Anglers Get Different Feel for Fishing

By Joey Richards
The Daily News
Published July 18, 2004 -- reprinted with permission from the author.

SURFSIDE — Talk to most kayak anglers, and you’ll hear words like serene, quiet and peaceful and phrases such as getting back to nature and getting away from it all.

Kayak angling does all that for longtime fisherman Ray Crawford. But the key word for Crawford is fear. The 59-year-old Friends-wood resident began fishing in and around Galveston Bay at age 9. He loved wade fishing, but soon figured the odds were against him. He heard all the stories about anglers stepping on a stingray and getting stung by the sharp, painful barb on their tail. In fact, he’s had his brushes with stingrays, feeling them glide away as he shuffled his feet. He’s also had fishing buddies get stung. He knew one guy who got stung so badly, he thought a shark had bitten him. "I don’t like wading at all," Crawford said. "As long as I’ve been wade fishing, I figure it’s about time to be hit by a stingray."

Of course, sharks are another concern and a common sight for wade fisherman. A stringer full of fish makes for a nice little snack, and sharks tend to get a bit excited around food. They’ll take a bite out of anything close by. Crawford didn’t like his place in the food chain. As a result, Crawford got out of the water and on top of it. He started kayak fishing 12 years ago — long before its popularity. "I’m scared of sharks and stingrays, and I don’t like wading in mud," he said. "That’s why I started with the kayak many years ago. In fact, back then a lot of people made fun of me. There wasn’t a lot of people out in kayaks back then."

That’s changed over time. Now people kayak and canoe for recreation, sport and fishing. There are even clubs like Paddling Anglers in Canoes and Kayaks, a Houston-based organization, that had its annual fishing tournament and barbecue Saturday at Brazoria County Park. Crawford is a PACK member. He’s even written a book titled "Wade and Kayak Fishing on Galveston Bay and Surrounding Areas."

While some surrounding areas, like the many bayous and streams around the county, might make for some good paddling and fishing, Crawford prefers to keep to the bays and Gulf of Mexico. "I’m also scared of alligators," he said. "There’s some big ones, too. Usually they don’t bother you, though. I’d probably trust an alligator more than I would a shark."

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Fear didn’t motivate Craig Nifong to give kayak fishing a try. The 40-year-old League City resident enjoys the quiet, peace and economics of the sport. "It’s cheaper than a power boat," he said. "You can sneak up on the fish a lot easier. It’s a lot quieter, just a lot more peaceful experience. You get out on the water and everything’s quiet."
True, but it’s also a lot more work. Try paddling a few miles in a head wind. "Yeah, you’ve got to paddle," he said. "But the motor’s more dependable."

While there’s more work on the water, Nifong said there’s less work afterward. "When you go home, there’s a minimal amount of cleanup," he said. "You don’t have a boat to power wash down or store or anything. You just hang the kayak in your garage and you’re done. You can clean up your whole rig in 30 minutes where you would spend a half a day cleaning the boat and putting it up."

Nifong, who works for Reliant Energy, began kayak angling a year ago. "I was looking to get into kayak fishing, and I went to a PACK meeting," he said. "They’ve got monthly outings which is cool, because it gets you out with a lot of different guys. The experience level is different. If you’re just coming up the learning curve, it gives you an opportunity to talk to guys who have been doing it a lot longer."

Nifong likes to fish San Luis Pass, Eagle Point in San Leon and Moses Lake in Texas City. The latter two are much closer to home. "That’s another thing," he said. "I can sneak out first thing in the morning, get out on the water by 5, 6 a.m. and get back in the house by 10:30 (a.m.), 11 o’clock. The kids don’t miss you. Everybody’s still running around in their pajamas when you get back home. They don’t even know you were gone."

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Saturday’s tournament gave 48-year-old Sugar Land resident Mike Durham a chance to get out on the water with his 11-year-old nephew Kyle, who is visiting from Hobbs, N.M. "He’s just a born fisherman," Durham said. "He loves the outdoors and just ate it up. We took the kayaks out last night and went flounder gigging, then we had the fishing tournament this morning." Durham’s been fishing since age 5 and started kayak fishing six years ago. "I like the adventure, just paddling and going different places," he said. "The fishing’s a bonus. I just love getting out, getting some exercise, the quiet."

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Linda Guerrero drove all the way from Rockport for the PACK event. She grew up in Austin and has fished "all my life." She discovered bay fishing in 1993 and started kayak fishing three years ago. "I’d never touched one, never been on one, never sat on one," she said. "I just said I wanted a kayak. So I went and bought one and fell in love with it. It’s what keeps me going."

So what draws Guerrero to the water? "The serenity," she said. "I go fishing in Rockport, and there’s a lot of lakes out there. It’s nice and quiet. I have a one-person kayak for a reason. I like to be out by myself." Everyone needs a little peace and quiet. That’s true for Guerrero. She’s an administrative assistant for a nursing home. She also has two children. One is married. The other is a 16-year-old boy, who keeps her on her toes. Sometimes, those toes get tired and wander off for a little peace and quiet on the water. "I guess everybody has their own little special place, and the water’s mine," she said.