The Chapters of Our Lives

It has been said many times before "Our lives are like a book in progress." When I stop and think about how my life has unfolded as I have matured, I notice it is like a book and I seem to gain more knowledge with each chapter. It's comical how as we age our likes and dislikes change so much. What was really important to us in our younger years doesn't seem important as we grow older. Most of the goals we have reached are put behind us and we create new ones for ourselves almost out of habit. Most of our goals involve careers, families and/or even hobbies.

I look back to when I started fishing and it is silly how many goals I have set for myself when it comes to fishing. When I was young fishing to me was all about the "catching." My mother would graciously give me my very own package of fresh dead shrimp knowing this was the one way she could keep me occupied allowing her to have some "quiet" time to fish with her speck rigs and other assorted artificial lures.

Thinking back now it was amazing how a tiny piece of shrimp dangling from my hook kept my interest for hours at a time. It was somewhat of an adventure for me waiting for the fish to bite, setting the hook and anxiously reeling in my line on my little Zebco as fast as I could. The variety of catching was endless since just about every aquatic species out there has a hard time passing up a tasty shrimp. At the time it didn't matter to me what species I caught as long as I was catching!

As I grew older I started to notice that although I was catching plenty of fish somehow my fish were not the ones that we would take home at the end of the trip. My Mom explained to me that although we were both catching fish, MY fish didn't taste as good as the trout she was catching. Enough said! I wanted to be just like my Mom and if she was catching good tasting fish then by golly I wanted to too! I threw my bait to the side, learned how to tie on arties and was off fishing again.

My fishing skills improved greatly as I got older. I became more accomplished in my methods and would push myself to learn more about fishing with lures. I challenged myself with different lures - yielding good results with some and not so good with others - all the while still targeting those yummy trout.

About seven years ago I decided catching numbers of trout was no longer of much interest to me so I decided to concentrate my efforts towards catching a trophy trout. I became consumed with thoughts of catching one of the elusive big girls so I did my homework by talking to area "old salts" learning more about what lures, structures and seasons would improve my odds of hooking up.

I spent many years landing nice trout in the 25 to 27 inch range but had decided from the start it would take one over the 28-inch mark before I would be satisfied. It wasn't until early May of 2003 that it all finally came together and I landed a big girl that measured 29" and weighed 9-pounds 1-ounce. It was definitely a heart stopping moment for me that can't be compared to anything else that I have accomplished in fishing and a great way to close that chapter and begin another one.

It was about this time when the professional redfish tournaments hit the saltwater scene. Gary and I decided this would be a great way to test our skills and explore new territory at the same time, almost what we consider a mini vacation. We missed out on fishing the Oh Boy Oberto Redfish Cup the first year due to scheduling conflicts and couldn't get in for 2004 because the field was completely full, so we decided to fish in the IFA Redfish Draw.

As most people know already most of the Redfish tournaments are structured in the same manner. In the past, the tournaments were spread out over two days and all angling had to be conducted from the boat. Each team needed to bring in two live slot-sized redfish each day while using artificial lures only. The winners were determined by totaling the weight from each team's redfish from both days.

The learning curve for Gary and I was trying to catch redfish from the boat. We have always been avid wade fishermen and this was going to challenge our skills for sure. The other hurdle we had to overcome was learning to fish all new waters anywhere from Corpus Christi to Venice, Louisiana. We have never pushed ourselves to such limits as we have while fishing professionally the last few years. What a thrill!

After a year of following the IFA and the Redfish Nation Q-Series we managed to do well in the point race by staying consistent but have yet to actually win one. In 2005 FLW announced it would also be offering tournaments to redfish lovers with very impressive contingency winnings. We have fished the FLW since it started in 2005 and really like the layout and how well it is run; however, some of the events are out of state and that really makes it difficult for Gary and me to participate in every tournament.

Along comes the Texas Redfish Series tournaments held only in Texas and allows wade fishing, wow, right up our alley!

We have competed in three legs of the 2006 tournament series so far and have done well enough in each tournament to put us in first place for Team of the Year. By the time this article comes out we will have competed in the last leg of the tournament held in Corpus Christi. We are hoping to maintain our 1^st place position and move on to the Championship event being held in Port Aransas on 16-17 September.

I am hoping that Gary and I can pull everything together and not come close but finally win one of these tournaments. If that happens I can't imagine at this point wanting to move on to something other then fishing this way. Challenging myself to catch two large redfish using artificials in one day has now become a great passion of mine. I consider this my newest chapter in life and one that will last many more years.