“Do you remember when we were boys and girls?”

The words of that country song have been running over and over in my head lately. "Do you remember when we were boys and girls? It wasn't a different time; it was a different world."

I don't know about y'all but, in the world in which I live, I can think of no words that could possibly be more true. I am in utter awe of the crowds at boat ramps. I fished in the Upper Laguna Madre recently with an elderly couple. We passed a drifting boat on the east side of a natural channel over 150 yards away and the guy broke out screaming and cursing and later circled us as we drifted to scream more obscenities. My crew was shocked by this behavior and I simply said, "Welcome to the weekend. These guys think buying a boat includes clear title to the entire bay."

It's sad, it's depressing, and it is why I have no love for the bays on summer weekends. I was running the western edge of the channel and would have been tearing up grass had I veered any further. Had I passed him on the other side I would have cut the drift of three other boats.

Two weeks ago I fished offshore out of Port Mansfield on a Wednesday, twenty miles out and twenty-one miles north of the jetties. There were sport fishermen on every single structure I know of in the area and I know quite a few "secret" spots. I laughed and wondered if any were my pals who first gave me the locations.

Everybody has to be somewhere. Inland lakes are at all-time low levels and apparently quality catching has been tough north of Corpus Christi Bay. This summer has seen a large number of the Aransas guides working the northern Laguna Madre and, in general, I am amazed by the overwhelming increase in the number of people utilizing Texas saltwater. All of this emphasizes the pressure on the fisheries. We should all be concerned for the future of all of our coastal resources and treat them as the treasures that they are or we are going to devastate them. It highlights that the days we all fondly remember when there wasn't another boat in sight are probably gone forever. Fishin' is supposed to be fun and we must learn to be more courteous and respectful of each other on the water.

Longtime friend and renowned Texas humorist, Cactus Prior, told me years ago, "Billy, you are a mountain man gone to sea. But just like the original mountain men, you are going to find that your exploring and seeking of new frontiers is going to bring the very crowds you seek to escape. They will follow you into the areas you treasure and it will change them forever."

Those words have haunted me for many years and all us ol' timers feel the crunch. I am being drawn farther and farther offshore and Rocky at Roy's Bait & Tackle busted out laughing when I stopped there to purchase marlin lures this week. I'll still be focusing on tarpon, nearshore and on the beach, in the coming months as they remain my species of choice but; I look to be doing more and more deep water trips at other times of the year. Can't help it; I'm a natural-born explorer destined to always search for that last unspoiled frontier. If any of you are acquainted with folks operating lodges in Mexico, Central or South American, who might use an old salt on their payroll, I sure would jump at the chance to work winters down south. Last winter and spring liked to kill us financially and I sure would love to find a cure for that; especially if I could explore new country at the same time. Being a naturalist keenly interested in birds and all aspects of the great outdoors, I might even prove a worthy asset.

I am not fond of the full moon. I started keeping track long ago and I can assure you that the full moon will kill surf fishing dead at least ten months of the year. Now I am experiencing the same thing nearshore. Occasionally I find exceptions but when planning trips one needs to take this into serious consideration. During August it killed fishing out to at least 20 fathoms.

I recently bought a lightly used Daiwa BG 13 Spinning Reel from Roy's to have as a spare. Rocky said the owner just didn't like it and as I turned the handle I could tell something was wrong. Upon field stripping the reel I discovered the oscillating slider was upside down and the reel had been given a huge dose of what appeared to be axle grease. Axle grease! What's up with that?

Modern reels are far too advanced in design to be stuffed full of grease and too much is as bad as not enough. To use axle grease on reels makes no sense at all. There are plenty of good products out there that do the job correctly. If in doubt, buy some blue Penn Precision Reel Grease. For drag washers, I have relied on Shimano's Star Drag grease for decades. Spraying reels with Blakemore Real Magic before and after each use really helps keep them in good shape and you'll get more use before having to perform serious regular maintenance.

I'd like to thank everyone for all the kind e-mails and phone calls I got from readers who enjoyed the "Indian Flute" article. I received more response to that one article than any I have ever written.

The icing on the cake was when Mr. John Botter of San Antonio stopped by and gave me a handmade red cherry Indian flute that Mr. Danny Dyson of Louisiana had made for me due to the article. Mr. Dyson is a very talented fella who regularly makes Indian flutes in addition to other instruments. It even came with an instruction book. All my life I've wanted to learn to speak Spanish and learn to play an Indian flute. Now I've got instruction books on both but don't know when or how I will ever have the time to do either. I don't have to tell any of you how busy we all are just trying to stay afloat in these troubled times. I had thought about practicing on the Panga far offshore while trolling for marlin but my customers would probably jump ship. What a hoot! It's time. Go get em'.