# Texas Coast: view from the skiff



## sjrobin

Video down for website update. Check gulfcoastedgellc.com
Update: A couple of new videos up.
Good times fishing out of my old Waterman and other video from the Pro and Glades Skiff.
I hope the link works. First time to try to post video here.
Also some scenic boat rides and fishing from the Laguna Madre, Baffin Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Matagorda Bays, and Galveston Bays, from the last six months or so.. If this works and some of you people like it I will post more video reports. I had to chose a public share icloud option.


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## sjrobin

Ninety one views. No comments.


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## Whiskey Angler

sjrobin said:


> Ninety one views. No comments.


The sharing platform is very user friendly. I actually downloaded the vids so I could watch them once I got away from work. I enjoyed the vids, and it looked like some excellent water you were fishing! Thanks for posting!


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## Megalops

Nice vids man. What fly did you catch the sheep on?


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## sjrobin

Whiskey Angler said:


> The sharing platform is very user friendly. I actually downloaded the vids so I could watch them once I got away from work. I enjoyed the vids, and it looked like some excellent water you were fishing! Thanks for posting!


Thanks for the feedback Whiskey. I was thinking maybe some people can not open the files.


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## sjrobin

After a lot of tentative takes and misses I tried a foam green crab. The green foam pigment got washed/bleached and shredded by sheepshead. It is called the "lunch lady" by SS Flies.


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## Megalops

Thanks man!


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## T Bone

Awesome videos Steve! Your videos have always been some of my favorites. Cool ass skiffs and skinny water!


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## sjrobin

T Bone said:


> Awesome videos Steve! Your videos have always been some of my favorites. Cool ass skiffs and skinny water!


Thanks T-Bone


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## sjrobin

I am going to start rotating videos thru this post. Let me know if I start to repeat.


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## scout177

Those are great videos Steve, thanks for posting. I grew up fishing matagorda...driving on beach to the back lakes...brings back good memories. 

Attaboy on the sheephead, can't say I have ever seen anyone sucker them into taking a fly sightfishing. I remember in the winter huge schools of sheeps would roam the flats and very skittish.

I assume you mainly fish Corpus and south? I remember the days of clear water around matagorda and galveston were few and far between due to wind/mud.


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## sjrobin

scout177 said:


> Those are great videos Steve, thanks for posting. I grew up fishing matagorda...driving on beach to the back lakes...brings back good memories.
> 
> Attaboy on the sheephead, can't say I have ever seen anyone sucker them into taking a fly sightfishing. I remember in the winter huge schools of sheeps would roam the flats and very skittish.
> 
> I assume you mainly fish Corpus and south? I remember the days of clear water around matagorda and galveston were few and far between due to wind/mud.


Thanks Scout. Glad you like the videos. I have lived along the Texas coast my entire life also. Caught my first speckled trout in the Matagorda surf in the mid nineteen sixties, so I have seen a lot of changes in the bays, like more red fish due to the old GCCA political action (gamefish status for reds and trout.) Also less freshwater water making it to the bays due to increasing population and industrial water demand and the expanding range of sea grass and mangroves as far north as West Galveston Bay due to thirty years of warmer winter weather. For those reasons, bay water clarity and sight fishing shallow water has improved on the upper coast. I still fish conventional lures occasionally but pretty much switched to sight cast fly fishing about fifteen years ago. Port Mansfield is my favorite remote location but to keep it interesting I hunt fish from the Rio Grande to the Sabine. I don't normally target sheepshead but if the reds are scarce and the convicts are large we will switch to a sheepshead fly. Very challenging.


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## scout177

Yes Sir, Port Mansfield is one of the last frontiers at least as I remembered it when fishing in 1980's; beautiful water down there and lots of big trout. Sounds like you are living the dream over there. I visited Florida 15 years ago and found out just how much fishing I was missing....the homesickness of leaving TX didn't last long; water clarity and fishing here is tremendous...wind does not blow all the time like there.

Seems you are a rare breed over there fishing tech skiffs...I visited Port o Connor a few years ago and most everyone was running big scooters and getting out to wade. I don't think I saw one skiff leaving the very busy marina.

I bet that hells bay works well in those back lakes. I have an 18' waterman and could imagine it opens up alot of areas for you.


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## sjrobin

Yes sir it does. Poling a skiff in Texas wind is work. Not what most people would call a relaxing way to spend time. Most people will not or can not do it. Plus as you know you have to cross big water in Texas to get to some of the best edges for sight fishing. Where do you fish in Florida? I will be pulling the skiff to the glades a couple of times this year. Not sure of the dates yet. Also plan on making a stop in St. Jo Bay. Where would you recommend fishing in Florida to get away from the crowds?

Thanks,

Steve Robinson


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## scout177

I fish mainly indian river and mosquito lagoon now but used to fish St. Joe alot; st.joe is the perfect away from crowds spot that you may have inadvertently stumbled upon...look no further. St.Joe bay is an excellent sight fishing destination as it is one of the few bays that does not have a river dumping into it; that is why it is crystal clear all the time. I have sight fished St. Joe extensively for many years but haven't been up that way in 6 years after moving further south. The glades are special but if you are all about hunting/sight fishing, St.Joe is as far as you need to go. I will PM you a map of how and where I fished St.Joe.


