My guiding career started in the fall of 1980 on Galveston Bay while I lived on the western shore of Trinity Bay. I left a good job as store manager of a Goodyear Tire Center to take the plunge into a sketchy at best profession. My wife and I bought a modest bay house on Trinity Bay in Beach City just outside of Baytown that would make it more practical financially to start this risky profession. My wife Rhonda who I had just married in 1976 had all the confidence in me that I could make it happen. Believe me the struggle was real trying to build a client base to support ourselves and raise a family. I came from a family of longtime fresh and saltwater fishermen but none of them had ventured into guiding for a living. But their support and confidence in me drove me through tough times and instilled the drive in me to not let them down. Failure was not an option. With the birth of my son in June of 1981, it really inspired me to work tirelessly every day to become better at every turn in my profession.  

I was truly blessed to have an abundant fishery and close friends on the water that supported me. Blaien Friermood a lifelong friend was just getting his feet wet in the same profession as me at the same time. We became very close and began fishing together every chance we got when we weren’t running a charter. We drove each other to excellence in all ways and pushed ourselves to learn every inch of Galveston Bay by wade fishing and putting our feet on every inch of shoreline we could. With guys on the water that we grew to know and have all the respect for like Maurice Estlinbaum, Charlie Paradowski, the Anderson Boys David and Gary, the Campbell Boys Gene and Bobby and Darrel Skillern just to name a few. These were the best in our bay. Then in 1984 James Plaag came along and lit even a bigger fire amongst all of us to keep pushing to the next level. I was truly impressed by his youthful drive and energy and knew he would become a great fisherman also. Some called us the Baytown Boys. 

I was very fortunate to meet members of the media while working the boat show and fishing show that led to the publicity, I desperately needed to launch my career. But getting these guys to go fishing was a task, and they were extremely busy, and they had better things to do than waste their time with a guide on a water haul trip. Special thanks to Bob Brister, Joe Dogget, Ken Grissom, Shannon Thompkins, Bob Stevenson Sr. and Bob Stevenson Jr., Larry Bozka, Doug Pike and other branches of media that gave me their support and drove me farther and deeper into my career. They all became great friends, and we had some memorable fishing trips together. Life for me in the 1980’s was story book in all aspects. The fishing was the best of our lifetime for the young and old and it taught me so much about who I was and where I was going. There were bumps in the road along the way, mostly inferior equipment like outboards, terrible fishing line and undependable fishing reels but we worked through it, and it made me a better fisherman because of it. I was truly living the dream at that time and didn’t even realize it. Hurricanes, freezes, floods and oil spills made things tough, but I just had to remain positive and work through it.  As my career progressed, I became more familiar with the customer base I had built. I was more relaxed and confident with these regular clients and had many sensational trips with them. It was like no pressure whatsoever and you could have a better time with them and help them become better fishermen. Nobody waded back then and shorelines in Trinity and East bays were wide open for the taking and were teaming with life. It was like Disneyworld. I took advantage of the opportunity and totally built my business on wading for Trophy Trout with artificial lures. Then that really opened the door for sponsors with great products to offer me for the style of fishing I was doing. It was a win situation for all of us. New advanced technology in Graphite rods, better reels, soft plastic lures, wading belts and stringers. It all started coming together enabling fisherman to become better and further advance our catch ratios on bigger fish. It was an absolute pleasure to be part of this movement among other great fishermen coastwide. It really motivated me to expand my horizons and everybody else within my circle of reach. 

As time continued throughout the years my knowledge of the sport grew and my love for the fishery became an obsession. Not to the point where I neglected the ones I loved and the other recreations I enjoyed with family and friends. It has been a great life in the outdoors for me and not one day goes by that I don’t appreciate what it has given me and others that I love. Fishing is truly something I was born for, and it came natural to me, and I’m truly blessed. Not that it was easy by no means, but it was worth the effort, dedication and sacrifice. My good memories of trips, customers, friends and acquaintances I’ve endured over the years is immeasurable. From all the Seminars I’ve done, Tournaments I’ve fished, and Tournaments I’ve run it’s been fun and wouldn’t trade that opportunity for anything. The days of the Troutmasters circuit I ran, were some of the fondest of my career and still believe to this day, it opened a gateway for the enhancement of our great sport. I know that through my career I took a lot of big fish from my fishery that I’m still very proud of and feel no guilt because our fishery then was extremely sustainable.  It was my job and what I was paid to do by fine individuals that wanted the experience and fond memories. I think the most important thing in a person’s long career is to be a good steward of the sport and protect it in every sense no matter the consequences. Do what you feel is right and from the heart and all else will prevail for the best. 

