Trip Reports

	Captain Mike
		Home About Captain Mike Trip Options & Rates Links Spot Tournament E-mail Phone: 361-790-5593 Cell: 361-463-3091
		Top of Page

July '08 Chris Van Rite and his son Wes came down to Rockport to try their hand at fly fishing. They had tried one other time down on the Lower Laguna Madre but this was their first trip in the Rockport area. The fishing was really difficult as the fish were being pressured a lot and were very spooky. Wes got this one in Brown & Root early in the morning

July '08 This is the one and only Jerry Loring of Houston. Jerry is quite a character and one heck of a fly fisher. The guy can cast equally well right or left handed. I’m talking 80’-90’ accurate casts. WOW! He also has a million fishing stories and they are all good. Here is with a nice trout and a small red he caught. He also casted to 10 or 12 big trout that just would not eat.

July '08 Dennis Hilton of Ft. Worth brought his son, Kenneth, down for three days of fly fishing. Ken wasn’t feeling well on day one so he stayed back at the hotel and Dennis caught 3 reds and lost 2 others. On day two Ken fished most of the time and caught 2 reds. Not bad for his first try at saltwater fly fishing. Day 3 turned out to be really tough with only 1 trout taking a fly.

June ‘08 I fished the lower Laguna Madre out of Doug Dunkin’s Back Bay Lodge with a group of fly fishers from Austin. Conditions were less than perfect with lots of wind and full moon conditions. We did manage to catch a few fish though. This is Cordel Robinson of Austin with his first ever redfish on the fly. Cordel was able to get this fish to eat a clouser minnow. He also made several good casts at a really big trout but just could not get her to eat.

April 2008 Clay Dewees and his son-in-law Pete came down from Houston for a little saltwater fly fishing. We found some reds along the ICW and Clay took care of them with his fly rod. Here he is with one of the reds he caught. Nice job Clay!

Terry Deeds of Houston fishes with me quite a bit. We normally try to fly fish but on this day he was throwing a liquid shrimp TTF Killer Flats Minnow. This is one of several reds Terry caught. One of these days Terry the wind will lay and we can break out the long rods.

John Julifs of Oklahoma won one of my fly fishing spot tournaments last year and came back for his free trip. We had miserable fly fishing conditions with fog and lots of clouds. We did manage to see a few fish and this flounder ate his fly when he had actually casted at a redfish. He and wife Mel had stuffed flounder for dinner!

February 2008  Ivan Estes recently moved from the Fort Worth area to San Antonio. Now he’s a little closer to the coast and can fish more often. He came down hoping to catch a big trout. He got this nice 22” trout but let me catch the big one. She’s 29” and we released her. Note in the photo where she slapped me on the belly when I picked her up. She should have been yours Ivan.

February 2008 Kevin Wisdom of Weatherford and Garry Bitner of Austin came down to Rockport for a little R&R. They fished with me a couple days and although the fishing was a little tough they managed a few nice reds. We were able to do a little sight fishing and Kevin was able to get a couple reds that he saw. Garry, on the other hand, was having a hard time seeing them. He now has polarized sun glasses and soon is to have eye surgery. He’ll see ‘em next time!

January 2008 Phillip Moltz and Lauren Haass came down for a try at sight fishing. Neither had ever done it before but they got the hang of it pretty quickly. They both caught reds and as a matter of fact Lauren has taken the early lead in the first half of 2008 Spot Tournament with a 21” red that had 4 spots. Towards the end of the day Phillip asked Lauren if she was ready to go in. She said she could fish all day. I said “Phillip if I were you I’d drop to my knees and ask he to marry me right now.” Heck as a boat captain I could have preformed the ceremony.

December 2007 Jeff Meadows and his dad, Archie, came down to the coastal bend for some winter time relaxation. We hooked up on the last day of the year for some Texas flats fishing. This is Jeff with one of the reds he caught on a Killer Flats Minnow. He and Dad both caught a couple fish but Jeff’s were both bigger. Way to go Jeff. Archie you should challenge him to a rematch.

November 07  This is Dennis Hilton from the Fort Worth area. Dennis has been fly fishing with me several times but we have had a heck of a time trying to catch his first redfish on the fly. In the beginning Dennis’s casting needed some improvement. He worked on that and made the improvements. Then it seemed something else always prevented us from getting hooked up. Sometimes it was the weather, other times the fish just would not cooperate. Well we finally got all our ducks in a row and put together 2 successful days in South Bay. On day one we had a lot of tailing fish and Dennis caught 3, broke 2 off and lost a couple more. On day two there were not as many tails but he still caught 2 more and lost about 4. Way to go Dennis. I knew we could do it.

