# Christmas Bay this morning



## tstx92 (Jul 10, 2016)

Well, I made it out to Christmas Bay this AM. Today was my first time fly fishing in salt water. It was a horribly frustrating. I'm still pretty new to fly fishing and have a lot to learn. I was surrounded by bait but didn't see a single red and, obviously couldn't get one to hit my fly. I'm hoping to get back out there in the next week. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

They call it Christmas Bay for a specific reason.....hhhmmmm.....Supposed to be best around a certain time of year or something like that.....

You were simply fishing where there weren't fish. Bait everywhere can sometimes be too hard to compete with mother nature. Gotta find bait being hassled by prey fish you are after.

Stay with it!
Get Troutsupport.com....shallow water reds is right up your alley but all of the videos will help you put together a day.


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## Outearly (Nov 17, 2009)

Not sure from your post whether the frustration was from lack of fish, or rather from what I had to learn about line management in the water, and the wind that can be pretty tough with a fly setup. You probably picked up on some equipment you'll need, and probably some you'll leave behind next time, and how to wear it all to avoid line tangles.

I did - and still do sometimes - flail around a bit. It's not like throwing a topwater a mile with flick of a wrist. It's a steep learning curve, but that's what makes it so great to actually land a fish on fly.


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Wading with a fly rod isn't the easiest. Calf deep water is much easier than thigh deep is much easier than waist deep. I don't know how deep you went, but if you went in thigh or waist deep, you started at hard or very hard. 

Why is this? Less clearance between Rod tip and surface, more resistence created by water on fly line, less visibilty or vision because the deeper you go the less you can see. 

Then you have wind. Then the size and weight of the fly makes a huge difference. 

Easier would be unobstructed bank or very shallow water, smaller, nearly weightless flies, and wind coming from your back and quartering from your offhand side and under 10kts. 

Wading isn't impossible. I just would start as shallow as you can and get a feel for line management and casting with a little water created resistance. You can try a stripping basket, I don't like these, but others do. 

Christmas bay has a shallow bar on that south shoreline that starts just below the boat ramp on the more northeast side of the bay and runs all the way to dolphin rd. it's off the bank quite a bit. But at low water, it gets exposed and in normal water it can be pretty shallow and has areas with minimal submerged grass. 

Another area to wade is the surf. What, are you crazy? No, sometimes the wind and waves do lay down and you can stand on first bar, it might be ankle deep, and cast into first gut. There probably won't be redfish, but it's a good place to get the feel for wading on a hard bottom and get some shots at trout. The freeport harbor has some public spaces that are shore fishable. Good place to practice casting and get a fish, maybe a trout, maybe a giant ribbon fish. One last place that has shallow wadeable spots that offers shots at reds is behind pier 30 just over the levee on the way to Surfside. The big square once upon a time dirt pit now lake has some firm shallow bars that fall away to deeper water. I have beached my Commander there and casted in ankle deep water and caught rat reds anyways. There are some firm flats out there too and they are plenty shallow and reds certainly get on them at times. Go over by the freeport jetties, at the end of ft Velasco. That area is wadeable, just wear good boots and proceed slowly and carefully. There are firm areas around cold pass that are shallow and wadeable and hold reds at times. Google earth is your friend in these searches.


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

There are other wade friendly areas. A kayak make getting to them easier. At Christmas bay, I like the water on the inland side of the boat cut to Churchill. It's firm and there isn't much submerged grass and reds and trout get up on that flat. 

Parts of drum bay around the mid bay kayak launch is firm bottomed and shallow. Fish get up against that shoreline. 

I really like Christmas bay but more in the cooler months. The extreme southern part of the bay below acadia reef has a shallow grassy shelf that extends out into the bay. There are a few little coves in that area too that are shallow and could have sight castable reds.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

tstx92 said:


> Well, I made it out to Christmas Bay this AM. Today was my first time fly fishing in salt water. It was a horribly frustrating. I'm still pretty new to fly fishing and have a lot to learn. I was surrounded by bait but didn't see a single red and, obviously couldn't get one to hit my fly. I'm hoping to get back out there in the next week. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.


Congrats for trying...that's half the battle. My respect to you for posting a true report.

My tip: don't be frustrated, enjoy the experience, and learn from it.

Hopefully, you will look back on this as a learning experience...we have all been there.


