06/16/2026
Joey Farah's Backwater Fishing Adventures
Around the Sun
By Joey Farah
It surprises me how much can change in our lives in a year’s time. How FOREVER and all that we believe can just vanish in life, and one year later we find ourselves down a different path in life. Some of the best things in life do not change, and stay with us hand and hand throughout time and life’s struggles. Family, true friends and the magical gifts of children. These are the things we should take into the wild, build lifelong memories within the outdoors. When we all look back, it’s the laughter, the sunrises, stories, meals, and sunsets of life that mean the most….and last forever.
We are in the SUMMER VACATION ZONE! Don’t wait! Take your kids on adventures! Fishing is the best and what I do every day, but there are so many small and easy adventures to be had here on North Padre! Buy a 3ft cast net and watch some YOUTUBE videos and learn and teach your kids how to cast net bait! So much fun and a great learning experience. A summer many years ago we took my boat with two oars across the Lagoon. Along the spoil islands we camped and casted an ice chest of mullet. They were all perfect pony mullet, iced down and in a cooler. We were excited to try to sell them and go eat a summer lunch feast at SNOOPY’s. We tried a few places and nobody wanted them, we had already had a few unfriendly run ins with Mr. Rawalt under the JFK. He was a CRAB! I walked up the stairs a little scared, opened the door to the ice cold air conditioning and saw the stash of candy bars in the clear glass fish display. He eyed me as soon as I walked in, and didn’t say a word. This man grew up on the beach, hardened, by the elements and time. “We have a cooler full of perfect pony mullet, you want any of um?” A smirk and “how much?” Came from the man with no expression. I stumbled for words, price per pound, or a number for the whole cooler? He had already turned us down twice before. I looked down at those cold candy bars in the cooler, “THREE CANDY BARS FOR THE WHOLE COOLER”
The wrinkles on his face slowly drew the curtains in a smile cracking from his sun blacked lips. I knew I was wagering for his private stash, and that I would definitely get the heat from my pals down on the dock. I opened the cooler and showed him the bait. “Three snickers bars huh?”
“Yep, “I threw back with a poker face. The old salt told me to go grab my pals and we sat and ate candy bars with the old man that day and made a friend. He spent a few years there telling us stories of growing up on the Island, his dad’s tales of buried treasure, and incredible catches of fish. He sold gas to the shrimpers, so we would go help him out and got to know some of them as well, even got to help cull some shrimp boat nets too! That summer in the Laguna Madre was unforgettable. Open your eyes and see our youth, stop butchering about the E-Bikes and spark some life into their lives. Invite the kids down the street to go fishing with you in the nice boat that sits in your lift because your friends are all gone. We are a tribe, lots of families sharing a place together.
I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful family, grandchildren, and I get to walk the earth every day with a smile talking to so many folks about fishing, something so many hold close to their hearts. 30years of sharing my ramblings with the Island in The Island Moon, we are family. As we take each trip around the sun, do not take anything for granted, share every day with a smile. Things will always get better when we are in a rut, and always be ready to except the next change that hits us as we roll around the bend.
Some great trout fishing continues in the Laguna Madre’! We are drift fishing the marble flats, scattered sand and grass locations are holding tons of gamefish scattered about feeding on many different kinds of baitfish. Working soft plastics is producing easy limits of slot trout with multiple oversized each day. Surprise redfish are ripping drag and sending hours and hollers across the water. Down in Baffin the larger rock piles and shorelines are giving live bait anglers some great catches with live shrimp under popping corks and with live croaker. As temps climb we will have a tide drop and gamefish movement towards the cooler tidal regions of the bay. Look for clean water, green but not totally clear. Channels and natural guts will hold moving tidal currents that will offer gamefish and bait cooler water temps as Summer Cranks up!
Let’s plan a Summer Adventure for YOUR CREW this JULY!
Follow all of our catches on Facebook@ Joey Farah’s Backwater Fishing! 361-442-8145!