Summer 2007   Austin’s “Outdoors Zone” radio host T. J. Greaney brought a group of kids down to the coast for some fishing. After camping out and fishing the surf, T.J. brought the group to Rockport for some guided fishing. I was fortunate enough to get the Gray brothers, Josh and Nick on my boat. Both of the boys had done some fishing and could handle fishing with lures pretty well so we went off to do a little sight fishing. Each of them caught a nice red and we had a great day on the water. Josh, Nick, sorry it took me so long to get this posted…I lost the camera.

Feel Good trip of the Year I had the privilege of fishing with Dave and Bill Smith back in June. It was a very special trip as it was the first time this father and son duo had ever fished together. Bill’s mother moved away with Bill and his sister 26 years ago and Dave never knew where they went. Bill and Dave found each other on the internet and now 26 years later they get the chance to fish together. We had a good day with Bill catching his first red fish. It was tailing in Brown & Root Flats. We caught a few other fish and laughed and cried and had had a great time. Bill, Dave, sorry it took me so long to get you guys on the website.

July 07 Mark and Sandy Dunham made the trip down to Rockport from East Texas for a little sight fishing. It’s a good thing we fished two days because day one was a little tough. We had to make a late start due to rain and only found a few fish on the first day. Mark managed to take the lead in the spot tournament with a red with 4 spots. Day two was much better with Mark and Sandy teaming up for 10 reds and a couple trout. Mark caught a 7 spot red on day two and as of July 12 he still leads the spot tournament. Here are Mark and Sandy with a double that came from a big pod of tails in Brown & Root.

June 07 Here’s Terry Deeds of Houston with a nice red taken on a fly. Terry made a great cast to this fish and tricked it into eating a fake crab. This red was in about 6” of water in the “Naked Man Cove”.

June 07 Longtime client and friend, Dan Williams, brought his son JT down for a little fishing. This is JT with his first ever red fish. I think JT might be hooked now and Dan just might have to bring him down again.

June 2007 I hosted a corporate group from Schlumberger in Houston for 3 nights and 2 days of fishing in June. Here’s Travis Syzdek and Steve Svatek with a couple reds and a couple “non-reds” we caught on topwaters. Travis and Steve keep catching trout where we should have caught reds. Steve, I still say there are no trout this time of year in that shallow water. I’d like to thank Toby Mayes of Schlumberger for putting the trip together, Miss Kitty’s Fishing Getaways for the great house and Chef Bob Hannusch of Every Whim Catering for the excellent food. We had a great time and look forward to doing it again.

May 07 Ladies Day. Betty Jo Williams won a trip with me at a Texas Lady Anglers event. Jo brought along Gretchen Walters for a day of flats fishing. Once again sight fishing proved to be pretty difficult so we opted for top waters in Brown & Root Flats. The top water bite was good and we caught several reds and a couple trout before a thunderstorm ran us in. Jo and Gretchen are really good anglers and Gretchen just won’t give up. I think she would have fished right through the thunderstorm if she had her way. Gretchen caught a red with 6 spots and led my spot tournament for awhile. Ladies, let’s do it again!

April 07 Shannon Bingham got this red to eat a fly in a cove in South Bay on a day when conditions were horrible. Cloudy conditions and 30 mph winds made for some tough fly fishing. He casted to this fish four times before he got it to eat his fly. Great job Shannon!

This is Jake Knippa with a big red he caught in Conn Brown Cove on April 10th. The red ate a liquid shrimp Flats Killer on a tough day. Sight fishing conditions were terrible with wind and lots of clouds but Jake managed to fool this one into eating.

Spring 07 Gary Ward of Austin came down with my old buddy Richard Trombley for another day on the flats. Here’s Gary with a nice red that fell for a Flats Killer Minnow in about a foot of water. We had a really good day catching and releasing several reds.

March 07 Jake and Arnette Knippa have a house here in Rockport and fish with me pretty often. Arnette was feeling a little under the weather and decided to let Jake fish by himself. Too bad ,Arnette ,this 30” trout could have been yours. Jake caught her in a pothole about 8” deep on a soft plastic. He released her so maybe Arnette will get her next time. This fish was certainly the highlight of the day on an otherwise pretty slow day of fishing.

Feb 07 Husker Red Fish! John Juilfs and his wife Mel came to Rockport from Oklahoma for a little red fish on the fly action. They ended up eating red fish on the half shell. It was John's first attempt at red fish with a fly rod and he did well (eventhough he's a Nebraska Cornhusker) Here he is with one of the 5 reds he caught on a crab pattern. I had to look at that Nebraska shirt all day.