The lakes and rivers of north and east Texas seem sedate and unremarkable enough, but they are home to some very impressive alligator gar. Until recent years, alligator gar was a species of fish that was mostly off the radar for sport fishing, but that has certainly changed. There has been an explosion of interest in this bizarre-looking species, and we interviewed two men who have played a major role in fueling that interest. Bubba Bedre and Mark Malfa are both die-hard Texan outdoorsmen with a major reputation for catching the giant alligator gar that are almost exclusively found in the Texas/Louisiana area. In fact, the Animal Planet TV series “River Monsters” featured both men and their catches. People from around the globe come to fish for these 5-8 foot giants, so it is exciting to hear more about the gar fishing experience from two of the experts.
When asked what pulling in an alligator gar is like, Bubba Bedre of Palestine, Texas didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, it’s like reeling in a big ole log. There’s two kinds of alligator gar, you got a lazy one and you got an active one. If you catch a lazy one you’re pretty much reeling in a log. And when you catch an active one, they’ll put on a show about like a Marlin. That’s what I like about Gar fishing, you just don’t know what you’re gonna reel in ‘till you’ve got it in the boat.”
Alligator gar are prehistoric-looking fish unlike anything you’ve seen before. Even their scales are unique. They are bony plates that overlap and secrete a slimy coating. Some people even dry and bleach the scales for use in jewelry. Bedre warns that they can be a handful: “Everything on the fish will cut you or poke you…if you drag one of them seven foot fish in the boat it’ll slime up the whole boat like on Ghostbusters or something. It’ll get all over everything and you can’t get it off.” And if you are lucky enough to hook what Bedre calls an “active” gar, you will really be in for a battle. “They’ll tear the whole boat up. Anything in the bottom of the boat is gonna get thrown out when they get to whipping and thrashing in there.” Bubba himself has been thrown out of the boat by a particularly feisty giant alligator gar.
So what does Bedre consider a good day on the water? “I’m not satisfied ‘til I leave with a fish over five foot.” He practices catch-and-release when it is possible. Over the years, he has learned that the best hook for good catches and live releases is a 3/0 treble hook. He started out using large 9/0 treble hooks, but realized some of the fish he released would later die from the internal injuries. Since switching to the smaller hooks, he has had a lot of success releasing the fish when he and his clients so choose. And his bait of choice? He freezes bigmouth buffalo and saws that into large chunks to attract the gar.
Bedre grew up fishing the alligator gar in the Trinity River and in local private lakes in his area, mostly because the large predatory fish were a nuisance. They tend to eat all the bass and crappie that are traditionally popular game fish. He never dreamed he would be able to make a living taking people out to fish for them, but ever since he was featured on Animal Planet’s River Monsters show, he has had more business that he can handle. He has taken out anglers from all over the world. One client, Vladimir, came all the way from Serbia, and he said “You can travel anywhere in the world and catch shark and ocean fish, but there’s only one place in the whole world you can come to catch these big alligator gar, and that’s right here.”
Like Bedre, Mark Malfa has been fishing for alligator since he was a boy. “I caught my first alligator gar in a bayou in Houston when I was about 11 or twelve,” he recounts. “I caught it on 2 foot long leader with a J hook, some cut mullet, 125 lb nylon line that I took off an old reel, and an old broom handle for a rod. And I haven’t looked back since.” Mark fishes all legal fish species, but he is widely known as one of the best guides for fishing or bow-hunting alligator gar. He enjoys the sport of wrangling the giant fish, which he says have been called the poor man’s tarpon. “They’ll tail walk, they jump, and they are extremely hard to hook, just like a tarpon is. You have to give alligator gar a lot of line before you set the hook, but the problem is that the environments they live in tend to have a lot of submerged trees and other obstacles. You lose a lot of tackle and have a lot of break offs.” It’s just part of the game when you’re after the big ones.
Like Bubba, Mark enjoys the diversity of people who come to fish with him in search of monster alligator gar. He has chartered fishing trips for people from all over the United States, as well as from several foreign countries. “People are amazed at how big these fish can get. They’re actually the second largest freshwater fish in the United States.”
