Pike on the Edge

by DOUG PIKE :: TF&GSenior Contributing Editor

Get Hooked on Fishing, Not on a Barbed Hook

BASED ON RECENT STORIES from half a dozen sources, it is time again to beat my favorite tambourine: Get yourself some needlenosed pliers and use them to a en the barbs on your hooks.

Any of you who sh long enough with enough people who can’t really cast or don’t pay a ention or drink a li le more than they should (or all of the above) will wind up someday being stuck by a sh hook. ose of you who have unusually good luck might go years with only near misses where the hook penetrates your skin but stops just short of its barb. Be thrilled. You dodged all that comes with the other sort of hook-in-the-whatever encounter.

Odds of ge ing jabbed past the barb probably are about the same as being stung by a honeybee while you trim your owering ligustrums—maybe lower. e di erence is that a bee sting probably won’t shut down your day (unless you’re allergic.).

You’ll put some potion or lotion on it, complain about the pain for a li le while, then continue doing whatever the day encouraged you to do.

A barbed sh hook that nds its way deep into any body part—even the slightest bit past the barb—is going to change your plans. is changes everyone else’s plans, too. Sometimes the hook pain isn’t nearly so bad as the whining of people who feel inconvenienced by having to stop their shing to tend to you. ings could go either way behind a barb-deep stick if you’re in the company of someone who claims to know how to remove that hook without making an already bad situation worse. So long as the hook is buried and not being jostled, the pain probably will be tolerable. It’ll hurt, but not bite-on-a-stick hurt.

Add the trauma of someone tying a string around that hook and pressing it downward and then telling you to turn away as they give it a rm YANK. Even if it goes well, it’s going to make you wince. Not so well, and it’ll make you say words you normally don’t say around kids.

MASHING THE MISERY

If any of your friends has had to remove hooks from people more than twice (unless they’re professional guides) you might want to reconsider shing with that person.

To avoid unnecessary misery and hundreds of dollars in urgent-care bills, go spend ve bucks on needle-nosed pliers and mash down the barbs on every hook in your box. Do it while you watch a ball game or between bites of a hamburger or whenever and wherever it’s convenient.

One by one, the potential causes of misery and great expense are a ened into submission. ey can’t hurt you—ever again.

In addition to mashing the barbs on my own hooks, I’ve done the same many times for several people who convinced me that might be a good idea.

When I see parents not watching closely while their children sling treble-hooked plugs on neighborhood ponds, I o er to mash the hook barbs. When someone on a bay boat tends to cast sidearm as opposed to overhand, I o er to a en those barbs. e next time I o er my pliers to a dad or mom who’s trying to get a child into shing will not be the rst—because I always have a backup available.)

Needle-nosed pliers can be had for less than ve bucks. When you buy them for yourself, get a second and maybe a third as “just in case” o erings to someone who needs them.

Don’t ask for money. Don’t accept money. Hand them the pliers and know you’ve probably saved someone in that family from a dreadful experience.

It’s important to note that not every barb gets mashed perfectly ush to the hook shank on the rst pinch. Slide a thumb or nger from the bend of the hook toward its point. If your skin meets any resistance at all, reapply the pliers. is is a situation where nearly good is no good at all.

I’ve lived long enough and caught enough sh that I probably should have been “hook-stuck” two dozen times by now. I’m also patient enough, however, not to grab a sh that isn’t ready to be grabbed.

Between caution and chance, I’ve managed to become deeply hooked only three times. All three times, thankfully, the hooks had no barb to keep them from being extracted quickly and comfortably.

To address a question that comes up o en—no, I don’t lose many sh because of my hooks. A tight line does more to keep a sh in the ght than a barbed hook. at said, if you’re catching small trout on the bay or bass in a lake and intend to release them, barbless hooks make that much simpler. Given a li le slack just o the rod tip, an active sh o en will shake itself loose right at the boat or bank.

Many of the ones that can’t ditch the hook can be released even without being touched. Hold the line just above their mouths with one hand and use those pliers to retrieve that hook with the other.

Needle-nosed pliers, it turns out, are quite the sh-conservation tool. Carry pliers. Save a sh…and maybe a friend.

