Steve Knight

ROCKPORT — There are a couple of things you need to know about Capt. Sally Moffett.

She is originally from Michigan, so there is no Texas twang.

And, she is the only female fly fishing guide working the Texas coast.

Moffett moved to Houston right out of high school in 1979 to own a horse, go fishing and find a job, just about in that order.

“I thought everyone in Texas had a horse,” she recalled.

On the day she arrived in her used car with $300 in her pocket, she found a motel to stay in and a job. It didn’t take long to find a place to fish, and the horse soon followed.

Following a carjacking in 1984 she moved to this Gulf Coast town of 9,000 where her mother and aunt had bought a motel. She worked as a contract paralegal, giving her plenty of time to learn the bays.

“The first thing I bought when I got to Rockport was a boat,” said Moffett, who describes herself as “the son her father never had.”

In 1998 she ditched the corporate world for the fishing world and has never looked back.

Like everyone who has ever guided on the Coast, Moffett started fishing live bait from her 24-foot skiff.

“When I became a guide I bait fished. I had an instant clientele. It was families, moms and dads and kids. It was so much fun. I just had a blast, but I thought there must be something else,” Moffett explained.

She began to find that something in about 2000 when a friend bought a kayak in a garage sale. Moffett borrowed the lightweight, plastic craft and immediately began fishing waters she hadn’t even been able to wade to before.

“I paddled in there and a light bulb went off in my head,” Moffett said.

She called Ocean Kayak and asked what it would take to become a distributor. Told she would have to order six of the boats, she quickly called local customers and told them that it was not only a great way to fish, but also a good way to stay in shape. Overnight she became a distributor.

About two years later she completed her business plan after meeting international fly fishing stars Lefty Kreigh, Flip Pallot and Jose Wejebe and Texas coastal fly fishing guru Chuck Scates at a fishing show. With encouragement and instruction from Scates, Moffett no longer started her mornings at the bait stand. She shifted to sight fishing with fly rods and lightweight tackle.

“I went around Texas talking about it and got a few customers and then a few more, and then it went nuts. Now the hottest thing going,” Moffett said of kayaking and fly fishing for tailing redfish.

Today Moffett books about 140 days on the water a year. She estimates 65 percent of that is fly fishing while the remainder is shallow water sight casting with lures.

While there are skills that must be learned to fly fish, fishing on the coast with its wind isn’t the limiting factor fishermen used to see it. The use of fishing kayaks just open up that much more water to anglers.

“It is so non-limiting. I have taken people with artificial knees and hips. I take a lot of older people fishing. It is something everyone can do,” Moffett said.

Two years ago she wrote a book, Saltwater Kayak Fishing — The Texas Way, to take some of the mystery out of kayak fishing. The book is now in its second printing.

The use of kayaks has become so much a part of her operation that her new fly fishing boat is rigged with a stainless steel harness that carries three kayaks.

Moffett is also encouraging women to fly fish by holding instructional retreats. Her second will be July 20-23 at Port Mansfield. Open to just 30 women, participants will learn about sightcasting, fly fishing, wade fishing, how to find fish, and offshore fishing.

For more information on fishing with Moffett or on the next women’s retreat, visit her Web site at www.captainsally.com or call her at 361-205-0624.

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Contact Outdoor Editor Steve Knight at 903-596-6277 or by e-mail at outdoor@tylerpaper.com

CAPTAIN KAYAK: Rockport fishing guide Sally Moffett uses kayaks to get fly fishermen into shallow coastal waters they couldn’t otherwise get into. Moffett is one of the few fly fishing guides along the Texas coast and the only woman with the job.
((Courtesy Photo))