In 2007 I was given the opportunity to become the anchor host of the Sports Radio 610 Outdoor show. It was a tough decision to make because I was in the prime of my fishing career and had just finished one of the best tournament years of my career. I knew it would limit my time on the water and my income in a lot of ways, but I had to cease the opportunity. I’m so glad I did, it’s a fun job and the support and gratification I get from the listeners is overwhelming.  I truly love what I do. 

Out of all the incredible days I’ve had on the water there are two days that were truly magical. I’ve had numerous stringers of limits of Trout that weighed in range from 60 to 80 pounds. Too many to count. 

The best wading stringer of my career was on a warm bluebird November day in 1989. I had a party of four wade fisherman from Austin, Texas that were in Houston for a wedding. We stepped out of my 25-foot Hydra Sports boat that morning at the crack of dawn and waded down a stretch of shoreline in East Galveston Bay I call the big Trout graveyard. With expectations of getting a few big Trout bites and just catching some fish it had the makings for an epic day. Our first wade drew very few strikes, but the ones we had were huge. Everybody in my party had their personal best trout. All just over 9 pounds on a slack tide. We went back to the boat, took a break and regrouped and waited for the mid-day incoming tide. These guys had been up all night at a bachelor party and made a quick short wade and returned to the boat and left me alone standing in the biggest big school of Trout I’d ever been on and never have since that day. I proceeded to catch giant after giant on a blue and chrome straight back Redfin. After stringing my ninth fish, my party began yelling from the boat come on let’s go we’ve got a wedding to get to. I made one more cast before my return to the boat and connected on my tenth fish that weighed 9.97 pounds. Little did I know when I got home, I went to some certified scales to weigh these toads and I had finally broken the ninety-pound barrier. That stringer weighed a tad over ninety-three pounds and will forever be an accomplishment that still to this day blows my mind. 

The second magical trip came on a day in early June of 1983 with two great friends and great fishermen, Blaien Friermood and Gene Campbell. We had been on an unbelievable Trout run on the east shoreline of Trinity Bay ahead of a sharp rise on the Trinity River. It was a stack up of giant Speckled Trout fleeing the freshwater the river was dumping. When that played out, we took a day to turn the corner around Smith point and check out East Bay. We found the mother lode on Deep Reef a few miles up the north shoreline from Smith point. Platter sized slicks were literally by the hundreds spread across this vast reef. We were in Friermoods 18 Hydra Sport and ended up anchoring in the middle of these fish. Redfish and Trout were stacked by the hundreds, and they were huge. Gold Johnson Sprites were the lure of choice and after limits were filled and the smoke cleared, we had a catch of fish that literally left the 18 Hydra Sport so heavy we barely got it up on plane to return home. We had 30 Redfish and 60 Trout with our best trout just under ten pounds and our smallest trout over six pounds. After weighing them individually, we had three over nine pounds, twenty-seven over eight pounds and the rest six and seven pounders. A day to remember for sure with two great friends. 

I’ve been very fortunate in my time to have experienced the greatest times of Galveston Bay. But it’s very important to our resource to have the critical habitat within our bay system to sustain a premier fishery. Oyster reefs are the life blood of Galveston Bay. I believe with oyster restoration projects and stricter limit regulations we can achieve what’s needed to bring our fishery back. I really believe that catch and release can make a huge difference in building our future for generations to come. Late in my career I’ve become more aware and more enlightened on what it’s going to take to sustain our precious resource and will do my part to leave it better than I found it. It’s been a hell of a ride and I’m truly blessed to have been a part of the fishing industry for over forty years and if I had to do it all over again, I’d change nothing. God bless everyone including family and friends and fellow fisherman who I’ve had the opportunity to love and serve, and God Bless Texas.  

   I am truly humbled to be inducted into the Texas Saltwater Legends Hall of Fame February 2022. I would like to thank everyone who stood behind me through my forty plus year career in Saltwater fishing.