Fuuuuuuuuuuk

BULLS ON TOP from SHALLOW WATER EXPEDITIONS on Vimeo.






I haven't given up on this. I just have kids. And I forget my camera often lately. Quick update on my fishing. No big ones yet. but out of about 10 trips since October, I have gotten lucky on flounder in the kayak. Caught trout on top waters and corkeys over reef, and fished hard all day during a weak bite with lots of slapping at it just to pull it out before dark with an awesome devil bite. 1 great fish fry, and an x-mas box on its way from fly tyers dungeon. Im stoked. Need to take the fly to the trout. See if they still like it. Ill take pics i promise.

The Drop

Gotta find that bottom change in the summer. Gotta find that dip in the winter. But good things are rare that are related to probable and possible. To put your decisions into personal perspective. Half the battle is putting the damn worm on your jig head straight. Too many overlook that important task.

they get em' all sizes bud.

Is there any other lure better to swing over a shell bar than a corky devil? Also caught a lady fish, croak er, and sand trout before the wind made it too hard to cast. If I could sum up my feelings for this fall in one word, it might be "Juiced".

late summer is redfish time

I added so many pics of the same sunset because I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. The fishing was done on basically a slack low tide. I thought the incoming would turn but even if it did it was a .5 in for 8 hours. Not the best but there's always a bite at sunset right? I lost a large red in the four or five pound range and released a 21" red. It felt good to experience the trance again. Tranquility through repetition. 

My attempt at rebirth

Set on by a series of interactions with friends, co-workers, and the online experience in general, I have been desperately seeking personal harmony. I have decided to stop all social networking as well as forums, and to seriously limit my television and video game time in an effort to become a more productive human being. Oddly I cant bring myself to delete(or make private) this blog because the original intention was in my opinion "pure" and I don't see many people reading ever anyways. Also I can say that other than family, the only thing I cannot neglect or cut out or consider a distraction to true happiness in life is my love for the outdoors. The feeling that is attainable through experiences with nature whether it be fish, animals, or mountains is one that will make you want to be silent. One that can fill you full of love or energy. One that can only be attained by escaping the poison of your own desperation. 

The decision to stop social networking was probably the most difficult. Some of us today are dependent on the social rewards received  after observing and sharing clever thoughts or images delivered in the form of comments or likes that reduce the real interactions and real relationships with real people. I was. Its strange to quit this cold turkey, realizing just how many times a day you will think about sharing something useless to people. I think its easier than quitting smoking but more annoying. Plus I'm not a kid anymore and I have always thought that the social online thing is best utilized by kids, celebrities and businesses. I am none. I am making an attempt at total fucking silence. About the little things that are supposed to be funny stories but are reduced to a status update. Storytelling I guess. But a form that relates itself through other things. Not necessarily like this blog. More like your daily life. I just like pretending. And if I want to pretend that I'm an outdoors writer then I can. Enjoy!

sweet sunrise and some trout

 Pretty good day on Sunday. Early in the am we spooked about a three foot shark sitting in a foot of water as we waded onto the point of sand we usually stand in before the sun comes up. Its only ankle deep, but sometimes that seems too damn deep if there are a lot of huge thrashing sounds and epic mullet rafts fleeing in the dark! The big fish I landed were 23" and a 24" and dad caught a five pounder weighed on the boga that slurped his topwater before first light. The fish are mostly skinny and you could probably add at least 30% to their body weight in the fall when they are eating good. The hot topwater was yet again the baby super spook. I caught a few on the bone/pearl color at twilight but when the sun came up(and I switch to it every time it does around 9 am) was the clown colored baby ss. I don't think I can go anywhere in the summer without two of them! Or at least one and a chrome blue back. Also 2 weeks ago when we went (and I didn't bring a camera) I caught several good trout on the clown. I suspect that the metallic flash and perfect profile definitely set you up with a huge advantage. Most of the fish that I caught were in water rushing over a sandbar that was ankle to shin deep, dropping into about 20-25" of water, or in wader terms, knee to thigh deep.

