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.

Damn bobbers!

I dont usually find topwater plugs on the bank. Maybe because the plugs aren't usually neon orange and yellow. But I just dont. On the other hand, I have quite a large collection of floats, bobbers, popping corks, leader material, weights, hooks, line, TRASH that I find almost routinely along more populated areas that I am forced to explore and fish. Im not saying all bobber fisher's are lazy or irresponsible. I have broken off lures on fish too. But it seems that the rig I find now is increasingly streamline in relation. Bobber, plastic covered steel leader, 4 ot trebel hook on a clip, yards of line ahead of the cork, ect.

Last friday I walked out to a new spot I have been fishing. On the way out I noticed a bobber floating. There are a couple piers along the way that I pass in front of to legally access the area of interest without trespassing or risk being towed. I thought the popper might be owned by the guy on the pier, but when I looked back I was about 75 yards from the pier where the guy was fishing. I looked back to the bobber and it was gone, I looked at the pier and the guy was reeling so I(although this seemed unlikely)assumed that it was his . I thought that he might have let his line drift with the current but there probably wasnt much line on the reel! I looked back to my destination and started walking. Then the bobber came back up in my path. There was a fish on the hook! I walked very slowly up to the cork and with a topwater reeled up to the tip of my rod I swiped at the float snagging the line underneath. When I lifted the rod tip the mess of monofilament and leader was thoroughly jacked around the plug. The fish on the end shot off like lightning! I lightly played the fish( which turned out to be a 4 pound trout) and landed her. I got my forceps and expected to pop out the hook and let her go but it was all the way in her gut. All 4 ot's. I left her 3/4 submerged while bending the clip and working it loose from the hook eye. When free I slipped her back into the water and she swam off strong. I dont know if the fish would have lived, but I didnt catch her. So I wasnt putting the fish on my stringer. Reguardless of how the fish was hooked it was free and I could go on to strike out for the 2 hours of fishing that day. Even though I didnt catch anything I slogged back to the truck with a good feeling about life and later expeditions into the great outdoors.

Shoes of the future?

In the market for new boat shoes?
After weeks of recommendations from a friend I finally got some vibram five fingers. And they are pretty freakin sweet. Designed to NOT provide support but to actually protect your feet and allow all 26 bones to do what nature intended. To work rather than be bound in thick back, knee, and ankle hurting soles. I took my first jog in quite a while. It honestly took me about a quarter mile before I started jogging without hurting. I had to concentrate to keep the majority of my weight on the balls of my feet. By concentrating on forward movement rather than the normal up and down lumbering hop that thick padded soles train us to think is normal. After some adjustments my knees didn't hurt, my back didn't hurt, and I made it a lot farther than I thought I would being the first time I tried to jog in over a year. I also jogged in the grass along the walking trail made of concrete which helped the impact of my fat ass protecting my knees and back. And when the trail ended I crossed the street and ran alongside a mowed drainage canal for about 300 yards and back. And on the way back home I stayed near the ditch and noticed some of the firs carp of the spring moving up to spawn. And a BIG one about 20lbs! Looks like its time to stalk some rubber lips soon! I also found this soccer ball about half way home which I dribbled to my house. These shoes will be making their debut on a flats skiff in the future. Hopefully sooner than later.

More thought than fishing this week

After determining that my time on the water this week wasn't going to add up to anything more than longing gazes and poetic captain Morgan poses I decided to clean all my gear. Apply new hooks to plugs I haven't used in several years. Peruse the Internet for lure making supplies at http://www.makelure.com/. And dream of perfect scenarios, both winter and summer to deal with in my neck of the woods. Most of these hypothetical attack angles and tactics on areas and situations faced already. Mostly about how I can flyfish areas I normally wadefish. Like where I would set up the boat to allow maximum casting distance in areas that are waist deep and require longer casts normally to avoid spooking fish.

I tied some beach flies for whiting and pompano. I cleaned my flyline. I'm still strung up with SciAng quad tip. I love the ability to change tips but I HATE the loop to loop connection between the running line and the head's. I mostly use the floating and the intermediate. But I have noticed that my floating line I took off to use the quad tip casted better. I have been looking into clear tip intermediate lines for this summers beach and pass fishing and there are several choices I have yet to decide on.

like this one


or this???

I will keep the line I choose for exclusive sand and grass bottoms. Where I fish in the winter around current the bottom is mostly gnarly oyster shell and the ability to replace a couple heads rather than a whole line helps the cost. Although I was lucky this winter and didn't get wrapped in the shell I would rather not have to sacrifice an entire line if I fall victim to a bully redfish. I might be able to convert a ruined line buy cutting and making a loop close to the running line and just adding a clear intermediate shooting head but I hate the loop to loop connection on shooting heads and I want to avoid another if I can. the main problem with all this is money. Shit line is expensive. if I'm going to be raking mine across oyster shell I'm going to have to find an affordable solution!

Rise form's podcast showed some methods to help with backing to line issues. But I'm unsure if this helps my situation. It is a pretty neat method though. Here's the video.


Also I tend to stray during my ramblings so I decided to research shooting head's and dammit if I don't know a thing about a lot of things. This forum topic was very helpful.

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=654275

I just don't know anyone who fly fishes here regularly. The ones I have seen are mostly interested in sight casting or surf casting with huge cigars between their sweaty, slobbering lips. You can't sight cast to many shallow fish if the waters cold and the bait is offshore on an overcast day. Most people here would rather just drift with tails than actually put a little effort into their "hobby's".
I am determined to do things efficiently and CHEAP. I also want this to be more than a fair weather or eccentric show for the goons of the bay. If I can use suffix and buy clear heads I can cut costs a lot. I also want to research head materials more. Seems there's a solution to my normal idiot consumer mentality yet. Bring the pain!

