After having quite a few days of gorgeous weather ( once again the weather man missed), we are back to cool and rainy today. I'm supposed to fish tomorrow and Sat., hopefully the weather will tolerable and the sun will shine. After running Gulf trips off Grayton all last week ( with good success) I went to Indian Pass to trout fish on Saturday. The father and son angling team had just come back from Louisiana and were telling me about all the trout they had caught. "Every cast" Dad said. Nothing like putting the preasure on the guide from the start. Our first drift produced some strikes on topwaters but no fish in the box. I ran a couple of miles to get out of an increasing wind and we tried again. This drift produced a couple of fish and gave me an idea of where they were holding. Within an hour my anglers were very much getting strikes "every cast". The best part was my folks kept telling me that these fish were way bigger than what they had gotten into in La.. At one point Dad asked if ther were any redfish around. I said sure, poled the boat over 'bout 50 ft. and had him throw in a little cut behind an oyster bar. I think he got to bounce the lure once and a perfect slot limit red took off up the chanel with us attached. I love it when I'm lucky. On the way back to the ramp the son told me he had caught twice as many trout on our 4 hr as he has all day on the La. trip. I guess "every cast" is relative as to how long the bite lasts. I cleaned thier fish ( we kept 7 for dinners), socialized a little, and saw 'em on their way. My wife ( Mary) had come over to the pass with me and since we still had some daylight I asked if she'd like to catch a trout. We checked a couple of other spots ( found fish) and then went back to where the fish had been in the A.M.. I was amazed that the school hadn't moved. Throw in the hole and we were back to "every cast". My luck changed on Monday this week. I was running down the beach at Grayton to pick up my charter when the motor started making funny noises. I quick look back confirmed no water coming from the cooling system and a rapidly overheating engine. Luckily the wind wasn't TOO hard out of the North and I was able to paddle to the beach without having to fry anything. I borrowed a cell phone , called my wife and asked her to call my client and give him the bad news. When I finaly made it home my wife alowed as to how the anglers were not happy (or nice). Now folks, if the captain says his boat isn't running right he's looking out for your best interest by not taking you. Same thing if he ( she) says it's too rough to be fun. Any good captain wants to run you out there. If we don't run the power bill doesn't get paid. I know your on vacation and have this day planned for a while. But, if we take you out and you have a horrible time you won't be back. I love repeat business and most of my repeats are because my folks know I'm trying my hardest to show them a good time. My Monday angler called back and apologized to my wife and said he hoped I wasn't out too much repairing things so hopefully all is well there. Remember, even if you replace a motor every year it will still break sometimes. And nobody can control the weather. Capt. Larry Pentel
troycreasy