The more I know, the more I know what I don’t know

As Cody Jinks sings, “The more I know, the more I know what I don’t know” came to mind this last humbling trip while fishing the Texas coast. The surge of recent freshwater from all the rain had the water looking like Bill Miller’s sweet tea, and I wasn’t finding the fish like I had envisioned. I was guiding my father and son on this trip, which was fun, but it puts pressure on you to find fish. Trips like this gives guides a whole new respect in my eyes. I bought my son some croaker thinking it would be the magic ticket for him. As dark as the water was, it would take me all day to find a bucket of mullet. Now if you read social media, croaker

are the devil. They basically just have to be cast out, and you limit out on trout. I couldn’t catch a fish on a croaker if it had a stick of dynamite in its mouth. I use lures, no judgement, but there is an art to fishing them I feel. I have never done well with croaker the few times I have used them or when I have bought them for my son. We did everything they talk about on Facebook. We bought them, threw them in the water, and still nothing. I used to consider myself a good fisherman. Hell, there might have been a time when I thought I was hot stuff. However, the longer I have fished and better I have gotten at it, the more I realize I am still clueless. If I pull up in a buddy’s boat and there are fish there, I will catch them for the most part. But, there is so much more to it than that. Knowing where to go is the million dollar question. I am not talking about spots you have caught fish at before either. The good fishermen know where to go and where they should be because of conditions. Will the fish always be there? No, but they understand all the little subtleties of why fish move, where they want to be, and what is happening under the water. I am still trying to learn this, and occasionally I’ll get it right every now and then. There is so much more than just holding a stringer full of fish on social media that makes you a good stick. It doesn’t matter how you got the fish whether on lures or live bait.