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## sjrobin

Thank you sir.


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## Sublime

More and more poling skiffs showing up here on the Texas coast. I struggle with that. It's cool to see people doing the same thing you love to do, but on the other hand I don't like to share back lakes and shorelines lol. The waders here you can kind of leap frog around, but you can't do that when you show up to your favorite stretch and there's a skiff already there. Oh well, despite what people say, there is plenty of water to go around most of the time.


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## Net 30

I liked that West Galveston vid the best with the cool eat! Once you get enough footage together, would be nice if you edited all into a tight 4 minute video...good stuff.

Seeing all that clear water makes me jealous...the water here in FL looks like chit and shows no sign of getting better. Enjoy what you got - wind and all.


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## sjrobin

Net 30 said:


> I liked that West Galveston vid the best with the cool eat! Once you get enough footage together, would be nice if you edited all into a tight 4 minute video...good stuff.
> 
> Seeing all that clear water makes me jealous...the water here in FL looks like chit and shows no sign of getting better. Enjoy what you got - wind and all.


Thanks Net. Yes I do need to edit more and put together a short composite.


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## Tomfsu51

Man - makes me wish I had my fly rod right now! Nicely done


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## jsnipes

Nice vids Steve! Some pretty weather...look fwd to getting out there this Spring


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## sjrobin

jsnipes said:


> Nice vids Steve! Some pretty weather...look fwd to getting out there this Spring


Thanks Jon.


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## Finn Maccumhail

Great vids. I just saw this thread.

Looks like we hunt a lot of the same water but your Waterman will definitely go where I can't in the panga.

Regarding the water clarity, I moved to Houston in 2003 after my first job out of college took me to DC for a couple years. I can tell you that the water clarity in West Galveston Bay and the surrounding marsh, etc has improved exponentially in those 13 years.

It used to be the only clear water you could find consistently was around San Luis Pass when you had a good clean, incoming tide that would push over a giant sand flat. Or maybe in the dead of winter after a norther blew itself out- again over a sand flat. And only in a handful of areas.

It's substantially better these days and unless the wind is absolutely howling I can almost always find good, clear water in the bay or back lakes.


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## sjrobin

Thanks Finn. Yes sir that's right. You can tell from the vids I am an old guy and I have fished West Bay since the early seventies. Not the same fishery. Less oyster and more aquatic grasses, mangrove snapper, and mangroves where there was none even twenty years ago.
Milder winters and less nutrients equals better water clarity. Fun times sight casting now. I don't use conventional tackle and lures much.


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## sjrobin

Thanks Tom.


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## fishicaltherapist

SJ, thanks for sharing. I fished Galveston in the 80's & sure has changed for the better !! Moved to Florida 25 years ago. May put Tx on the ol' "bucket list."


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## sjrobin

Your welcome fishical. Water quality and clarity in the upper coast has improved a great deal the past forty years.


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## EdK13

Good stuff! Amazing how many Reds stayed put this winter, especially around POC , Seadrift. Winter mildness, rain, and abundance of food perhaps account for the phenomenon, real or perceived, or - maybe I just got lucky.


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## Sublime

I know exactly where you were in one of those vids. The one running the creek and past the duck blind on the port side. Did you try the long straight ditch just west of there?


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## sjrobin

Like you said Sublime, it's a small world with a lot of people in it. I am not a secret spot guy(no such thing in shallow water) but I work hard to find shallow fish and I do not give them away. I also don't network. I like to find them myself. I guess you could say posting these videos is a way to give people a view of what this sport is about and encourage others to try it. Maybe the next generation will do a better job taking care of our coast in the long term if people can experience the views.


Sublime you ready to try out that Glades X?


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## sjrobin

EdK13 said:


> Good stuff! Amazing how many Reds stayed put this winter, especially around POC , Seadrift. Winter mildness, rain, and abundance of food perhaps account for the phenomenon, real or perceived, or - maybe I just got lucky.


They always stay put. Just different places.


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## EdK13

sjrobin said:


> They always stay put. Just different places.


Always is a term I avoid at all costs when it comes to fishing, but then again, the Fish Gods have punished me...more than a few times for being cocky..


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## Sublime

sjrobin said:


> Like you said Sublime, it's a small world with a lot of people in it. I am not a secret spot guy(no such thing) but I work hard to find shallow fish and I do not give fish away. I also don't network. I like to find them myself. I am posting these to give people a view of what this sport is about.
> Ready to try out that Glades X?


I wasn't busting your chops. When I started the video I was thinking that is a cool little creek and then I was like wait a minute lol. Biggest red from that bay caught on my old skiff came from that place.

I'm getting close on the Glades X. Jack Foreman has gone awol on me lol. Just need a prop. I might put it in the water Sunday evening and putt around a little with the aluminum prop.


