Last Saturday I really had a great time guiding Lindsey from Washington State, Mike from Chicago, Jason from Denver, Mark from Austin and Jerry from Harlingen. It was a fun fishing trip because all of them are such great friends. Every time they fish together they have a fishing contest between them. They have a Big Fish Trophy that they pass back and forth and Mark was the current holder of the trophy.
Because these guys were down for a little vacation, they wanted to start their trip a little later in the day so they wouldn't have to get up early. So, we headed out the Arroyo around 8:30 a.m. for a half-day trip. The wind was around 8 out of the south, which made for a light ripple on the water. I was hoping for sunshine as we journeyed out the Arroyo, but the clouds prevailed. Some of the guys wanted to wade fish so I headed east to the shallow sand but the reds were few and far between. I went deeper to a grassy pot hole area and one by one I spotted reds as we were running, so I shut it down. Jerry, Lindsey and Mike bailed out. I suggested top waters, Berkley Gulp and weedless gold spoons. They followed my advice and off they shuffled.
Jason and Mark stayed on the boat and we drift fished the same area. Jason was using a top water and kept getting those breath taking blow-ups. I coached him as he was unfamiliar with catching redfish and didn't know how sneaky they can be. I kept an eye on my waders with binoculars and kept seeing bent rods, all right, they were catching!
As the day progressed, the sun came out every once in a while but never long enough to do any good sight fishing. We moved a little further north when the fish slowed up but the bite was now over and it was time to head back in. On the ride back, the guys exchanged fish stories and drank a few beers to celebrate. They now had a new holder of the Big Fish Trophy. It was Jerry, who by the way, not only caught the biggest red, but caught his limit of reds for the day. They all agreed that they had had a great time and couldn't wait to eat some of their fresh catch that evening.
I look forward to guiding these guys again next spring and seeing which one of them will take home the Big Fish Trophy.
The lure de-jour for the day, weedless gold spoon.
