NEW STORE

I have been really busy lately getting our new store going .It is called ROWDY MAUI and it is located next to our old store MY FAIR MERMAID. The building used to be FOR THE BIRDS.The street address is 92 S. Austin St.Rockport Texas 78368.
We have a lot more space ,so now we are selling FISHING TACKLE.
If you are visiting Rockport come and see what we have .Kacie and Sherrel have lots of artwork ,signs,clothing and a whole lot of lady crap in there.
I on the other hand I have fine fishing tackle.If I use it it is in there ,if I will not use it I will not waste space for it.I have some leaders that I make for sale for kingfish to sharks.
Right now it it has a couple of thousand dollars worth at wholesale prices and it does not look like much.I do have some Berkley Gulp,gold spoons that I use ,Flounder Pounders and Two Jack Lures.I will have more later as we go along.I will be selling some used ready to fish poles if anybody needs one .

Went out this afternoon just fishing .Brad and I started at Estes Flats throwing berkley gulp jerkshad in Rootbeer. Caught 1 nice trout and several reds including a 28".The fish was bighting really soft .The fish seem to be in a winter pattern ,over mud flats. It really pays to use a good sensitive rod like a woodee rod. Also use 10 lb. line for extra sensitivity.

30 lb.Black Drum on 10 lb. line

Went out today with a father and son from Lubbock.We started at the jetty and had no luck.Found a few good trout on some wells.got hooked up on a black drum trying to catch trout using berkley gulp. Fought it about 3 hours on 10 lb. test line and a light Woodee rod.Pretty good for a 15 year old to stay with a fish that long .

Beautiful Day light wind barley a ripple.Almost too nice ,The wind did switch in afternoon from the north. Brad ,Ed (Doctor's Orders ),and I went out just playing today no charter just fishing for fun .Caught several nice trout in Aransas Bay wells.Some sheepshead on shrimp near the pilings.
Went to the jetties caught and released 15 reds that were 33" to 43" mostly over 40".They hit mullet ,perch and shrimp near the bottom. 30' of water.Got a lot of pics from it I will post them later .Had several on at the same time including a triple hookup .I do not know why everybody driving a boat had to come help us catch fish.We were doing just fine except when we were hooked up ,other boats would come and crowd us.Funny thing is if you ain't doing it right you ain't gonna git bit.
Water temp was 63 in the bays and 65 at the jetty.

Fishing has been pretty good when the weather permits.Before the fronts is the best .after it is hard to get a bite .The bigger reds are holding in the channels from 15 -35 ft.The smaller schoolies are on the flats.
the big 40" and bigger REDS are in 35' of water being caught on menhaden ,mullet ,and live perch. Trout are gathered up on structure in 8-12' ,mainly channels.Drift the channel with the wind and you will find the fish .When you do find them stay there the action will be fast .They are hitting live shrimp and Berkley Gulp,in root beer ,nuclear chicken,new penny and just about any color.
Flounder have really been coming in the surf ,on mullet.I have personally seen several in the 6 lb range.
The jetties are producing lots of Sheepshead right now,especially the north jetty.Anchor just off the point in line with the jetty. Live shrimp will catch them ,along with reds,and Spanish mackerel.Pl EASE use caution when fishing the jetties. DO NOT ANCHOR FROM THE STERN. This will sink a boat no matter how nice the weather. Also when fishing the jetties be courteous we are all there to catch fish and have a good time.

Sunday Nov 9

Had a great group from Ft.Worth celebrating Loretta 's birthday.Loretta was the woman of the day ,she boated several reds and the largest of the day 33".The wind was getting a little rough so we stayed at the jetty an fished .Good choice since later we had to quit the jetty as the wind got to 35 mph.We cught 8 reds ,2 spanish mackerel 1 grouper,1 triggerfish and a nice King fish.
Had several monster fish try and pull the women overboard but I kept a tight grip on them.Except one lady who scremed profanities as the fish pulled her from one end of the boat to the other.
Had a BLAST with this bunch of NUTS and looking forward to the next trip with them.
When we came into the boat ramp a fishery survey was going on. We were told that we had the best bunch of fish they had seen all day .Not only that The Birthday Girl had the biggest fish of the day at the Cove Harbour Ramp .

