Thanks to winning a drawing at an event at Orvis put on by my friend Ben Keel, this past Wednesday I got to go fishing with Kevin Townsend, one of the top fly fishing guides in the state of Texas and host of the soon to be seen in Houston, KT Diaries.  KT, as his friends call him, is the ultimate sportsman – a fishing guide in the summer and a hunting guide in the fall.  His show brings him on adventures across the world and makes you wish you were part of his story.  It was an honor to go fishing with him and it was a lot of fun.  It also showed me the distinct difference between traditional fishing methods and fly fishing.  I come out not only wiser, but with a deeper love and appreciation for fly fishing and all that it offers.

Originally this trip was scheduled to be a fly fishing journey to catch some tarpon.  But when my fly fishing buddy was unable to go I invited my brother Ray and switched the trip to traditional spincasting since my brother has no fly fishing experience and I have only a scant amount.  We had a great time and learned and saw a lot.  It was my first fishing experience from a boat in the bay and took a bit getting used to fishing in closed quarters.  I also caught my first redfish, which was quite tasty grilled and basted in butter.  We only kept 2 fish, one red and one trout, but we saw quite a few more as we were poling in the flats – water only about 2 feet deep at the deepest.  Much of what we were trying to do was sight casting – seeing a fish and casting to catch that fish.  This is a very fly fishing oriented technique and I think contributed to our less than stellar haul.  When we came in at the end of the day we saw another guide who was taking pictures of his clients haul – limits on reds and a few others.  It made me think – which trip would I rather have – the one where I only catch a few but with the chance a bigger fish or one where I catch my limit of just big enough fish?

Here’s what I think – I would rather fish all day and catch one big fish than have a bunch of smaller fish.  One, I can’t eat all those fish and I don’t have the resources to vacuum seal and flash freeze fish to keep their texture.  Nothing beats the taste and texture of fresh fish.  Nothing is worse than the taste and texture of fish frozen poorly.  Two, I would rather fight for bigger fish and lose – learning better technique along the way, than get my fill of fish easily caught with poor practices.  I will only become a better fisherman in the long run by learning how to catch fish when it’s harder to catch them.

Our trip showed the basic differences between the fly fishing and traditional fishing philosophies and techniques.  Fishing in the shallows is a perfect place for fly fishing – where precise casting and finesse are a requirement.  A bad cast with a traditional rod & reel will either spook the fish or result in missing the mark.  A bad fly cast can usually be picked up and laid back down with a much lesser chance of disturbing the fish.  I think if we were fly fishing we would have seen more success where we were fishing.  Beyond technique, the philosophy is much different.  Traditional methods lean more towards a “catch ‘em and sort ‘em out” attitude – i.e. – catch the fish and then see if they are a keeper.  Fly fishing is about waiting until you can see the ‘big one’ and making a play for it while it is still in the water.  This ‘sight casting’ is much more of a part of fly fishing than traditional methods.

All in all I had a great time with Ray and KT, but walked away with more knowledge than I did fish.  I know more now of how I want to fish and the distinctives that fly fishing offers.  Having finished a day of traditional spin-casting I come to understand and appreciate the finer points of fly fishing even more.  I’m sure my next trip with KT will be much different (firstly we will be fly-rod only!) and I will come back with more stories, experience, and knowledge than I have now.  It was a great time, but next time will be better.  I learned that I am a fly fisherman at heart – now to learn how to put that into practice and become the fisherman that I want to be.

A 22" red caught on a ultralight with a berkley gulp shrimp. Port O'Connor, TX with Kevin Townsend, guide.