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## tstx92 (Jul 10, 2016)

Outearly said:


> Not sure from your post whether the frustration was from lack of fish, or rather from what I had to learn about line management in the water, and the wind that can be pretty tough with a fly setup. You probably picked up on some equipment you'll need, and probably some you'll leave behind next time, and how to wear it all to avoid line tangles.
> 
> I did - and still do sometimes - flail around a bit. It's not like throwing a topwater a mile with flick of a wrist. It's a steep learning curve, but that's what makes it so great to actually land a fish on fly.


The frustration was born from all of the above. No fish is always frustrating but thats the game you play when you go fishing. The wading was just tough and my cast is still pretty brutal. I'm stubborn, and not going to give up. I was even warned that this was going to happen.


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## tstx92 (Jul 10, 2016)

karstopo said:


> There are other wade friendly areas. A kayak make getting to them easier. At Christmas bay, I like the water on the inland side of the boat cut to Churchill. It's firm and there isn't much submerged grass and reds and trout get up on that flat.
> 
> Parts of drum bay around the mid bay kayak launch is firm bottomed and shallow. Fish get up against that shoreline.
> 
> I really like Christmas bay but more in the cooler months. The extreme southern part of the bay below acadia reef has a shallow grassy shelf that extends out into the bay. There are a few little coves in that area too that are shallow and could have sight castable reds.


Dude, you are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for all of the tips and recommendations! I will try a few of these spots, hopefully I'll be able to get back out there next week. Seriously man, so much gratitude for all of the help!


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## tstx92 (Jul 10, 2016)

Meadowlark said:


> Congrats for trying...that's half the battle. My respect to you for posting a true report.
> 
> My tip: don't be frustrated, enjoy the experience, and learn from it.
> 
> Hopefully, you will look back on this as a learning experience...we have all been there.


Absolutely brother! I was still stoked to be off the cement and in some water! And I'm sure I'll keep learning from my mistakes and get this sport figured out at some point. Especially with all of the help from you guys. Thanks!


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## Permit Rat (May 13, 2014)

Maybe try to change your attitude. By this I mean, instead of _going fishing_, you're going out to practice your casting, "under actual fishing conditions." You have already discovered, that casting on the water is a helluva lot different than on land! So this form of practice certainly can't hurt.

Secondly, and I don't know if this is practical for you....or even possible....but as much as I love to fly fish, I do a lot of prospecting with spinning or casting tackle. It is a much faster and more efficient way to find fish in any given area where you would normally be blind casting a fly rod. Fishing the surf would be an exception to this, but I never fish the surf and probably never will. My idea of wading is knee-deep or less.

One last thing to remember, is that being new to fly casting, you're going to fatigue and this will happen no matter how well your tackle matches your casting style. Simply put, you're using different muscle groups that are specific to fly casting and those muscles will start to give. It won't hurt so much, as they will become weaker and you'll try to compensate with other muscle groups, resulting in a much sloppier cast, which will lead to more frustration, etc. etc. etc. The key will be to be able to recognize when you are starting to get tired and quit for a while. Sloppy casting can turn into a bad habit very quickly, especially for a newcomer.

In the meantime, get out there and have fun.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Feb 16, 2009)

Don't feel bad dude.

When I first started fly fishing it took me a long time and many skunked trips to land my first reds on the fly.

First, I was a pretty poor caster so I blew a lot of shots because I couldn't put the fly where it needed to be. I've improved a lot in this regard.

Second, prior to taking up the buggy whip I hadn't done much sight-casting. It was a lot more chuck & wind. Sure, I looked to the signs like nervous bait, tails, wakes, and the smell of trout feeding but I was terrible at seeing fish in the water so I missed a lot of chances until I was about a half-second away from spooking a fish.

Finally, throw in the difficulties of fly casting while wading or in a kayak as mentioned above and the learning curve can be really steep.

So stick with it and remember that it's a numbers game. Just keep finding fish and putting the fly in front of them and they'll eat it.


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## Fishsurfer (Dec 14, 2014)

If it is easy its not worth doing. Just keep going and it will come together eventually. We are about to have some amazing days in the surf (as we already have had this year) and if you throw shiny Clousers and even poppers you will catch something. Just be ready to get broke off because some of em have teeth.


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## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

Permit rat and Finn both nailed it. Stamina is a for sure issue early in the learning curve. I couldn't do much more than 15 minutes at a time at first. For a year plus I always took along a baitcaster and I still do now when I need a break from the whip.

