The Most Helpful Innovations

Author's note: This is the first in a related pair of articles which identify important recent innovations that aid saltwater inshore fishermen in their efforts. Ultimately, the pair will specify the most important of these improvements in technology and tools.

On summer mornings when I was a kid, my grandfather took me fishing at the Texas City Dike. We'd pull frozen shrimp out of paper boxes and skewer them on treble hooks dangling from wire leaders. Pushing the buttons on our closed-face reels, we'd sling the baits out as far as we could and crank the lines tight, holding our flimsy fiberglass rods in a slight bend against the weight of pyramid sinkers while waiting for a bite. The croakers, puppy drum and piggy perch we caught were dropped into a metal basket we tied on a rope and tossed into greenish, brown waves washing onto the rocks.

Though there weren't nearly as many people fishing the coast of Texas in the late sixties as there are today, I'm sure some were using much more sophisticated methods than the ones we employed. To say the least, my fishing life is much different now. In fact, the old world in which my granddad and I fished together has been effectively erased by a more crowded and complex one, complete with techno-tools like lightning fast computers, multi-tasking cell phones and global positioning systems.

Advances in technology have changed modern life in general and made coastal fishing better, easier and safer. After benefiting from the use of some of these gadgets, I find it hard to believe I was able to function for so long without them. Those of us who remember what it was like to fish on the relatively deserted bays of yesteryear might rue the crowds we negotiate today, but we must also celebrate the impressive array of tools we use to make our outings more productive.

Among the important advancements recently enhancing the quality of our fishing lives are improvements made to boats and motors. Modern bay boats run smoother, shallower and faster than ever before. Technical advances in hull design and manufacturing methods place the sleek, solid skiffs in a different league than the boats available years ago. Customized craft like my 24 foot Haynie High Output allow legions of fishing folks to access all the far corners of the estuaries and their satellite bays and lakes.

The motors that power us into those places are also much better than the carbureted gas guzzlers we used previously. Often reluctant to start on cold mornings, those old motors belched thick smoke and required a deft touch with the choke to get them going. Today, my Opti Max instantly purrs into action the first time I turn the key. Going at least twice as far on a gallon of fuel as did the motors of yesterday, it does so quietly and reliably.

Of course Mercury isn't the only company making dependable, powerful two stroke outboards these days. Yamaha, Evinrude, Suzuki and other motor makers have their fans too. The two stroke motors have also been joined by four stroke models. All of these engines require less maintenance and tinkering than did the finicky contraptions we once employed.

The motors aren't the only devices hung off the transoms of modern center consoles to make chasing and catching saltwater fish easier. Most outboards today are bolted onto a jackplate rather than directly to the transom. That hydraulic technology makes a critical difference in allowing boats to run shallower, permitting access to once deserted places and making for smoother rides in high winds in some cases. Another big change has occurred in the systems used for holding bay boats in place.

The ancient technology of a heavy weight attached to a chain and rope has been largely replaced by a hydraulic anchoring system called a Power Pole. As a wadefishing enthusiast, I bless my Power Pole every time it allows me to access my boat without walking all the way back across a flat. Those who like to fish out of the boat will verify that the units also make their efforts easier and more productive, allowing them to quietly and quickly stop when fish are found.

Regularly finding fish requires knowing where the sweet spots are out there in the vast expanses of water on which the games are played. Modern GPS units are invaluable in helping with this endeavor. We can now know where we are at all times, within a few meters, allowing for safer navigation in fog or darkness and making it possible to return to exact locations time and again. With some units, things under the boat can be seen in three dimensions on screens nearly as big as the ones on desktop computers.

Operators of the devices can choose to have a map with icons on display, or replace that with a satellite image of the world. I traveled all over Texas bays without the benefit of these things, but the journey was a treacherous and stressful one! I can't really imagine what it would be like to operate these days without my Garmin; I know I surely would not catch as many fish.