Email Doug Pike at ContactUs@fi shgame.com

The author quickly unhooks and releases a bonefi sh in Florida’s Biscayne Bay.

ONEFISH ARE SORT OF THE gateway drug to ats shing. Once you catch one, you can’t get enough, and you want to go a er permit and tarpon, and then you’re hooked.” ose were the words of Dr. Aaron Adams, Conservation Director of the Bone sh & Tarpon Trust on an episode of my Higher Calling Wildlife podcast.

When I told Adams a er recently catching my rst bone sh in Florida’s Biscayne Bay, that I had already booked a trip to catch permit, he said, “I told you so.” Adam’s statement made perfect sense to me. I’ve never done a drug in my life and have always found the high of hooking into a big sh or calling in a turkey plenty for me. e Flats Slam consists of the bone sh, tarpon, and permit, sh which spend some of their time in the deeper ocean but most of their life cycle in the ats.

It is the ultimate quest for inland saltwater y shermen and is also highly regarded by anglers shing traditional spinning and casting gear.

I won’t say I’m obsessed with completing my quest, but I have goals to nish up with spinning gear. I’ll go back in to do it all on the y within the next couple of years.

Yeah, I might be a bit obsessed.

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the ats slam and make some connections with Texas that you might have never considered.

SLAM SPECIES

TARPON: Tarpon are the monster of the slam and Texas has solid tarpon sheries along the Gulf Coast from

Rider Colvin caught this juvenile permit while fi shing with Capt. Brian Barerra in the South Padre area. Catches like this are rare in Texas.

“Tarpon Alley” between Galveston and High Island to Port O’Connor’s Pass Cavalo and the South Padre area. ey are not an easy sh to catch, but the last few years have been good.

Capt. Brian Barrera guides out of South Padre and had some incredible days last year.

“We caught some big sh last year, including a sh that if we had harvested it, might have broken the state record,” he said.

“Tarpon are an awesome sh and they have a deserved reputation of being hard to hook and hard to land. at makes them one of the world’s most prized catches.”

BONEFISH: Bone sh are arguably the fastest-moving, hardest- ghting pound-forpound sh on the planet. ey are the stu of y shermen’s dreams as stalking them on the clear ats in places like Florida, Belize and e Bahamas is a mega challenge.

Did you know there are a few bone sh in Texas? e state record weighed 3.77 pounds and was caught by angler C.W. Morris in 1977. e listing says “Gulf of Mexico” which probably means he caught it in the surf somewhere, but I have not been able to track down the exact location.

One of Capt. Brian Barerra’s clients caught a small bone sh in the South Padre area a few years ago. Capt. Joey Farrah told me one of his clients hung into one in the lower end of the Middle Coast.

In preparation for this article, I contacted Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s coastal sheries division and found out that since 1994, they have records of catching 16 bone sh in their net surveys. e catches were all in the Aransas Channel, Aransas Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Upper Laguna Madre, and Lower Laguna Madre. ey were all less than four inches in length. ey’re nowhere near a common catch, but they are present in Texas waters.

PERMIT: Quite a few anglers think they’ve caught a permit in Texas, but are disappointed to nd out it was a southern pom-

pano (a close relative) or even a jack crevalle (similar shape and colors).

Permit are stunning flats species that get big. They are said to be the moodiest of flats slam species and will often ignore the most perfectly placed lure or fly.

Permit are also present in Texas in small numbers.

Jared Guinn caught the Texas state record in the Gulf of Mexico in 1993. It only weighed 1.50 pounds. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of permit close to this size caught in the Galveston Bay complex in recent years, from very informed anglers.

One of Capt. Brian Barerra’s young clients caught a permit in the South Padre area. It wasn’t a monster but in a very real way, it was the catch of a lifetime.

ABOUT THAT ‘GATEWAY DRUG’

“It’s all fun and games until someone goes and misses a bonefish!”

My friend Todd Jurasek and I stood in disbelief as Capt. Mo Estevez shouted that from the back of his 16-foot Hewe’s flats boat in Biscayne Bay.