Mark also specializes in bowfishing, which has contributed to the rising popularity of alligator gar fishing. “When it comes to bow fishing versus rod and reel fishing, they don’t even compare,” he says. “The only similarity is that there is a fish involved. The bow fishing is way more action.” And according to Mark, even a first-timer with no hunting experience at all can get into bowfishing on their first time. In fact, he has noticed that people with bow-hunting experience can actually have a harder time the first time bow fishing, because they have to put aside some of their habits in order to adjust to the faster pace of targeting fish.
Whether joining him, Bubba Bedre, or another experienced gar fishing guide, you are sure to have an unforgettable time going after these truly monstrous alligator gar!
Jana Badger, Bronx NY
Resources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #32
JustGoFishin.net
http://justgofishin.net/ice-fishing
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Northern Ice Belt Fishing
For southerners, fishing through a hole in the ice on a freezing cold lake does not sound like a great day fishing. However, ice fishing is an immensely popular sport in the northern “ice belt” states. We had the opportunity to speak with three ice anglers whose enthusiasm for their craft is contagious.
Nathan Krusko, from New York state, is a tournament ice fisher. He is a true expert with high-tech approaches, and he and his partner head up the Northeast Ice Fishing group. Whether you are a newbie wanting to get started ice fishing or a die-hard ice angler looking for tips and advice from the experts, you can find a storehouse of information at the Tales & Reports Podcast Show featuring Ice Fishing.
Krusko started ice fishing like many in the sport—from his childhood fishing trips with his dad. “Back then it was really rude and crude and really simplistic in a lot of ways,” Krusko admits, but he was hooked on the sport and eventually found he had great success when he entered the realm of higher-tech fishing with the help of electronic gear. “It’s very addicting,” he warns, “You really get hooked and you can’t walk away from it. I talk about this in June, July and August, that’s how hooked you can get.”
One of the great things about ice fishing is that it is accessible to anyone. Krusko points out that a newcomer can get into the sport for around $100. All you need is a hand auger for drilling holes in the ice, a $20-$30 fishing pole combo, a handful of lures, 2-4 lb line, and bait.
Captain John Gribble from Port Clinton, Ohio, also encourages newcomers to give ice fishing a try. Even though many species caught through the ice are smaller, Captain Gribble catches walleye as large as twelve pounds. Although the cold temperatures of winter fishing tend to slow the fish down, Gribble points out that “on an ultra light 30 inch ice rod, you definitely got your hands full…those fish put up a fight coming up through there.” If you want to get in on the action, Captain John says “Lake Erie is definitely the walleye capital of the world.” People come from across the country to fish the area. He says the best conditions to look for are crystal clear ice in about the 8” range, and free of snow, which can insulate the ice and thin it.
As for creature comforts, Gribble personally prefers fishing the old fashioned way, just sitting on a bucket out in the weather. But don’t worry; he uses cozy pop-up shelters for his charter customers!
Nathan Krusko and John Gribble both point out that ice fishing has come a long way as the sport has evolved and gained popularity among the gadget-loving generations. It used to be that anglers would start with the top end of an old standard rod, cram that into a dowel, wrap a line around, and see what they catch. “More often than not,” Krusko jokes, “you just end up catching a cold.” Now, however, the gear is more diverse. “There is a wide spectrum of rods, just like you have in the bass world, very specific to the type of fish you’re after and the type of lure you’re using.”
The rod and reel are not the only things to have evolved in recent decades. Advanced ice anglers will use mapping systems and chart plotters to look at the contours under the ice. They are looking for look for points and funnels and other underwater features that would harbor fish. Artificial barriers known as cribs are often put in place by parks and recreation officials in order to attract fish, and these also make good ice fishing spots. “Location, location, location is key,” Krusko advises, “It’s the details that really make for a successful day.” Krusko’s personal approach is to drill over a hundred holes in the area he selects for fishing, then lower the sonar fish finder into the hole and look for fish. If the spot looks promising, he will set up his shelter and go after them. He may spend only a few minutes there before moving on, and he says it is common for him to cover 3-5 miles of Lake Surface in one afternoon.
