Fishing Is Not What I Do; It’s Who I Am.

I am not sure at this point how to teach this. I have transformed from guide to coach over the past 10 years and find that coaching is way different than guiding. At times it is hard to effectively coach and still have finding fish at the forefront of my thoughts and actions. That said, at some point I have to put the clients in an area where bites are being received in order to confirm that all that we are talking about and working on is actually working. The reward is higher when you see the light go on in someone’s mind after beginning to understand a pattern at the end of a successful day.

Just about everyone that has ever heard me speak at a public event or seminar, or has read any of the hundreds of articles I have written, understands that I am a meat and potatoes sort of writer and will leave the colorful storytelling to all the others. Boring is the proper word but don’t kid yourself, boring can be effective.

I do work outside the box, probably more today than ever before. New technology and a force of young, high-energy anglers keep me on my toes. I absolutely love competing against these young studs. Recently, I shot a video for my Instagram account on how I organize my wading box up for an upcoming day. I realized that my lure and color selection was based on two things – confidence in the lures and conditions that were forecast for the day. For the record, audibles are needed at times so don’t be stubborn and ignore what you know.

After 45-plus years in this business I know what I know and know that I don’t know everything, nor enough to get it done every single day. Maybe we never get to that point and maybe we don’t even want to get to that point. Not breaking the code might be the very thing that keeps us coming back time and time again. Actually, it is what I don’t know that keeps me focused and excited about going every day. There was a time when I complained when the fish won. Today, I applaud them and vow to be better the next time out.

On a recent tough day, both weather-wise and bite-wise, the fish won in a convincing manner. It bothered me for my guys, but a lack of effort from the entire group was not an issue. It might sound bad but what the fish proved to us that day will be used to help us understand and predict the pattern on another day. The work we must do is in the department of finding better methods of creating situations that allow us to get enough bites to have the confidence to camp in an area and make it happen. I am still of the mindset that if I can put myself in an area where there are enough fish, I can find a way to make some of them eat. If you’re not of this mindset, you need to get there.

It needs to be said that much of the time when I am talking about tough conditions, the weather is actually very nice – light winds, clear skies and calm waters. Great for fishing; not so much for catching. If you look at posts on social media, you will discover that many of the photos and videos of larger trout are taken on days when weather conditions are less than favorable. Many of the toughest of days are those when high atmospheric pressure has set in and winds are light and waters clear.

This does not mean that we cannot catch fish on days with weather conditions that are not favorable. Fish have to feed; so somewhere and at some time they will eat no matter how favorable or unfavorable the conditions might be. On the day that I mentioned earlier in the article, we bumped around a couple of areas that I knew for a fact had been holding larger trout. A shallow grass flat with some areas of heavy grass and scattered potholes, also with areas of big sand and sparsely scattered grass beds. The flat parallels the ICW and has a gradually sloping drop-off (swag) before it comes up to shallow spoils along the ICW. This pattern can be found from East Matagorda all the way to Port Isabel.

Now this flat I’m describing, provided that a reliable food source is in place, has everything needed to consistently hold fish. Wind and tidal flows provide water movement and, believe it or not, so do ship and barge wakes. I call these manmade tides. Areas such as this allow me to fish all day and not really have to move much at all. This allows me the luxury of allowing patterns to develop around us as we fish. It’s easier to observe and see the small changes in feeding activities when we fish more and move less. Being able to drift the boat along with us and/or walk back and drift it up to my group of wading anglers adds an element of stealth to our effort. I know for a fact that today’s fish are totally aware of outboard engine noise and boat traffic, and have witnessed their reaction to it.

During the winter months I like to position myself in areas where boat traffic will push fish our way. I have employed this strategy for many years and it is a pattern that can definitely work to your benefit. I sometimes wonder if those boat operators have any clue as to the numbers of fish present in the areas they’re running through. Most of the time, the areas where this strategy could be applied contain no distinguishing features, there is no fixed structure, no X so to speak. They do not appear on fishing maps or GPS charts. Which perhaps accounts for the number of anglers that simply drive straight through on their way to other places.

I actually target areas like this because there are no fixed structures. This does not mean that I don’t like to fish fixed structures because I do, but I also find that I can fish alone more on larger areas where fish-attracting structures are not so well known or noticeable. Fixed structures – rocks, reefs, drop-offs and such – allow one to pinpoint their casts, dropping in and getting out quickly if bites are not received. Whereas larger areas of scattered structure take a lot of time to work effectively. I have always enjoyed stepping out in an area that requires some skill to navigate. What I mean is, it takes a fishing mind that can dissect the area, locate prime structural features and other productive areas, and then adjust accordingly as the pattern changes throughout the day.

This mindset is difficult to teach and takes tons of water time to become confident in one’s ability to interpret what needs to be done to be productive. If you are wanting a seasoned angler to teach you the finer points of navigating such an area you need to plan on investing a lot of time. Sounds like a sales pitch to get you to fish more days with me but it’s not. If at the end of each day one can take away just one thing that they have learned, then it’s a good day spent on the water.

I always travel light, I guess wade light is a better word. I carry lures that match the conditions of the day. Mirrolure Lil Johns and Lil John XLs dominate my soft plastic selections. Custom Corky Fat Boys and Soft Dines during the cooler months as well as Texas Customs Double D series make up my slow-sink twitchbait category. I will also occasionally have a topwater or two in my box – She Dog or She Pup, and maybe a Super Spook, One Knocker or Spook Jr. Clear water colors typically dominate the lures that I carry due to the fact that I fish relatively clear water most of the time.

Some get confused when I talk about darker colors that can still be effective in clear water. These are Plum, Watermelon, Golden Bream and, believe it or not, June Bug. Clear water colors in my box are usually Opening Night, Cajun Croaker, Clear/Red/Gold Glitter and Molting. I use all the jighead colors that Texas Customs makes, Watermelon and Silver are used the most but the Chartreuse/Blue Glitter and Black/Gold glitter are good choices as well.

I probably throw 1/16-ounce jigheads 95% of the time, but on rare occasions I will throw 1/8-ounce, and even more rarely I will throw a 1/4 when fishing into the wind or into a strong tidal current. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in all of the lures that I have in my small wading box and most days I will end up using all of them, especially if fishing a tough bite. This small selection of lures in which I have great confidence allows me the luxury of fishing all the lures multiple times during my search for the right lure for that day.

I believe it is very important that you pay careful attention to the exact location that bites are received throughout the day. The location can change. For instance, as feeding activity increases, the bite can rise in the water column. When the frequency of bites being received diminishes, we typically find them lower in the water column.

Trout especially can move from the edges of the grass beds to being well within the heaviest grass. This is why I say you need to be mindful of where bites are received in order to be able to duplicate the presentation, and also to target other pieces of similar structure in the same manner.

 In the end, you see, it’s all the little things that we train ourselves to make routine that help us improve our fishing skills. You play like you practice, so practice hard and well.