We had a double hookup on big bonefish near the end of a day-long expedition into Biscayne Bay near Miami, Florida. Both of the fish, after several minutes of intense, long runs, just let go.

We both missed fish the same way earlier in the day, so this was shocking. I can’t remember losing two hooked fish in a day ever, and I have caught everything from giant white sturgeon to wahoo around the world.

But there’s something different about bonefish. Everything you’ve heard about their pound-for-pound power is true—plus some. I’ve caught everything from peacock bass to Wels catfish and this was my favorite catch.

These fish just don’t want to come to the boat. If redfish are bulldogs, bonefish are pit bulls crossed with greyhounds. Their power and speed are simply stunning.

Last April after missing two bonefish, I ended up catching a big one in the seven- to eight-pound class. It was a dream come true. It was something that really inspired me to complete a flats slam. It also got me more involved with flats fishing issues whether here in Texas or on the Florida coast.

Sea flats are important places for those who love to fish and have respect for all of the creatures that dwell there.

If you have caught permit or bonefish in Texas, please email pics and stories to chester@chestermoore.com. We would love to share them in our e-newsletter.

TEXAS FLATS SLAM

Who says we can’t have our own Flats Slam in Texas?

You could technically try to get the real thing here, but after getting your tarpon, you would spend the rest of your life trying to catch the others.

A tarpon, jack crevalle, and redfish would be a great trio. Jacks are permit-like (although not nearly as picky—they’re voracious) and the redfish don’t have the bonefish speed, but they have stamina.

A tarpon, redfish, and sheepshead are another good combination. Several hardcore fly fishermen have told me, that sheepshead can be as picky with flies as the permit.

It’s all in fun, and if fishing quests put a smile on your face, be creative and enjoy your time in pursuit.

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AM NOT A STRIPED BASS junkie, but I have tangled with enough of the brawny sport fish to know they are rough customers. They’re truly a blast to catch, especially on bait casting tackle.

Known for their nasty attitudes, voracious appetites and hard, line-stripping runs, a striped bass might be described as a silvery stick of dynamite with fins and a really short fuse. These fish rank as the fourth most popular fish among Texas’s freshwater fishing crowds behind largemouth bass, catfish and crappie.

Fisheries biologists say most freshwater reservoirs lack the long stretches of stream flow necessary for stripers to spawn successfully and maintain self-sustaining populations. Likewise, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department takes an aggressive approach toward making sure lakes with favorable open water habitat and bountiful forage are well stocked with fish for anglers to catch.

The number of striped bass produced by TPWD hatcheries varies from one year to the next. However, district fisheries biologists typically request around 1.8 million fingerlings annually for stocking

in select impoundments.

The lone exception is Lake Texoma. This 75,000-acre lake on the Red and Washita rivers is one of a handful of freshwater reservoirs in the US where stripers enjoy prolific spawning runs far upstream each spring when the conditions are right. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation jump started the fishery by stocking in the

This happy Striper Express client shows off a Lake Texoma giant.

late 1960s and early 70s. It’s been going strong ever since without much help.

Known for its big numbers of “box fish” and an occasional 20 pounder, Texoma is undeniably Texas’s heaviest hitting striper lake. Surveys show that about 50 percent of the anglers who visit the lake go there for the stripers, and they dump millions of dollars annually into local economies.

Good as it is, Texoma isn’t the only reservoir in these parts where anglers can get their line stretched by the saltwater transplants.

I reached out to several TPWD inland fisheries biologists and asked them to rank the state’s Top Five striper fisheries, and to share some advice to help anglers score during the summer months. Here’s what they, along with some noted fishing guides, had to offer:

NO. 1: Texoma

SIZE: 75,000 acres

LOCATION: North Texas along the Texas/Oklahoma border.

SUMMER PLAN: TPWD fisheries biologist Greg Cummings says fishing live bait (shad) vertically in the water column is the preferred method. Many guides rely on chumming, splasher props, and thumpers to attract and keep fish under the boat.

If you really want to have some fun, dump the live bait and grab a topwater such as a Whopper Plopper, Zara Spook, Chug Bug or Pencil Popper. Strikes can be downright vicious at times. The topwater bite is generally best during early morning. The sun is low then, and the fish are actively herding shad to the surface around the dam, the state park and the mouth of Little Mineral dam, Cummins said. Keep a watchful eye for birds or splashes and have a good pair of binoculars on hand.