Nov 7 Friday
The wind was howling at 40 mph waves were 6 ' at the jettys.I had a really nice family from Hobbs N.M. Colten was the youngest with us he is 8 years old. The places to catch fish in that condition was very limited ,but we wanted to catch fish no matter what. Mangrove Snapper is what I targeted for them to let Colten catch a lot of fish. Tried several places and had a few good fish ,but not enough to really make a good trip .I did find some rocks on the Corpus Christie ship channel that held a tremendous amount of nice 2 lb. snappers. We kept 50 mangrove snapper and turned back 30 or so RED SNAPPER .We were fishing in 10 to 15 ft water with live and freash dead shrimp.Grouper and Gafftop catfish also were biting there as well.

10/30/08 TUNA TRIP

I went out with Dolphin Docks Thurs. morning for a 60 hour offshore tuna trip. We caught over 30 yellow fin tuna and over 200 black fin tuna. We also caught several grouper, several ling, and a 326 lb. Mako Shark. They were caught on yummies, topwaters, and a few on sardines. The black fin was caught on diamond jigs, knife jigs, and sardines. I caught two 60-70 lb. yellow fin tuna myself.

Boat For Sale

Any body interested in buying my 20' flatbottom ,cc, Guide boat? it would make a great Flounder boat or Duck boat .It has enough room in it you can dance in it. 140 hp Suzuki 4-stroke ,hydrolic jack plate,new hydrolic steering.This rig will scoot over damp oysters .Easy on fuel too. I once ran from Conn Brown to Baffin ,fished a tournament { almost won} and made it all the way back on 20 gallons of fuel. That is 50 miles one way!Total trip was probably 110 miles. If interested it will be at My Fair Mermaid ,96 Austin st. in Rockport.You can also call me at 361-523-9452 to see it.

fish for church fish fry

Went out today at 2;30 pm for Ed .He was needing 100 lbs. of fish for a church fish fry.We went in my boat to Port Aransas jetties .The reds were not biting,but the Spanish Macerel was.Caught 16 on gold spoons at the north jetty.Tried several versions of spoons but all they wanted was GOLD .It did not seem to matter if it was a Kastmaster or Johnson's spoon as long as it was GOLD.Ed did get broke off on a king probably as the fish made a really fast long run.
Went by the ferries and got 4 big gafftop no reds .Then went to Martin Midsteam got 4 nice trout on Berkly Gulp and 1 Mangrove Snapper.
Lots of Flounder boats out ,funny thing is you can clean up giging Flounder any time of the year as long as the water is clear.

Just Another day fishing

• Had a trip today with some nice people from Lubbock Tex. Caught 4 reds at the jetty 40",40",28",and 26". Ran offshore a little ways and had 8 spanish mackerel, two kings. A ling over 40"broke off on 60 lb. line and bent several hooks. All in all, we had a great time. We had a 100 qt cooler full of fish and still could not get a 40" red in it on the way back.

Finally fishing again

Finally got back to fishing .Found a bunch of small reds and trout on a reef no keepers .Went to a place on the ICW and got into small trout ,some reds ,whiting and ,sand trout .Finally wound up with 10 reds a dozen sand trout and some whiting .Still had a great day fishing .