And don't think you have to solely sight cast. You can fish structure while working on your cast and building skills and stamina. I catch more fish fishing sign and structure than strictly sight casting to visible fish. There will be days where sight casting is beyond tough. A great place to wade is along an exposed windward shoreline or reef. You probably won't be able to see any fish, but the wind, waves and mud will let you get pretty close without being detected. Work on hitting targets close to the shoreline and possibly, probably pick up a red or flounder. Just an idea.


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## salty_waders (Feb 13, 2006)

You did the best and most appropriate thing to get started, and that's actually going out and trying! A lot of good information provided already. Reds don't tail/feed everywhere and everyday. I call them "happy" when they're tailing and feeding in shallow water. Keep going and looking and you'll find an area that holds happy redfish. I often use binoculars on a calm morning to scan a flat and/or shoreline for signs of tails and blowups. I'll stop the boat and spend 15 mins scanning, listening, and looking before I commit to a wade. When you cast to your first tailing fish your heart will be thumping and you'll never forget it. Keep at it!!


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## tstx92 (Jul 10, 2016)

Thanks again, everyone, for all of the tips and words of encouragement. I'll keep getting out there and trying!!


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## Bruce J (Jun 27, 2004)

I'd recommend getting a stripping basket if you're going to do much wading. There's a wide variety of them out there, but the one I found most useful is the old "Orvis" type which was a gray hard plastic boxy shape with a wide waist belt. Otherwise, even if you're a pretty accomplished caster, it can be frustrating trying to shoot some line only to find that you've stepped through a loop, or picked up a wad of grass.

Another thing that you'll find is that once your casting improves in terms of distance, the efficiency of your blind casting goes up exponentially. For example, if you're starting out and can only cast about 30 feet, you only have two options, and both are poor. Either you only strip the fly a couple of times before recasting - because you need enough fly line still out in front of you to load the rod properly for your next cast. Or, you strip the fly most of the way back in and then have to make a bunch of false casts to get enough line back outside the rod tip again for a proper cast. In the first case you are covering only a tiny area of water with each cast. In the second case you're fishing only water that is probably too close to yourself anyway, and you'll exhaust yourself with false casts. All very frustrating...

If you can lengthen your casts to a still pretty modest 50 feet, then suddenly you're fishing the fly back for at least 20 feet before recasting each time, and then you're only using one false cast. Your efficiency and enjoyment and success will be hugely greater.

As Permit Rat wisely said, think of your next few/several outings as casting practice, working on your technique - and particularly a double haul. When that becomes more natural for you, the fish count will really start going up.


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## tstx92 (Jul 10, 2016)

Bruce J said:


> I'd recommend getting a stripping basket if you're going to do much wading. There's a wide variety of them out there, but the one I found most useful is the old "Orvis" type which was a gray hard plastic boxy shape with a wide waist belt. Otherwise, even if you're a pretty accomplished caster, it can be frustrating trying to shoot some line only to find that you've stepped through a loop, or picked up a wad of grass.
> 
> Another thing that you'll find is that once your casting improves in terms of distance, the efficiency of your blind casting goes up exponentially. For example, if you're starting out and can only cast about 30 feet, you only have two options, and both are poor. Either you only strip the fly a couple of times before recasting - because you need enough fly line still out in front of you to load the rod properly for your next cast. Or, you strip the fly most of the way back in and then have to make a bunch of false casts to get enough line back outside the rod tip again for a proper cast. In the first case you are covering only a tiny area of water with each cast. In the second case you're fishing only water that is probably too close to yourself anyway, and you'll exhaust yourself with false casts. All very frustrating...
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips! I'll look into the casting basket, that sounds like it would be nice.


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## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

I went through about a 10 year stretch of salt fly fishing. We would run to the flats we were going to fish, and always bought the fly equipment.

About half the time it was just too windy to _comfortably_ use the buggy whip, and would use bait caster and leave flyrod in the boat.

But, when conditions were right, I would stick my flyrod down the back of my jeans and take off on a long wade, using the baitcaster, but having the flyrod real handy, if I came upon RF. Right handed, lean it to the left and take off. It is just a lot easier blind casting with the baitcaster than with the fly equipment.

We caught quite a few reds on the flies. I limited out maybe 8 or 10 times, over the 10 years, on fly equipment. If you catch a red on baitcaster, pull out the fly, if you come upon tailing RF, pull out the fly.

A fly rod purist might frown at my method, but was quite a bit of fun, and didn't just wear you out blind casting with it. Never used a basket, but might help someone.

Pop used to laugh at me.......he said with the fly rod sticking up out of my rear end I looked like a roadrunner taking off across the flats!! LOL

Hope this helps
Later
R3F


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