Instincts developed from past experiences combined with prevailing patterns will keep anglers hooked-up.

Story and Photography by Nate Skinner

Real life experiences and fishing our coastal estuaries have more in common than many might think.  I came to this realization recently while spending some time on the water with some close friends that work in law enforcement.

These individuals regularly collide with challenges on a daily basis that require them to quickly make decisions.  Their calculated actions can have tremendous repercussions, outcomes or consequences, yet they thrive under this type of pressure.

While drifting across Galveston Bay, they made light of several situations that they had encountered while on the job over the past several weeks.  Then one of them made the following comment.

“Working in law enforcement is a lot like fishing to a certain degree.  You have to examine the variables of a given scenario and then act based on knowledge gained from past experiences combined with what your gut instinct is telling you to do.”

As nonchalantly as my counterpart said this, his thoughts hit me hard.  He was exactly right.  The process he described is precisely what anglers must do in order to stay hooked up with multiple species while fishing during the wild transition period taking place right now that we call Spring.