Krusko’s aggressive tactics may not be for everyone, but they certainly yield results. While pre-fishing in preparation for a tournament in Silver Lake NY, he hooked, landed, then released almost 200 bluegill in the span of only four hours. While that kind of catch may be out of reach for an amateur, Krusko says that even a newcomer can hook 50 fish out there in a day. In fact, Bluegill is one of the best targets for a newcomer because they are easy to find under the ice. “You find a milfoil bed, same place they are found in the summer is where they are in the winter and you’re almost assured to come home with a handful of fish.” His advice to those of us who don’t use the tech gadgets is to ask around about the under-ice terrain, and to follow others’ lead. If you stick to areas where others are fishing, you will benefit from their knowledge of the area. Even more importantly, you will know you are in a safe area where the ice is not too thin. As Krusko points out, “you don’t want to be the only one out on the ice.”
Mark Breitenfeldt, a life-long ice fisher from Saint Paul Minnesota, knows a thing or two about how thin ice can really ruin your day.
Mark put his fish house out early one day on 16” of beautiful clear ice, but that night a heavy fog came up. With no way of finding a safe path back to the road, Mark decided to hunker down for the night. He had a full tank of propane for heat, so he was in no hurry to leave the comfort of his 8’ by 16’ fish house. However, a couple of hours later, he heard a car out on the ice. With fresh tracks to follow, Mark decided to head home. What neither he nor the car ahead of him knew was that a natural spring welled warmer water up to the surface at one point in the lake. Mark followed those tracks right toward the thinner ice, and the next thing he remembers is seeing ice crack his windshield as his Chevy truck nosed down into the frigid water. “This might be it,” was the first thought that ran through his mind, but he was able to jump out and climb onto the truck’s topper and out onto the ice before the truck was submerged in eight feet of water. Was it scary? Of course it was. In fact, Mark was so traumatized by his near-death experience that he didn’t go back out on the ice for a whole…three days.
Clearly, it is important to make sure the ice you fish on is safe. It is good practice to drill holes often and check the thickness of the ice, as conditions can change throughout the day. Mark’s advice on staying safe is even simpler. He gets his wife to walk in front at the start of the season when the ice may be thin. Perhaps that approach may keep him off “thin ice,” but it could land him in hot water with his good wife! “I built the fish house right before I got married,” he jokes, “I figured in case she gives me the boot I have a place to live.”
If anyone has notions of ice-fishing as a test of endurance in harsh, uncomfortable conditions, Breitenfeldt’s ice house would change your mind. The 8’ by 16’ shelter has an elevated double bed, carpet, and color TV. Using a rattle wheel (a wheel with a bell and line around it which signals when a fish is on the line), Mark says, “You can sit around, have a cocktail, and wait for the bell to go off, then run over and bring the fish up.” Not a bad set up!
While even life-long ice fishing enthusiasts can find themselves in dangerous situations, Mark maintains that the small risks are well worth it. “It’s never completely 100% safe,” he concludes, “but gosh darn, what in life is?”
Jana Badger, Bronx NY
Resources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #32, Ice Fishing
JustGoFishin.net
http://justgofishin.net/ice-fishing
Nathan Krusko, from New York state, is a tournament ice fisher. He is a true expert with high-tech approaches, and he and his partner head up the Northeast Ice Fishing group. Whether you are a newbie wanting to get started ice fishing or a die-hard ice angler looking for tips and advice from the experts, you can find a storehouse of information at the Tales & Reports Podcast Show featuring Ice Fishing.
Krusko started ice fishing like many in the sport—from his childhood fishing trips with his dad. “Back then it was really rude and crude and really simplistic in a lot of ways,” Krusko admits, but he was hooked on the sport and eventually found he had great success when he entered the realm of higher-tech fishing with the help of electronic gear. “It’s very addicting,” he warns, “You really get hooked and you can’t walk away from it. I talk about this in June, July and August, that’s how hooked you can get.”
One of the great things about ice fishing is that it is accessible to anyone. Krusko points out that a newcomer can get into the sport for around $100. All you need is a hand auger for drilling holes in the ice, a $20-$30 fishing pole combo, a handful of lures, 2-4 lb line, and bait.
