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.

Material selection

This is a tip that you learn for yourself after realizing that the flies you just tied should should have looked exactly like each other but they don't! Like what happened to me a few times and still does if I dont proportion correctly. A lot of fly aesthetics problems are easily remedied by selecting the right piece of material for the job. Along with diligent proportioning practices your flies will come out looking like their supposed to rather than intermittent juxtapositions.

The first piece of marabou from the left is one I prefer for tails and wings. Its relatively uniform length makes it easy to work with and makes sleek looking flys.

The middle feather is super fluffy. I like these to palmer in a dub loop after clipping off a pinch to give the appearance of bulk on flies without the weight. This one works good for smaller flies mostly but I have made crawfish flies with these too like this one below.



The last has a big spine down the middle and will cause your creations to look uneven. I usually cut the quill a few inches down from the end and use the longer outer barbules on my fly.

cool stuff

A pretty cool site I stumbled upon tonight after about 5 red stripes. In between listening to samples from the three amigos soundtrack on amazon and burning an unknown hinson cd onto my itunes. You know. surfing.

http://saltyshores.com/wordpress/

I still dont know why the insert link doesnt work. Fuck it. Ive been drinking. Time to get back to the 60 degree shrimp Ive been working on for the jig hook swap.

low water, high anticipation

Having an incredible case of insomnia the night before always leads into a day of fishing where you hit your stride early and then by the end of the day your like a wadefishing zombie on a mission for one more fish.(fishing for 8+ hours helps the zombie thing too as well as blue monster drink) Then you catch that fish at the end of the day and your like...shit, theres still thirty minutes of light left. Maybe just one more.

That's kind of how today started and ended. I hadn't been "really" fishing in like three weeks. A first (new spelunking)spot gamble leads to early success, a few scout wades during midday. And a last stop back where it all began to explore the other reef in the new to me area, and finding fish there too. This was helped by the presence of jumping mullet and loons and an increase in water temp from about 50 to 54 or 55 in the evening. A lot better than 40-43 which was the temp high last week. A lot of learning and a little luck equaled dinner today. Most bites came on avocado and pink devils over mud and shell mix targeting stacked up fish laying in a bowl behind a small pod reef that led into the "right" bottom that was identified today as the quintessential Texas Upper Coast winter time game fish bottom on the warm up post cold front. With that said, lol, it was a huge outgoing tide all day and the spot we fished would be un wadeable on a normal tide. But with the area scoped out on days like today it makes it easy to go into spots on higher tides with the conditions right and using your pole or anchor and positioning yourself in the sweet spot in an area for the specific tidal conditions. Although many factors affect where the fish will be holding in relation to the structure. Such as tide strength, wind, cloud or fog and fishing pressure. And some days no amount of information will help you catch more fish other than knowing the area and that it holds fish. Sometimes you just have to get out there and walk into them. They might be spread or moving and only caught by wandering around on a point of interest picking off cruising fish until they decide to move in and feed or disappear entirely. this is why I like wadefishing with a baitcaster in the winter. Shure you can say that a properly presented fly will catch most fish(and it will if its the right one). But there is so much water to cover on the upper coast. Its deeper and more murky than matagorda and the laguna. Sightcasting is possible on choice days but on days where the weathers not right you can be pretty much screwed.

On a different note the day was beautiful. There were many fish caught. Although quite a few were on the small side, but after a deep freeze like we just crawled out of all I can ask for is to scratch and dig and claim a spot that is actually holding some fish that aren't in the channel and accessible by a wadefising. No other waders today that I saw. Funny guys with their 40g flats/wade boats and they drift all day. That's just the boat your supposed to get in the bay right???? AAhhh! This next week is going to have highs in the 60's until Thursday. Shit is going to go off. The fish are starving and ready to eat. But alas. I'm on call starting Thursday. Maybe Tue or Wed I can sneak out early and hit a walk in before I am grounded by the phone and left to spend my time tying flys and playing xbox.

Lastly, we saw two caracara's on the way home. Pretty cool. Along with some red tailed hawk's. An all around fucking beautiful day to get some sunburn on the face.

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.

The Wild Hair

So a wild hair turns into a meatcake. Actually two. A double and a triple. I am chilling the triple in the fridge and cut right into this bad boy. It turned out pretty good. Since it was the first one I have the ingredients down now and I have a few ideas on how to tweak the recipe to make it more impressive looking. The taste is fine but the shape and amount of potatoes was wrong. The potatoes were too dry and hard to spread. The veggies will be mixed into the meat next time maybe or just chopped after saute and spread with the ketchup. I just really like the ketchup, worcestershire and oregano mix spread filling. Too much. Lesson learned, delicious learning. Whats next? Bacon explosion? Something else? Only the wild hair can know.

2009 over AND! archive revisited.

This will be the first and only time I post old pics here. Its been a long and relaxing holiday season for me and I am looking forward to fishing in 10. I have been doing a bit of tying lately but for swaps and friends so I cant rightly post them all before their delivered so I'm going to post some old pics and leave them in my archive forever. Kind of like a Disney DVD without the thirty minutes of crap before the actual movie starts. So here goes!


This is me!


For me. Kind of a big deal. anyone who says that a flounder over 23" isn't big doesn't fish for them in Texas. Its a southern...not a halibut. Quit being an ass. We all get lucky. Like this fish.


A 28" thinboy I caught behind the pass late summer 09' One of three over 27" last year. Another great memory. Alone, disposable camera that was only taken to burn the last couple photos from a vacation, good times.


Nice day with my dad. One of the memorable ones I keep in my head. Although most memories dont just involve good catches but also overcoming and discovering. I just remembered the TP&W officer took this pic! That explains why all the fish are on one stringer. The guy said we caught by far the most fish that day that he checked. Sweet. The decidion to become a more concervation minded angler has taken me over the last three or four years. I guess a good job and the ability to buy food at the grocery store on a regular basis helps with that decidion!


There were several trips with my former company to work in the beautiful St. Croix, USVI. The Carribean is a kings life.


Yeah right, bonefish smashing 15 year old brown tails? Texas boy...you trippin.


Hawaii was also a destination i worked at 4 times in 08. Very pretty. Too many tourists. Cool looking fish.


Right after Ike. You can still see the debris line on the Levy. I saw a freakin Tarpon that day and thought it was a shark!


lol. I heard there were breaks in the road farther down. Sounds like a good fishing spot to me.


Vintage me. I used to be a hardcore basser. Toledo bend every year for a couple weeks in the summer and maybe around Thanksgiving. Fayette County, Conroe, Fork, Tyler, Gibbons Creek, Bastrop, Lakeview golf course. Haaaa! I used to be a basser. But living where I do only lends itself to bayou bass. And the salt is only a couple more miles so the bass are uasually safe from me.