Archive | May, 2013

April 24, 2005 — I SEE RED FISH! Man, oh man!  In the immortal words of the late, great Dr. Seuss, One Fish, Two Fish, RED FISH!  Spots are absolutely everywhere.  The red fish spring feed is on high alert and man are we on them.  Captain Ted Springer has to change his name from […]

December 6, 2006 — Prefrontal Conditions: BIG TROUT With the approach of another Artic Blast, Capt. Ted and I decided to do some scouting for up coming guests. Conditions were nearly as perfect as a Big Trout enthusiast could want! Light winds, overcast, prefrontal and a full moon. Knowing our major feed would not occur […]

November 2, 2005 — GO TEAM GO! Well the Astro's once again broke our hearts and left us wishing for another year.  Let's hope Drayton and Pupura can build a team for next year that can get us back to the dance and ready to win.  With my beloved baseball season over, I have to […]

November 8, 2005 — Thanksgiving is when? Admittedly, since December 24, 2004, Mother Nature has shown incredible signs of Schizophrenia.  With the first snowfall on record since 1854 in the Rio Grand Valley, Mother Nature ushered in a year of temperature records and has left us scratching or head as to the culprit.  Has global […]

November 23, 2005 — Gobble, Gobble! They call pork the other white meat.  HHMMM..that leaves me to ponder what turkey is.  Are all poultry lumped into the same monochromatic meat color or is our fine bearded friend an entire meat class on his own?  Will Terrell Owens make a triumphant return to battle out the […]

November 29, 2005 — Like most adventures, it starts with an innocent phone call.  I had decided to spend a little down time with the new wife while the parents were away getting a grandbaby fix and enjoy a quiet uneventful Thanksgiving weekend.  However, after a great day offshore with Ashley and catching and  landing […]

November 5, 2006 — “Wow…November” What happened to Oct? Seems I lost an entire month! What can I say, but Fall Feeding Frenzy! With back to back groups last month seems I lost track of time, not a bad deal! Problem is our fishing was good one day mediocre the next. With our 3 rd […]

November 29, 2006 — “Hunting! Cool Weather and BIG TROUT” Well we start hunting Friday, I just hope I can stay awake in the blinds just haven’t caught up with rest since hard push fishing this month. This month as usual has been a transitional time with fronts about every week. Before and after the […]

April 9,2004 — Lights Camera and Action This past week we were hosts to, two outstanding T.V. Shows.( Keith Warren Outdoors and Mike Dyess – Inshore Angler ) To have two outstanding T.V. Personalities at our facility this past week I must say Shirley and I were somewhat taken back. We were questioning ourselves, would […]

April 19,2004 — Bubba, the BOYZ and the Legend This past Monday and Tuesday we had the pleasure to fish with our OLD!!! Friends Bubba and the boys. With winds blowing 25 plus MPH we all still managed to catch good fish. The highlight of this trip was a first timer to salt water catching […]

April 3, 2005 — Oh Where, Oh Where, Has Our Water all gone! If we continue to lose water, we will be able to walk to the I.C.W. Our tides are 1’6” below normal!! Couple this with changing wind directions and you have a real formula for TUFF fishing conditions. Last week saw strong winds […]

April 10, 2005 — Please Send Water!!!!!!! With tides remaining more than 1 foot low we are still fighting a losing battle for clear water. Winds from the north at 30 then from the south at 30 they continue to plague us with super dirty water. What little brown tide we have is secondary to […]

April 17, 2005 — Bud, Dickey and the Boyz!!!! Well it’s Sunday evening about 8:30 P.M. and we STILL HAVE NOT RECOVERED FROM THE BOYZ!!!! There’s nothing like having 28 good friends for 4 days to totally wear you out. If I had to fish these guys every time I would be dead. No one […]

December 16, 2005 — Twas The Night Before Christmas First, I want to apologize for the errant and late fishing reports.  Between updating the web, building a few more sites and suffering the constant hack attacks we have been suffering, not to mention very slow and cold fishing, I have not been as diligent with […]

April 6, 2006 — Wind-ing Up! This weekend marks the true start of the lodge season.  No more weekends off until the built in break sometime in July.  What does that mean?  Offshore season flies into my dreams, fish start their late spring and early summer patterns, and birds begin giving away schools of fish.  […]