Captain John Gribble from Port Clinton, Ohio, also encourages newcomers to give ice fishing a try. Even though many species caught through the ice are smaller, Captain Gribble catches walleye as large as twelve pounds. Although the cold temperatures of winter fishing tend to slow the fish down, Gribble points out that “on an ultra light 30 inch ice rod, you definitely got your hands full…those fish put up a fight coming up through there.” If you want to get in on the action, Captain John says “Lake Erie is definitely the walleye capital of the world.” People come from across the country to fish the area. He says the best conditions to look for are crystal clear ice in about the 8” range, and free of snow, which can insulate the ice and thin it.
As for creature comforts, Gribble personally prefers fishing the old fashioned way, just sitting on a bucket out in the weather. But don’t worry; he uses cozy pop-up shelters for his charter customers!
Nathan Krusko and John Gribble both point out that ice fishing has come a long way as the sport has evolved and gained popularity among the gadget-loving generations. It used to be that anglers would start with the top end of an old standard rod, cram that into a dowel, wrap a line around, and see what they catch. “More often than not,” Krusko jokes, “you just end up catching a cold.” Now, however, the gear is more diverse. “There is a wide spectrum of rods, just like you have in the bass world, very specific to the type of fish you’re after and the type of lure you’re using.”
The rod and reel are not the only things to have evolved in recent decades. Advanced ice anglers will use mapping systems and chart plotters to look at the contours under the ice. They are looking for look for points and funnels and other underwater features that would harbor fish. Artificial barriers known as cribs are often put in place by parks and recreation officials in order to attract fish, and these also make good ice fishing spots. “Location, location, location is key,” Krusko advises, “It’s the details that really make for a successful day.” Krusko’s personal approach is to drill over a hundred holes in the area he selects for fishing, then lower the sonar fish finder into the hole and look for fish. If the spot looks promising, he will set up his shelter and go after them. He may spend only a few minutes there before moving on, and he says it is common for him to cover 3-5 miles of Lake Surface in one afternoon.
Krusko’s aggressive tactics may not be for everyone, but they certainly yield results. While pre-fishing in preparation for a tournament in Silver Lake NY, he hooked, landed, then released almost 200 bluegill in the span of only four hours. While that kind of catch may be out of reach for an amateur, Krusko says that even a newcomer can hook 50 fish out there in a day. In fact, Bluegill is one of the best targets for a newcomer because they are easy to find under the ice. “You find a milfoil bed, same place they are found in the summer is where they are in the winter and you’re almost assured to come home with a handful of fish.” His advice to those of us who don’t use the tech gadgets is to ask around about the under-ice terrain, and to follow others’ lead. If you stick to areas where others are fishing, you will benefit from their knowledge of the area. Even more importantly, you will know you are in a safe area where the ice is not too thin. As Krusko points out, “you don’t want to be the only one out on the ice.”
Mark Breitenfeldt, a life-long ice fisher from Saint Paul Minnesota, knows a thing or two about how thin ice can really ruin your day.
Mark put his fish house out early one day on 16” of beautiful clear ice, but that night a heavy fog came up. With no way of finding a safe path back to the road, Mark decided to hunker down for the night. He had a full tank of propane for heat, so he was in no hurry to leave the comfort of his 8’ by 16’ fish house. However, a couple of hours later, he heard a car out on the ice. With fresh tracks to follow, Mark decided to head home. What neither he nor the car ahead of him knew was that a natural spring welled warmer water up to the surface at one point in the lake. Mark followed those tracks right toward the thinner ice, and the next thing he remembers is seeing ice crack his windshield as his Chevy truck nosed down into the frigid water. “This might be it,” was the first thought that ran through his mind, but he was able to jump out and climb onto the truck’s topper and out onto the ice before the truck was submerged in eight feet of water. Was it scary? Of course it was. In fact, Mark was so traumatized by his near-death experience that he didn’t go back out on the ice for a whole…three days.
Clearly, it is important to make sure the ice you fish on is safe. It is good practice to drill holes often and check the thickness of the ice, as conditions can change throughout the day. Mark’s advice on staying safe is even simpler. He gets his wife to walk in front at the start of the season when the ice may be thin. Perhaps that approach may keep him off “thin ice,” but it could land him in hot water with his good wife! “I built the fish house right before I got married,” he jokes, “I figured in case she gives me the boot I have a place to live.”