The sand has really started to shift since last summer. The year before last was pretty epic. With sharp defined edges on the main gut and a shallow sandbar running the length of the deep water north and south and a small swale depression that broke through running east that had a gradual depth change eventually bowling out far to the east. Back then, it payed to hoof it 100 yards or more to the east after the sun was high enough because there were large trout and redfish sitting on the knee to thigh deep flat waiting for the ebbing flow to carry them an easy meal. You could follow the secondary gut or walk north 50 yards and fan cast back. Typically if the fish were there you would get 3-4 or more good blowups in your fan casting radius and then it would slow down. All you had to do then was push up 30 yards or so and you could expect more bites. I lost the biggest trout I had ever hooked that summer. On the clown. The heavy current coupled with the weight and strength of the late May-early June fish was too much for those little size 4 trebles. Being a fisherman I'm going to say that it would have gone at least eight pounds. But that's coming from a fisherman! Anyhow, it was good to fish there because the flow of the tide rippled over the sandbar out of the deep gut at a real good clip on a good incoming and flowed ESE allowing the fish to (I'm guessing) sit on the bottom or suspended right off the bottom and wait for an unsuspecting mullet or shrimp to be swept into their strike zone. My deductions are supported by the fact that after you got a couple quality fish to bite you had to move foreword before you would be in a real hot zone again. You might continue to cast without walking but usually only 16-18" fish would randomly bite every 10-15 minutes and with the tide constantly getting weaker I didn't have the balls to wait it out and prove myself wrong.

Getting back on the subject before my reminiscing of old times, the bars are different. Last year was a transition year with everything being more or less a sloppy and undefined version of the year before. This year there seems to have been a major tidal hydraulic change spurring this new major flow from north to south over a long east to west running bar north of the old secondary gut, pouring over into the old killing field which has shifted closer making it pretty easy to swing your plug in the zone and also easier to fight fish because now you can fight them in a sideways current and not a flow moving away from you. This year looks to be making up for the lackluster summer last.

Sorry you had to read through that relative mumbo jumbo about bars and guts and tidal flow. I just write as if I'm talking to someone who knows how to think like a wadefisherman(or just a regular seriously obsessed normal one). I also write that stuff because if you walk out there and explore and find those sweet spots, set up early and wait for the right time and execute a plan it's pretty FUKIng satisfying. you just have to put together a mental picture of the surrounding depth changes. Hell draw a map if you have to and laminate it at kinkos. I did this as a kid when I bass fished slot and it was a great mental exercise for remembering small details that meant big dividends on the hook end.


             Also, I got my fly tying desk primed and ready to pump out some flys for winter swinging and the house I recently moved into has a pond in the backyard thats loaded with carp. I caught about a 3 pounder the other day on my 5wt and a wooly bugger and lost about a 15 pounder I hooked on a black bunny leach. I have a peacock duster I bought just for those big uglys.

In closing this retarded fishing essay, make your time on the water count. When the moon and tide are right, you need to be where your going to be. Plenty of time to drink at about 10 am when the bite is over. If you catch some fish, after your through sit back and think about it for 5 minutes and ask yourself some questions. When did I catch the(time of day, tide,) how did I catch them(lure,presentation, color) where(where on the structure or cover...reef or sandbar make note of your surroundings) this will help with the question of why(did I get lucky today)

Too busy to fish.

Good day,

I have unfortunate news. I have been wall to wall covered up! I did manage one short wadefishing trip of about 3 hours last week but before that it was a month and since nothing. I managed to catch some dinner in the form of 2 17" speckled trout though. It feels good to make a new post even though I have no real interesting fish news.

I moved into a new house last month. Moved in and assembled furniture for the last 2 weeks. Then had a baby boy on the 4th! So to say the least it has been quite a test!

I hope to be on the water this fall. My dad's shoulder surgery went well and he will be back in form. Plus I can always take a trip to the Guadalupe to catch some bass. I dont think the rainbows will have a good year because of the drought but lately it seems the hill country has gotten more rain than the coast which is unusual. The lack of rain has caused the water in the gulf to become almost hyper saline lol. This tends to make fishing all around tough regardless of your method. I also hope that i can sneak away and fish the beachfront if the wind decides to cooperate on a day I have the chance.

This all seems like wishing at the moment though! Good fishing to you and thanks for reading. I hope to be lucky enough to continue. I may choose to continue to post but they will more than likely be about video games or random things I find interesting. Later.