April 11, 2006 — Remember the Nineties…Return of the Top-Dog The last 6 days seemed like the nineties. Pre-meat haulers!!!! Five of our guests were able to better their lifetime best trout during the last six days! What is amazing is the weight of these fish for some of their lengths. Can you say FAT? […]

April 18, 2006 — Wind…Wind and Cooperative Fish It just keeps on HAPPENING!! The past two weeks have been outstanding. We continue to catch excellent trout. Capt. Steven lost what he considered a 30” plus yesterday. Fishing just south of town he had already caught and released a 25” plus when bam she hits, on […]

April 25, 2006 — Water Goes Up Must Come Down Seems like every time the reds get the opportunity to have enough water on the edges to really get podding, the bottom drops out a drives them back to the deeper guts.  Tidal conditions like this are enough to drive a fly fisherman mad.  On […]

October 18, 2001 — TROUT, REDFISH, FLOUNDER and BIG JACKS We hosted 15 fishermen from TSM, Inc. this past weekend. Wind gusts to 30 mph. forced us to the East cut for both days fishing.  Fish were in the guts along the edges in 3 to 4 foot of water. Best fishing occurred during the […]

October 9, 2003 — FALL REDS Water temperatures remain in the upper 70s providing a comfortable wade without waders.  Red fishing continues to be great.  Fishing North provided non-stop action for the past three days.  Reds were found from knee to chest deep water.  Trout were located in chest to deeper water.  The top water […]

October 2, 2005 — It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year Ah, sounds like the refrains from a Christmas Carol.  October is typically the month to usher in cooler waters, lighter winds, and more active fish.  But man is it hot, the fish are still following SUMMER patterns, and that witch Mother Nature decides […]

October 9, 2005 — Fall…Finally Man, for a while there it appeared that Mother Nature had reinvented herself into Eddie Murphy's Aunt Bunny that if you recall from Delirious took 15 minutes to fall down a flight of stairs.  Well, Mother Nature finally fell ushering in clean clear water, cool temperatures, and finally a decent […]

October 18, 2005 — Holy Toledo The NLCS and local conditions are apparently a symbiotic relationship: dramatic strikeouts and long long homeruns!  Just like the serving of disappointment served up by the diminutive David Eckstein and goliath Fat Albert of the hated St Louis Cardinals, mother nature decided to throw us a mixed bag of […]

October 27, 2005 — Finally a Real Cool Front!!!! After continued dismal fishing conditions the past two weeks: a BRIGHT SPOT!!!! With the arrival of our first real cool front the fish seem to have responded.  Can’t remember going into the last of Oct. with 80 degree water temps but the fish sure didn’t like […]

October 15, 2006 — “Rain” With all the rain we have had the last few days, get ready for us to really light-up. Boy those BIGGGGGG TROUT love that sweet water. With all the rain we have had look for the bay to turn on for a massive fall feed. With out the fresh water […]

Let It Begin — October 28, 2012 It’s that time, we are transitioning from chasing doves in the afternoon to getting after the ducks in the mornings. THEN! Going after BIG TROUT in the afternoon. We are winding down from Cast n Blast on doves to getting ready to duck hunt in the next few […]

March 20-22, 2003 — Businessman’s Holiday Capts’. B.J.Powell, Ray Rankin, and yours truly recently hosted Mr. Daddy, Texas Trout Killer A.K.A. (Travis Petty and his father, Pappy!) to a day chasing Crappie on Steroids (Snapper) out of Port Mansfield. After departing the dock after 7:30 A.M. it didn’t take Mr. Trout Killer long to give […]

February 14th Through 21st 2005 — Belizean Adventures What do you get when you add one fly fisherman and five bait casters, divide them into three groups, and stir in three of the best guides in southern Belize?  We got skunked. Each year, the guide staff, Captains Bruce and Brandon Shuler, Captain Teddy Springer, Captain […]

February 1, 2006 — Back in the Saddle With our show / seminar commitments behind us until the Dave Holder Show we are getting back on the water regularly. Yesterday Capt. Ted and I did a little reconnaissance for upcoming trips. Conditions were excellent with light south east winds. The fish responded with us catching […]

