Thanksgiving Break!

It's the most wonderful time of the year on the Lower Laguna Madre!-Capt. Randy

Black Friday?

This is the way we prefer to spend the day after Thanksgiving! Giving Thanks! Com eon down! The water is fine!-Capt. Randy

My Girl

On Sunday Truett (my 17 year old son) and I took Allyssa (my 14 year old daughter) out for our first duck hunt of the year. In Texas duck season always starts with a weekend dedicated to youth hunting only.  So, we took two bags of decoys and one twenty gauge shotgun. My little girl made me so proud! Her first duck-and an incredible shot out of the air. Looks like its going to be a great season. We have so many ducks down here! Consider coming down for a guided duck hunt. We would love to have you! Capt. Randy

Another First!

This fall has kept me busy helping anglers new to the sport of saltwater fly fishing catch their first red on a fly. Her is another success story. George caught his first red on a fly rod yesterday after a morning of throwing at severe reds, breaking off a monster red, and realizing just exactly how the game is played. Congratulations George! I hope back down here real soon!

To everyone else; come on down! This is my favorite time of year for fly fishing the Lower Laguna Madre-Capt. Randy, kingfisher inn

First Red on Fly

A new day brought another opportunity for me to guide anglers who were looking to land their first redfish on a fly rod. Mission accomplished! Congratulations to John and John. We had a great day! Not another boat around. Mostly because no other boat besides the Stilt is able to get to the spot we fished all day long! Come on down! Fall fishing is upon us. Capt. Randy

First Red on a Fly for New Clients

One of my specialties as a guide is helping new clients catch their first redfish on a flyrod. For my new friends, Bob and Michelle, this was a special weekend. We had a magical day in a favorite westside lagoon marked by tailing reds and clear water that lasted late into the afternoon. The both caught their first redfish on a fly rod. A great day on the water. A side note; without my new Stilt from Newwater Boatworks, there is no way we could have reached the ultra shallow water venue we fished. There was not one other boat in sight. On a Saturday! Come on down! This is my favorite time of year for fly fishing the Lower Laguna Madre. Capt. Randy

An evening on the water with my sons!

After a very  busy week of guiding fly fishing and dove hunting clients, I finally took Truett and Nolan out in the new Stilt. We pushed the skiff away from the dock at 5PM on Sunday evening. As you can see, we had a great time and motored home in the dark. Nothing quite like being on the water with these guys!

Comaraderie

Tuesday was a great day on the water made possible by beautiful weather and great company. Randall Oudt and his father John were a fine couple of clients to spend the day with. As some of you know, I recently lost my father. The camaraderie I saw between Randal and John reminded me of my father. 

The Laguna was good to us and a few fish were landed. I remember two statements that made me smile: "This is the first redfish I have caught on a fly in 20 years", and "This is the biggest redfish I have ever caught on a fly".

enjoy the photos. And get down here to fish with us soon! The laguna is beautiful in the fall and my new Stilt needs some more breaking in!-Capt. Randy

Amazing two days of dove hunting and fly fishing with great clients from Austin. Here are the pics. Notice my new ride! Will write more later.

The Upper Shelf of the Sand

As we motored away from the dock Friday morning we discussed water levels, low wind, the possibility of a very sunny day, and all the other ingredients necessary for a fine day of sight fishing on the Lower Laguna Madre. We discussed the appropriate flies for the west side in the morning and the east side in the afternoon. We discussed poling skiffs and tunnel hulls. Nervous excitement has a way of getting all the preliminary questions and discussions out of the way in a hurry. What I did not reveal right away was my cautious optimism regarding the day. Even though the water had been unusually high for the last few days, all the other necessary conditions were lining up and I was excited about the opportunity to explore some areas that had been dry land a week prior.

