Fish of Influence

By Casey R. Smartt

Every fish is different. And the longer you fish, the more you learn about what it takes to catch a certain fish on a certain day. They are each unique and perhaps that’s why fish are so fascinating. Looking through some old photographs recently, I was reminded of the lessons different fish have taught me about angling (and my addiction to it). Although I have never believed “fishing is life,” I have grown keenly aware that the pleasure fishing brings often relies on many of the same things that help us live fulfilling lives- patience, problem-solving, compassion, enthusiasm, tolerance, planning, self-reliance, endurance… In that respect, fish and the simple act of fishing are compelling. Looking back on all the time I have spent fishing, these are a few fish that I have found to be strangely influential.

Black Drum

For years black drum were a puzzling enigma to me. Early on, I confused their wiggling tails at twilight with those of redfish. Black drum had a habit of luring me farther from the boat on sunset wades with their bold antics, only to ultimately deny me the satisfaction of catching one. They were picky. It was a game that inevitably left me frustrated, confused, and really not liking black drum too much. But then on a sultry afternoon I encountered a large school of drum in very clear shallow water, where I could actually see what they were doing and watch how they reacted to my flies. It was a real eye-opener. For years I assumed the key to catching black drum relied on casting some sort of special fly (which I clearly did not have). But that afternoon I dropped fly after fly under those black drum’s noses and watched them bite with authority, teaching me that correct presentation (not a secret fly) was the missing link. Black drum almost comically illustrate the point that presentation of the fly is often far more important than the fly itself.

Striped Bass

For more than 20 years I have been afflicted with striped bass fever. There appears to be no cure. These powerful fish are nothing short of wonderful to catch on fly tackle… when you can catch them. I have diligently fished for striped bass on Canyon Lake near my home in New Braunfels for over a decade, and only recently began consistently catching them. It has been a long but enlightening road.

Stripers are fish that will make you check your watch and your graph often. They will show up early, late, and sometimes not at all. Stripers will call you out in the fog, and sleet, and rawest of weather with a promise often left unfulfilled. You can cover miles of water looking for stripers, check every promising cove and point, waste hours staring at your graph, change flies a dozen times, and then find out when you arrive back at the boat ramp the stripers were feeding all afternoon… right in front of the dock!

BUT… you accept all the denials and no-shows and mood swings stripers dish out, because when a big one does finally blast your fly, he’ll rip the line right through your clenched hands and struggle against you until you finally set him free. No doubt, you’ll be back the next day to chance it again. Like few other fish, striped bass test your patience, endurance, and will to succeed.

Ladyfish

The first saltwater fish I ever caught on fly tackle was a ladyfish. We stumbled on to a large school of them surfacing at the Port O’Connor jetties. I had brought along my fly rod and it was “game on.” At that point in time, the biggest fish I had caught on fly tackle were stock-tank largemouth bass. Bass were fun, but these new slender chrome saltwater rockets were different… wilder… faster… stronger. I’ll never forget the feeling of pure elation as I cast to those hungry silver bullets and watched them whack fly after fly. It was nothing but excitement and standing on the bow of that boat with a fly rod and a big smile on my face I didn’t care if I ever caught anything else. To this day, catching ladyfish still represents the pure reckless joy of fishing. They’ll slap your fly and jump and run and usually throw the hook before you get your hands on them. And it’s best that way, because the ladyfish’s real gift is the smile it puts on your face. Most of us move on from ladyfish to bigger badder quarry. But every now and then, especially when things are slow, catching a feisty ladyfish will make you feel like a kid again and remind you why you started fishing in the first place.

Jack Crevalle

Few fish leave an impression like jack crevalle. Watching a school of jacks ravage baitfish is like watching a pit bull in a chicken coop, and when you make the decision to toss a fly at one there is no turning back. When I think of fly fishing for jack crevalle I think, “10 wt…. 30 minutes… pounding heart… sore arms…” They have overwhelming strength and offer no apologies for shredded flies and busted rods. I would wager that jacks have destroyed more tackle and whipped more fishermen than any other fish on the Texas Coast. Jacks are the kind of fish that you take on because no one else in the boat wants to. In some ways they are almost a rite of passage. I know plenty of adrenaline junkies that lust after catching jack crevalle on fly tackle, and a few others who have hooked one just to say they did it. Kudos to the jack crevalle for reminding us we really aren’t as young or as tough as we’d like to think.

Gar

Regardless of what you think about gar, you have to admit they are pretty cool fish. Tough, armored, prehistoric, giant, and racked with a mouth full of nasty teeth… gar are unique. Most of us can recall our first angling encounter with a gar, and some of us have continued to fish for them. Of the gar species, allligator gar get the most press time because of their size and looks, but pound for pound, longnose gar are far more gamey.

So why would anyone deliberately try to catch a gar on fly tackle? Well, the big ones are strong… really strong.  And, they are challenging to hook and land with standard flies. If you throw a kayak into the mix things really get interesting,  I also suppose some of us fish for gar for the same reasons we catch snakes and spiders or other strange creatures that can inflict a nasty wound- they’re kind of creepy and we like that.

Speckled Trout

I never quite understood the cult of fishing for trophy speckled trout… until I saw one. We were fly fishing in the Padre Island surf when a friend of mine waved frantically for me to come over. As I approached he lifted a nearly 30-inch-long speck out of the froth in the wade gut. A small gold fly dangled from its mouth like a piece of jewelry. I nearly fell over. At that moment I understood how a trout could drive economies, shape fisheries policy, and make heroes out of guides who knew how to catch them.

