"Rockport, TX with Ace in the Hole"
By: Sky Watkins
My dad and I headed out on Monday morning, destination Rockport, Texas. We tried our luck fishing some public piers but us freshwater guys apparently didn't have the right stuff for the salty water fish.
At around 2:00 that afternoon we got a call from Capt. Brent Hopkins, letting us know we could come unload our stuff at the house whenever we were ready. When we arrived dad and I both were a little shocked. This is no everyday fish camp. Brent invites you into his home that is truly made for men. The walls of his house are covered with whitetail, mulies, nilgai, mountain lion, African game and a couple fish. The whole set up is for the ultimate outdoorsman and Brent makes you feel right at home.
When 5:00 rolled around dad and I decided it was time for a little grub. We had our mind set on the infamous Boiling Pot right on the coastline. For those of you who haven't been, you're missing out. We started with a dozen raw oysters, then moved into what they called the Super Duper! The lady brought out a tub of crawfish, shrimp, sausage, snow crab, king crab, stone crab, and blue crab, potatoes, and corn. She didn't think we could finish it, but a big mess and 1,000 napkins later, the Super Duper was defeated.
After supper we headed back to the house and visited with Brent a while, all while watching Clint Eastwood protect innocent towns people and sling bullets at the bad guys. Brent told us how the fishing had been and kind of what we could expect. We chose not to wade fish since I would be filming, and told him we'd rather stay in the boat. Brent said that was fine and in the morning he would have a few spots where we could "stretch a line."
The alarm went off at 5:00am Tuesday morning, even though I was up at 4:00 with dad's snoring habits, and we rolled out of bed anxious to wet a hook.
After a quick stop at the bait shop, we were on the water and racing to the first fishing hole.
Hole one was kind of a test run and Capt. Brent showed us how we should fish for the trout we were after. Once he thought we had it under control we moved on and started catching some fish.
With a quick flip of the wrist, we'd sling those little croaker about 80 yards. The croaker would do his thing once he hit the water then after a few seconds you give him about 6-7 big yanks just like you were hung on a stump. Reel up, feel your line and WHAM! Trout on!
We'd stay at each spot until the bite slowed down, then Capt. Brent would pull anchor and we'd hit the next hole. I looked at his GPS and there were literally hundreds if not thousands of fishing holes marked. We could have fished a week straight and never finished the list.
We ended up catching 13 keeper trout and on the way in stopped at one last spot to try and hit our limit before dad and I had to drive back. Not to long after the bait hit the water we had two black tip sharks coming home with us, one of which weighed about 20 lbs and put up a heck of a fight.
Capt. Brent was a great guy and will go out of his way to make you comfortable and put you on fish. From the lodging to the fishing, Ace in the Hole Guide Service is first class and is recommended to anyone looking for a Bay Fishing Trip. You may find an equally good time on the water, but I promise you can't have a better time than fishing with Ace in the Hole.
Check em' out!
www.aceintheholeguideservice.com
