ADJUSTING TO CHANGING CONDITIONS
More than 12 years ago I began guiding for hire as a full time fishing guide in the Port O’Connor and Seadrift areas of the Texas Middle Coast. My parents had always taught me it was better to keep your mouth shut and your head down and simply do your job when coming into a situation where you were new to something and they were very wise. I had a tremendous amount of respect for these guides in these waters and over the years I have been a full time guide with them, that respect has not diminished. Most of those original guides are actually still here guiding every day and doing what they have always done very well, which is entertaining the customer and putting them on fish. That’s a pretty good track record no matter what you do for a living.
One of the very first lessons I learned was that you need to adjust to the wind and the weather in order to keep the customers on the fish. A trip where you don’t catch keeper fish happens once or twice a year, but to work in this business and to stay booked in the future you must put the customers on the fish the majority of the time. There is no room for getting skunked! Fellow guides, while always there to help you solve problems, will not tolerate less than a good catch and happy customers – which are not mutually exclusive. A first class operation with a reputation to uphold means to resolve problems on the water, you need help from other area guides. If a guide falls short, you can bet other guides are on the phone with them or texting information and trying to pull them up and ‘coach’ them up, a courtesy that carries retribution.
So what is this idea of adjusting to the wind and the weather all about? Experience is the best way to put it, but how do you get that experience if you don’t have years of time on the water? We help one another to think about what we are going to do, where we are going to go, and what has worked in the past. Then once out on the water, we are on the phone discussing locations if someone is in trouble and the earlier in the day the better. Why would we be bouncing back and forth ideas and information? The goal of everyone, including the guide and the customer in most cases, is to have the best information we can get and share what is working. Even more important perhaps, is to share what isn’t working. That is customer service at its best, especially when you consider each guide is putting his own success at risk by sharing vital catching information with the others, just to ensure the success of everyone to be sure all customers have a good chance at catching the most fish possible. This is especially true when the customer is a multi-boat charter, showing back up at the dock with little compared to others who have a lot isn’t the way to get return anglers on the boat.
When the norther has pushed through and the wind is blowing 30 plus mph for more than eight or so hours, you can expect that the water has been pushed from the North shoreline to the South shoreline and that the lakes on the island around here are filling up with water and wind blown bait! Find a way to safely brave the bay and get to where you think the bait may be trapped against a shoreline. The redfish will probably be hanging out there taking advantage of the helpless critters being pounded by the wind.
Dodging thunderstorms was not as easy in the past, but really it is easy when you account for all the technology at our fingertips. Today’s smartphones are your second best source of information – the first being your own eyes, gut feeling and common sense. If you see a black cloud bearing down on you and it’s obvious there is impending trouble on your horizon, then take cover. Don’t assume you can avoid it all with a rain suit. Aside from that use any of the variety of apps on your phone just like we do and check the radar! Personally, I use WeatherBug but other guides use different apps which are really helpful because one app may not be showing what is really happening while another tells you to take cover now!
Common sense always supersedes all others, but with a combination of information from your buddies, your phone, and your own eyes it is possible to smack some really good fish ahead of cold fronts, between thunderstorms and during less than perfect weather out on the salt water!
Stay safe, have fun and don’t take it too seriously, and you will not only find plenty of fish for the table, but you may also catch that personal best fish or maybe help a fishing buddy do the same and make memories that last a lifetime.
Capt Stephen Boriskie
Mid Coast Outfitters POC
512.589.1916