Our first stop confirmed my sense that it was going to be a good day. We poled in 5 inches of water for about thirty minutes as redfish slammed the shoreline chasing baitfish. While this spectacle make for a startlingly good time, we decided to get off the boat and wade in order to get just a few feet closer to these fish. We were off the boat and on foot in less than a foot of water for only 5 minutes before our approach paid off. This picture shows the fruit of our labor in this favorite west side venue. This was Bart's first redfish on the fly. In fact, it was his first time to ever fly fish in saltwater! Way to go Bart! As you readers know if you follow my blog, one of my favorite experiences is helping novice saltwater fly fishers catch their first redfish on the fly.
We spent the late morning hitting at least 5 spots that held fewer fish than I had hoped for. The temporary change in water levels had moved the fish. That was fine! I love the challenge that comes every few weeks of determining the latest pattern that redfish have developed. So we went looking. And we were not disappointed! We ended up on the upper shelf of the east side sand by early afternoon and spent the rest of the day chasing so man large redfish in 5 inches of water. The conditions were perfect and the fish were so visible in the light of the full sun. Bart elected to forgo wading and stay on the boat the rest of the afternoon, which was a treat for me. I love poling when the fish are there. And they were there that day. Congratulations to Bart for his first successful fly fishing experience!

Come on down and fish with us. The weather and water are fine!

Yellowstone on the Fly

I'm home! I survived, even enjoyed, a two week road trip with my wife, Lydia, and our 5 children to Yellowstone National PArk and back. For those of you who are not exactly familiar with how far south we are located, that is an 1800 mile trip EACH WAY!  In total we drove over 4000 miles in a minivan. My third trip to Yellowstone. I don't think I will ever get used to the spectacle of volcanic activity inside the caldera or the spectacle of wildlife in Lamar Valley. Yellowstone is my second favorite place to be in the whole world...second only to the Lower LAguna Madre. It's good to be home and be back out on the water catching big, strong redfish. It snowed on us in Yellowstone! I'm like a lizard; I LOVE  the heat. It's so good to be home.

But, this is a fishing blog and, as you can see from the photos, we fished Yellowstone. For those of you fortunate enough to be familiar with the Yellowstone/Snake River area, you probably already know that we were there just a few weeks too early for fishing. There were so many streams and rivers still blown out from the runoff of this winter's snowpack. We knew this before arriving, but decided to pack our six piece travel rods and hope for the best. Thanks to the helpful staff at High Country Flies/Jack Dennis Outdoors in Jackson, Wyoming, we were armed with several dozen local flies and, most importantly, information and directions! W spent a few hours on three different days fishing the Firehole, Gibbon, and Madison Rivers. We caught enough rainbows and brown trout to put smiles on the faces of me and my boys. We caught most of our fish on dry flies casting to visible fish and, at times, nothing more than what looked to be productive, slower moving water. Even though I spent twelve years fishing small streams and tailwater in New Mexico, I felt very much out of my element on this trip. It's so, so good to be home! 

As always my boys fishing tenacity made me proud! We will continue to dream of catching a Cutthroat in Slough Creek. It will happen one day! In the meantime, get down here and join us for some red fishing. Summer fishing patterns are in full swing.

Podding Redfish

My two favorite fly fishing endeavors are: 1. watching my oldest son, Truett, stalk redfish with a fly rod, and 2. introducing someone to the art of salt water fishing. Saturday I was able to combine both! Truett and I took my brother-in-law, Solomon, on his first fly fishing excursion.

Just minutes before the sun came up we gently pushed the skiff away from the dock under clouds and a little more wind than I really like to start the day with; but, we were on the water and it just felt like a good morning was about to unfold.

Motoring down the ICW Truett and I clearly had our game faces on. We were both studying the water depth at the shoreline and looking for any sign that laughing gulls might be giving away the location of a pod of redfish. Birding and podding has lasted longer this year than normal and we were really counting on some birding action in order to catch fish that morning. A brief greeting as Scott and his clients motored by, then we were back to the business at hand. And....there it was! Birding! The telltale sign of laughing gulls hovering only inches over the water diving down, frantically chasing airborne shrimp fleeing a hungry pod of redfish! In our efforts to wave and greet our good friend  motoring by we had almost missed it!

