I had a chance to take out two kayakless fishing novices from church who were always the audience of my POC fishing stories of my trips with the Matt and Kris. I didn’t want to just dump these two guys in the water with a few instructions and take-off in my kayak in my quest for fish. So I decided to leave the kayak at home and just wade fish with the two of them.

So the dilemma was where to take these guys? SLP, Ernies, HI, Surside? I cruised the message boards of several websites dedicated to the fishing junkies to see where the action was. Mixed reports from everywhere. The reports of the gulf surf from HI down to Surfside being smooth as silk were the ones that caught my attention. Can it be? I can’t remember the last time I had seen the surf lay flat as everyone was posting on the message boards so excitedly. I had to see for myself. “surf-cam surfide beach” into Google seach I typed. Lo and behold, sure enough the surf was flat. So I latched onto the idea of wade fishing off the beach, checking the surf-cam every day last week. Surfside beach access 5 it is!. It’s always been driven past by myself, or with my fellow “blanglers” heading out to fish the protected waters of Christmas Bay. Let’s give it a try.

So we met up at church and loaded in my truck for a morning of fishing, on the road at 6:10am, pretty good! We rolled into surfside at about 7:30…on schedule. With me and the two fishing novices, I took it upon myself to keep an eye out for the usual tall-tell sign of available bait and keep an eye on the road! No signs of the bait I was after in Surfside, lets head up to Ernie’s and get some. We headed up Bluewater Highway, catching a glimps of the surf between dune breaks, the surf was as smooth as a baby’s butt, with the occasional breaker! Awesome! Get to Ernie’s in about 10 minutes….and what do you know…no flag. 😦 Well, we’re here, might as well stop in and check the status. “Sold outta shrimp in about 50 minutes, but we have minnas. We’ll have shimp at 11:00”, the guy behind the counter said as he lit a cigarette. EVERYONE was fishing today and with live shrimp. “No thanks, have a good one”, I say. What do we do? On the walk back to my truck from the front door of Ernie’s I contemplated our options. We’ll I did bring my cast net, I could land some mullet and we can fish cut mullet from the beach. But then I also remembered I had some Berkley Gulp Shrimp in my tackle box. Well, lets give it a try. We got out to the spot along the beach we wanted to fish, looking for bird and bait action. The line-up: 2 surf rods with cut mullet I caught with the cast net (I’ve been practicing), and 2 rods rigged up with a cork and Gulp Shrimp. One guy mans the surf rods and keeps an eye on our camp, the other….make sure you shuffle your feet. We’ll rotate assignments periodically. Well, I tell you what, the fish were just hitting that little pseudo shrimp like crazy……”hahaha fooled you”, I kept saying to the fish! We caught lots of everything…..except for reds to my surprise. We caught lots of dinks and two keepers, 16″ and 17 1/2″, taking the larger one home to fillet. We started fishing about 8:30 and left at 12:00. I spend a good portion of my time fixing the birds nests my two fishing newbies were so good at creating…Geez. But, I’m glad they both enjoyed it. They asked what the best advice to give them would be, and I said “Buy a good rod/reel combo similar to mine and practice casting”……birds nests fresh in my mind.
Were we just lucky? Were we just in the right spot at the right time? Or is there some truth to the magic of the Berkley Gulp Shrimp anybody and everybody testifies to? I think a little of all three. I have never had so much luck with artificial bait. The thing I like most about it was never having to put on fresh shimp, or a hit that would just leave a dangling shrimp head on the hook, or loosing it in a cast, or not having to pay $15 a quart, or asking myself, “Did I bring batteries for my aerator”. Now, I am still a big fan of fishing live shrimp, but I won’t lose heart when I am not able to get any live shrimp….I’ll just fish with my Berkley Gulp Shrimp. Note: No Berkley royalites received from this post.

Last fall while fishing Christams Bay, Henry, Kris, and I watched a fellow yakker harness the wind with a large umbrella to reach his chosen destination. It was funny to watch, but it certainly made sense to me at the time as my arms were already spent from paddling all day.