If anyone has notions of ice-fishing as a test of endurance in harsh, uncomfortable conditions, Breitenfeldt’s ice house would change your mind. The 8’ by 16’ shelter has an elevated double bed, carpet, and color TV. Using a rattle wheel (a wheel with a bell and line around it which signals when a fish is on the line), Mark says, “You can sit around, have a cocktail, and wait for the bell to go off, then run over and bring the fish up.” Not a bad set up!
While even life-long ice fishing enthusiasts can find themselves in dangerous situations, Mark maintains that the small risks are well worth it. “It’s never completely 100% safe,” he concludes, “but gosh darn, what in life is?”
Jana Badger, Bronx NY
Resources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #32, Ice Fishing
JustGoFishin.net
http://justgofishin.net/ice-fishing
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Texas Giant Stingray Fishing Tales
For many anglers in the Gulf Coast area, it is a rather ordinary nuisance to hook a stingray. However, when you get on the wrong side of that barbed tail, it can really ruin your day…and your month. Two anglers tell of their painful run-ins with the rays, and one tells us how he hooked a giant southern stingray.
Hal Hargis of Houston, Texas launched out of Port O’Conner and went near Panther Port in San Antonio Bay to wade after red fish. He had not been wading long when he saw a flick in the water and went towards it. Suddenly he felt a little prick on the side of his foot. It didn’t feel like much, but he was familiar with the waters and knew he’d been barbed by a stingray. He told his buddies what happened and headed back to the boat. He pulled off his boot to find a quarter inch cut on the side of his foot. It took about 40 minutes to get back to the dock, and by that time the pain had become very intense. The pain was a burning, throbbing pain all the way from the cut up to his groin (ow) . “I tolerate pain well,” Hal said, “but it was almost intolerable pain by the time we got there. I was grimacing and whining all the way to the hospital.” At the emergency room, a kind, older nurse attended to him. The first thing she did was to put his foot in a basin of very hot water. Hot water is the first treatment for stingray stings because it denatures the proteins in the venom, causing rapid pain relief. Hal certainly appreciated the nurse’s help: “I literally asked for her hand in marriage because the relief was so great.” Nurses must love getting stingray patients! “What I learned,” Hal says, “is that if this ever happens again I will get back to land as quickly as I can and get my foot in the hottest water possible. That stops all pain.” Though the pain subsided with the right treatment, it took about six weeks of being on crutches and taking antibiotics for an infection before Hal was finally healed. Because infections are often a problem with stingray injuries, you should always get checked out by a doctor after a sting, especially if the redness and swelling does not go away.
Of course, the best thing to do is to avoid being stung in the first place. Conventional wisdom is to move slowly and shuffle your feet so the ray will know you’re coming. Stingrays are not predatory to humans; they only sting when they are cornered, startled, and, of course, stepped on. Protective boots are always helpful, though even the best gear may not keep you protected 100% of the time. Troy Malish of San Antonio learned the hard way that even stingray resistant boots are not necessarily stingray proof.
Troy was fishing for trout with a group of guys, and he was the only one who seemed to take any precautions against stingrays. Some of the guys were wearing flip flops, but he wore puncture-resistant boots because he knew that the cloudy water of the surf was bound to hide some rays. He had barely started out into the surf when he felt his foot sink into a hole. That’s when the ray got him just above the heel near his ankle. “It felt like someone stuck a screwdriver in my leg an wiggled it around,” he says. He immediately told his buddies he got hit. “You got a hit?” they asked him hopefully. “No, I got hit,” he repeated. That’s when one of the guys saw that the water behind Troy was streaked bright red with his blood. He had only been walking for about 30 yards to get back to the boat, but by that point his leg was cramping hard with every move. When he pulled off his boot, blood poured out and squirted from the wound. “This is not happening,” he thought. The pain didn’t feel like a burning point at the site of the sting, instead it was a pulsing cramping feeling that went all the way up his leg and into to his back.
