The Paddling Prism Pirates Score Big

Who are the Pirates, where do they come from, how did they survive?

Pictures, Fish Report, and 2004 Extreme Edge Tournament Results Below.

The Team

The team is composed of members of the Alamo Fly Fishers  from San Antonio. The team members all used Perception Prisms for chasing redfish on the shallow water flats of Texas. The team won 2nd Place in the team category. All team members used 100% fly rods and flies.

Doug Slick: Senior member of the Alamo Fly Fishers. Born many moons ago in Pennsylvania but moved to Texas as fast as he could. You hate to fish side by side of him because he will out fish you 4 to 1.

Steve Flanagan: Born and raised in Rockport but now lives in SA. Has forgotten more secret spots that you will ever know. In most cases he has you beat at the fly tying vise before you ever hit the water.

Amancio Cantu: Owned a Prism when everybody thought the word was just an optical device. He has a hookset so fierce he has broken a couple of fly rods.

Todd Fleming: The rookie of the team but a fast learner. That happens when you fish around the clock on every weekend during the summer.

Lefty Ray Chapa: Fishing guide, fly casting instructor, and possesses left-handed abilities far beyond most mortal men.

Perception Prism: The weapon of choice. These are no longer made but are considered the most lethal sit-on-top kayak ever made for fishing.

Pre-fishing

(1) Flounder, a slam maker. (2) Nice spec at secret spot #69

(3) Catch of the day. (4) New paint job on the "Floating Tiger."

(5) Amancio tying on a new fly. (6) Guess who got lost? (Fish MD, SnookDude, Roderick)

Friday Night Check In

(1) The crowd. (2) Rick Roberts from EE

(3) The Whacker Rita Team in action: Dean, Barry, Mercy.

Saturday Fishing

(1) Amancio with redfish. (2) Hunkering down in Pirate's Cove

Saturday Night Tourny Results

(1) Houston FTU Team. (2) Backlashers, safe and sound.

(3) Amancio wins the top prize, "The Slam" from Rick. (4) Funnin around with the Florida boys.

(5) Sally & Mike getting down. (6) Amancio with newly won kayak.

Fish Report

Pre-fish: Our scouting trips were to verify the water movement since the next couple of days would be similar. Our plan was to hit and run as many places as we could. On one day we were fishing by ourselves when a kayaker paddled up to us and said he had separated from his group, was lost, and did not know his way back to his launching spot. We ascertained that he had parked next to us and we pointed the way home for him. Afterwards all of the parties involved had a good laugh about it but they truth of the matter is that some form of communication is vital, whether it be Motorola's, cel phone, etc. As they said in the movie "Top Gun," "Never ever leave your wingman."

Saturday Fishing: Our strategy was to get in place and start fishing at the crack of dawn. The tail end of the tide was still coming in and we expected to score fast on specs and flounder which we did. Next we were to hit the flats and score some reds which we did.

The third part of our plan was go to the end of the Sailboat Channel and hopefully score some bigger specs and  bigger flounder and better our Slam position. Right before we arrived at the 3rd spot the very strong winds hit us from behind (10: 20am) and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. We reversed engines and easily tucked into a nearby mangrove pocket. The pocket has since been christened "Pirate's Cove." We secured our gear and put on our rain gear. Minutes later the heavy rain started. At some points we could not see beyond 30 yards.

The wall of rain and wind went over our heads for over 2 hours. At some point a Kenner bay boat appeared out of the wall of rain with 1 person towing it with 3 other people in it. We waved at them and pointed the way out for them because they were heading in the wrong direction. They instead headed for us and the person towing it collapsed in the water. It turned out to be an elderly man and 3 ladies on board. The man was totally exhausted from dragging his boat clear across the Brown & Root flat. The Pirates helped him drag his boat to the end of the channel and off he went. The man also mentioned a kayaker was way back where they were fishing. Why he did not offer any help to the kayaker I do not know. Maybe they lost sight of him once the rain started.

A long time later the lone kayaker appeared out of the mist and was dragging his kayak. His entire trip was into the fierce winds. One he got even with us we waved at him to come over but at that point he jumped in and paddled off into the winds and away from us. I do not know if he saw us.

Once things lightened up we paddled in. We faced a headwind all the way back. The best part was that we only faced a 1 mile long trip back to the trucks.

How the Pirates Survived: My friends and I have been using the Motorola radios since they came out (see picture 1). We stayed together as a group (see picture 2) so communication was not an issue, but had we separated the radios would have helped us regroup. We all packed our raingear (see picture 2 again) so we had some protection from the elements. We also lowered the rods so as not attract lightening.

Saturday Awards: The survival stories ran deep all night. It is a miracle that someone on the water did not get hurt. It seems everyone had a good time especially fellow Pirate Amancio who won 1st place and the top prize in the slam category (spec, red, flounder). The Paddling Prism Pirates won 2nd Place in the team category.

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