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## sjrobin

No problem Sublime, glad you like the videos. Edk I am not cocky, just really sure of myself. Winter time reds don't really go anywhere, they just push shallow in different places from the Rio Grande to the Sabine.


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## Sublime

sjrobin said:


> No problem Sublime, glad you like the videos. Edk I am not cocky, just really sure of myself. Winter time reds don't really go anywhere, they just push shallow in different places from the Rio Grande to the Sabine.


Yes, keep the vids coming. I like me some tiller skiffs.


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## EdK13

"Edk I am not cocky, just really sure of myself. Winter time reds don't really go anywhere, they just push shallow in different places from the Rio Grande to the Sabine."

HEHE- I used to be cocky...was not referring to you Capt. That was until I lost my 20 year Florida pattern when I moved to Texas. I was under the impression that Larger Reds move more than trout and not as much as Flounder. Thought I read that in a tagging study some years back. I mainly do Matty to Ingleside and it darn sure seems like there are no fish around some days. Excuse me if I cane off edgy- boat shopping for a new rig does that to me..


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## sjrobin

Here is my best story on how hardy and tough red drum are. In the winter of 1983 the Texas coast had below freezing temperatures for I think ten days straight. Fish kills were incredible, especially in the very shallow Laguna Madre. In early May after the freeze I took a seventy mile boat ride from Bird Island Basin to Port Mansfield. Every land mass had dead fish stacked a foot high in some places. Mullet, croaker, black drum, and speckled trout made up the bulk of the bones and skin. I did not see one red drum carcass. We waded a windward shoreline and caught very strong red fish on Sprite gold spoons for two days. The reds were feeding on an explosive blue crab hatch. I wonder why the blue crabs had such a great hatch that spring and summer? Some of the best red fish catching I have ever done.


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## Sublime

Yep, 83 was a bad freeze. I think after that is when they put some restrictions in place on barge movement so it didn't adversely effect the fish seeking the ICW for protection. 1989 was another freeze but not near as bad as 83.


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## salt_fly

sjrobin said:


> https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0i5cLqfNrR2Gm
> Good times fishing out of my old Waterman in Matagorda and other video from the Pro.
> I hope the link works. First time to try to post video here.
> Also some scenic boat rides from Baffin Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, and I think Chocolate Bay from earlier this year. If this works and some of you people like it I will post more video reports. I had to chose a public share icloud option.


The two vids with the schools coming down the shoreline straight at the skiff are GREAT! Makes me long for October/November. I would (and do) drive three hours for one shot like that.


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## sjrobin

Yea that was a nice day Salt. Too bad I was solo on a Wednesday. Usually tight schools like that are smaller fish, but those were large for Texas. Fast movers on a mission. Hope it inspires you to fish more and help take care of our bays.


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## sjrobin

Rotating some video. Hope you guys like it.


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## FXSBT26

Thanks for the great videos....I'm in the oil and gas business and have plenty of time to enjoy this sort of stuff these days!


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## sjrobin

Your welcome FXS. Crude prices starting to creep so I hope your business picks up. Sight fishing weather has not been good here for over three weeks. 

Steve


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## FXSBT26

sjrobin said:


> Your welcome FXS. Crude prices starting to creep so I hope your business picks up. Sight fishing weather has not been good here for over three weeks.
> 
> Steve


Thanks Steve, Hoping that business picks up a little, but not too much.....been fishing often since the slowdown....and at this stage of my life, fishing is more important than working. Finally!!!!!


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## sjrobin

More videos rotated in.


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## Bryan_G

That looks like the same chocolate milk I have been seeing. Looks like it doesn't slow you down any though! Nice videos, thanks for sharing.


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## Sublime

That popper eat was nice and I like the low tide.


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## Whiskey Angler

Steve,
Great videos, and it looks like you are helping your customers make some great memories out on the TX waters. Thank you for sharing with us.


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## sjrobin

Thanks guys. First good sight casting weather in Texas in four weeks. And remember I can go almost any day. But that is the way of this sport. No amount of technology or cool gear or $$ can get you these chances. You just have to go with what nature gives you. Most of the video locations I post I have never fly fished before. So I don't get tired of it.


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## sjrobin

A couple of new videos up. If we don't get better weather soon get used to re-runs. I am starting to run out of recent shots and may have to go retro.


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## sjrobin

Out of video for now and reducing content per advice.


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## scissorhands

go fish, the weathers has been terrific


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## sjrobin

A few more videos up from last week. Baffin Bay and Port Mansfield.


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## sjrobin

A couple of new videos up.


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## reddoc

sjrobin said:


> A couple of new videos up.


Nice pics/video. What video camera would you recommend? Doing mainly skinny saltwater fishing as well. Keep the post coming!


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## GullsGoneWild

great vids!


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## sjrobin

I like the GoPro Session for fast one button start. I also use the older Hero 3 black. More versatile for stills. Either one works well but no zoom.


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## sjrobin

I am currently rotating videos on the website gulfcoastedgellc.com .


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