b'Saltwater RecreationWhen you honestly consider where these fish live and make their livingwhat those waters look like and feel likethen you will understand how kayak fishing, for many, was a softly bold step upward in the quest to more fully connect to the natural habitat in which your favorite species reside. As compared to roaring to your fishing spot at 30 knots, even if you then employ a trolling motor, the kayaker is gently slipping into the habitat with minimal disruption. You are fitting into In a world of hyper-bling, where the measure of ones success is what is seen on the surface, the idea ofthe environment of your prey, rather than kicking the graduating to a higher level of sportfishing automatically equals a 60-foot Bertram that can rush you to deepdoor down then waiting for the dust to settle.water in high-styleor, these days, an 80-mph super-turbo, inshore rig that can get you from Bluffs LandingUntil we arrive, the fish live in a quiet setting. As you to Baffin Bay in 20 minutes. Roaring engines and all the ruckus associated with navigating the Laguna Madre atcalmly paddle through the predictably fertile waters interstate speed notwithstanding, I suppose if you give the Reds and Specks an hour to come out of hiding afteron the back side of Mustang Island, for example, or the you arrive, you may snatch one or two. seagrass flats along Laguna Shore Road, your senses If youre under the age of 40, it may be counterintuitive to look at kayak fishing as an evolutionaryand maybeevolve into those of a hunter, rather than someone just even spiritualstep forward, compared to sportfishing on a powerboat. This is a concept that falls along thetrying to trick a fish into taking a bait. When you deer lines of preferring an old 4x4 pickup truck, as opposed to a new Mercedes-Benz, just because you live near anhunt or bird hunt, do you blast in as loud as you can island where you can drive on the beach. It has to do with choosing the machine that will most allow you tohoping that the game hang around to see what all the appreciate the amazing, natural South Texas environment that so many of us love and live daily. commotion is about? Of course not. Same concept here.What makes fishing in the Coastal Bend so impressive and unique, as compared to Port Isabel or Galveston forThere are twice as many kayak fishermen and women example, is the immediate access we enjoy to pockets of world-class inshore fishing. North Padre Island is wherein the U.S. than there were ten years ago, and many the Upper Laguna Madre meets Corpus Christi Bay, where once-hyper-saline bay waters are flush with deepcame from the powerboating world, while others water from the Gulf of Mexico through Packery Channel, that was opened just fifteen years ago. The multitudewanted to get closer to fishing habitat than pier or of naturally-occurring and man-made migration routes between inshore bays and the gulf-fed spawning zonesshore fishing could get them. Some claim to have that, together, provide some of the most reliably productive fishing waters in the United States. outgrown the novelty and showmanship of owning Best of all, were not poking around for a catfish in these sacred watersno disrespect to the noble catfish a powerboat in deference to better fishing, less but instead the inshore bays of the Coastal Bend are home to the most desired, and frankly, tastiest saltwaterexpense, and a connection to the saltwater world that species: Black Drum, Southern Flounder, Speckled Trout, and the most beloved of them all, the Redfish, or Redisnt drown out by a chugging 250-hp outboard.Drum to you East-Coasters. It just depends on whats important to you.58THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'