds a night and low light sounding element to the fly. And or if the water is off color, a rattling fly will deliver where the sound helps overcome the water clarity/visibility issues.

Think wind......fish a weight or two class higher along the coast to cover. It's more wind challenged than anything.

[AtTheWall]

Fish the first 50 yards off the jetty tips when you fish the channel side.

Fish the sand out the the 3rd breakers when you fish the surf.

For kings, jackfish, spanish mackerel and tarpon....fish the tips on both sides and cast as long as you can.

For tarpon....wait till HIGH SLACK TIDE. You have 30 - 40 minutes here to fish your arse off casting in the hope, these feeding monster minnows pick up your fly. Water will slack up, they will wolf pack the rocks on feed and the hope, you can hook and keep the hook in that bony mouth long enough for a land. With a fly rod, you have a better chance of staying hooked when the poon jumps....the rod blank flexes and bends and whips which helps keep that hooked tarpon hooked.

You will find that out catching highly aerobatic skipjacks on the same flies......and your aerial fish fighting technique will develop quickly for tarpon on fly gear. God bless the lonely skipjack - excellent training for the fly rod fishing aerial purist!

This works with any tackle.....HIGH SLACK TIDE is the key for Texas Jetty Tarpon.

Packery Channel is a solid place for trout, redfish and juvenile tarpon. The water depths in the channel are comfortable and not so deep, a big fish will punish you with fly gear on the rocks. They will fight flatter than Port Aransas and run out more. The South Jetty rocks at Packery have been my king and poon spot thru this set of jetties years in the Coastal Bend. Baby rocks compared to the rest but, they have quickly become a very popular spot for fast action without super hard currents and super deep waters. Fish Pass are awesome for specks, reds and pompano in all surf action only. There is no channel....just rocks that jut out into the surf. Casts here are tighter and more controlled but, both set of rock tip ends go down 15 ft or so at both jetty ends. Snook chill up under the rocks on both sides...all summer long. Along with Sheepshead. Problem with Fish Pass are the snorkeling spearfishers. If you see or hear they are lurking, don't go there.

Port Mansfield jetties, Mangrove Snapper and Snook odds are best here. And tarpon off the South Jetty rocks into the channel......where the sandbars build breakers roughly 100 yards in from the South Jetty tip - High Slack tide you can watch tarpon surf waves in pairs or more, attacking fish over the sandbar breakers....using the waves and foam as camouflage as they surf inbound slashing bait. It's a scene that weakens your knees. Kayak over, sail a skiff out from Port Mansfield and run it up on the sand and rock hop and or drive to Port Isabel and 4x4 to this spot.

What I know....learning more as the years roll on.

[Trumpkin]

Wow! That is so much help! Thank you for being so willing to help, AtTheWall. I really appreciate the advice. I just need to make this trip happen now!

[tward1604]

That's some solid advice. Also try and get a hold of some Surf Candies as well. You don't have to throw giant flies to catch giant fish. I personally throw something in the 3"-4" range most of the time.

I always make sure I have Clousers and Surf Candies.

[sierracharlie338]

Rob is the man! Post up some pics OP if you get into them

[DTala]

most important thing Rob said is get a stripping basket. Line control will be critical to your casting...short casts result from line getting tangled in the rocks.

Put 200 yards of fine diameter braid backing on your reel in case you hook a big king or jack.

Put a 9wt line on that 8wt rod to aid in casting in the ever present wind.

[arrowsmack324]

Heck of a lot of info there awesome post, thanks!

[hooligan]

Strip set

[Trumpkin]

Well, I have enough gear to put together for this trip that it won't happen this Saturday. I thought I had more flies left in my boxes, but it looks like a fly tying session is in order. I'll definitely try to make it happen soon, and take pictures while I'm at it! Thanks again to Rob, and everyone else who's chimed in on this.

[BETTERLUCKYTHANGOOD]

I sure hope there isn't a test at the end of this thread, cause that was a ton of great info AT The Wall. Big thanks!!

[hrdwrkncwby76]

https://youtu.be/BQ6b2EMy-20

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