Your Fishing Trip

Before the date of your trip I'll contact you by phone or email to verify the date and establish a location to meet.

Your Checklist: 
Valid Texas Fishing License 
Small cooler with ice, drinks, and snacks
Sunscreen, sunglasses, camera
Life jacket for children 13 and under (we have two for children, bring yours for comfort and safe fit)

NO Bathroom Facilities on Boat - Please visit onshore facilities before departure.

Fishing locations aren't near bathrooms. If we have to return to shore, you'll lose valuable fishing time and time lost means fish lost.

We will meet and load your cooler and other personal effects on board, take care of the remaining balance for the trip, go catch fish!

I will have most of the bait needed for the day but, if I can't find enough shad before you arrive, we may stop on the way out to our first destination to throw the castnet for some local shad. This will in no way count towards the allotted time for your trip. Dependent upon the time of year and lake, we may hit a few spots checking for schools of shad on the sonar or we may drive directly to a predetermined spot I marked as a waypoint on the gps/sonar unit.

We may locate shad on the sonar with bigger fish feeding on them or we may find bird roosts with cats holding in only 3' of water. We may be trolling for redfish with both of the downriggers at 30 feet. We may drop two anchors, bait lines with cut bait and drop eight lines down 40'. We may throw a drift sock off of the back of the boat and drop our lines down with the line counter reels and drift at 1 mph. The boat will look like an insect with all of the rods hanging over the sides from the BeeReady rod holders. We may target yellow cat by fishing with live perch next to the shore at night. Seasons and fish density will both play more of a role in where and how we fish but, we will locate fish on the sonar or, if fish are not hitting, we will pick up and move until we find a hotter spot. 

Once we get into the fish you will only need to worry about setting the hook and fighting the fish to the boat. I will take care of the baiting and removal of the fish. I prefer to drop as many lines as possible to increase the amount of food in the water during a feeding frenzy. Typically, 1 hungry fish will stir the rest of the fish up and get them in a rush to get to the food before the other fish gets to it. If you keep the bait in the water, you stand a good chance of putting good numbers of fish in the boat during a frenzy. There are several custom rod holders all the way around the boat and as many top of the line baitcasting rods to fill them. Obviously, we will not drop fourteen rods if there are only two of us working the rods but, I am not afraid to use as much bait and as many poles as it takes to make your trip special, and put some fish in the boat. 

Any catfish over ten pounds is CPR (catch, photo, and release) on the boat. Typically, the bigger fish are not as good to eat as the smaller ones so, I prefer 4 three pound fish as opposed to one 12 pound fish.  Any fish that we catch that is close to any type of record will be kept alive until all checks, pictures, and weights are complete. My passion is getting you as many fish caught, photographed, cleaned, and in your freezer as the laws will allow. 

Freshwater Redfish are one of the best fighting fish in the state, pound for pound they put up a great fight while running drag off of the reel. These fish were introduced to freshwater and have been able to adapt to Lake Braunig and Calaveras due to their high calcium levels and heated water during the winter months, these fish cannot spawn in freshwater. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department annually allocates between 1.5 million and 2 million red drum fingerlings for stocking into these lakes, primarily Calaveras and Braunig. These fish grow to legal size in about 3 years. The freshwater state record red drum, caught by Billy Tyus from Fairfield Lake in 2001, was 44 inches long and weighed 36.83 pounds. Redfish caught must be over 20" for us to keep, there is no maximum length on freshwater redfish. We are allowed to keep three legal sized redfish per angler. 

At the end of the trip I will help you unload your things at the dock and get the fish out to be photographed, cleaned and packaged by me. We will take pictures of your catch and I will get started getting your catch ready for the freezer. 

I love to be on the water and my goal is to get you on fish and get them in the boat. The boats are big and comfortable with plenty of room to get up and walk around but make no mistake, they are rigged for the serious fisherman in mind. Whether you choose a night or day trip with TopCat it will be an enjoyable trip with memories that will last a lifetime.

Respectfully,                                                         

Some Scenes From The Boat

Ray@TopCatFishing.net

512-663-7166