Welcome to the last year on earth(before 2012)!

         I doubt many people read this blog. I don't update it often, but I'm also not a professional blogger on a google payroll and I'm not one to have the days to dedicate to a personal blog about fishing that includes fishing trips and flies every week. I cant scour the web for cool things to post. I work, outside the fishing industry. I have a family. I have deadlines. But I try. I hope that I can keep posting fishing trips and random things when I remember to bring a camera. Its fun! Have a great 2011 Y'ALL and WRAP IT BEFORE YOU TAP IT BITCHES!!!!

Happy new years from Chico's Tacos.
 

The plug fish were caught on an outgoing tide the second day. Last week's Tuesday in an area covered up with gnarly live reef that we routinely wade during the coldest months. Normal fish for the spot save one lone 25", 5 lb trout shown in two pics on the boga. A few small reds. Between the two of us probably close to 20 fish in the 17-21" range. An area not unlike the famous Confederate reef that holds many peoples secret spots and special morn and eve's. But with tides running 2 ft low the famous spots are only famous in story. Bay's waters are different animals when the spot you usually fish is high and dry. That's what usually makes the learn-ed angler's skin tingle and when epic pods of stacked trout laying on each others backs are found wading in water that would swallow you up on a normal day. I can remember some of my best days fishing in spots that people typically only drift over during the normal tides. Don't let a determined, shell crunching, hard boot wearing dry leg walk around in your favorite drift line. Lest he find the trout and you catch a buzz. When waters drop out around a group of fish, if they have sufficient water depth nearby they will more than likely relocate and lie around similar structure in similar depth to where they were forced from. An area with water depth most comfortable to them that allows easy feeding. With a little deft observation and a little leg work coupled with the will to learn an area you can create opportunities for yourself that few see and experience. Plus you know what is on the bottom and will find those little underwater interstates that will become hidden goldmines when conditions return to normal.

The last two pictures are of the first day prior. We fished the same general area. Wicked oyster reef, breaks in the spine, extreme low tide dropping lower. Ripping out, flowing through the break with a deeper gut coming from a normally underwater reef lined "pond". A spot we found doing the walkabout. I took advantage of my new fly line and some of the new ep flies I tied that haven't been given away to make room for more. Not much to say. Like river fishing swinging streamers. Only a faux river mouth. This is by far my favorite way to fly fish in the winter. Cast, wait, wait, strip, wait, tap, strike. I only kept 5. Lots of fish released. The larger fish on the boga went close to 23" and about 4 lbs with several other 3+ released when the tide started to wain and the fast water became the deep slow refuge. Usually...but not when I'm around. Good times. 


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coming and going

In the dark.

Nov 19-10 fishing

 I don't get to fish as much as some. Not as much as I want too. But I know etiquette and I know the bay from Galveston to X-Mas like the back of my hand. But most people didn't have a person to show them all the little things that make you a better boat man. That's why I take it easy on guys that love to ram their boats into reefs and run right by you when your wading. Their not stupid. They either don't know or don't care. Or they might just be stupid.

All but the last picture were from the 19th. It was a great day to be fishing! Light winds, a hell of an incoming tide and great water clarity. A ton of bait fish were flipping and being run when we pulled up to our not so secret spot. The bite was a little off. Although the fish were plentiful for a while the bites came from only one lure. The broken back long a. Let it sit after casting. Swim it down quickly to about 2ft then give it 8-10 extremely light walk the dog twitches. Let it float up and repeat. Occasionally nicking the bottom or bouncing off an oyster shell seemed to trigger strikes also. I love fishing these lures but the conditions have to be right. I like to fish it in about 3-4ft of water with good clarity.

The last pic was taken today the 20th. Although I don't have any pictures of fish, the amount of red fish that covered a reef in my home waters of Texas City was impressive. I landed and released 3 undersized about 18" and 7-8 more between 22-25". What an awesome day! I caught most of the fish today on corky devils. A couple on a 4" gambler with a dipped chartreuse tail. This trip was very special. Not only because I smacked the fish but it was also my first trip with my new kayak. What a way to do it!