Lost Flipper

Saturday,what a day.We returned to the jetty this morning about 11:00am. Fished for a little while lost several nice fish and watched a group of boats try to save a sinking boat. on the other jetty.The Coast guard was there and Towboat U.S.getting the boat saved .
I talked to my son Brad who was captain on the Flipper bay boat,they had 15 reds ,several spanish mackeral ,and big Mangrove snapper.They were heading in and went out of my site back into the channel.I heard on the radio something about the Flipper to the Coast Guard and I thought he was helping relay information about the other boat in distress.
When I realized he needed help, I pulled up anchor and got over there as soon as I could get there.When I finally arrived, the boat was on it's side and sinking,the coast guard was watching it sink .Everybody on board was on the C.G. boat and not even wet.Brad did a great job of trying to save the boat and a great job of getting the coast guard there quickly We tried to tie onto the boat and had it coming into the current ,the boat rose about half way out of the water as I was towing it. Then some stupid people in a large boat ran past us causing a big wake which broke the tow rope .
I scrambled to retie it agian ,but the boat was lower in the water this time and sinking fast .Got it retied and tried to pull it agian but the current was just too much.I was running with the current trying toget it pull forward ,and the rope broke again .Swung around and doubled the rope lost sight of it as I was tying knots .Only to not find it again.

Friday I had a great charter with some really great pepole from Ft Worth .We found some big bull reds at the jetty .Relesed several oversized fish after keeping a pair of 43",38",and ,37" .Had a great time .

October 15, 2008 Two Trips/One Day

My first trip today was for Dolphin Docks in Corpus Christi Ship Channel. The water was too rough to fish the jetties for the big bull reds so we fished several places and finally wound up at the Fina Docks. We caught 10 Mangrove Snapper, a big Spanish Mackerel, Spade Fish, and a 31 inch Red Drum.

The second trip was a private charter on my boat in the afternoon at Goose Island State Park. We found fish at Carlos Bay freelining shrimp on a reef. We caught lots of small trout and reds, several nice Sheepshead, one Black Drum, two keeper Reds, a 23 in. Trout, and a 40 lb. Stingray. The weather today was windy, rain all around, water temperature 75 degrees. Air temperature 85 degrees.

A cold front comes Wed. night lowering the temp about 10 degrees. The fishing will slow down after this front a few days, but then will stabilize and then will turn into our great fall fishing here. Trips are booking about a week in advance. If you want to get in on this great fishing time here around Port Aransas and Rockport, give me a call and we will set up up for a great time and a lot of fish. A credit card deposit of $100 will hold your trip.

Lots of fish few keepers

Went out with a band called 900 pounds on Sunday.The wind was too much to get to the really big red fish hole .With an incoming tide all day and under a full moon ,it was tough fishing all day.We caugt 12 mangrove snapper as fast as we could throw a free lined shrimp. Ran out of shrimp so we went and got another 2 quarts .Went down by the lighthouse and caught a bunch of undersized reds and trout. Only keepers there were two whiting. Ran down the Corpus Christy ship channel and fished a small gut with oysters all around it. Agian lots of small reds and lots of small trout.
Brad my son was out with a charter and they were struggling to catch keepers too .Talked to some other guides and seems everybody else was having the same luck. The water temp right now is 75 degrees.

Tournament Reds

Went out today nice start the weather was calm .The gentlemen went with me today went out last nite and had a few too many.One stayed back in bed while three went out with me.One go sick from the waves at the jetty,so we took him back.Went fishing again ,and got into the reds.We limited out and had to call the two party poopers to come and get in the boat with us .We needed them so we could have more fish to turn in to the weigh in. We wound up with 3 reds that were 27 1/2 " ,two over sized .Ten reds all together and three big Mangrove snapper .I did not get to stay long after the weigh in to find out how we did.Had a great time anyways

Shells

I forgot to metion on the trip with Greg and Crystal we stopped on a small island to show them all the shells. These shells cover the dirt so much that you can dig down about a foot or so and still not hit dirt.They also found this enormous shell she is holding in the picture.

No Reds

Tuesday I had a trip with Greg and Crystal. They were the winners of a trip I donated for a Breast Cancer Research raffle. The weather was great except for the rain. The water wascalm and clear. Crystal got a little queasy on the large waves, so we went fishing in the bay. We immediately got into a bunch of Mangrove snapper and small Grouper. We then went offshore to some nearshore rigs, but could not get any bites except for two large Gafftop. After a break due to rain, we then anchored up at a point on the ship channel. We did not get any reds, but had a great time pulling in a bunch of 5 to 6 lb. gafftop.
I kept in touch with Brad and other guides all day and they were not catching any reds either.

