It's so cool

I bit the bullet and bought a kayak this weekend. Although it's probably not the best time to be buying one, Fishing Tackle Unlimited on I45 was having a flyfishing and kayaking event and I just got carried away. Plus, I could save some good money. I ended up going for the cheapest sit on top kayak I could get, the Mainstream Kingfish. It was only $399 (or something close to that). It's an 11'8" long 30" wide kayak that weighs 46 pounds. I had to get a bunch of safety accessories as well so it drove the price up.

A very helpful guy, Shane, helped me through the whole process. Turns out that he was actually a stocker but said he can't say no when someone needs help. I really appreciated it and will be a loyal FTU customer now. I have a lot to learn about saltwater fishing so I need all the help I can get.


I took it out to Christmas Bay again and slapped the water with my line for about 2 hours. I had more fun in the kayak than I did fishing. Kinda scary. It was so stable and felt fast. I know it's probably a dog compared to the others but it beats the crap out of my old pontoon boat for speed.

I can't wait to get on the water again.

In a new world

So, I'm now in hot and humid Houston. I'm definitely missing the cool clean waters of the Provo. But, I'm also excited about learning my new home waters.. the Gulf of Mexico.

I've taken a couple of trips to Christmas Bay (about an hour from my temporary residence) and haven't had much luck. The entire bay is wadeable so that's nice since I don't have a boat yet. But, the whole wading when you can't see your feet thing is weird. It's hard for me to get used to. I keep reading about the stingrays in the area. I think this will accelerate my kayak purchase. All the cool bays and tributaries in the Galveston/Freeport area look so kayak ready.

I've been doing some tying of saltwater flys lately. They are a lot easier to create than the little bitty nymphs I was trying to do in Utah. I just need to find a few flys that work most of the time and I'll be set.

Yesterday, I went to Christmas Bay and started getting some activity on a red Deceiver pattern. I ended up getting it hooked in something subsurface and couldn't get it free. I kept pulling over and over, from all angles, but it was just stuck. So, I pulled harder and harder until ... SNAP... I broke my fricken rod in two. I felt like a complete dumbbutt. That was the end of that.

So, I went up to a fishing store that I had never heard of.. Fishing Tackle Unlimited. I picked up an 8wt 9' Temple Fork Outfitters rod as a replacement. The price was right and I have heard the TFO rods are great for the money. I had to have something, right?! I'll deal with getting a kayak later.

I went out today and had absolutely no luck at all. I didn't wade out very far so my guess is I was in the shore fishing area that most fish stay out of. There were lots of bait fish flipping out of the water, but I didn't even get a bite.

I stopped and ate some flounder in Surfside, hoping that the proximity to the fish would make the food better. I've decided that I'm not much of a flounder eater - didn't even finish it.

Eagle CO results

Trying to catch up real quick. So, I wasn't very successful in Eagle (par, I know). I caught a small - really small - cutthroat and an equally small brown. At least I caught something. There were a few folks up and down the river and I didn't see them catch anything.

I was there about 2 hours. Although it was about 28 degrees out, I got an awful sunburn. I was pealing like mad at my first day of work on Tuesday. It was a bit embarassing.