I also finally received my SA streamer express intermediate line from Cabelas the other day along with some clothes that were on sale and a rod holder. I am done shopping at local fly shops in Houston. Sorry guys. If you don't want to order what I want or keep your lines stocked I wont keep stopping in and being disappointed.

quick

So, when you are super determined to fish a spot you sometimes overlook signs that might make you move over a hundred yards and catch fish. Like this little guy! I am very good at keeping my fish small enough to fit in my basket. Lol. No flounder jumping sessions yet at the mud hole. But another couple cold fronts and its gonna be acrobatics again. Last year I saw over 20 flounder jumping in one evening. I am going to try and enjoy it this time. It will cut down on the frustration that is: Flounders don't bite when their jumping.

A few pics

Not too spectacular but the scenery pics have meaning to me and the fish were caught this week. I feel revitalized by fall's arrival and along with fishing and tying flies I have also purchased several albums from Amazon in the last month. The newest from Daedlus, Smoke sessions Vol 1by Devin the dude, Jogger- this great pressure, A thousand sharks teeth by My Brightest Diamond, Transit Transit by Autolux(their first album is great too this one is a little more laid back and odd in a good way), the Wu Tang dubstep album, and Unexpected Guests by Doom, also Them Crooked Vultures. Not the normal "fisherman's" choices or even my normal choices(except TCV) but all together a new direction in musical taste for me and some great driving music while traveling to work. I also recommend pod casts like comedy death ray, the Joe Rogan experience, uhh yeah dude, WTF with Marc Maron, and the sound of young america. I am playing Halo Reach right now and I think its the best Halo game to date. The last time I was into Halo was #2 but #3 was good and I enjoyed the ODST campaign because of its free roam sort of feel.

On a funny note, I went to a party over the weekend at some folks related to one of my wife's friends. I tried talking to one of the locals, I watched as he complained to his kid about wanting to fish and then about how he talked too much and how he was so annoying. I said something like "yep kids love to talk with everything being so much of an adventure and being so new and fun". He kinda looked at me like I was an idiot. I then pointed out a boat they had and what brand and where they got it. And after that I couldn't get a damn word in because he kept cutting off my sentences and wouldn't keep his mouth shut! And some people wonder where their kids learn all the bad habits they have. Classic.

9-28-10 new flies

 When I get things in the mail that I ordered online I feel a slight tweak of joy. The most recent purchase was from FTD. My favorite online material store. As far as quality goes its right up there with the big names and a quarter of the price. If you use synthetic material you should buy your stuff here. I haven't bought any real animal materials(I have enough zonker strips to last a while) but I have always been happy with this place. All this was a little over $21. I dare you to get this much in any store whether it be a hobby store or fly shop and not spend more.

 So the temporary desk is now my dining table. The dope ass roll top desk is still in "storage". Until we move to a real house I have to use time wisely. And tie fast.

My first minnow patterns in over a year took one to get back into the groove. But even without eyes these look pretty fishy! The rust color Congo hair is going to make one hell of a root beer crab!

Texas tailwater

Me and Nick. Cousins, brothers, fishing machines. When you cast for 5+ hours straight your arm is sore. And when you stumble around in a river for longer than that your body will have unusually sore parts that didn't seem to bother you at the time. Maybe I'm just getting old. But it happens to the best of us! Regardless any day spent like this is a good one. I am loving the summer trout hunt. I'm a little wary of the shoulder to shoulder fishing that goes on in the winter. I think Ill just stick with wading in the salt water for now.

No bags and consumer me.

I have been following Rolf Potts on his recent NBC(no baggage challenge) for a couple weeks now. Its a cool thing.

http://www.rtwblog.com/

Also It was recently my birthday. 30......Wtf. What happened? Anyways I ordered some materials from the dungeon. Ill post flies when they are utilized. Hopefully soon.

http://www.flytyersdungeon.com/

Also I just played the demo for Vanquish. Amazing. So fun. Reminded me of lost planet and zone of the enders.

Watch Zone of the Enders 2 Opening and previous story in Anime  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
There are so many good looking games coming out between the end of 10 and the first half of 11 Im going to have to make a few decisions. Ive also given up on reaching rank 100 in GoW2. I looked at the calculator and Im not even half way there as far as points and the games been out for over 3 years. F that.

