A Lesson Learned

It was going to be another day fishing the Upper Laguna Madre. I was meeting my Dad at his house. As I pulled into the alley he was waiting at the end of his driveway watching for me. He’s like an old bird dog that knows you’re about to go hunting…just anxious and impatient. I love that about him. We loaded up his things and headed toward the boat barn. While there, we would be meeting with the third musketeer, a family friend, Joe. Joe usually has little to say, isn’t necessarily the most accomplished angler, but has no problem grinding it out all day. After we got everything situated we stopped to fuel up, and headed off to the boat ramp. By this time I was day dreaming about my new secret weapon. It was going to help me to out fish these two old timers today.

I recently purchased some new jig heads for my plastics. Mind you I was pretty successful with the jig heads I had always used before, but I was looking for an edge to out compete the old man. My Dad is a pretty accomplished angler. He knows the water and understands fish behavior fairly well. He even guided for a few years before he got sucked back into the corporate world. I usually compete fairly well and even out fish him on occasion. On this day I knew I had an edge. We had been fishing jig heads of a certain brand that are clearly marked as 1/16th oz. While perusing the isles at my favorite tackle store, I found a new brand of jig heads that also weigh 1/16th oz, but they looked and felt lighter in weight than the brand we had been using. They had a longer shank which positions the hook point further back on the plastic. I immediately thought these new jig heads would stay in the strike zone better, and increase my hooking percentage due to the longer shank. After I bought the new hooks I tested them with great success on specks up in St. Charles Bay.

After our ten minute boat ride to our favorite fishing spot, we geared up and jumped in the water for the wade. Here’s a little background on our strategy for this area. My Dad has been fishing this spot for 20 plus years. It is situated between Baffin Bay and the Kenedy Causeway. Since it is located on the northern end of our fishing area we generally fish our spots down south (i.e. Baffin and Yarborough) during the morning and work our way north to this area over the course of the day. This specific spot produces limits of slot reds consistently over most of the year and nearly all year round when we have a mild winter. This area also has a deeper hole and gut that usually hold nice trout throughout the year.

Today we have a different strategy. We are starting our day at our afternoon spot. A week earlier, Dad and Joe fished it for the first time at sunrise and Dad had his limit of reds by 7:30 a.m. and Joe had two by 9:00 a.m. and caught his third by 1:00 p.m. So, my arrogance allows Dad and Joe to get in position ahead of me on the wade knowing full well I’m going to clean house. We are fishing a drop off casting over a seagrass bed on the retrieve. As we get about 40 yards down the wade my Dad hooks into a red, and it’s a nice one. As he battles it in and strings it up we realize it’s near the end of the slot and may be oversized. It’s a good start. After another ten yards Dad hooks into another one, it’s a mid-slot fish. Joe then realizes he doesn’t like what he’s fishing and heads back for the boat for a different lure. I then jockey into position behind Dad. I get a solid strike and set the hook. I fight the fish for nearly 30 seconds and the fish comes unhooked. I’m slightly disappointed, but I get over it. As Joe makes his way back to the drop off, Dad hooks another fish and strings up his third red. It’s only 7:10 a.m. Dad says, “I’ll fall back to the end of the line”, he’s smiling ear to ear.

This is when I turn up the heat and start fishing like a machine. Joe’s about 70 yards behind me and Dad is another 30 yards behind him. By this time I zone out any commotion from the old folks and just focus on my retrieve. I get a hit and set the hook. The fish is peeling drag, and I know it’s a nice red. Again, the fish comes unhooked…I’m steaming, but again, I get over it. Three casts later, I hook into another red. I battle this fish for about 30 seconds and again it comes unhooked. I’m completely baffled, and can’t recall ever having this problem. I immediately blamed the new jig heads. I started fishing back toward the boat to get rid of the things and change back to what I always used before. As I fished my way back I hook into a keeper trout and string him up. A few casts later I land an undersized red and let him go. As I pass Joe he has two reds on his stringer. I’m feeling pretty lousy by this time. When I get back to the boat none of us has had a solid hit for awhile and we decide to pack up and try elsewhere. All in all we had an awesome day. We finished with our limits of reds plus one oversized, which Dad caught and tagged, and six specks. In the end, I can’t help but refer back to the old saying, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”