A second experience a few years after the surf trout also left its mark on me. I was casually walking back to my boat after a morning wade. The weather was pleasant and the winds were light as I sauntered along in ankle-deep water. Up ahead I could see an old black post stranded in the shallow water near the bank. As I approached, I suddenly realized it was not a post at all, it was a massive trout with its back exposed. Like no fish I have ever seen, that trout made my knees shake and almost made me forget how to cast. My fly landed about a foot ahead of the trout and she casually swam up and took a swipe at it. I jerked the fly away in haste and she blazed off the flat at lightening speed. I was speechless, shaken, and will never forget the feeling. To this day I have only caught a few trout I would consider “trophies,” and I remember each of them clearly.  They are magnificent creatures.

The Golla Boys

By Casey R. Smartt

A few years ago over the 2006 Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Billy Sandifer and I rode down the beach in his old sky blue Suburban searching for fly targets. About 60 miles down, Billy spotted a familiar 4-wheel drive pickup parked on the sand and we stopped to visit. The truck belonged to local angler Charlie Golla. Charlie’s two boys, Chris and Justin, stood near the tailgate wearing neoprene waders and big smiles, ready to take on the surf. Chris was 16 at the time and Justin was 8. Chris had his fly gear out so he and I immediately struck up a conversation, trading ideas on different ways to approach the beach with fly tackle. Chris reported that the jacks had shown up the day before near the 55 mile mark and had been hammering migrating mullet there. His report stoked my enthusiasm.

After visiting for a few minutes, Billy and I loaded up and headed out. As I watched the Golla’s shrink away in the rear view mirror I was impressed by how polite and focused Charlie’s boys were. Despite camping on the beach for nearly 5 days they were chipper, bright-eyed, and ready to chase fish… way better off than I would have been after that much time in the sand.

I munched on some of Charlie’s fantastic smoked redfish as Billy and I rattled up the shoreline. “Maybe it’s Dad’s cooking that keeps those boys smiling,” I thought. Since that morning, Charlie Golla has kept me posted on the boy’s fly fishing adventures, and he regularly sends me photos and stories of their fly-caught fish. The fish seem to get bigger and bigger each month.

Last year, 9-year old Justin sight-cast and landed a 32” jack crevalle from the beach on his 10 wt. fly rod. Just think about that for a minute… a 9-year old wielding a 10 wt. fly rod on the beach and landing a 32” jack with it. Hooking a big jack on fly tackle and landing it on the sand is physically demanding even for seasoned fishermen. No doubt it’s much tougher for an angler who barely outweighs the fish. In fact, I am tempted to carry a photo of Justin fighting that jackfish so I can flash it the next time I hear a grown man whine about casting in the wind.

But Justin likes a challenge. He’s been camping and fishing since he was old enough to walk, beginning with bay fishing and then graduating to the surf. When asked how he got started fly fishing Justin says, “My brother Chris got a fly rod for trout and reds. I started learning to cast it and like it, so I got one. It’s hard but that’s what I like about it.”

When Justin and Chris aren’t chasing fish in the surf, the two enjoy kayaking and camping near Aransas Pass with their dad, Charlie. Justin says he enjoys fly fishing from a kayak because, “I like to work for fish.” To date, Justin’s caught flounder, trout, reds, skipjacks, jack crevalle, and a host of other species on fly tackle.

Chris picked up his first fly rod 4 years ago. When asked how he got started Chris says, “I used to see Billy Sandifer’s Suburban cruising down the beach with all these fly rods strapped on it. I knew I wanted to try it.” Chris eventually procured a fly rod and began teaching himself to cast. Sandifer supplied him with a few flies and books, and members of the Rockport Fly Fishers provided Chris with some casting instruction. It wasn’t long before he was off and running.

Like a lot of anglers, Chris has gone through some fly tackle over the past few years. One of his first outfits vanished during a drive up the beach. Chris replaced it, and then unfortunately it was stolen along with several others. Chris eventually built back up his arsenal of fly tackle and it now consists of fly rods and reels capable of landing everything from ladyfish to tarpon.

Chris is also an avid fly tyer. He again credits the members of the Rockport Fly Fishers for helping him with the basics. Some of Chris’ favorite patterns are Clouser minnows, spoonflies, and a large mylar tubing (created by your’s truly) fly called a Christmas Minnow.

With all these fly rods slinging around him, it seemed inevitable that Charlie would eventually follow his boy’s lead and give fly fishing a try. When asked whether his dad fly fishes Chris says, “Yeah… he finally gave in. We were out-fishing him regularly with our fly rods. There was one day when we were catching trout one after the other and he wasn’t catching a thing. He couldn’t take it anymore, so now he’s started fly fishing too.”

To date, Chris has landed reds, trout, flounder, snook, and jacks with his fly rod along with nearly every other Texas inshore species. But perhaps his most notable catch was a Spanish mackerel he landed on July 29, 2007 while fly fishing on PINS.

Chris says, “We were coming up the beach around the 55 mile mark when we noticed pelicans diving over what looked like black sand. It looked like a place where you might see some fossils so we stopped. Then Dad started hollering for me to grab my fly rod. We could see all these fish so we start casting at them. Dad hooked up and then I cast right out in front of these cruising Spanish mackerel and a big one appeared from behind and just slammed the fly. The fight was on. I eventually landed him on the beach and he looked like he might be a record. We found Billy (Sandifer) farther up the beach and he said he thought it would be the new State Record Spanish Mackerel.” Sure enough, Chris’ fish was certified as the new State Record Spanish Mackerel, Fly Fishing division, at 6.6 lbs and 30.88 inches- quite an achievement.

Congratulations to both Chris and Justin Golla for their accomplishments in the outdoors. Through hard work and hands-on experience they have proven themselves as talented anglers. No doubt more fish and more adventures lie ahead of these two fine young men.