Give the Gift of Fishing

So Christmas is only a few weeks away and you have been working up a list of special folks in your life and wracking your brain, trying to come up with a gift to express your love and/or depths of your friendship. Christmas shopping for people you really care about is never easy, that's probably part of what makes it so easy to procrastinate. Trouble with waiting too long is that we are too often forced into hasty selections. What we hoped would be greatly treasured ends up in the already have one, doesn't fit, or some other less than appreciated category.

I have some thoughts on this dilemma. Since the sole purpose of holiday gift giving is to make an expression from the heart–do not fret over finding the right gift for a person who already has practically everything they need.

Think instead of planning a fishing or maybe a coastal cast and blast trip. All you need is a Christmas card, maybe enclose a photo of a memorable event or past trip, and pen a few lines of how much you want to spend some quality time with the loved one or friend.

With a bit of imagination you can cook up an outing that should prove memorable for eternity, either at your bay camp or perhaps if you can afford it, with an outfitter. You don't have to go seriously overboard on a spendy trip, it could be as basic as motel lodging and fishing with a guide that works a part of the coast your friend or loved one does not normally have opportunity to fish, or perhaps a weekend run to Louisiana. There is a ton of great fishing over there and a host of guides and outfitters who can put a jam-up trip together for a reasonable price.

On the waterfowl hunting-fishing combination side of things, Louisiana has perhaps some of the best in the world of these two worlds. I've several friends who do this around Lake Charles several times each season and they rave about it.

If by chance the gift will be for a friend who has never connected with a trophy trout or is obsessed with another chance to count coup, the Upper Laguna-Baffin area has plenty of guides who can make that dream come true. Ditto the Lower Laguna from Port Mansfield to Port Isabel. Heck you need look no further than the pages of this magazine to connect with some of the best in the business.

Cast and blast is not confined to waterfowl, plenty of the Lower Laguna guides and lodges represented in this magazine offer first-class combo trips for fall fishing and dove shooting. Pam and I spent two days with GetAway Adventures at Mansfield the first week of October and let me tell you; we had a ball. She caught a six-pound trout and followed with a limit of doves that afternoon.

So there you go, your holiday shopping dilemma is solved. Hook onto the boat and go fishing instead of the mall. Merry Christmas!