Last month I talked about the way the spirit and meaning of Christmas has become somewhat forgotten and left behind in this age of rampant greed and consumerism.

Thankfully, just as much as the true lessons of Jesus Christ are still as enlightening and ever present in the best of Humanity’s actions, the focus on the new year as we begin another cycle is on hope, promise, rebirth and the chance for change.

Usually these are most represented in the forms of New Year’s resolutions, a deceleration, be it public or private, of a fresh start, a vision born when a large portion of the Western world is locked into the downward cycle of nature as life either falls away or hibernates, ending and beginning an endless circle, as we now climb and slog through Winter’s cold embrace, waiting for Spring to warm us with the expectations of better days.

Trouble is, much like Christmas, some of the more poignant and enlightening aspects of such a time are blurred by modern society and her traditions. Gyms fill to the maximum capacity in January, only to become more vacant by February’s arrival; promises made at midnight become the regrets of the weeks to follow as we find ourselves unworthy of the lofty goals we set up in the afterglow of New Year’s celebrations.

Change, however, is not exclusive to a certain time or place and even the trees that sleep in the colder climates must take the time to wait through the ice and the thaw, which is just a very fancy way of saying don’t limit yourself.

Much like the teachings of Jesus Christ, to love without boundaries, heal without expectation of a return, and also to make bold sacrifices for the good of the world should not be exclusive to the once a year explosion of good will and faith, our chances for inner and outer progression should not be limited by the flawed construct of time.

Almost all of us might recall the first time as a child when we rode our bikes without the training wheels, the fear of falling or injury making for a potent mix with the bike’s own promises of growth, accomplishment and expanded freedom to explore this world around us.

As the nature of Humanity is diverse, all of us took a different path to this goal. Some of us got it right away, peddling down the street with a sense of accomplishment and pride, while others may have fallen, even becoming discouraged that we would never ride that bike properly, it’s aspects of expansion of both mind and traveling distance becoming a horrific sneer, teasing us that its rewards were not for those as uncoordinated or fearful as that scared child we might have been.

Now…if that was you, how many of you can now ride a bike, drive a car, and make our way financially in a world that all too often will watch a person drive off the road, without care that there are no guard rails on the twisting mountain slope that is life?

Did your parents put a time limit on that growth, did they tell you that if you did not ride that bike soon that those training wheels would be the albatross around your neck till the end of your life?

Of course not; the best of our caregivers told us to rise up if we fell. To coin a phrase, to get back on that darn bike and ride every time we felt we failed.

That is because failure is a lie, a word that should not exist because failing and then taking that data gained from experience is how we learn, it is at the heart of the Earthly condition. So as we yet again have survived to tell the tale of another year passed on, make sure you take into account that every setback is actually that fall on the pavement and if we rub our skinned elbows and get back on that bike more determined then ever to conquer it, then nothing will ever stop us, no matter how many times we fall.

Happy New Year to all and good luck riding that bike right down the avenues of love, healing and expansion of self.

The Annual Sims Father and Daughter Duck Hunt was met with great success and already re-booked twice for next Season.
-Capt. Jeff Larson

Brrrrr! 2018! Do you ever remember being this cold of a winter? It’s safe to say that this winter was colder than last year’s winter. The good news about these Artic Blast is that it really brings the ducks down, Geese too. I just hope you have plenty of gear to stay warm.

Of course the down side to this years winter is it has killed so many fish. I am looking in my boat ramp, right now, seeing a bunch of dead mangrove snapper. Good eating size 1’s. Yes it is illegal to take dead fish off the water if anyone doesn’t know. If you get caught its the Game Warden’s discretion how he wants to handle the infraction. The only suggestions I can make is, be courteous to them and don’t have a cooler full. It would also look good If you were saving a few turtles. Better yet, don’t do it.

Let’s talk mid season and late season dux. We are definitely up in numbers this year, according to my records. I attribute it to a decent hatch, nice Big Cold Fronts and the mixture of Puddle Ducks and Drivers, P’s and D’s. However as of late, we have been killing more Puddlers than Divers. This means, I’m not having to run a large spread to get ducks on my straps. I have been concentrating on the smaller bodies of water or marsh ponds. This can usually be a feast or famine type of hunt but this year with good numbers of Pintails, Widgeon and Teal we have seen steady numbers. Oh Yeah! Shooting, Good Shooters make a big difference in the numbers for the Harvest Pose.

The other day, long time friends of ours at the Saltwater Lodge, Tony and Charlie Smythe along with Big John aka Mookie made their annual hunt with great success. These Gents are truly outdoorsmen who like savoring every moment of the hunt. It’s one of the most stress free hunts I have with a ton of laughs. Charlie applied a little pressure on me this year with a request for puddle ducks. As luck would have it that’s what we have been primarily shooting. To make sure that we shot puddlers, I found a smaller marsh pond to hunt. We stayed a way from the open bay water where the Divers dwell. It sure paid off, with great wing shooting, plenty of natural cover and puddle duck decs we smoked ‘em out and tilted the scale. The straps that day was loaded with some Awesome Bull Sprigs, Several Fat Lip’d Mallards, Greys and Ultra White Cotton Tops. Happy Happy Happy.

As the 2017 – 2018 Duck Season winds down to a close, we want to give a Big Shout Out to all the Groups that entered the Gates of the Lodge, Thank You! We hope that 2018 will be prosperous for you and pray for a safe return to the groups that are already re-booked.

