# POC report Nov 10



## Demeter (Nov 16, 2011)

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 conditions to be more favorable for flyfishing. 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. Eric showed me a topwater called the ZipNZiggy. At rest floats vertical like a bobber is very visible from a distance. When you start retrieving the lure, it darts to the side like a wounded mullet. They are lightweight, so throwing ZipNZiggys won’t tire you out like tossing big TopDogs. I had a couple of blowups on the ZipNZiggy and fought on nice red only to have him spit out the hook moments before we could grab him.
The sun started showing through pockets of thick clouds and we started seeing redfish. 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 into shadows 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 eventually opened in shallow lake. Eric spotted a big redfish, and tried to direct me towards it. I could not see the fish, and I threw out a hail marry 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 open his mouth, 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. It almost tossed the fly into his mouth. Unfortunately, It was blind luck instead of a perfectly executed double haul. It still got the job done. 
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 ones I fish the hill country that 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 on the Texas Coast, 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 isn’t the guy who is checking his watch to see if its time to head back. 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 I 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 (Nov 16, 2011)




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## Demeter (Nov 16, 2011)




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## Demeter (Nov 16, 2011)




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## Demeter (Nov 16, 2011)




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## Demeter (Nov 16, 2011)




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## Demeter (Nov 16, 2011)




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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Oooh weee! Nice job! Wish I would have made it. We've gotta get together down there sometime.


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