Recon Revisited

The slick little Gordon skiff slid off the bunks into the tannin-colored water and looked right at home as the outboard came to life and purred like a kitten. I shook my head while trying to control my grin and said to my partner for the day, “Man, have we come a long way, or what?” Over the last 25 years I have been fortunate to call Ron Begnaud my friend and I still do to this day. Ron runs Redchaser Guide Service and is one of the best guys on the Louisiana coast. Ron started in the marshes around Calcasieu and now calls everything from Sabine to Cocodrie and beyond home at various times of the year. There are very few people I share information with regarding the marshes and areas I fish and Ron is one of them.

As we idled down the bayou past a No Wake sign we began to reminisce how we got started targeting skinny water redfish with both fly and conventional tackle. The days of using paper maps and aerial photos joined together with Scotch tape are a long way back in the rearview mirror but still as important as ever. The discovery process is perhaps one of the coolest things about this style of fishing and that is exactly what he had planned to do on this day.

I read a quote by a risk analyst, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, that said, “What I learned on my own I still remember,” and that really hit home for me. The hundreds of days spent on the platform poling these areas trying to figure out everything possible to make the fishing experience better is more than half the battle. It is the battle.

I see more boat traffic these days than ever before, thanks to Smart Phones, Google Earth, On-X, and a host of other apps and electronic wizardry that were not even heard of when Ron and I started. Now, unfortunately, there are no hidden secrets and there is no place to hide from the masses.

The one thing that separates anglers today though is how they deal with the information and that’s where time on the water is the greatest equalizer. In the Yeti video 120 Days a very prominent Florida guide named David Mangum said, “Nobody owns the ocean but you own the intellectual capital that you have earned with your blood and sweat over the years.”

Sure, you can get to the magic spot, but what happens when you get there? How do you attack or dissect it so that you are able to catch fish? It’s a puzzle that takes time to figure out and most folks are not willing to really dedicate that kind of effort to the pursuit. Old dinosaurs like Ron and myself are the exception to the rule, not because we decided to study these areas so many years ago, but because we had to since there was nothing else. Our original hardships of dealing with minimal information in those days forced us to learn and earn our PhD from the School of Hard Knocks.

In the beginning we both ran very small and basic skiffs; in fact, we used them as badges of honor so to speak. I had a tiny 15 foot Pathfinder while Ron ran a 16 foot Carolina skiff. We deemed them “budget boats” and did everything we could to make them as close to the high-end models as possible. It was insane the amount of fish we caught in those boats and that just proves the old saying, “Fish can’t read the name on the side of the boat.” Both of us were so proud to tell anyone who would listen that we had so little money tied up in such cool little fishing rigs.

I remember Ron actually spending a couple hundred bucks on a bow light from one of the high-end skiff makers and putting it on his Carolina Skiff as sort of way of, “sticking it to the man.” I actually think the only stuff on the boat that cost more than that light was the motor and boat itself. Since those days we have upgraded but the spirit of the trips still remain the same, to find new water and patterns that make us better fishermen and better guides for our clients.

Our latest recon mission was a smashing success as we visited old haunts in my home water to better familiarize Ron with the subtle changes that have occurred, thanks to past storms and other natural causes. Ron spends much more time on the east side of Louisiana now and the amount of water he guides on is immense, so this brief refresher jogged his memory and he was soon right back at home.

It was an absolute privilege to watch him cast from the front platform as he effortlessly shot tight loops from his flyrod to very specific targets in less than stellar conditions. We traded spots and allowed each other time on the bow during the day and were fortunate enough to find plenty of fish to keep us busy and more new water that we will need to investigate in the near future. The opportunity to continue the discovery process with such a good friend and angler is beyond special, something I will always look forward to when given the chance.

During the day we spent together I took the opportunity to try out some new gear that I recently got my hands on. When most Texas coastal anglers hear the brand name Penn it means spinning reels or offshore tackle, not conventional gear for throwing plugs or wading. Well, you can now add Penn to that list with their low-profile high-speed model called the Squall. This reel comes with an 8:1 gear ratio and excellent line capacity in a well-built frame. Just like most Penn products you get precision machined gears which give the reel a solid feel and excellent performance. I put the Squall on a Laguna Texas Wader II rod and just fell in love with the combination. The castability is impressive as is the drag system, an all-around quality setup for sure that comes nowhere near breaking the bank. If you get a chance you need to at least put one in your hands and give it a look because this is truly a hidden gem in the baitcaster market.

Discovering new water, new techniques or new gear is often times as much fun as the physical act of catching the fish. Putting a plan together or solving the puzzle for many is the epitome of satisfaction and I can’t argue with that train of thought. I get as much a rush seeing folks catch fish that I brought them to as just about anything out there. This month we will get some fantastic opportunities to discover fish from the gulf to the marsh and everywhere in between. Take time to explore new places or techniques and relish the process of figuring it all out. If you are lucky enough to do that with the right folks in the boat it makes it even more special.