The Services Anglers Seek From Their Guides
Here in Rockport we have continued to receive some rain each week, much needed for sure, and we’ll take whatever we can get. Hurricane season is upon us and we have already had several tropical systems trying to develop but not amounting to much – so far. I continue to fish a 5-day week, taking weekends off during the summer months. With afternoon highs pushing near 100° our fishing days will be short, which means that placing the guys in a productive area right out of the gate is of utmost importance.
Having the luxury of a clientele that continues to support me and allows me to be on the water as much as I am pays huge dividends in the catching department. I promise you this; I know where they are and also where they are not, and that makes locating and staying with them much easier. Summer fishing is a grind more days than not due to short windows of opportunity, given the daytime heating and increased water temperatures. MirrOlure, 6th Sense, and Texas Customs Lures continue to be my mainstays this time of year. This certainly is not meant to imply that other baits do not work. These brands were chosen by me and many wear my seal of approval because they produce – day in day out.
While we have been experiencing warmer than average weather for better than a month, the truth is we are just getting started with the heat and I am already counting the days until that first little front pushes down from the north, bringing slightly cooler temperatures to the coast. Until then, be prepared to grind much of the day with your favorite soft plastics. Early mornings will provide some topwater or Double D opportunities, but the meat and potatoes of your day will likely be your go-to soft plastic in a few of your favorite color patterns.
In this month’s article we are going to talk about the truth of becoming a better fisherman. Some of my observations might be a bitter pill to swallow for some, but it’s a truth that I have personally observed. In my years as a guide I have experienced thousands of anglers that simply want to become better fishermen. Not all of them want to be great at it, just good enough to catch some fish whenever they are able to get out on the water. Many are looking for navigational help, some only want certain seasonal information, some want trophy fish knowledge, and there are growing numbers who aspire to become guides.
The first category is the easiest to please. This group just loves to fish and wants to catch some fish when they go. Sure, they want to catch good fish, but most are satisfied with getting bites and working through smaller fish in search of larger ones. Larger meaning slot-sized fish that they can keep for a meal or two. Many that hire me and fish with lures while with me may not always use artificial baits, so areas where fish are often present are important to them. For my entire career I have provided this service to my clients, knowing they will return to the area but knowing that it won’t be very many days of the year and more than likely on weekends when I am not out there. I have therefore always pushed myself to have as many areas as I can that are holding fish in multiple bay systems as backup. Any fisherman that has only a half dozen areas that they feel confident are holding fish are probably going to struggle at times. Most of the areas that I use are not areas that a local fishing map would be showing as prime areas. I had a new client tell the old client that recommended me to him that we had a great day and did not go to one good spot that his map had listed.
Truth is we did fish the areas that the map recommended, just not any specific “X” MARKS the spot types. The Rockport to Corpus Christi area boasts a wide variety of very diverse fishing habitats with multiple launch facilities in just about every bay system. This allows for easy access to fishing grounds in all types of weather conditions. This alone makes the area a popular fishing destination. I have the luxury of fishing spoils, mid-bay reefs, back lakes, drains that feed backwater areas, barrier island shorelines that provide shoreline guts, points, scattered shell points, washes and drain mouths that are set up for just about every wind condition that might present itself. The more structure you have the easier it is to locate areas that are not receiving as much pressure as some more popular areas. For years, my clientele has been one that just wants to be able to get on the water and be productive, and I think I have provided this service very well.
The next group want navigational advice. With the growing cost of boats and all that goes with owning a boat, its money well spent just to have some safe water routes that allow one to travel to and from a fishing area. Pretty difficult to be productive if one is limited to the ICW all the time. Professional guide Nathan Beabout out of the Seadrift/POC area offers navigational trips where the focus is not fishing but navigation. I highly recommend such services. I have on occasion the new Haynie boat owner that wants me to fish out of his boat and supply some navigational/operational and fishing advice. My mood on any given day would dictate my willingness to do this, however, I could see it in my future.
Anglers seeking seasonal fishing pattern knowledge are another group that I see often. Seems the trend has turned more into winter fishing patterns than any other, which is something that was not the case in 1978 when I started. I remember telling my dad, who was totally against me becoming a guide, that if I could develop a wintertime clientele I would be able to double the number of days that I fished. This would have separated me from the rest of the guiding community at that time, but certainly not the case today. Trophy trout has become the quest for many and it is pretty much common knowledge that the cooler months produce by far the greatest number of trout in the 28-plus class. That said, though, one of the largest trout I ever caught was in mid-September in San Antonio Bay many years ago. She died on us and we took her to the STAR Tournament scale at Seaworthy Marine where she weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces. So, you see, there are exceptions to everything, and this was by far the largest trout I have ever caught in the summer months.
The small group of trophy trout anglers seeking more knowledge is currently at a fever pitch. We can thank the guys at Speckled Truth for bringing this to the attention of the trout fishing community over the past five or so years. But in truth, looking back over many years, it was guys like Mike Blackwell, Doug Bird, Cliff Webb, Bill Sheka and David Rowsey on the ground floor promoting trophy trout fishing decades before it was remotely as popular as it is today.
For the record, these guys made names for themselves with a rugged work ethic and an innate ability to catch them on a consistent basis. Baffin and Port Mansfield are world-renowned trophy trout destinations, and this is evident by the fishing pressure one experiences during the winter months when fishing these areas. I am proud of the trophy trout community, catch and release is now the thing and done willingly by guides, customers, and individuals alike.
Now, for those that I get wanting to pursue a guiding career receive more advice on how to manage the “business of the business” versus fishing information. The guide population has exploded in recent years, and this is largely due to the population growth along the Texas coast and the popularity that fishing has gained through social media in the past 10 or so years.
Many of the older generation of guides such as myself are responsible for some of the growth of the saltwater fishing community. Years of advertising, promotion through sportswriters and publications such as the Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, Saltwater Angler, Lonestar Outdoor News, Mickey Eastman’s show on Houston’s 610 AM Sports and Outdoors Radio, and even small hometown newspaper columns have contributed toward creating the demand we see today. So, yeah, I totally get it when a young person wants to do what I do. It has been a wonderful job and journey and currently, I see myself continuing for as many more years as my legs and back hold up.
Getting down to the nitty-gritty of the guide business is the fact that nothing can take the place of a solid work ethic. The problem, though, many young people have no work ethic at all. That is harsh but true and it is proven to me when I start asking about previous jobs and work experience. I have worked at something my entire life, including childhood, all through my school years and still today. Nothing can replace good old hard work.
My grandfather on my mom’s side was a man driven by hard work and he taught me that. I had years of fishing experience before I ever took my first trip and I fished daily between trips, trying to learn about new areas and improve my fish-finding skills. Still to this day, I will go out on a day off to scout new areas or just to keep that edge on my game.
Social media helps the younger guides and is something I once thought I wished I could have had in the beginning, but I now realize that I would not have learned what I learned had it been available to me. Fishing is hard. Hard on the body and the family. My advice is always the same, work hard, know ones operating costs and don’t trade services for services. Always be polite, take care of your equipment, take care of your body, and don’t socialize with your clientele. Guiding is a business, treat it like one.
May Your Fishing Always Be Catching. -Guide, Jay Watkins