Pro’s Pointers about wet wading, the simplest of all forms of saltwater flats fishing — where, equipment and seasonal adjustments.
Story and photography by Danno Wise
By May, the weather has warmed sufficiently that saltwater fishermen throughout the Texas Coastal Curve are itching to hit their favorite bays on a routine basis. Late spring on the Texas Coast typically also means it’s safe for even the most cold-blooded wade fishermen to shuck their waders. Wet wading season has begun!
While there are a good many fishermen who are accustomed to feeling their feet on the bay floor as they cast for speckled trout and redfish, there are many, many more who have yet to experience a wet wade fishing session. They may be experienced anglers who are accustomed to fishing from a boat or kayak or possibly fishermen with little experience outside bank and pier fishing. There are even some who wade during the chilly months while having the added security of a waders but have yet to wet wade during the warm weather months.
In any event, it is safe to say the number of coastal fishermen who do not wet wade far exceeds those who do. This is almost opposite of the situation decades ago, when light-tackle pioneers such as “The Plugger” Rudy Grigar and others were forging a new path, quite literally, of wading while throwing artificial lures.
True enough, bay boats weren’t quite what they are today back then. However, wet wading remained the method of choice not just for the early inshore artificial lure fishermen on the Texas Coast, but for the next generation or two that followed. In fact, throughout most of the second half of the 1900s, fishing reports typically referred to fish being knee, thigh, or waist deep, as opposed to the actual measurement given in feet.
Although wet wading may be practiced by a proportionately smaller portion of saltwater fishermen in the Lone Star State today, it still remains quite popular in certain bays and is every bit as productive as it has every been. While some anglers have chosen to stay in boats because, let’s face it, boats can get in and out of shallower water than ever, hopping out of the boat on your favorite flat can give you some advantages over fishermen who remain afloat.
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