TOUGH FISHING

On Friday, we went outside the jetties, it was too rough and windy to stay on a rig and catch fish, too rough to fish the jetties, so we came in, loaded the boat and went to Copano Bay. We caught lot of small Redfish and some small trout. One of my guys did catch a "Texas Slam", which is a trout, redfish, and flounder of legal size. Of special interest is that he caught these all on artificial lures, Berkley Gulp.

Saturday only Jerry went with me today, Chuck was not feeling well. It was tough fishing again. We caught some small reds. The jetties were pretty rough, we couldn't fish offshore so we headed into the bays. We caught one 5 lb. Black Drum and 10 Mangrove Snapper before calling it a today. It was a little stormy, windy, and rainy but we still had a good day.

These guys are from Hobbs, New Mexico and have been fishing with me all this week. They come here twice a year for fishing, fishing, fishing. I estimate that they took back approximately 400 lb.'s of fish filets. We had a great time and I really enjoy these guys and can't wait until they come back.

Even My Bad Days are Good!!!!!!

We started out this morning and the tilt and trim on my boat wouldn't work. We pulled it out of the water, fixed it, and then went fishing again. There were no fish at the jetties today so we went offshore and caught 1 Ling and then we had trouble with the bilge pump. We came back again, repaired that, and got back in the water at 3:30. We went out again and caught 3 big Ling, a 37 in. and 40 in. Red, 22 in. Black Drum, 2 Spanish Mackerel, and a 20 lb. King. The weather today was beautiful, wind was out of the east. Water temperature was 75 degrees. The fish seem to be migrating from north to south. We had several other fish break off including one that broke 60 lb. line before we could get the rod out of the rod holder.

Tomorrow we are going back out again with my same New Mexico clients.

FISH EVERYWHERE

My guys from New Mexico and I started today at the Jetties and caught a quick limit of Reds, then we ran offshore. The weather is beautiful, the water is blue. Today's temperature was around 88 with very little wind. We caught four Ling, two Snapper, two large sharks, six Spanish Mackerel in the 5-6 lb. range (which is massive for these fish), Grouper, and we released 20 small sharks in the 3 ft range.

Capt Brad on his morning trip caught 3 Reds, 2 TriggerFish, 2 Ling, Strawberry Grouper, and some Mangrove Snapper. On the afternoon trip they caught a 25 lb. Kingfish, 9 Redfish, one 39" Red, 1 Gag Grouper, several Mangrove Snapper, and 2 Lings.

TWO 40" REDFISH

My charter Monday with two great guys from New Mexico we caught two 40" bull reds plus four keeper reds, grouper, several nice Spanish Mackerel, Mangrove Snapper, and a Snowy Grouper. The Snowy Grouper was verified by the Parks and Wildlife since nobody knew what it was.

My son Capt. Brad also had a charter today and they brought in 9 reds, one was oversized.

Reds at the jetties

Lots of REDS at the jetties. The water is looking great rightnow it is clear with lots of debri washing up. There is a few large trout taken near the rocks.I watched a large school of TARPON swimming around Sat and Sun. Brad brought in 18 reds Sat afternoon .When you are on the school it is very fast action,when you are not it is tough .There is lots of Spanish Mackeral ,with Mangrove Snapper,Trigger fish ,Red Snapper ,and a few Pompano.I have not seen any King Mackeral nearshore since the storm.
The offshore bite has slowed since the storm.It will pick back up as time goes on.The best bait after the storm is ribbonfish dropped with a large egg sinker. Also YES we can still keep RED SNAPPER in state waters,just not in Federal waters.

6' TARPON

I forgot to mention Brad has been catching several Bull Reds over 40" .He also caught and released a 6' TARPON,just before the hurricane.
The water is really clear considering a hurricane came through,there is lots of trash and debris washing up .