Another popular method is trolling, Cummings said. “Some choose to use downriggers to keep baits down. However, Texoma usually stratifies in the summer, so extremely deep trolling is not necessary because there is little oxygen available below the thermocline.

“Stripers can be found in water one to thirty feet deep depending on where the thermocline is in summer,” he said.” Popular baits to troll include umbrella rigs, swimbaits, bucktail jigs, deep diving crankbaits, Storm Thundersticks or Rapala Shad Raps.”

Soft plastic shad swim baits matched with a jig head also work well when cast, jigged or trolled where stripers are present. “Choose colors according to water clarity,” Cummings said. “White, glow, and natural colors excel in clear water. Chartreuse or other brightly colors may do better in stained or muddy water.”

NO. 2: Whitney

SIZE: 23,500-acres

LOCATION: Northwest of Waco.

SUMMER PLAN: Texas’s No. 2 striper fishery has been salted with nearly 865,000 fingerlings since 2017. The lake is now full of fish in the 18- to 22-inch range, according to TPWD fisheries biologist John Tibbs of Waco. Although March through May is the best time to go after them, Tibbs says the summertime bite isn’t half bad, either.

He said most guides use live shad to fill limits, but swim baits and umbrella rigs work well at times. Tibbs says anglers should pay close attention to the summer thermocline in 20 to 25 feet of water.

Try to fish above the thermocline when fishing with shad, swim baits, spoons or other sub-surface artificials. He also recommends keeping an eye peeled for active birds. This can often indicate a blood bath is in progress.

NO. 3: Tawakoni SIZE: 38,000 acres LOCATION: East of Dallas. SUMMER PLAN: TPWD fisheries biologist Jake Norman says Lake Tawakoni is a fixture on his hit list for striper stockings each year. It has received close to 750,000 fingerlings from state hatcheries since 2018.

Norman says the summer action isn’t as reliable as it is during cooler seasons. However, a few guides have found ways to catch them with some degree of consistency.

Michael Littlejohn is among them. Littlejohn says good electronics play a key role in his summertime game plan. He relies heavily on side imaging to locate schools of stripers suspended in big, open water or old timber stands in water 35 to 50 feet deep.

“It’s mostly a live bait game,” Littlejohn said. “Spend some time looking with your electronics. The stripers bunch up in open water, away from structure, often in schools as large as 500 to 800 fish. Once we find the fish, we set up and drop live shad on them — big gizzard shad, six to eight inches long.”

Littlejohn’s preferred live bait rig is a Carolina rig matched with a one- to one and a half-ounce weight and a 3/0 or 4/0 Kahle live bait hook. He said you can also score on big eight-inch flutter spoons.

NO. 4: Possum Kingdom SIZE: 15,600 acres LOCATION: West of Fort Worth. SUMMER PLAN: Deep and clear, PK is a summertime hotspot for pleasure boaters. Likewise, fisheries biologist Robert Mauk recommends being on water at first light or at night to get in on the best bite, when recreational traffic is the lightest.

Mauk says live bait is the order of the day for most anglers this time of year. However, trolling with deep diving cranks also can be effective in areas where electronics have pinpointed fish. Big spoons and swim baits also can be effective.

Another good tactic is casting a topwater in areas where birds are actively working the shad.

Something else to keep in mind during the summer months on PK, or any other lake, is the thermocline. This is the where warmer more oxygenated water near the surface meets with cooler, less oxygenated water in deeper depths. “The best summer action is usually right around or above the thermocline, which will be about 25 feet deep on PK,” Mauk said.

NO. 5: Buchanan SIZE: 22,200 acres LOCATION: On the Colorado River west of Burnet. SUMMER PLAN: Stripers are king on this scenic Hill Country impoundment. Fisheries biologist Patrick Ireland called it a very productive system with a great population of threadfin and gizzard shad that keeps them well fed and growing fast.”

