this is a conservation story about spotted seatrout and redfish along the texas coast based in port mansfield dealing with get-a-way adventures lodge and bruce and brandon shuler written by joe cermele

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Master and Commander: Owner of Get-A-Way Adventures Lodge, Captain Bruce Shuler runs a maintenance check on his tackle.

We were staying at Get-A-Way Adventures Lodge, which was built by Bruce and Shirley Shuler in 1999. Bruce has been casting in this area since he was old enough to walk, and the faded, yellow pictures that adorn the lodge walls are proof of just how intense the fishing was when nobody but the locals were wetting a line and long before the redfish wars. Several shots are of young Bruce lifting trout so long that when held at shoulder height, their tails would be splayed out on the dock.

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Sharp Shooter: Darren Jones, aka Jarhead, rigs up for a morning of sight-casting on the flats.

Then there's Darren Jones, better known as Jarhead. Darren served as a recon platoon commander in Iraq and grew up fishing the waters from Corpus Christi to Port Mansfield. He gets his kicks from sight-casting. "It's like hunting," he says. It also requires deadly accuracy, which I know he has on the water because we fished to together, and I heard from others he also had during his military tours. With a lifelong tie to the area, Darren's concerns about East Cut continue to grow.

"If we get a bad hurricane and the jetties wash out, we're in trouble," he said. "East Cut is vital to this area and the health and economy of Port Mansfield."

Conservation: Crusaders of the Cowboy Coast

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

End of the Line: Farm Road 606 comes to an abrupt dead end when it meets the Gulf in Port Mansfield, Texas.

Crusaders of the Cowboy Coast by Joe Cermele

It wasn't far from this dead end in Port Mansfield, Texas, where the Texas Rangers earned their reputation as guys you don't want to screw with. In the late 1800s, when notorious Mexican outlaw Juan Cortina was running ruthless guerilla raids on South Texas ranchers, the Rangers were brought in to clean up the lawless Neuces Strip. In the same area, the final, although largely unpublicized, battle of the Civil War was fought. And it was here along the shores of the Lower Laguna Madre that lines were drawn over a century later during what became known as the "redfish wars."

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Red Alert: A healthy redfish pulled from a Lower Laguna Madre flat.

It's hard to recognize the potential for disaster when you're actually knee-deep on the sprawling flats just outside of Port Mansfield's harbor. Redfish nearly bounce off your shins. Monster seatrout spray bait in clouds of silver all around. But in order to sustain healthy populations of these fish in Lower Laguna Madre, they need to have access to the Gulf of Mexico.

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Rattle Trap: A homemade surface lure created with stretched skin from a rattle snake.

Then there are the old skin-mounted monster trout, slightly dusty on the wall, mingling with an impressive array of deer heads and largemouth opening wide for various lures. Countless framed magazine covers deck the halls, some featuring Bruce, and some notables of the angling world who have paid a visit to his lodge. Trinkets fill every space, but the one I found most unusual was a homemade plug created by a client. He used a skin from a rattlesnake Bruce killed in the back yard to mimic a scale pattern.

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Getting Bombed: Jeff Samsel from Bomber Lures lifts a fat redfish taken on a Pop'N Shrimp.

Although the wind had whipped certain flats to a chalky froth, the redfish were still willing to smack topwater lures on our last day in Port Mansfield. The amount of activity we experienced made it that much harder to believe it could all just go away. Regardless of the future, a severe change to the fishery isn't likely to happen overnight.

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fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Young Gun: Captain LeeRoy Gonzales motors out of Port Mansfield Harbor.

Take, for example, LeeRoy Gonzales, a relative newcomer to Bruce's rotation of regular guides. Ask him his specialty and first he'll say, "women." Then he'll say it's chasing snook. Then he'll treat you to the Mexican word of the day, which I could never print here for fear of losing my job. You'll know that you've found LeeRoy's boat when you hear it. It seems he can't rig up in the morning without a healthy dose of Bob Marley cranking through the stereo on his flats boat. When he wades, there's either Texas country or rap playing on his iPod, although he keeps it low enough to hear any pops or slurps from trout.