Billy Ryhne is organizing and coordinating all of the Saltwater Lodge Outdoor Adventures so give him a call at 713 907 4796. He will hook you up, pun intended.

February Fishing is Combat Red Fishing Month which is a Reel Scream!

Captain Jeff Larson 281 217 0399

It’s that time again, time to spend another beautiful Texas winter day on the bay collecting abandoned crab traps. The crabbing closure will be February 16th – 25th this year, with the main event day on Saturday, February 17th from 8 AM to 12 PM, weather permitting. Only the POC TPWD docks will be facilitated by TPWD staff, however, Charlies and the Austwell boat ramp will also have dumpsters for trap disposal. We will have gloves, tarps, hooks, and bottled water available at the TPWD-POC facility Friday, February 16th. If anyone has any big plans for Charlies or the Austwell boat ramp (food, music, dance, tractor pull, etc) you can just Reply All to this email and let everyone know. Again this year Allan Berger, with the San Antonio Bay Partnership, will be coordinating a large effort out of Port O’Connor, so he will be looking for volunteers. Dan Alonso, with the San Antonio Bay Foundation, will also be coordinating an effort in the upper bay around the delta.
-Norman Boyd, TPWD

I have always identified with the old adage ‘Fish When You Can Go’ and I always figured it meant just what it seems, the best time to go fishing is any time you can actually go! This means you will experience some of the very best days of your life on the water but it also means you will fall victim to some of the worst!

Now a bad day of fishing is surely better than a good day at work, we all agree. But there are times when you just should not be out on the water. These are times when the wind is roaring out of the North and the conditions for small craft advisories are in affect and everyone thinks you are plain nuts for braving the bay. I whole heartedly agree that you should not be out there but then there are times when experienced boaters and anglers can get around the weather and have a safe day on the water. Further, I have found that with today’s shallow running boats you can avoid the majority of these less than perfect rough water conditions and not only survive them but catch some decent boxes of fish by running tighter on the shorelines and avoiding the severe chop of the wind blown swells!

If you can wait a day or two though you may find there are plenty of other things you can do instead of fishing on that day when it’s the worst. Usually a strong North wind around these parts of the coast pushes our waters toward the South shoreline and holds it in place until the wind calms and the water can drain out of the natural and man made passes in our bay system. Given a strong cold front with winds like the one coming in right now at this writing where they reach 30 to 40 knots, you can expect a huge drain off in a couple days. The challenge you will face is where to go now that the water is super low in the bays and 30 degrees cooler than a few days ago. This is where some experience and common sense comes into play.

Blowing cold wind at night sends me right to bed in pajamas made of fleece and a long sleeved t-shirt! Covered in every blanket I can find and sleeping close to my wife with two dogs curled up beside me is my idea of surviving a strong cold front! What can the fish do that is a similar way to survive a cold blast where the water temperatures drop suddenly 10 to 20 or more degrees over a couple of days and the water levels they were used to are reduced to mere inches and are frigid? They go deep! There is this wonderful man made creation from years ago called the Intracoastal Waterway or ICW and it’s 12 to 15 feet deep in most places running from Boston to Brownsville. The fish use this ICW all year long but especially during the survival times where the mercury gets less and less red.

Fish are smart enough to figure out early in the Fall that things will be changing soon and they have a built in survival technique that allows them to take cover when the times come. If you think about this it makes total sense and it makes you wonder why you didn’t think of it sooner. I can say that of all the winter fishing I have done over the years I spent way too many of those days in 45 degree water temps and a foot or two of water wondering why I wasn’t seeing any bait and dang sure wasn’t getting any fish to bite. Talking to many guides over the years and sitting in on presentations at boat shows and other anglers nights out in addition to running guided fishing trips for over six years, I realized the best way to learn this is experience gained from others and trial and error on my part. Finally I’m at a point where I sort of understand where to look for these cold water conditions fish!

Concentrate on the ICW and other similar deep passageways but look for guts coming out of it and adjacent two to three foot flats where the fish can come up to bask in the warming shallower water of a sun filled day but deep enough to provide a quick escape when things go cold on them. Realize these guys are cold blooded and will be moving and eating much slower during these times than what you may be used to during warmer water conditions. Similar to Croaker fishing in the Summer, give the fish that bites your bait a two to three second period of taking the bait in their mouths to be sure you can make a good hook set. Too early on the set and you may miss the fish since they hadn’t had enough time to move their jaw bones enough to eat it. Likewise don’t wait six to ten seconds because if this is a smaller fish or throwback you don’t want that hook in so far it kills the fish to remove the hook. Pay attention to the pace of the bite and let the fish teach you the timing of what to expect on their feeding pattern because they will likely all be on the same program. It’s the angler that can adjust easily and land more fish for the dinner table or enjoy a catch and release day whilst freeing the fish less harmed and able to fight another day!

Enjoy this period of time on the water even with changes in water levels and temperatures. Some of the best ways to learn your bay system is to get out when the water is the lowest. This way you can learn where the reefs begin and end and you can find obstacles in the water that pose a threat to your vessel so you now know how to avoid it. Mark those in your mind and on your GPS and it will give you more confidence the next time the water levels are normal and you are running through the open bay. Customers of mine are puzzled and impressed when I can explain what cannot be seen on the waters surface. Knowing the bottom of the bay floor will help in so many ways and most important will contribute to the safety of your trips and the success of your angling experience.

Capt Stephen Boriskie, Bay Flats Lodge, 888-677-4868