Bull Reds at the Jetty

Friday the 19th went to Cedar Byou to see what hurricane Ike did .Nouthing has changed we could only go to 100 yards from the dunes ,very few fish there.Did manage to get lots of small reds at sundown bay,a 20" trout and a flounder.Got some nice oversized reds on a long reef.
Saturday the 20th Went to the jetties at Port A got 5 nice reds before the wind got too rough. Caught 2 nice spanish mackeral and a strawberry grouper. We went down the ship channel and got 9 big gafftop catfish.

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike has not hurt Rockport or Port Aransas ,The beaches have some erosion and lots of trash washed up.Bob Hall Pier got some damage but not too bad .The Horace Caldwell pier in Port Aransas was hurt ,but has been repaired .The hotels and condos are all open .Dolphin Docks in Port A has all ready started trips again.We hope and pray for the best for Galveston and Houston .The motels and condos there will be out for a year or two. I am not sure how South Padre has done after Hurricane Dolly I know they were hit hard too.

New Boat

Here is a picture of my 22 ft. Pathfinder, 150 Yamaha. This picture is not really good. I will post another one when the graphics are put on the side. I also have new pink fishing rods for the "divas" on the boat.

Sunday, August 10, 2008 Trip

Today went out on State Snapper trip offshore. We had several snapper but most were undersized. We did have 3 really nice Kingfish, one over 50 lbs. and a Bonnet head shark. We also lost several "big" fish that got in a rig including a 60 lb. Cobia. This was a really great trip.

Sunday August 3, 2008 Trip

Today was a tough fishing day. The reds and trout were not biting so we went and got a lot of gafftop and mangrove snapper. Still some really good eating. This was a family of four on vacation and they had a really great time.

Saturday August 2, 2008 Trip

This trip was a two boat trip from Capt. Ron Matson. I had several big fish runs, chased them with the boat but they still broke off in the rocks. These were some monster reds. We did manage to boat one 31 incher, an 18 in. flounder, and a couple of nice trout, (and lots of undersized ones). I had four of the greatest guys, great time.

Friday August 1 Private Charter

Today I took out Tom and his 15 year old son Bailey for a state snapper trip. We had three keepers and one hammerhead shark. This was Bailey's first shark and we cut the jaw out for him. Really nice people. We had a great trip.

Muddy water after the storm has not helped fishing . Had a trip today with Dolphin Docks today on a 4 hour bay trip.We caught 4 nice two pound Mangrove snapper ,sand trout ,big whitting ,couple of nice gafftop,a couple of small sharks. All in all it was a good trip after the storm. Also found out today my new 22' pathfinder will be ready for me Wednesday. I will post some pics of it later . The offshore bite has really slowed since the storm ,but it will pick up each day better than the day before.

AAAAdddoorrrin fans

Here is a letter from some of my adoring fans .Not really they think my daughter is hot ,but they did send some pics of our trip.
Dear Captain Doug,
My folks and I just wanted to thank you for a good trip out on the water. We definately want to come back hopefully sometime in the near future once we can get away from things again. I think I have actually talked some friends of mine into going deep sea fishing maybe in a few months after we get our bonus checks in September, but you know how plans can go sometimes...anyways my dad wanted me to send yall some of the pictures from the trip so hopefully they turned out alright. Our computers been running funny lately. Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Josh Smith and the rest of the 'New Braunfels Rednecks'
P.S. So umm...yeah just a thought, you should totally bring your daughter from the store on the next trip. Justa thought...haha

Lots of Charters, Lots of Fish

Hey, there, sorry I have been so behind in my blog, but I have been really busy with 1-2 trips a day as July is turning out to be a great month.  The water has been really calm and we have been able to go out to the deeper water. Last Wed on a trip with my good friend Bobby  (who comes all the way from Wichita Falls to fish with me every summer) we caught limits of kingfish and a 50 lb. shark which is pictured in the last post.  This same day by son (Capt. Brad) also brought in a 100 lb. shark.  

