My favorite part about the Texas trip was getting to spend a weekend on Matagorda Island. The warm weather, the beautiful sunsets, and great fishing made it one of the most fun experiences in my life. On the first day, we boated to the island right around sunset. As soon as we docked, we spent the night fishing from the small marina on the island. Many of us caught different species of fish that we had never heard of, like the hardhead catfish that I caught.
The second day on Matagorda Island was amazing. Waking up on the ocean is one of the most unique experiences I have ever had. It was windy that day out on the gulf and we could hear the waves crashing from over 2 miles away. I found the sound of waves crashing to be incredibly therapeutic. I started my day catching Atlantic croakers on rod and reel. We used these as bait for fishing in the deeper marina as the day progressed. Around noon, half the group went out birding around the gulf with our guide, Cooper. He identified a number of species that I was completely unfamiliar with, the highlight being the whooping cranes.
After the birding adventure with Cooper, my classmate, Colton, and I were dropped off out on a sandbar to wade back and fish some water that we hadn’t targeted yet. One of my goals for this trip was to try and catch a big redfish, so that is what we were targeting. I was throwing a topwater spook up into the grass and trees that were on the edge of the island. After about 30 minutes of scouting, I finally spotted and hooked up with one. After a 10-minute fight, I was able to land it. The first red that I caught was one of the most exciting fishing experiences of my life. I watched the fish swim in between Colton and I, then notice us and swim back out in front of us. I threw my spook as close as I could to the nose of the fish, and I watched it turn and crush the spook on top of the water. I was able to land the 20-inch-long fish. It fought like hell! I have always heard that they were one of the hardest fighting fish and I now believe it. Sadly, neither one of us had a phone or camera with and were still a ½ mile out from camp, so I had to release the red.
We continued to fish along the sandbar when I finally hooked up with another redfish. Immediately from the first strike I could tell that this fish was BIG. I set the hook and the fish did not move. The fish was only about 20 feet away from me when it bit, but still took almost 15 minutes the land. I had Colton trying to net the fish with a little handheld net and at one point the fish swam between his legs! It was one of the more comical netting attempts I have ever seen. Eventually he got it in the net, and we made the executive decision that I needed a picture with this one. We then trudged through ½ a mile of almost knee-deep mud until we decided to just walk on land all while trying to hold onto this fish and get back to camp. When we finally got back to camp, I got my picture. We decided to keep and eat this one as it was legal length and I really wanted to taste redfish. That night Cooper grilled up the redfish and we all got to try it. It was delicious. After this experience, I am hooked on wade fishing. I will absolutely take another trip down to the gulf coast specifically for wade fishing. This was the number one highlight of my trip! The rest of the trip was a blast, but nothing else could match this for me.
To finish out our island stay, we met a guy named Pickle who took us out to an old civil war lighthouse that we climbed to the top of. After the lighthouse we made the trip back to the mainland and Cooper asked if we wanted to take a shower at his place. This was much needed as we hadn’t had access to running water thus far. We then made the long drive out the South Llano River State and arrived around 1:00 am. After a night camping, we went to a barbeque restaurant and got some authentic Texas barbeque. Then we sampled the South Llano River at Texas Tech in junction. We all got to see the Guadalupe bass, which is the state fish of Texas. Later that day, we made out way to the river back at the State Park fished for Guadalupe bass. I caught one on the same spook that I caught both redfish on. The scenery we got to experience while fishing the river was beautiful. The combination of hilly forests and clear, blue water is something that I have never been able to experience before.
The last leg of the trip at Independence Creek was the only place where we had a bed to sleep in. While this was a close second, my favorite part was how crystal clear the lakes and rivers were. This was where we go to go snorkeling. The deeper lake was absolutely freezing, but I didn’t even notice when we got to the deepest part of the lake, and I saw fish swimming on the bottom. We also had the opportunity to taste nutria because the biologists had killed one in the morning. The worst part of the trip was the night we were cooking the nutria. I am absolutely horrified of snakes and had been doing my best all trip to avoid any place where a snake may hide. Out at Independence Creek, the temperatures had dropped, and I had stopped worrying about snakes being out. Well, that night, I was heading out to the grill to check the nutria and I happened to hear something moving in the leaves behind me. I turned around with my headlamp on and I see the black and white stripes of a rattler about 3 feet from me. My fight or flight kicked in and I have never run faster in my life. Being face-to-face with my greatest fear and have it be a rattle snake that does not rattle when approached by humans just amplified the experience. I don’t think my heart stopped racing for 15 minutes after racing into the house. It just had to be me, the one guy with a major fear of snakes, that gets to spot the most dangerous one we could find.