Luckily, Troy was not far from the boat, and he had his friends there to help out. As you can imagine, his situation could have been life-threatening if he had gone out alone. The amount of bleeding made getting to the hospital even more urgent. One of the guys in the group had been with the coast guard, and he used a fish towel as a tourniquet to slow down the bleeding. After reaching the emergency room and soaking Troy’s foot in hot water to neutralize the venom, the medical staff cleaned out the wound and bandaged it up. The doctors told him that the barb had cut into an artery, which is why his bleeding was so severe. It took over a month for the wound to stop oozing and finally close.
One member of the medical team said that the weekend before, Labor Day weekend, they had ten people in there with stingray injuries before noon. During mating and nesting times, the Gulf-area hospitals see more stings, since there are more rays in the area and they are more defensive.
Not every stingray story has a painful ending. Captain John Little and his wife Alicia of Corpus Christi, Texas encountered a giant southern stingray and they lived to tell the tale. The Littles went to Port O’Conner to take their niece and nephew fishing for shark. They got a chum line going, and about 15 minutes after getting the hook in the water, the reel started screaming. “I thought it was a spinner shark because it came up to the top of the water.” He told the kids to watch the “shark” jump. “It was actually about a four and a half foot wide stingray.” An hour and 45 minutes later, they had wrestled the monster up to the side of the boat. Alicia cut the barb off, then they wrestled the ray into the boat for pictures before releasing it. “It was a heck of a fight, I’m pretty sure she weighed around 200lbs.”
Though he was sweaty and tired from the hard-won catch, they headed back and set yet another chum line. Less than ten minutes later, Alicia’s reel went off. They pulled the anchor again and took off. Alicia battled it for over an hour before they got it alongside the boat. At that point, the ray sunk down and they couldn’t get it off the bottom. The hook finally broke from the leader and they lost it. Alicia was amazed at the size of that giant stingray: “we were in ten feet of water and its tail was sticking up out of the water…that fight was tough!”
The Littles submitted the catch as a potential state record breaker, but the Texas Parks and Wildlife department doesn’t recognize stingray for catch and release. (Gee, wonder why?!) “My only trophy from the catch was the stinger,” Captain Little remarked. “When we let the ray swim off, I said, okay, where’s that barb? Then my seven year old daughter said, ‘oh, daddy, I threw it overboard. That’s what I always do when you cut those barbs of.’ I said, I know honey, but not all of them are 200 pounds!” Though they didn’t get their trophy barb to bring home, they have the video and the pictures to remind them of one wild day out fishing with the family. They never set out to catch a giant stingray to begin with, but now Alicia is looking forward to having another go at the big one that got away. For anyone who has ever suffered the pain of a stingray barb, heading out with Captain John Little could provide some much-desired revenge!
Moral of the story: it’s a lot more fun to hook a stingray than to let one hook you.
Jana Badger, Bronx NY
Resources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #21, Giant Texas Stingray Tales
JustGoFishin.net
http://justgofishin.net/texas-giant-stingray-tales
Hal Hargis of Houston, Texas launched out of Port O’Conner and went near Panther Port in San Antonio Bay to wade after red fish. He had not been wading long when he saw a flick in the water and went towards it. Suddenly he felt a little prick on the side of his foot. It didn’t feel like much, but he was familiar with the waters and knew he’d been barbed by a stingray. He told his buddies what happened and headed back to the boat. He pulled off his boot to find a quarter inch cut on the side of his foot. It took about 40 minutes to get back to the dock, and by that time the pain had become very intense. The pain was a burning, throbbing pain all the way from the cut up to his groin (ow) . “I tolerate pain well,” Hal said, “but it was almost intolerable pain by the time we got there. I was grimacing and whining all the way to the hospital.” At the emergency room, a kind, older nurse attended to him. The first thing she did was to put his foot in a basin of very hot water. Hot water is the first treatment for stingray stings because it denatures the proteins in the venom, causing rapid pain relief. Hal certainly appreciated the nurse’s help: “I literally asked for her hand in marriage because the relief was so great.” Nurses must love getting stingray patients! “What I learned,” Hal says, “is that if this ever happens again I will get back to land as quickly as I can and get my foot in the hottest water possible. That stops all pain.” Though the pain subsided with the right treatment, it took about six weeks of being on crutches and taking antibiotics for an infection before Hal was finally healed. Because infections are often a problem with stingray injuries, you should always get checked out by a doctor after a sting, especially if the redness and swelling does not go away.