Nor would I be as productive without the lightweight and durable rods and reels we have today. I've been living with carpal tunnel syndrome for years. Before I found the "right" equipment, I was nearly convinced that my fishing life would be cut dreadfully short by the ailment. Thankfully, my career has been extended by people who came up with ways to make rods with perfect action and weights as low as 2.7 ounces!

That's right, Laguna is now testing a prototype rod with that total weight. It's got enough backbone for large plugs and will overpower any fish likely to be found on coastal flats. Twenty first century rod makers are ingenious in their ability to use high quality graphite, cork, titanium and other slick-looking stuff to make tools that allow lure-chunking junkies like me to function for hours on end with minimal fatigue.

The reels that ride on these high-tech sticks also help reduce the strain and fatigue produced by hours of constant twitching and reeling. My Shimano Chronarch MG 50 reels are the lightest I've ever used. They require considerably high levels of maintenance to keep them working properly, but if regularly cleaned and lubed, they are a dream to have in hand. When seated on a feathery rod like a Laguna Texas Wader II, they create a combo that feels almost weightless, making the whole unit seem to be an extension of the arm.

Fill the spool on the reel with a modern super line like one of the incredibly durable and sensitive braided lines and it's possible to feel everything the lure's doing and whatever it contacts. The availability of a staggering number of lures to tie onto the end of the line is another of the significant improvements in the current coastal fishing scene.

The important changes in lures came in three main areas. For one, people in recent decades realized how aggressive trout and redfish generally are toward floating plugs with rattles riding in them. We now have hundreds of topwaters to choose from, everything from teeny Top Pups to bulky X Walks. Some have rattles that make a soft, dense thud, while others have a higher pitched, raspy ping, more like a can of bbs. Different versions of these effective plugs fit different situations, and lots of fish are tricked by them, providing perhaps the ultimate thrill for anglers, watching fish strike on the surface.

A second significant improvement in lures came with the widespread use of scents to enhance soft plastics. Plastic shrimp tails have been available for decades; old timers caught countless big trout and reds on them. Currently, soft plastic worms come in a nearly dizzying variety of shapes, sizes and colors. More importantly, most are impregnated with fish attracting scents.

Lures like the Berkley Gulp are marketed with the claim that they're more effective than live bait. I don't know if that's true or not, but I have seen that it's possible to catch fish on them without even moving them through the water. "Dead-sticking" these stinky baits is not my style, but it's safe to say they've made the catching easier for some of today's saltwater crowd.

My greatest thrill in fishing comes when I'm able to finesse a fish into biting. Consequently, I'm enamored of the third type of lure that has revolutionized Texas coastal fishing in recent years. Slow sinking plugs like the Corky have made it easier to catch fish in some places, especially locales where bigger trout prefer to hang out. Houstonian Paul Brown deserves most of the credit for refining this family of fantastically effective lures; others in the industry have followed his lead.

We now have slow sinking twitch baits in both soft and hard versions. MirrOlure makes some flashy, rattling examples that have found their own niche. When fishing for trout and redfish in waters less than crotch deep, these lures keep us catching when the fish won't eat our topwaters. There are times, I'm convinced, when a floating Corky is better than all other tools for pulling trophy trout from the shallow, grassy terrain I'm working. Such a tool has been available only for slightly more than a decade.

These are the major advances in technology that most aid inshore saltwater anglers today: better boats, motors and other navigating equipment, lighter rods and reels and an improved selection of lures in a rainbow of colors and a broad range of styles. I know other advances have been made, and some are significant. We have better clothing, eyewear, sunscreen and communication equipment. There are tools for grabbing fish and instantly measuring their weight without touching them.

But in terms of catching fish, the advances detailed above are, I believe, the most significant. I'm still fond of taking a nostalgic look back into what I consider to be a golden era. It's cool to recall the lost days defined by sputtering outboards and heavy red reels riding on floppy fiberglass sticks, when the majority of the fishing public preferred shrimp curled in paper boxes over rattling plastic plugs. Certainly, I have no desire to go back to actually utilizing such relics. Today's complex tools ironically allow for more complete and consistent connection with the simple pleasures that define saltwater fishing.