FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The Big Hat Hunt

One would think that buying a hat is a simple process.  Thank again fish face!  There are hats, and hats, and more hats.  They come in every size, shape, and color you could think of.  So what is the problem?  It should just take a minute and be done, but that is not how it went yesterday.

Of course you have to have the good hat, the fishing hat, the warm weather mesh back, and the full cover hat.  And then there is that hat you have that the boss does not allow you out of the house with if she is along.   In my case I needed an everyday hat that is not the fishing hat, or the working in the yard hat.  You know the hat, the one you can wear in mixed company that does not have that ugly sweat ring around it.  So the hat hunt began.

As I was shopping, first at Roy’s and then Dick’s in Corpus, and finally Tackle Town in Rockport, it really hit me, we are paying them to wear their logo on our head.  Better than free marketing on their part.  Think about it, what other industry besides the outdoor market does it so well.   Perfect, pay them to market their stuff.  We have become a walking billboard, including our boats, and somehow the clothes you wear and the boat you drive somehow equates to what a big time fisherman you are.  It definitely does not have squat to do with whether you can catch fish or not.

Being the cheap skate I can be I set a limit, not one penny over $20.  Of course if it had a logo it can not be something I don’t use or believe in.  It can’t look like it was designed by Jimmie Buffet, have a flat bill (Not in this lifetime), or have that really long stupid looking bill with the desert flap on the back.  (Though that is actually the best for your health.)  One my wife liked was a Costa, not on this Cocoons sunglass wearing angler’s head.  So right away 90% of them were off the list.

Then there were the cool Huk hats.  Problem one, I am not paying $30 for a hat!  And as an aside, they have burst on the scene the last couple of years, and I am sure their stuff is good stuff, it is just pricey.  And problem number 2, as far as I am concerned, is their fishing show.  They are fishing lots of big money offhshore tourneys in their new 70mph quad boat, and they are doing it all for us.  You know, to field test their stuff for our own good.  They seem like great guys, but their prices reflect their hobby, and the premium you pay is keeping that lifestyle alive.   As my old friend Denny used to say, “I am not mad at them, I just want me some.”

And after wandering around in those great stores, and thinking about the hat, it got me thinking about the way it was in the good old days, and what as a sport we have become.  Reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live Skit – It is not how you feel, it is how you look.  We have succumbed to the big marketing scheme, which is fine if you are really marketing their product, otherwise you are buying a $30 hat which makes you a walking billboard.  And my question is this, What have they done for you?  The answer, happily take your money.  Do not get the wrong idea, I am a capitalist, the more money the merrier.  But where are the dam hats I can buy that does not advertise something?   It looks like they do not exist.

The old fishing store is becoming a thing of the past.  Cabela’s, Roy’s, Tackle Town, Bass Pro, Offshore Angler, one and all are becoming a department store with fishing stuff.  It is not a bad thing, it is just change.  But I worry about the future of our sport.  I wonder, what do the poor folks do?  Stuff has gotten so pricey.  Where is the old guy in the store who helped the kid find some catfish?  Where is the store that the owners are really helpful with fishing information?  What are kids wanting to get into fishing to think?  How is a kid from a broken home even going to get started?

So I fretted as I put on hats, hats, and more hats on my head,  I noticed every gosh dang one had an ad for something or someone.  After 3 stores, and a couple of hours, I finally made a decision, a $12 Tackle Town hat.  Actually it fit me best, I liked the color and bill, and it fit into my cheap skate lifestyle.  So they won.  I am now wearing an ad on my head for a store I go in a couple of times a year, where no one has ever even said hi.  Crazy!

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I had not heard from Rick in a while, good to know he is upright and taking nourishment.

That was a great salt report!!! How was the water clarity? Me and my business partner had to go to Corpus to pick up a truck on Tuesday 9-13 and booked a trip with Shawn Harvey with gofloundering.com out of POC .We probably traveled 30 miles looking for clear water. Pecked out 10 flounder and 6 sheepies but really had to work for them. It was’nt that windy but the water was extremely murky everywhere, even on protected shorelines and in the back of coves. Keep those saltwater reports coming!

You found exactly what I have been finding the last couple of weeks.  Water to die for, and I knocked the crap out of them the other day in that perfect water, and then what you found.  Your description of the color was perfect, that not really muddy, but that milky murk, which I hate.  I have never flounder gigged, but it is on my list at some point.  At least you managed to stick a few so the trip wasn’t a total bust.  So good to hear from you, and the saltwater reports will be coming right along.

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Here is a good question from Steve, and it is easy to answer.

Good afternoon Doug
Glad to hear you have your saltwater grove back. This is kind of off topic. When you put in at
POC how do you navigate out to the army hole flats. We recently bought a weekend place at Seadrift and have a 21’ Nautic Star, not shallow running so I take it very slow. Really need to know the easiest path out of POC.
Thanks
Steve ( from Waco)

That is easy enough.  The quickest route to get to the whole island shoreline from POC is to head down the barge canal, opposite of heading out the small jetties.  When you see Army Cut, which will be on your left a mile or two down, take it.  From there just follow the channel markers and you will go past the that big clump of wells and you are on the island shoreline.  Stay in the boat lane and there is no problem getting over there.  From there you have the whole island to fish, That immediate area is often called the Pringle Shoreline, which is great to get out of the wind.

Now if you do not want to fight Froggie’s parking lot on the weekend just stop at Charlie’s on Lane Road and pay the $5.  From there you head down the barge canal towards POC a few miles and you will come to Army Cut and take a right.  Army cut is across from the big development with all the fancy high dollar houses, with a pier or two on the inter-coastal.  Easy to find.  Once you get out on the island just take it easy, there is nothing wrong with stopping far off the bank and idling in, or parallel the bank.  My boat runs in around a foot, but I believe in idling in to the shoreline for several reasons.  Gives you a great chance to find the bait, and it is really mullet run time, so find the rafts of mullet and you will find some fish.  It also lets you start seeing where the grass starts and where the drop is as you approach the bank.  As Buck Perry, one of the greatest fishermen of all times said, “The fish are deep, shallow, or in between.  And last idling to the bank keeps me out of trouble.

And if you do not have a Hook-N-Line Matagorda Bay Map, go to Academy and buy one.  Map study lets you visualize what folks tell you, and to learn all the local names you will hear for places.  And last, Sea Tow.  If you are going to explore the area now that you have the place, buy it.  You may never need it, a friend of mine has used his 4 or 5 times, and we have been saved way the hell and gone down on the Lower Laguna.  Without it we would have been way past screwed.  It is simply peace of mind and worth every penny.

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I am happy to report that there is a great new sponsor coming on board.  I love their stuff and am humbled that they contacted me and wanted to participate.  That will be coming in the next week or two and I will fill you in on all the details later.  Suffice to say it will be a great fall of testing and fishing.  Heck who knows, they might even have a hat!

Hope you are having a great weekend whatever you are doing.  We just got back from a night in Rockport and I am chomping at the bit to get back on the water.  My trout fever is on the rise, visions of smashing topwater strikes are playing in my mind like that bad song you can not get out of your head.  And now that folks are off killing stuff the no weekend fishing rule is about to expire.  Bring on fall.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines