.

But that was then and fishing is the business at hand these days. And for those anglers that are unfortunate enough not to own a boat then their choices prime places to fish are numbered. Most are crowded onto the few fishing peirs like cattle being delivered to the stockyards. The only thing missing is a eighteen wheeler and a tobacco chewing cowboy with a cattle prod and the end of the pier. The once pristine shorelines that are available to those with a four-wheel drive are now also available to ATV during the summer months. And those seeking some protected shoreline for some wade fishing only available by boat are being buzzed by their counterparts on the water the Jet Ski. In other words though we would like to consider we own a particular stretch of water since we buy our licenses and help support conservation in other monetary ways it just isn’t so. It doesn’t matter if you into the biggest school of wall hanging, feeding trout that make up any red-blooded fishermen’s wet dream, with five trophy trout on the stringer in the 20 inch range and your just getting through weeding out the little ones. When suddenly a ache faced teen decides this is the best place on the whole bay to do a few donuts before scooting off to the next group of waders to see if they are catching fish like you once were. Other than throwing a well placed lure in the side of his mouth to help teach him some fishing courtesies or some heated words that will only slide of his sun-screened body you are helpless.

Not only are the summers fishing conditions hard enough to read than those of the cooler months of the year. Where once the routine was simple, fish the shallows during the afternoons after the sun has had a chance to warm the waters. Saving the protected structure channels for those times when the wind is howling or the sun has disappeared for the rest of the day. Now the shallows are saved for those early and late morning’s runs, while the rest of the time is spent looking for some tell tale sign of feeding fish somewhere in the bays. For those trying to escape the invasion of the tourist he may opt for those places a little further off the coast for instance the jetties but here the news is no better. It seems every joe blow tourist that has a boat that is usually dry rotting in storage the other 11 months of the year picks this place to test his skills. They are easy to spot thankfully, more often than not they will have their engine compartments open trying to start their once a year engines. Or they will be constantly trying to get their undersized anchors to hold or loose from the rocks. Either way they will stick out like Bill Clinton at a Hookers convention, and be ten times as annoying.

So what is a Texas fisherman to do? Well the answer lies just a few short miles offshore. Although you still may see some misguided tourist out on the waters still trying to make repairs to their boats or in the worse case trying to get those puny anchors to hold. With all the space their silhouettes of them bailing water off in the distance is not hard to get away from. And if need be you may even call for some assistance from the coast guard. They are also well versed in this summer phenomenon and will routinely call for another pickup on oil rig 95 much like the intercoms at the local grocery store when you take your younuns shopping with you down the Bar-B-Que sauce aisle. Other than that you a free to roam to your hearts or gas tanks content. With a good GPS system, VHF radio and above average sense of direction and map throw in for good measure being the only critically fishing accessories mandatory onboard with you. Add some Ribbonfish, Saradines, and Squid for your quarry, with ice chest full of cold ones and some more sardines and cracker for the hunters and you’ll be set. Making sure to segregate the bait from the brewiski’s keeping the beer from contaminating the bait and visa versa. Squid flavored Budweiser has already been tried as a marketing ploy and failed miserably, and kings do not prefer their Ribbonfish flavored with the king of beers, though it sound like in theory it should be a natural.

Now find yourself a designated driver just as you would on dry land. Although it’s always nice when you find the jetty channel after a long day of fishing it doesn’t count unless your boat actually misses the jetties and not go over them. This tends to put a real damper on the whole idea of getting away for a stress relieving day of fishing when you are trying to push your boat off the rocks in the middle of the night. So unless you own a fairly large boat or you are lucky at drawing straws for the designated driver, I would suggest chartering a Captain. Split several ways between your beer-drinking buddies it is not that expensive. And since there is more to the offshore style of fishing than drowning a Ribbonfish behind the boat or jigging a squid off the bottom till he gets the bends several times over. Combine this with the fact if you are ever lucky enough to hang into a nice king or ling by some miracle, my experience is they can make short work out of even the most expensive trout rigs. So pay the extra money and sit back and enjoy the days events. Bumping from one weedline to the next. Trolling around those oilrigs you’ve only seen off in the horizon from the jetties you normally fish. Hopefully the king, ling, snapper, dolphin and sharks will keep you busy enough that the 5 cases of beer you brought along will not run out before you reach the docks again. Thus allowing you to come home with a ice chest full of fish and your fishing memory bank full of new deposits. Those really lucky anglers who are signed up in the CCA tournament and have a descent guide may just walk away with one of the boat being offered in the offshore division.