Wednesday we went off shore with Capt. Ed Zielinski, Zac Zielinski, Todd, Bobby, and Capt. Ron Matson.  We caught red snapper, kingfish, barracuda, rainbow runner, and quick-released a couple of huge sharks.  We were 70 miles offshore fishing for billfish, but couldn't get any to bite, but were quite happy with our catch anyway.  

Sunday I took a family from New Braunfels out for the first time and we had a great time.  They caught kingfish, trout, cooler full of large gafftop.  

Last night, (Monday) I took out a group  for an evening trip. The fishing is beggining to get a little slow because of the tropical storm coming in.  We saw some tarpon, caught a small shark, a ling, speckled trout.  They all had a great time. We watched dolphins up close as their 3 and 7 year old sons really enjoyed this. They both caught fish and one caught his first shark.  Yesterday, Capt Brad on his trip caught 5 kingfish and one 37 lb. ling. 

Fishing with Bobby

Pirates of the Bay Merch

Pirates of the Bay logo caps are $20.00
The logo is EMBROIDERED not printed!
One size fits most, velcro on back







Want to know what looks really awesome with the hat? Pirate sunglasses.
3 different styles, $10 each or 2 for $15


If you's like to order hats or sunglasses call 361-790-8888

Pirates of the Bay in Salt Water Texas

Hello!
Sorry for the lack of updates as Doug's been really busy and out fishing every day, but he says he's going to be blogging more often once he gets a chance. So until he's able to post himself, I (his daughter, Kacie) will be updating for him.

Back in June both Brad and Doug's photo appeared in the Salt Water Texas paper.


"Captains Doug and Brad Stanford of Pirates of the Bay Fishing Charters are shown with a 28 in. trout and a nice redfish that were caught by the charter they took out on the first day of Spring Fling."

13th cont.

Got out the slip at 1:00pm trolled to the jetties ,no hits.Drifted outside the jetties and got some big bites .They lost 3 fish quick ,one really big SMOKER KING.Kept drifting and landed a 15# jack  and a 5 ' sandbar shark .Put out a two pound live mullet on a 6/0 reel .It got bit in half immediately with almost spooling the reel.Fish got off bent both 7/0 hooks on a kingfish leader. then got 5 bites at once .Lost one 5 ' sandbar ,broke the wire. One was a 5' TARPON got him to the boat then the hooks pulled while I was helping with 4 other BIG  fish on.Finally got a nice 5' sandbar in the boat .Two lines crossed while they were playing the fish ,Line sapped as I was telling them to lower the rod when he lifted it causing the break.All this time I am doing this my deckhand is curled up in the corner puking .Then after the RODEO ,I tied on a BIG shark leader put on a 5# bait dropped it on a 6/0 .got bit again then I knew really quick we was not going to catch that one .He was just too big ,so we put the rod it the holder until he bent 1 hook and broke the other.Got back to the dock and got more 6/0 reels for Saturday.

Friday the 13th

Wow what a  day Friday the 13th!
 Started out with no trip for me or Dolphin Docks .Ok no big deal .Wanting to go so bad ,the day before found Kingfish at the jetties .landed a 17 lb king and a 14# jack.Customers lost several nice ones.Had some small penn 209's on the boat only a few 4\0 reels .Got spooled on one of the 209's.
 NEXT day the 13th.ED called needing a deckhand for a short offshore trip at 7:00 this was at 6;15am.I said I would be there .got there at 6;50 ,he had the boat ready,customers waiting .Got the boat untied halfway out the slip Ed told them we was going to go trolling that was the best way to catch them.They said NO we AIN'T and wanted off the boat.Backed boat back in and they left .Ed told them he would charged their credit card for a no show fee they said fine.
 OK no trip then went to DDocks .Those same people called there and wanted to charter a boat.They also came by and left no trip for them they were to picky.
 had 7 people come in from Dallas and charted the Flipper.Them about 20 came in and wanted to go but the boat was already spoken for.