I abruptly swang the skiff around 180 degrees and up onto a shall flat, then killed the outboard 150 yards upwind of the pod. I climbed up onto the poling platform as Truett tied on a gold Kingfisher Spoon. One cast was all it took for Truett to hookup and land our first redfish of the day...just as the sun rose above the horizon.

Several pods later and several fish in hand, we were happy, satisfied anglers. I pointed the skiff toward the Arroyo and we all seemed OK with the reality that we were leaving catchable fish in order to get back to civilization and our family. A great day!

Hope you can make it down hear soon! Summer fishing patterns are now in full swing!

Capt. Randy

Summer is Here!

Mike and Jason and I shoved the skiff away from the dock with a great deal of nervous anticipation Saturday morning. This was their first opportunity to fly fish the Lower Laguna Madre and the weather was acting very cooperative! If the previous late evening's fishing was any indication, we were in for a great morning of fishing. The night before we had quietly exited one of my favorite west side back water lagoons, leaving tailing reds behind,  just before sunset. This morning we had the skiff pointed toward a closer backwater lagoon that I only visit on windless mornings, when the water depth is just right. Only a few minutes after our arrival we realized what a good morning it was going to be. After poling a shallow algae line and pushing some very large and somewhat slow moving redfish, we got off the boat and just stood still with fly rod in hand. After a few minutes of getting ourselves situated, these large reds began moving up the algae line slowly, methodically...then "bam", they would slam bait and startle us in the process. Several hookups eventually resulted in this photo. Mike landed this 29.5 inch healthy red and spooked what we both agreed was an even bigger redfish in the process.

After a great morning we quietly exited this lagoon and made our way to the sand. We were, as I suspected, a little early but still found enough redfish to make our trip to the east side worth the boat ride. We had a great time wading the shallow clear water of the sand. The redfish on the sand have been so big in recent weeks!

Satisfied, we called it a day around noon and enjoyed a relaxing boat ride back to the lodge.

Hope you can make it down here soon! Summer's here!

Capt. Randy

Kingfisher Inn's New Home

Greetings from Kingfisher Inn! It’s been awhile since I have checked in with my own version of a fishing report. A result, I suppose, of the busyness that comes with being a husband, father of five, minister, guide, and proprietor of Kingfisher Inn! I plan to be checking in on a weekly basis from here going forward. So keep coming back.

In case you haven’t heard, Lydia and I have moved Kingfisher Inn down the Arroyo a couple of miles to a much larger lodge setting with property adjacent to the Adolph Thomae County Park. We are still on the water with lighted docks and several boat slips. We are now the last stop before entering the park; the prime location for a fly fishing lodge. Please take some time to look at the great photos Capt. Scott Sparrow has placee on the lodging section of this website.

Both Scott and I are excited about the coming fishing season and believe the new location will give us more ways to serve you, our fly fishing clients. We can accommodate small groups of 2 to 6 fly fishers looking for lodging and dedicated fly fishing guides. And we can accommodate large groups of 12 or more anglers looking for a full service package that includes catered meals, transportation to and from the Harlingen Airport, and long days fly fishing the Lower Laguna Madre. We are even bringing back our Cast and Blast Packages that were so popular in the fall of 2007 and 2008! If you are a bird hunter, our white wing and mourning dove populations will amaze you. And the number of ducks that winter down here will bring a smile to your face!

Our price points for lodging have not changed much at all per angler. But, our options have increased greatly. So, please call or email for the details.

I have been on the water a couple of times in the last 5 days.The first photo you see is evidence of the great day my friend Billy Trimble and I had on the East Side sand. The number of fish on the sand has really increased this year. For a great explanation of this phenomenon pleas read Capt. Scott recent blog!

The second photo represents another great day of catching, this time on the west side of the Laguna. I had a great day on the water with my boys! They make me proud! Much better anglers than I was at their age. Early mornings in some of our favorite west side back water bay locations have been very productive. Summer fishing patterns have really set in. It is going to be a great summer of fishing!

Hope to see you down here soon. Come visit our new location.Come fish with Capt. Scott. The weather is beautiful!

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Just testing Randy's blog to make sure it works! -- Capt. Scott