"Haul You Back to Texas, Baby"

In an effort to get in a little "R & R" before the Holiday rush, I headed down to South Texas to visit my family for a few days, then meet up with some friends in Austin for the last three shows on the Fall Panic tour. Being a fishing junkie, of course I had to squeeze in one day before the Austin madness began, and although it started shakey, it ended up being a good one.



My friend Dave had just flown into Corpus Christi from Chicago, so we decided to get my dad out of the house and got on the road in the Ford Focus rental down to South Padre Island. It was interesting spending Halloween in South Padre with the locals, a town still enjoying the quiet off-season. The tone of the town was relaxed and happy, while always preparing for the influx of 200,000 plus Spring Breakers coming in a few short months.

We chartered a bay fishing boat from George's Fishing Charter Service, and George didn't disappoint. We were still reeling a bit when we met him at his boat at 6:30 a.m., following a night of heated shuffleboard and darts amidst the South Padre local ghosts and goblins. The day started off with fishing the jettys, trying to find some bull Reds. After bringing in a handful of skipjack, we decided to head to calmer waters and see how the flats would treat us.


The day took a turn for the better at that point, with our stomachs easing enough to put down a couple of CL Smooths, improving our attitudes greatly. George put us on some fish, each of us easily limiting out on Trout. We found a few small reds, a ray, more skipjack, and a few Mangrove Snapper to boot. We didn't keep any fish, not seeing an opportunity for a fish fry in our near future.

For November 1st, it was HOT. I can't imagine being in that part of the world in August, it must be insane. The fishing was good, and the stories our guide told us were "great". I don't think he stopped telling stories for a full 4 hours, and Dave and I busted our guts laughing the whole time. If you're ever in South Padre and want to go have some fun catching trout and reds, give George Strader a call at (956) 233-4919. I'd post a link, but I don't think he has a website as of yet. Bring your fly rod, I certainly will next time. George caters to fly fishing as well. It was well worth the trip, as we got to soak up the hot Texas sun and enjoy some good fishing in a rare trip to the Gulf Coast before we found our way up "North" to Austin.