REM Fish

I had a dream last night that I was standing on the bow of a boat. I was in an overgrown bayou with crystal clear water. The man on the pole said "right there on that point". I was looking at the point which was nothing more than an outcrop of mangrove that signaled the canal to make a hard left and then open into a large back lake with a smooth surface being disturbed by the occasional jumping mullet, v-wake, or dragonfly. I didn't see a fish but I picked up my line. I moved my rod back feeling the flex and release of the tip and released a few feet to it and then pinched to wait for a split second. This moment is more special to me than seeing the line roll out in front of me. this is the moment where you make the cast happen. When you feel the line tighten in your fingers and almost try to keep going back when at the moment of submission you pull the line down firmly and come forward with your rod, watching the tip bend to its extreme and at the moment when you feel the forward momentum you carefully guide the line towards the bottom eyes and release. Watching the pile at your feet disappear onto the rod. After that all you do is watch and see if you made the correct adjustments and if your timing was correct. This being a dream mind you it actually laid out six inches from the roots and I began to strip. Small sharp strips to let the feathers pulse and be "alive". I felt the strike because I was in contact with the line and paying attention. I stripped hard and felt weight and a couple heavy head shakes. After that I couldn't tell you much more than it was a large trout.(speckled trout) And It doesn't really matter to me how big my imagination could have made it. A fishes size isn't as important to me as it used to be. I think its all the pictures of big fish and the commonality that these pictures all have. The same fish, the same faces, the same look. It happens and its not that special to anyone but the person holding the fish and the person who held the camera. I think maybe philosophy might have a part in my change of heart and another might be the fact that I consider myself fully grown up now. No child resides inside. No rebellion. No constant need to prove myself. Although A need to prove is there but its a need to prove things to myself rather than others. I might be going through a phase that will pass but I think the excitement of everything coming together relies on luck more than it does skill. Although skill has to be at a certain level to allow yourself to succeed constantly through changing conditions. You have to be around fish to catch fish. You can throw to nothing and be the greatest angler alive and your catch will be outmatched by low caliber flailers. Being prepared and a little luck will always be welcome on my boat rather than having the title of greatest ever. Because even the greatest fall on their faces sometimes. And even the sun shines on my ass some days.

Must get back to Work.

I just like posting photos. And eating fish. And blabbing on about nothing.

I don't think you should feel bad about keeping your limit every now and then. Its the law. Its a wonderful thing. I don't think anyone should look down on it. Its just a thing for guys that fish all the time to push for a lower limit. If your good at catching fish(and a lot of you guys are) then you don't have a problem catching five keepers in a day. And if your able to fish all the time you can imagine the effects of everyone keeping everything they catch until their limits are full and its time to go home because of it. And whats wrong with that? Its legal. Its what we do as Texas fisherman right? We catch all the fish and kill all we can eat and keep the rest for trade and gifts.

This seems like an old story. Like it should have happened in the old days when people relied on the sea for food and income more than the people who now cling to their license because of family tradition, or run a trip on the weekend to be able to fish and get paid for it, or to feel good with a lot of stickers on your truck at the gas station, or to make some extra cash scraping up oysters and I don't care who the fuck is in the bay because I make my living out here and you fucks who come out here to get away from your wives so just move right out the way and go fuck yourselves because I got three or four deck hands and we will whoop your ass if you say anything about how I just ran in between you two guys 20 yards from both just to run aground on the reef cause I don't know where the hell I'm going and you can just fuck yourselves because I own this god damn water. My family has made a livin out here forever. And they closed down east bay so I'm gonna come over here in chocolate and fuck it up until they say I can go home.

So theres some issues to be discussed. The old and the new. The "right and wrong". The ignorant and the people that conceive the results of what really happens with the fish and wildlife they love and grew up with. Not me though. I'm not better than anyone. I have thrown away three or four trout when I was in high school because the ice melted and I got drunk the night before and forgot about them and they rotted in the box. Done it a couple times. But I did feel deep sense of guilt. A sense that the ocean would not be as generous next time and keep the bounty for someone that deserved it more than I did. But that was when I was y,d, and full of c. If you know what I mean. Lessons are learned and I don't think killing 3-4 trout would destroy a species any more that a guide service keeping 30-40+ fish a day running 3-5 boats. I do think that's all factored in with the yearly allotted harvest of fish species also. Although the latter might make things a little more difficult for the average Joe fisher out for the weekend but that's just job security for those guys right? If its hard for the schmucks then they'll come crawling back to us a couple times a year(which is actually cheaper than paying a boat note and dealing with all the headaches). But good for them making a living and probably a majority percentage are good guys you would share a spot, a drink, or a story with and not think twice if they really knew them. And everyone has their opinions and most peoples opinions are based on either personal experience(hopefully) or here say from someone or somewhere that did or didn't know what they were talking about. So what does that say about your opinion or mine? It just makes them unique and not right or wrong. That's what I can come up with as the answer to a lot of things.

red-io

Redfishing Report from SHALLOW WATER EXPEDITIONS on Vimeo.

I dont know what to think of all the new fly fishing videos. On one hand some of them are awesome. On the other hand they can get kinda douchey. This one gets a pass.

I dont know what it is about the color pink that makes fish eat down here in the winter. Maybe its their want for shrimp? Although shrimp arent really pink. More like brown or opaque ice. Ill try to throw different colors to see if the fish will bite them before surrendering to the P. I am tying up some baitfish for this weekend in the standby color. Maybe I wont have to use them, but Ill always have some pink in my box in the winter. Even if I know it might feel like cheating.