Bonnet Head Sharks

Today we were fishing at the North Jetty Port Aransas catching lots of small bonnet head sharks on shrimp and menhaden. We caught some small undersized reds, broke off several nice ones, clients couldn't get them in. Water is really clear, lots of bait jumping, and finally a break from the big wind we have been having. Caught one oversized red 31 in.

Lost Reds

Went out Sunday the weather was bad ,high winds kept me from fishing the flats .Raining really close to us but not on us. I was running the Flipper Boat for Dolphin Docks in Port Aransas. We tried anchoring in the Aransas Channel ,like 20 other boats . We did manage a few whiting some sand trout, one small rat red .We hooked up 3 big fish ,probably oversized reds .Two were lost because of someone trying to set the hook half way through the fight and getting slack in the line. The other was lost when it dove into the rocks and broke off. Then went to fishing at the ferries .Caught some whiting and sand trout .Not much excitement there except some one saw a huge red fish and calmly asked what is this big red looking fish swimming next to the boat? Apparently I forgot to tell them we are supposed to catch those. Anyways it was a hard day fishing .

Rockport Spring Fling 08

I was in the Rockport Spring Fling media event last Monday and Tuesday this was my second year for this.This was no tournament but Brad and I really owned the show. This was 15 guides in Rockport ,last year 30.Everybody was struggling to get a bite on live bait ,not us.I had Peggy York (women in the outdoors),Dennis Smith,his wife Diana{Luresafty Wrap},and John Stuart {Scent Shop Manufacturing}.We caught lots of small reds and trout .Then we went after big trout ,John caught a 7lb ,28"monster trout on a Berkley jerk shad ,that i gave everybody.I had a nice 24" red and Dennis had several keeper trout.We all had a blast as I aggravated them as best I could .When we got to the boat ramp at 2;00 the Parks and wildlife was doing creel surveys .They said they had only seen 3 fish brought in so far till we came along. The survey man got excited and told John to go get that fish mounted ,and could not believe they were all caught on artificial lures.
At the dinner that night there was a guide bragging they took an air boat into the back lakes an got 9 rat reds ,only 1 was 31' nice fish but I knew i could do better.The next day I had Dennis Smith only in my boat ,his wife went shopping.I also drew T.J. Greeley for the second time in a row.I had this jerk last year .He stood me up and went filming somewhere else with somebody Else's boat in tow.I also had Burk Elliot {Gulf Coast Fisherman} who also bailed out on me saying he was sick.
So it was just me and Dennis fishing .We got to our spot it was dead calm and hard to catch anything ,but we did manage a few small red and trout .Dennis got a nice 22' trout on a corkie until my son Brad called me. He told me to get to the south jetty ASAP.He had already caught several keeper reds and several over-sized reds in a 4 hour trip.The biggest was 43" 37lbs.I ran the trip in 15 min. within 5 min.I already hooked up a nice 27 3/4 '' red.we fished for about 30 min then went on to other holes for monster reds.As i went to them they were all fouled up by drilling rigs and huge ship waves.As I rounded the way back to the boat ramp I had several more spots to make some easy catches but Dennis wanted to go in early. i loaded up the boat as Dennis made a fast dash to somewhere else.
When we me later for lunch at Charlotte Plummer's ,Brad met me there and already Had some monster photos printed up.I Had to convince Larry Bozka that brad had actually caught those big reds and verify it by looking at his clothing .Larry finally belied us when he looked at brads digital camera and saw the date.Anyways I have enclosed some pics for you.

OOPPS I made a blog

Let me introduce myself, I am Master Merchant Marine officer Captain Douglas Wade Stanford, a lowly saltwater fishing guide. Together with my unattached handsome son Brad we are Pirates of the Bay Charters. No water is too deep or too shallow to for us to fish.
We have our own boats and we drive boats for Dolphin Docks in Port Aransas. I also freelance for other boat owners as well.
My wonderful wife of 26 years Sherrel ,and my GORGEOUS daughter Kacie{she looks like her mom!} own a cute little store in Rockport Texas called My Fair Mermaid, and we book charters through there as well.