Earlier this year, my fellow “blanglers” and I ventured to Turtle Bay for a day of fishing. In the days leading up to our trip, Kris informed me that he had just purchased a large, well-constructed umbrella that he was looking to use on this trip. I laughed at the thought of it, but then I recalled the exhaustion I felt on the aforementioned fall day. I was able to get a hold of a similar umbrella as well, except mine was free.

The day had arrived, we were on the water and having little success. The winds were strong and a storm was blowing in. Henry and I stopped on a nearby shore to stretch our legs and drink a beer. It was then we witnessed Kris’ first attempt with the umbrella. He was heading toward us with the wind at his back. He was cutting through the chop. Pretty good idea, I thought.  

Not long after Kris joined us on the shore, he jumped back in his yak to try and salvage the day with some quality fish. Unsatisfied with his chosen spot, Kris opted to move up the shore. Again he harnessed the wind. This time, however, it wasn’t at his back. He was perpendicular to it. He was doing great… for the first few yards. He then caught a pretty good gust and capsized.

Henry and I couldn’t help but laugh from the shore. We could see that he was alright, though, his gear was scattered all around him in the water. Fortunately, he was in waist deep water, so he was able to stand and gather his things. Almost all of them, some were donations to the Gods of the Depths.

Not long after Kris reboarded his craft, the winds changed and a dark front came boring in. We were able to get back to our launch just as the heavy stuff came down. There, we sat it out in our trucks. Drinking beer and laughing continuously about “Kris Poppins”.

Lesson learned for us all… When you haven’t quite figured out how to harness the oceans, don’t complicate it with something additional like the wind.  

So a few years back I had someone give me brief instruction on how to hook a live shimp. I thought I had it down but lately I’ve been rethinking if I’m doing it right. At first I had read articles mentioning to hook it right under the horn.

While this kept them kicking, I found myself losing quite a few from popping. I started to think I was just popping to hard, but Matt pops about three times harder than me, and seems to never lose any. After further inspection of the shrimp anatomy, I discover that there are really two black dots, one small (closer to the horn), and one slightly back a bit. So which one is the brain? I’m still not sure, but I’ve been hooking them similar to this…

between the two dots, which seems to keep them kicking for at least three cast. I’m open to suggestions from our readers on the proper way to hook, and if you can point me to images, it would be great.

From experimentation I’ve found that a 2/0 treble hook tends to produce the best (more to come hooks soon), but due to trying to get these out once swallow has become a challenge, for both me and the fish, so next time I’m out I want to give circle hooks a chance. Only issue I’m having is finding information baiting a shrimp on a circle hook, so all suggestions are welcome.

This weekend, Matt and I got a chance to take 10 other guys from work, down to Port O, introducing them to the art of wade fishing. Matt and I headed down two days early, and as luck would have it, I landed Sue (28″ Spotted Trout), on my first cast Friday morning. I had three options, first to catch and release (tried to milk her but she had already released her eggs), second was to save and mount (Matt convinced me that a true trophy is 30″+), or last, which we did, filet up and fry for the group on Saturday night. While I never been much of a fish eater, I’m forcing myself to eat my catches this year, and I must say that Sue and her 3 sisters were delicious.

Sue is my personal best (although I lost another 28″ one out of the net 2 years ago, “the one that got away”), which was previously my 23″ Bertha. Hope this is just a sign of things to come this season.

How can you keep your fish on ice, keeping them from spoiling, while still enjoying more fishing?

Well, after last summer’s lesson on “It’s not a good idea to paddle with fish on a stringer”, this became #1 on my gear list for 2008, The Creative Feathers Studio Kayak Fish Bag. After struggling with a stringer, or the typical cooler not being an option, I headed on down to my neighborhood Cabela’s, and picked up the last one they had in the store leading up to “Opening Day“. I was a bit skeptical on if it would work, but after installing a few pad eye’s to fasten the 6 velcro straps to, and inspecting the overall quality of the bag, my fears began to ease. But the one thing I can’t rave about enough (another post for later) was the included icepack from Coldstuff. This bag puts in a good day’s work and comes back ready for the next, and is a must have for any “all day anglers” that keep his/her catch.

