Home of the Redfish Magic.
Trout Love Em! 
Fish Catching Travel
The weather is within hours of breaking. It is still cloudy this morning but the sun is supposed to come out and our warming trend will begin. And from the looks of it we will be back to seasonal norms with highs in the 60’s becoming the norm. The great thing about that is I know what is coming.
As soon as we have a week or more of sun, and then the clouds and rain move in, and it stays warm at the same time, it will be game on. Looking back over the years some of my biggest bass came on that day, the perfect storm. So I will sit back and wait and watch, and lets see when it happens in a week or two if I can predict when it will happen.
Until then it is time to do some serious trout fishing. They also are happy when the temps increase and spring finally gets here. With the big trout trip coming up in a 3 weeks it is time to hit the bay and do some wading. Both to check the leak and to practice my corky fishing.
A few years ago I bought a rod at Academy that was cheap because it was part of a combo where the reel was stolen. It became my favorite trout rod for a couple of years. I had the guides fixed a couple of times and then I finally broke it. Well I found another one the other day and boy am I happy. While I am no corky master, that rod was the best one I found for corky fishing. So time to hit the bay.
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I heard from Mac on an issue I had not even thought about. So read his comment and then let me know what you think. I already know where I stand.
Doug–For many years I have combined fishing and hunting together in stalking our elusive redfish. There is nothing more rewarding than roaming a crystal clear flat, scanning the skinny water for fish.
I hope to continue to fish this way but now a new culprit is about to show up on our Texas flats. It is hard enough to pursue fish with crowds ever increasing on our waters.
Florida now has discovered the Drones, equipped with cameras, in locating schools of redfish, and then just cruising in on the schools. They are used also offshore in locating ling, sailfish and other varieties of fish. Drones could maneuver around without disturbing the fish, thus making them easy pickings.
I am sure we are going to get this method migrating to Texas. Louisiana now is seeing them.
What is happening to fishing nowdays? I do not want to have to compete with drones in catching fish.
I do not run the fish and wildlife dept or make the laws, and a lot of people have already criticized my views, but I am just voicing my concerns before every boat around is equipped with these to use, above the water.
As a member of CCA and other conservation groups , I just wonder what they and others think. You are always not afraid to express your opinions and maybe I could get your view on this . Whatever is your opinion goes right with me. Others say drones will not hinder any fishing. If I am on a cast and blast trip, I may make mistake a drone for a bull sprig and load some #6 shot at it.
Whoops–not really, for the owner may come back with another one and use it to drop a bomb on my boat with me in it.
Drones are here-can we live with them on the shallow water? Mac
I have an opinion all right – Ban It! I have seen a lot of changes since I first started guiding in 1974. From the old cigar style bass boat with a 50 and a flasher, to the paper graph, the Black Max motor, high speed reels, new lines, and on and on. Being in the Ozarks I was there during the bass boat revolution along with amazing tackle and equipment changes. My tourney partner was the plant supervisor at Ranger Boats, my good buddy in our Bass Club was the owner of Champion Boats. Heck, our mayor owned Bass Cat boats.
I don’t mean to digress, but here is the point, change has come and gone, and keeps on coming. And as fishing has become more technical there has always been the fear that it would hurt the fishing. Fishing in many ways, and in many places, is better now than it has ever been. We can range further, see more, fish lighter and stronger, all things that individually could have hurt the fishing. Thanks to conservation attitudes, and well thought out limits, we have lots of fish. But all that aside, it is not the fish that have been hurt by change, it is the fishing. I think we are making the same point here.
The hurt I am talking about is in our fishing experience. More folks, more distractions, more money, more maintenance, more noise, and on and on. The outdoors is shrinking and with it the quality of the experience. I could not be any more against using drones to find fish than if they were dropping bombs on redfish. Is this what you as a fisherman have to resort to so you can catch a redfish? Is your fishing knowledge and prowess so limited that you can not find a redfish? Are we finally reducing fishing to a video game? For the love of God, searching for, then finding, and finally catching fish is what makes fishing what it is. So we are now going to take the searching and finding out of the equation? I am not saying we need to go back to row boats and Dacron line, but come on.
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After I wrote about cleaning the black drum with the new Bubba Blade I heard from Charles one of the guys who reads my stuff from Austin.
Hey Doug, this is Charles from Austin. I am a friend of Todd’s, but have never met you myself. Hopefully I will get to POC with Todd and the group in the near future. In any case, I enjoy your blog.
I thought you might be interested in how people are cleaning black drum. I actually got chewed out by a guide for cutting through the ribs, which didn’t make me happy, but in the end this method works and saves time and energy. Below is a video link. Try it next time. It works. It also works on bigger reds.
Thanks for the link and good to hear from you. I just love the Austin guys, and the guys I have met and fished with are some good dudes, a couple of them can actually fish, just kidding. Actually this is close to the way I have cleaned them in the past when using a smaller Rapala filet knife, going around the ribs. After using the Bubba Blade I am not sure it is any better going through the ribs. Now why a guide chewed you out for doing that I can not fathom, as far as I was concerned when I guided they were your fish to clean how ever you want, but since I cleaned each and every one I am not sure what his point was. Now if it was for puncturing the stomach cavity, ok. I know a real chef cringes when they see the abdomen opened and contents leaking on the filet. Thanks for the comment and stop in any time.
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When I lived in Arkansas I did some guiding, and lots of fishing, on the White and North Fork for rainbow and brown trout. This is a trout!
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Sorry this report is a day late, and a little shorter than I planned, but I was hijacked by the boss and made to endure a couple of days in Austin. Tough you know, some shopping, music, good food, I barely survived. So I want to get his posted and tomorrow I have a couple of reports and comments to get done. And after doing some work on the boat it is going to be one long stretch of fishing. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
