Welcome to CrazyHooks.com
We specialize in saltwater leaders and premade rigs to catch the big fish out in the open waters...
"Fish With A Dot On the Back!"
Steven Pham 5/26/2007
When one fisherman asks another fisherman, who often
fish the brackish and salt-water off of the Texas coast, whether the
"Red" (short for red-drum) he was describing, "has a
dot in the back?" it is pretty insulting, and yet funny at the
same time. Well my friends, I did just that about 2 weeks ago. You
must be thinking that either I am an amateur or that my friend, Minh
(who we amicably call "Foo-Minh-Chu"), is a novice
fisherman. I assure you we are not. Since college days, way back when,
Minh and I were roommates in a 2 bedrooms 2 baths apartment that costs
$450/month, some 14-15 years ago, we have been fishing together in
just about every major lake and coastline in Texas, from Galveston to
South Padre Island.
You see, it is not that he
and I have not ever fish for red-drums and bull-reds off of the coast
or in the brackish water, I just never heard of any red-drum that
could live in fresh water. Reds, as they are often called, lived in
salt water as well as in brackish water in the inlets and lakes close
to the coast. My dear friend Matt once caught a bull-red (fully
matured red-drum that is over size limit, over 28") as far as 32
nautical miles out to sea at an oil rig, and I am sure they can live
further than that in deeper water. We also often catch these game fish
in inlets and as much as 8 miles in-land.
However, Foo-Minh-Chu asked
me to come to San Antonio, Texas to go fishing with him on Lake
Calaveras (20 miles south of San Antonio) with his brother-in-law for
striper bass and red-fish. Now, everyone knows that striper bass is a
salt-water specie that has successfully been introduced to fresh
water. These monsters can grow to 40+ lbs in fresh water and may even
reach to well over 75 lbs. in salt water. What I did not know and
would never expect is that red-drums can also live in fresh water and
can also reach to its normal size in fresh water. So, when Minh asked
that I join him to go fishing in Lake Calaveras for Reds, I naturally
asked, "does it has a dot in the back?"
That weekend, my wife and
I, along with Evi and Wayne, drove to Austin to meet-up with Minh.
From Austin, Minh, Wayne, and I drove to San Antonio to meet Minh's
brother and drove to Lake Calaveras. You see, I wanted to fish and see
for the first time a "fish with the dot on the back" that
lives in fresh water, some 300 miles from the coast.
We cruised on the lake at
39 knots on a 28 feet Triton with a 4 stroke Yamaha engine with 250 hp
(what an amazing engine). After 3-4 hours of fishing, none of us
caught anything. Minh and I decided to "cheat" and entered a
section of the lake in which other anglers did not dare (for reasons I
do not care to mention). After a few minutes, I was getting nibbles
and bites. However, the bottom was so rocky that I lost 2 live shads.
Minh, on the other hand, got a couple of nibbles; and like a true
angler, he patiently waited until the monster took a gigantic bite on
the live bait. After a few minutes of fighting, splashed out of the
water was a gigantic fish with a dot on the back. I can't believe what
I saw and Minh's luck! He began pulling the bull-red to shore. Because
we did not have a net, I had to unhook the fish with my hand and held
on to it with dear life, making sure that the animal would not escape
my psychotic grips. We soon departed the area for fear that others
would catch on.
You would think that Minh's
luck (of course it's luck) ended with that catch of the day. Thirty
minutes after he caught that monster red, the man caught another
monster, but this time it was a hybrid striper bass, while fishing
with a live shad on top-water. The striper was so fat it makes me look
skinny, and I am "big-boned." Not only did Minh catch the 2
biggest fish of the day, he took up $60 of the "side-bet" to
help with the gas.
I was amazed how Reds were
able to live in the fresh water lake that is hundred of miles away
from the coast. Apparently, red-drums can live in fresh water and even
thrive in this environment. However, unlike stripers, Reds cannot
reproduce in fresh water as they do in salt water and brackish water.
As such, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department stock the lakes with
juvenile reds every year, just so that anglers like Matt, Minh, and I
can fish "the fish with the red dot on the back" in fresh
water. Thanks, Minh, for the awesome experience even though I did not
catch anything that day.
More fishing tales coming soon. If you have stories and would like to contribute, please email your stories to customerservice@crazyhooks.com.
Fish Tales
CrazyHooks in Action
Our Products
Here are our rigs and lines that we have to offer as well as description and pictures.