PURCHASE INFO: CFS Kayak Fish and Storage Bag

About 4 years ago, while fishing with a guide, we got into a mess of these nucience catfish. With a lot of newbies on the boat, our guide decided to have a little fun with us and pull our leg a bit. He dared any of us to lick the slime left on the line by one of these guys, promising that the reward was an intoxicating experience. However, none of us fell for it!

I wish I would have paid a little more attention to him, not the prank but instead 1) that the slime of a Hardhead is toxic and 2) how to properly handle/release the fish. Turns out, late last fall, on a solo trip down to Port O, I ran into a good number of Hardheads again. On about the 5th one I caught, he completely shallowed the hook. Now common sense would have told someone to just cut the line, but I was determined to get my hook back. After about 15 mins, a lot of prying, and a ton of frustration, I managed to get the hook close to the opening of the mouth. Then I got this wise idea to just shake him off and be done with it.

Bad idea! While I was able to shake him free, as he was falling back to the water, his slime covered fin happened to encounter the back side of my hand. There were a couple of choice words in reaction to the initial poke, but it got flat out painful about a minitue later, once the toxins set in, as my hand began to swell and go numb. It became so painful that I could barely hold the rod to cast, basically ending my day of fishing.

Lesson learned, from now on I’ll keep my distance, and not leave home without a Baker Hookout (9.5″), and if it’s just too deep, I’ll cut my losses and cut the line.

ARTICLE: Antidote from Gaff Mag

It was a great start to the season with many stories to tell from Mary Poppins to my first Texas Slam. More to come…

PHOTOS: Texas Slam on Flickr

Since I ‘m not the expert on fishing (even though I’ll bring home the most and biggest), I’ll try to start sharing some of the non-fishing traditions that take place on our runs to the coast.

While Matt is just simply a Jerky and Henry gets a little too Jerky with his croaker, I settle for the beef variety of Jerky. We first found this brand at the Port O Speedy Stop, becamed hooked, and have since found additional locations to pick up a bag, or two (mainly south of I-10). This is by far the best jerky I’ve ever had and provides a nice quick meal (energy boost) when you’re just to busy for a meal.

BEEF JERKY: PRASEK’S

MY MAP: Retail locations found with Prasek’s Jerky (please add if you know others)

I’ve been looking into another baitcasting setup and I stumbled across a Shimano rebate deal that I wanted to share with everyone. Basically if you buy before April 30, 2008, you can get the following rebates:

• Curado D = $50
• Citica = $30
• Cruxis = $20

Last fall, I had a couple of scenarios where a 2-way radio would have been real handy. First, there was the time Kris waived me over to his “hot spot” that he found. Upon paddling 100 yards or so, I was disappointed to learn he was landing barely-legal trout when I had just landed a nice 22″ fish where I was. Then, there was the time when we were fishing Christmas Bay and I lost sight of Kris. He has a habit of taking off in search of who-knows-what. At any rate, this year I plan to invest in a waterproof 2-way radio and I’m encouraging my fellow “blanglers” to do the same.

There aren’t many waterproof options out there, but here are two options I’ve found online:

Midland GXT800VP4

For a little over $100, you can get this 2 radio package. They have a nice 26-mile range, NOAA weather alerts, and rechargeable batteries. This is definitely the economical way to go.

Garmin Rino

This is a picture of the Rino 530HCX – the cadillac of 2-way radios. If you’re not familiar with the Rino radios, they are combination GPS and 2-way receivers. The family has options for B&W or color screens. The 530 features a a 14-mile range, NOAA weather alerts, a barometric altimeter, and an electronic compass.

The Rino series also has a nice feature where you can see fellow Rino users on the GPS map. I think this would be a great feature for tracking down Kris. Only problem is… I have to encourage him to get one too.

I’m still undecided on which route I will go, but I don’t like to clutter my yak, so I’m leaning in the direction of the all-in one radio. I’ll keep everyone posted on what I decide. Regardless, this year you can bet I’ll be barking “Breaker 1-9, fish on the line.”