Fish Catching Travel
After being cooped up in the house for 2 days with our winter still hanging on my lovely wife wanted to go somewhere. Lucky for me, other than a little side shopping, she was fine with the Houston Fishing Show. For me it is about the potential deals, or maybe some new baits, and for her it is about the various travel opportunities.
One thing I am always looking for are new and innovative baits, things out of the box. This year there was really nothing that tripped my trigger. But in spite of that I talked to some great folks, bought a couple of baits, and generally had a good time.
I always stop at the Temple Fork Rods booth. Not only do they make great rods at a great price, they are just good folks. None of that high brow BS you get at some of the vendors. Of course it is easy to be good guys when your product sells itself. I know when I bought my first Temple Fork rod it surprised me that they made anything but the fly rods. When you normally think of Temple Fork, you think fly rods.
My first Temple Fork was a Signature Series SWC 707-1 EH casting rod. Folks that is an extremely heavy rod, which has a certain connotation to it, but that simply refers to the action. The rod is light and strong as an ox. Those of you who read my stuff know how much buzzbait and spinnerbait I throw. Almost every bit of that is done with that rod. When you are throwing a big bait for hours and hours like I do, the rod has to be light enough to throw, and still be strong enough to stand up to big fish blasting a high speed bait.
After being so happy with that rod, the next time I was headed to Belize I decided to try one of their travel rods. I was tired of taking the rod tube expanded out to 7 plus foot, so it was time to try one of their travel rods. I bought the C703MH, which is a medium heavy casting rod. The plan was to fish it with live bait for permit and tarpon. I was able to land a nice big permit on a crab using that rod. The rod was light enough to throw a crab a long way, but with the back bone to fight what may be the strongest fish on the flats. I also whacked a bunch of trout in Keller on a Corky. And I love how it fits crosswise in the big suitcase. Toss in a reel and a couple of baits and you are in business most places you go.
So of course the natural progression was a fly rod. A Lefty Kreh rod, (who does not respect and admire Lefty), in 9 foot 8 weight was the choice. It is a four piece, again for ease of travel. I settled on that weight for redfish, which is my primary fish of choice here on the Gulf, but it is also sufficient for the bonefish and small tarpon that I am lucky enough to get to fish for occasionally. One of my goals this summer is to spend some serious time chasing those reds with that rod, and getting my feet wet enough to start on the glamour species next.
I know this sounds like an ad, and it is, a free one. They make great stuff, and with the cost of rods shooting up every year, their rods are affordable, well made and thought out, and available for every application those of us on the coast could ever need. And you get the knowledge and experience of Gary Loomis, Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallete, Rod Fordyce, and a host of others. These are the guys who fueled my passion for saltwater fishing. With them on your staff how could you go wrong. Check them out, the link is below, it will be worth your while. Plus they have cool hats, thanks Nicholas.
The only real new bait to me was the way that Buggs Fishing hand ties their jigs. They describe it as tied like flies, fished like lures. The ones he had were flat out cool. His smallest would absolutely kill bonefish. He was a good guy so take a look at his site, I did. There is some really good fishing information on his site, well worth the read. Next time I get near a bonefish his jig will be tied on the end of my rod.
http://www.buggs-fishing-lures.com/index.html
I am definitely going to plug the Coastal Fishing Gear Company. They make those Wade Right chest wading belts. I bought mine last year and it is still good as new. It does a couple of thing I love. First, because it is a chest harness it has multiple D-ring clipping opportunities, and by clipping the small tackle box high it stays dry. It also lets you carry a spare rod with no hassle and still leaves you with a spare rod holder for changing baits. It has lasted so much better than the last wading belt I owned. And again, some real nice folks who own the company. So check out their website, cool product that works.
http://www.coastalfishinggear.com/
I may be violating some copyright law by putting this on my site, and if I am, I am sorry. But if you did this, you are just too funny for your own good and I just have to share it with my readers. Thanks to my niece Stevie. Folks you got to love this one.
That says it all about fishcatchingtravel.com. It is, and has always, been all about the fishing for me. So after some crappy weather, a trip to the show, and helping a friend move, I finally will be back on the water tomorrow. And with the weather looking warm and cloudy at least one day this weekend it should be good. So keep stopping in. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