February 6, 2006 — March Winds????????????? With our warm weather or non existent winter we are getting our March winds early. Fished 5 days last week and seems we had winds from every direction. Two of the days waited until afternoon to even leave the dock to avoid 35 M.P.H. winds. Despite the winds we […]

February 10, 2006 — North Pole Conditions!!!! With the approach of our first COLD front in the past few weeks, I was really concerned with getting our mission completed. Bill Olson with Texas Outdoors Journal had been asking us to help with a feature winter time trophy trout story. After juggling schedules and flights early […]

February 26, 2006 — Lady Luck or Humble Pie? We hosted our good friends from the 4 F Fishing Club this past weekend. These nineteen anglers are some of the best Hardcore Fishermen we host during the year. You can only guess how excited myself and our guides were as we were about to go […]

February 18, 2006 — North Pole Conditions!!!! WOW!!!!! How can you describe fishing in a 35 MPH north wind, 40 degrees and drizzle? We hosted our good friend Mitch from Bay City along with his son’s bachelor party this weekend. Friday as I was getting my boat ready for Sat. I watched to the north […]

March 26, 2003 — TROPHY TROUT TIME Trophy Trout Season officially kicked off last week!  Early last week Greg Cortez of Bay City caught a 32 inch trout with a 16 inch girth on one day and followed up with a 30 inch trout that had a 15 inch girth the next day.  Both fish […]

March 10,2004 — Spring is Here!! Capt. Ted Springer spent the last two days scouting for upcoming charters. He found good reds on the sand in about 1 to 2 feet of water during the middle of the day. Lures of choice were bone and chartreuse She Dogs. Fish moved up after 9:00 A.M. and […]

March 28,2004 — WIND/WIND/ and MORE WIND Constant 20 plus MPH Winds have continually blown the last 15 days. Despite this our Capt’s. continue to catch fish. Last week was trying for everyone but this last Friday the fish decided yes its spring and lets eat. Capt. Charlie and Ted have been able to put […]

March 8,2005 — Port Mansfield Wind & Reds Capt. Frank Vasquez had the opportunity to fish David (SCA FAME) and his wonderful daughter Cheryl. They found good reds on the sand in about 1 to 2 feet of water during the middle of the day. Lures of choice were gold spoons fished slowly over the […]

March 27, 2005 — North, South, Hot, Cold, Dirty, Clear, High to LOWWWW!!! Winds from every degree of the compass, temperatures from 50 degrees to 85 degrees, Brown Tide to Semi clear water, Low tides to full spring tides. Faced with these conditions we have been forced to change patterns almost daily.  That pretty much […]

March 8, 2006 — Need Directions? So, you want to find fish and see how the fishing has been lately?  Well, you basically have six choices when you get to the harbor mouth:  Hang a right, or Hang a left; Take a port heading or starboard heading; or go north, or go south!  The direction […]

March 15, 2006 — Quit Teasing! Finally get to feel the bottom!  After the winter doldrums and stinky waders, spent most of the week wet wading the shallow stuff.  With temperatures flirting with 100 degrees and a number of days in the mid nineties, the water temperature has hit the mid 70's a couple of […]

March 22, 2006 — Blow, Blow, Blow the Man Down Holy wind tunnel Batman; to say the spring breezes are here will be a huge understatement.  The past week has seen Laguna Madre glass followed by all the rippled water you could ever wish for.  Last Thursday and Friday offered up a phenomenal topwater bite […]

March 30, 2006 — Consistency Blows! Alright, consistency actually rocks when it is a consistent bite, consistent good fortune, even a consistent good night's sleep, but when consistency consists of a 25+ mph wind, well, with the consistent tinnitus ringing in your ears and permanent look of an eighties wind-blown feathered hair cut consistency can […]

December 5, 2003 — Transition!!!! When was the last time you played with a Yo-Yo? That little toy from years gone by best sums up the pattern lately. With cool fronts making weekly visits to the Lower Laguna Madre, the fish have become cold-blooded Yo-Yo’s. The fish are acting as confused as some anglers. If […]