# Pigs in the shallows- POC report Nov10th



## Demeter (Apr 13, 2006)

On Wednesday, I received an email from Capt. Eric Knipling saying that the weather was predicted to be rough on Saturday. He recommended we reschedule the trip and wait for better flyfishing conditions. I don't have many free weekends available to go down to the coast, and I decided to go regardless of the wind. 
We left Clarks around 7:30 and started throwing topwaters, while waiting for the sun to get high enough to sightcast. Erick showed me a topwater called the ZipNZiggy. It bobs up and down at rest making it very visible from a distance. They are very lightweight, so throwing ZipNZiggys won't tire you out like tossing big TopDogs. I had a couple of blowups on the ZipNZiggy and fought a nice red only to have him spit out the hook moments before we could grab him.
The sun started showing through pockets of clouds and we started seeing fish. These were pigs. I probably saw a dozen of fish over 25inches. Many were laid up along the banks, and we spooked several before we could get a shot at them. With the cloud cover, fish would disappear and then reappear only a few feet away from the skiff. 
We went into a little creek barely wide enough for the Hells bay skiff to pole through that opened into shallow lake. Erick spotted a big redfish, and tried to direct me towards it. I could not see the fish, and I threw out a hail mary shot in the general direction. As I was tracked the fly heading towards the bank, I finally saw the red. The fly landed with a soft splash 2 inches in front of him. A second later the fish rushed towards the fly, flared his gills and I was hooked up. If it the placement had been intentional, it would have rivaled a cast by Lefty Kreh. I almost tossed the fly into his mouth. Unfortunately, It was blind luck instead of a perfectly executed cast. 
Overall, the conditions were tough. The wind was howling, with gusts up to 26 MPH, the clouds limited our sightcasting, but the fish were there. It was cool hunting big reds in little creeks similar to the ones in the hill country that I fish for Guadalupe bass. I got to see a couple of aggressive eats as redfish would corner and blow up on mullet. I had several chances, a few bad casts and few really good casts that resulted in refusals. I hooked a bunch of fish and landed a couple. I nearly ended up with a slam, but both the trout and nice sized flounder that came unbuttoned. Overall, it was a great day during challenging conditions.
A quick note about the guide: I have gone out with several guides, and I think few are as concerned about customer satisfaction as Eric Knipling. Twice now, he recommended to reschedule a trip and wait for better conditions. Eric will pole you a mile against the wind across a shallow flat if he thinks it will get the best shot at a redfish. He enjoys being out on the water and guiding. He is not the type of person who is checking his watch to see if it's time to head back home. In fact, the 1st time I booked a trip with Capt Knipling, he put us on fish, but I just could not put one in the boat. He was determined to get me hooked into a red and he probably poled me around an extra hour and half until I finally landed a red. He has earned my business as a repeat customer. If you are looking for a guide around Rockport or Port O Connor give Eric a call.


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## Demeter (Apr 13, 2006)

*Pics*

Pictures of the trip


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## Laguna Freak (Nov 15, 2006)

*Great report!*

Great report!

Tell me did Eric pole his HB over the shell in that first pic?


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## Demeter (Apr 13, 2006)

*Creeks*

No, I'm sure we turned around before the oyster shells. We did fish a bunch of little creeks, that I probably would not have bothered going into myself. Many of them were filled with bait and redfish. It also gave us a place to hide out from the wind.


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## flyfishingmike (Nov 26, 2010)

Very nice


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## Golden (Aug 1, 2006)

Sometime ask Eric to whip out his little buggy whip spinning rod with 4 lb Ande line and an 1/8th oz gold spoon...and get the net ready - FISH ON!!!


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## miller2013 (Aug 7, 2012)

awesome report!


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