Of course, the best thing to do is to avoid being stung in the first place. Conventional wisdom is to move slowly and shuffle your feet so the ray will know you’re coming. Stingrays are not predatory to humans; they only sting when they are cornered, startled, and, of course, stepped on. Protective boots are always helpful, though even the best gear may not keep you protected 100% of the time. Troy Malish of San Antonio learned the hard way that even stingray resistant boots are not necessarily stingray proof.
Troy was fishing for trout with a group of guys, and he was the only one who seemed to take any precautions against stingrays. Some of the guys were wearing flip flops, but he wore puncture-resistant boots because he knew that the cloudy water of the surf was bound to hide some rays. He had barely started out into the surf when he felt his foot sink into a hole. That’s when the ray got him just above the heel near his ankle. “It felt like someone stuck a screwdriver in my leg an wiggled it around,” he says. He immediately told his buddies he got hit. “You got a hit?” they asked him hopefully. “No, I got hit,” he repeated. That’s when one of the guys saw that the water behind Troy was streaked bright red with his blood. He had only been walking for about 30 yards to get back to the boat, but by that point his leg was cramping hard with every move. When he pulled off his boot, blood poured out and squirted from the wound. “This is not happening,” he thought. The pain didn’t feel like a burning point at the site of the sting, instead it was a pulsing cramping feeling that went all the way up his leg and into to his back.
Luckily, Troy was not far from the boat, and he had his friends there to help out. As you can imagine, his situation could have been life-threatening if he had gone out alone. The amount of bleeding made getting to the hospital even more urgent. One of the guys in the group had been with the coast guard, and he used a fish towel as a tourniquet to slow down the bleeding. After reaching the emergency room and soaking Troy’s foot in hot water to neutralize the venom, the medical staff cleaned out the wound and bandaged it up. The doctors told him that the barb had cut into an artery, which is why his bleeding was so severe. It took over a month for the wound to stop oozing and finally close.
One member of the medical team said that the weekend before, Labor Day weekend, they had ten people in there with stingray injuries before noon. During mating and nesting times, the Gulf-area hospitals see more stings, since there are more rays in the area and they are more defensive.
Not every stingray story has a painful ending. Captain John Little and his wife Alicia of Corpus Christi, Texas encountered a giant southern stingray and they lived to tell the tale. The Littles went to Port O’Conner to take their niece and nephew fishing for shark. They got a chum line going, and about 15 minutes after getting the hook in the water, the reel started screaming. “I thought it was a spinner shark because it came up to the top of the water.” He told the kids to watch the “shark” jump. “It was actually about a four and a half foot wide stingray.” An hour and 45 minutes later, they had wrestled the monster up to the side of the boat. Alicia cut the barb off, then they wrestled the ray into the boat for pictures before releasing it. “It was a heck of a fight, I’m pretty sure she weighed around 200lbs.”
Though he was sweaty and tired from the hard-won catch, they headed back and set yet another chum line. Less than ten minutes later, Alicia’s reel went off. They pulled the anchor again and took off. Alicia battled it for over an hour before they got it alongside the boat. At that point, the ray sunk down and they couldn’t get it off the bottom. The hook finally broke from the leader and they lost it. Alicia was amazed at the size of that giant stingray: “we were in ten feet of water and its tail was sticking up out of the water…that fight was tough!”
The Littles submitted the catch as a potential state record breaker, but the Texas Parks and Wildlife department doesn’t recognize stingray for catch and release. (Gee, wonder why?!) “My only trophy from the catch was the stinger,” Captain Little remarked. “When we let the ray swim off, I said, okay, where’s that barb? Then my seven year old daughter said, ‘oh, daddy, I threw it overboard. That’s what I always do when you cut those barbs of.’ I said, I know honey, but not all of them are 200 pounds!” Though they didn’t get their trophy barb to bring home, they have the video and the pictures to remind them of one wild day out fishing with the family. They never set out to catch a giant stingray to begin with, but now Alicia is looking forward to having another go at the big one that got away. For anyone who has ever suffered the pain of a stingray barb, heading out with Captain John Little could provide some much-desired revenge!