Ireland says area guides have the best luck using live shad or trolling an artificial around schools of stripers they mark with their electronics. The fish are generally suspended in water 30- to 50-feet deep around the thermocline, often on long points or humps near bends in the Colorado River channel.

Ireland says some of the best action occurs during the early morning hours and at night, especially during full moon periods.

Dolphin often like to jump at the front of large ship wakes.

The author records some action in the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

Rogue waves can be silent and come across miles of open bay.

Large ship wakes can churn up rogue waves in inland waters.

N A SUNDAY MORNING IN 2020, Dan Elder and his brother were wade- shing on the north side of the ship channel between Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.

“We looked to our le and saw an enormous wave approaching us that seemed like a mile away. It was a perfect wave, tall and breaking,” he said. As the wave approached, the anglers could see dolphins jumping and riding the wave. e wave stretched all the way across the portion of the bay they were shing.

“It looked to be six to 10 feet tall, and we thought it was some form of tidal wave. We had no idea what we were seeing and ran toward the shoreline from chest deep water. We ran frantically because we thought we were going to die,” Elder said.

As the duo nally got to the very shallow water a er 10 minutes of running, the wave hit, knocking his anchored boat about 60 yards, and hi ing them with a three-foot wall of water.

“We then looked toward Port Aransas and saw the very large ship and realized the cause of the wave. It had a full cargo of oil, going too fast down the channel. We called and reported the event to the Coast Guard.”

Elder’s story, though terrifying, is not the only one. We have recorded dozens from anglers along the coast who have encountered rogue waves that could have easily taken their lives.

David Clark is the Recreational Boater Safety Representative for the Lone Star Harbor Safety Commi ee in the Houston- Galveston area.

He is also Chairman of a Working Group that was formed in early 2021 to increase recreational boater awareness of the waves generated by ships transiting the Houston Ship Channel.

“ is group was requested by the US Coast Guard following some drowning deaths in 2020 that could have possibly been a ributed to the waves,” he said.

Although the issue is most pronounced in the Houston Ship Channel, it seems to be on the rise all along the coast. e following are just some of the stories we’ve gathered.

Judd Hatch and his buddy Cli were headed to the Galveston North Je ies and launched the boat at the tip of the Texas City Dike.

“Wind conditions were below 10 miles an hour, and we had a strong incoming tide. Once we launched the boat, everything was going smoothly as we started out. We were passing Seawolf Park to our right, where the ship channel continues out to the beach front. I was traveling about 35 to 40 miles an hour, looking at two to three foot swells when all of a sudden out of nowhere there were three to four, eight foot plus waves right in front of me,” he said.

“I had no time to respond to the rst waves, and we took it head on. e boat completely came out of the air with a seven- to eight-foot drop only to be thrown back up two or three more times. Within seconds the waves were gone, and we were back to twofoot waves.”

Hatch said he was not prepared for this and lost some tackle boxes o the back of his boat.

“I’m glad that it’s just a sh story now,” he said.

Susan Graham is also glad that her and her husband’s rogue wave encounter in Galveston Bay is now just a memory.

“We were out in our 26-foot Bayliner cuddy cabin. We were about a quarter of a mile out from Dollar Reef on a beautiful and sunny, calm day. With a calm but stressed voice, my husband called me up from the cabin and told me to sit on the oor between the passenger seat and the cabin wall,” she said.

“At rst, he had described what he saw as a large ship pulling a huge pipe across the water. en he realized it was a breaking wave. Within 30 seconds, it hit us. I had le the front hatch open for ventilation while I was in the cabin. e water in front of our boat went away, and the boat fell forward with such force, I thought the boat must be destroyed. We were hit by a 12-foot-plus wake from a passing ship,” she said

“Water poured into the front hatch. My husband managed to hold the bow into the wave. en, a second and a third wave hit, each diminishing in size.