I havent been able to do any fly fishing with my work schedule and the wind. But I caught some flounder last Sat and made some kick ass civiche to boot out of a redfish.

http://www.ktru.org/

So it seems the most hit and miss although probably the best true radio station in Houston KTRU has been offered to UH and their gonna turn it into a classical station. GAY!!! Call the fuckers they tell you to! This is the only station that actually plays real local metal, blues, indie, 60's, 70's, reggae, hip hop, and everything else. Not bullshit homo crap on clear channel. Although, the noise shows are only enjoyed while you are drugged like a lab rat and the good to weird/annoying song ratio is pretty even you can still hear whatever music you like to listen to as long as you find out when the show comes on. Imagine that. A radio that already plays classical and everything else and it cant get support. Just because its format seems inconvienient. I remember getting paid on Wednesday's bustin' my ass at the plants in Texas City and the sweet reggae coming from the radio in the truck meant a cold tallboy and some paper in my wallet. SAVE KTRU!

"cool trees in galveston"

I went to pick my wife up from work in Galveston a couple days ago. I took Sealy, a back street off the seawall to look at old houses and to explore shopping and dining spots. There was a tree sculpted with wild native birds that was extremely well done and lacquered up. Really cool to me and even cooler to stumble upon! I did some research and seems this has been done to a lot of trees that were killed by seawater during hurricane Ike. Here's the link to check out some more of this and other ongoing projects to preserve some of Galveston's oldest trees.

http://www.galveston.com/treesculptures/trees/

Here's a link about a whaling ship being restored by Galveston timbers.

http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/main/popup.aspx?id=8768

Mayfly Justice

check out this web address.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/542041\

Trust

Also. If you are a part of the internet flash movie/game fan crowd(joecartoon, homestarrunner, alien hominid, etc.)Maybe throw a couple pledge bucks at this production. Kickstart has tons of other projects to browse as well and you dont pay unless the project reaches its goal.

Also Waterman movie with leslie nielson.

some things

In the beginning there was supply and demand. And then there were unions to protect workers from killing themselves, then people got lazy, then they went to work at Wright and McGill.
I don't want to bash immediately for no reason, I love my reel. I had some slow dealings with them in the past but I didn't need the piece of equipment in question so I wasn't concerned. And they eventually got it right. I knew the reel I have is discontinued. That's why I was so surprised when the owner of Marburgers sporting goods in Kemah Texas called them and said they had a spare spool when I called them over a year ago asking the same question and they didn't have any spare spools. Well they sent the part to the wrong address and it took weeks to get to Marburgers. Typical. I purchased the spool($85)I don't know what was decided in private but I thought that It was only going to be sixty five but whatever I go there in an emergency and its either that or a new reel and 2 new spools) and put it on the reel. Didn't seem to spin freely like my old spool. I opened up the guts and theres RUST on the bearings. Not new, but a used part. Which makes sense because I had already done the research and this spool was probably a return. Needless to say I was disappointed with all parties. I will NOT be purchasing anything from W&M ever again. There is a unique needle bearing in the reel that they don't have a replacement for and it has a tendency to rust horribly. The "sealed" drag is loosening and coming apart and it seems I got tricked by this product. Seems I should have bought a Ross reel instead. I still have my cimmaron reel (4yrs) and I have had no problems with rust or maintenance. I'm done ranting. I will have a bad taste in my mouth everytime I use my reel now though.


This was a really awesome show. The hives ruled the crowd. Rival schools snapped your neck, and inc made you horny. Also, Rival Schools last I checked is recording a new album. As well as Far. And Faith now more is touring. This is year old news but I am still happy that some of my favorite bands are still doin' it. Looking forward to being at one or more of these shows.




I am enjoying this book. I enjoy Ashley Wood's art style.


Good chorizo...mmmmmmmmmmmm....chooooorrrrrriiizzzzoooooo.


If you like nuts, and honestly...don't we all..I suggest trying these. See how many you can shove in your mouth at one time. It will thank you for it.



Busy busy. This little guy was on a tree off my apt balcony. The tree is literally even with the to top rail and I have a close up view on the daytime bee and dirt dobber wasp hunting ground. And at night there are several spiders that build their webs around 9 or 10 pm to catch the insects that are attracted to a light at the corner of the building. Kind of a cool thing to be able to observe.