Moral of the story: it’s a lot more fun to hook a stingray than to let one hook you.
Jana Badger, Bronx NY
Resources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #21, Giant Texas Stingray Tales
JustGoFishin.net
http://justgofishin.net/texas-giant-stingray-tales
Monday, March 28, 2011
Best Bait for River Catfish
On the surface, the Nueces River looks calm and ordinary, but monsters lurk in its depths. Monster catfish, to be precise. These beasts grow to intimidating sizes, and there is one man who refuses to leave them in peace. Dave Wyble of Swinney Switch, Texas, has perfected the art of bringing in the biggest of the river’s giant catfish. He has a wealth of experience, tips, and great humor to share.
Mr. Wyble uses what is known as a jug line or trot line. This is a very long, strong line (about 400-500 pound line) that is weighted and sunk to about 3 feet from the river bottom, and floated at the surface with jugs. The jugs are marked with the angler’s name, address, phone number, and the date the rig was set. The date must be changed at least every thirty days to show the rig is current and maintained. Several drop lines are also added, each coming about 16-18 inches off the main line. These are set with hooks and bait. When this is done, you sit back and wait. Dave can just look out his window with his binoculars and check for the obvious sign of a catch: “If your jug’s movin’ around, you know you got a fish on it.”
A variation on the jug line or trot line is the limb line. In this configuration, you tie your main line on a tree limb that overhangs the river, then the movement of the breeze will keep it in constant motion. That bobbing motion will attract the fish, and when you see the limb bowed, you know it’s time to bring in your catch.
Of all the wisdom Mr. Wyble has to share, newcomers to giant catfishing will find his choice of bait to be the most suprising. What great secret does he use to draw those monsters to his hooks? Soap. That’s right. Soap. But don’t go reaching for your wife’s Dove soap; the choosy beasts prefer a certain brand. Zote soap, a vegetable based laundry soap from Mexico, is the choice of Nueces’ giant catfish. And, as Dave laughingly tells us, using soap for bait also means you don’t have to clean your catch!
Mr. Wyble has the trophy photos and the amazing stories that come from his years of experience on the river. He had me laughing through one tale in particular, of a monster catfish that almost got the better of him. “Two piers down I had my trot line set out and I got a big one on there. And I gaffed him, but he was bigger’n I could handle! And lo and behold he tipped the boat over, and in the water I went. Of course, I had one hand on the gaff, and I didn’t want to lose that big fish. So, I finally got back in the boat, but I couldn’t get the fish in the boat he’s so big! So I just cranked up the motor and came back to my pier and drug him off to shore.” One cell phone, one pager, and one laughing neighbor later, Mr Wyble bagged his giant yellow catfish.
Monster catfish aren’t the only critters Mr. Wyble drags up from the river. He once hooked a 4 foot alligator on one of his trot lines. Now, you may know by now that this is not the kind of man to turn from a challenge; He decided to try wrestling that gator into his boat. After a long struggle, he had to admit that he just couldn’t get him into the boat. Dave says that it was only afterwards that it occurred to him to wonder, “What would I’d a done with that alligator if I’d a got him in the boat? It would’a been him stay in the boat or me stay in the boat. And more’n likely it woulda been me getting OUT of the boat!”
Mr. Wyble wisely let the alligator go on his way, but he is not so merciful with alligator gar. He recently got twenty pounds of meat off one of the monsters, and he can tell you precisely how best to prepare it: slow-cooked Cajun style with plenty of spices, tomato gravy, and served over rice. And if giant catfish, alligators, and alligator gar aren’t enough, Dave Wyble is also a capable hog hunter. Last year he and his neighbor caught 68 hogs, the largest of which topped out around 400 pounds!
Dave’s ranch on the banks of the Nueces River is an ideal setting for an enthusiast such as he is. He gets out virtually every day to do some fishing of some kind or other. After all, he points out, “I can come out of my backyard and just go out there and get ‘em!” And boy, does he get ‘em. Dave Wyble shows us a slice of the good life: stepping out to the pier or boat for daily fishing time, eating well off his own catches, and hooking the occasional gator to keep things lively.
Jana Badger, Bronx NYResources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #10, "Monster Catfish in Nueces River"
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