I was thrown into the cabin wall several times. His feet le the deck, but he held onto the steering wheel. e trough drop was terrifying

My husband saved our lives that day by keeping the bow into the waves. Had we turned at all, the 26-foot boat would have ipped, and we would have been crushed under the boat,” Graham said. e Grahams no longer sh the main Galveston Bay. About ten years ago, Ray Keonitzer and his wife were shing along the je y on the Texas side, south of Sabine Pass ey were anchored in their 18.5 . bass boat when a big ship came in. “I spent some of my youth shing the salt water of Southeast Texas, so I know to watch carefully for ship tra c and the resulting waves. It only took witnessing one ship coming through the ship channel to indelibly print the water’s reaction in my mind,” he said. “Suddenly the back of the boat li ed and was “surf-boarded” straight into the je y wall. Fortunately, the trolling motor was in the water, and took the lion’s share of the punishment.

“I’m thinking there was one big wave and then a couple of smaller ones. I’m certain, had it not been for the trolling motor, the boat would have sustained a lot more damage, possibly even been thrown on top of, or over the je y wall, despite having the rear anchor deployed,” he said.

With widening and dredging of not only the Houston-Galveston Ship Channel but the Sabine-Neches Waterway and other systems, this issue is likely to get worse. is an excerpt from the Lone Star Harbor Safety Commi ee’s “Sharing Our Bay” safety guide.

“ e speed of a ship or tow can be deceptive. A ship can be going 15 knots or more in the Houston Ship Channel, and even faster in deep ocean water.”

“Small cra vessels and other recreational users of the waterway should be alert to the possibility of large swells or breakers in the shallow water near the sides of the channel astern of passing vessels. If caught in this situation, remain calm and seated. Turn the boat and head into the swells at a 45-degree angle to avoid being swamped.” e Galveston’s Pilot’s o cial guidebook has some interesting notes on the impact of channel deepening and widening.

“With the deepening and widening project complete, the Houston Ship Channel can

These signs put out by the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee in the Houston- Galveston area warn of potential dangers

accommodate the massive Suezmax tanker. On average, the Suezmax is 70 feet longer and 20 feet wider than the Aframax the largest vessel permissible in the channel prior to the deepening and widening project.

It is also capable of carrying up to 40 percent more cargo. The larger size and cargo capacity of the Suezmax tanker means more weight and greater water displacement in the channel. This leads to amplification of hydraulic forces exerted on other vessels in the vicinity.” Hydraulic forces means big waves and also water being sucked out of areas.

Several years ago, Tony Draper was coming back into the boat ramp at the end of the Texas City Dike with his wife and small kids.

“As soon as I pulled up to tie off, there was a weird sound of water rushing, and I felt the boat dropping and being pulled back out. I instinctively grabbed onto the piling with one arm and my boat with the other. As I did that, I looked over and water was literally disappearing out of the “enclosed” ramp area as if someone had pulled a giant drain plug,” he said.

“I would say 75 percent or more of the water in the ramp area was gone in no more than three to four seconds. At that point, I felt my boat hit the bottom. Within seconds, the water started rushing back in, and it was literally all I could do to keep my boat from being pushed right up onto the concrete ramp.

“I have no idea how I possibly had the strength to hold a 22-foot bay boat with all of that water rushing in, but I guess the panic and adrenaline gave me extra strength. I had small tears in several muscles because of it,” he said.

Draper didn’t see a big ship or barge nearby, but it is possible something from a long distance could have made this happen. There were some far away in the shipping lanes.

There’s a spot on the Sabine Lake side of Pleasure Island where water will suck (I assume through some pipe) from the lake side out very quickly when a ship approaches on the opposite side of the island. Conversely, water will shoot through after it passes.

Large waves are so prevalent in the Houston-Galveston Ship Channel, there are surfing charters there.

Tanker Surf Charters specializes in ship channel surfing there. They show surfers riding some big waves at their website.

For real.

Information is power, and this article is written to empower you to stay safe at a time when an increasing number of large ships are moving through our coastal waterways.

Be careful, not only in the channel itself, but also consider dangers of wading in flats near the channels. Always wear a life vest and be prepared when you see big ships coming through.

Although these waves technically aren’t tsunamis, they have certainly left a seismiclike impact on the souls of those who have encountered them.

If you have encountered these kinds of waves, please contact us at chester@chestermoore.com with your reports. We will continue sharing these through our Fish & Game Report e-newsletter to raise awareness to what seems to be a growing danger.