Sniping The Stripers: Fishing With Captain Jackie

What’s better than working in an office with a team of people who love the outdoors? Getting out on the water with them and seeing what our damn good guides can do! Instead of another happy hour or networking event, a few of us here at Captain Experiences paid Jackie a visit out on Lake Buchanan to see what the “hottest striper fishing in Central Texas” is all about.

David, Ian, Joey and myself got booked up with Jackie, packed up the trucks, and headed out from Austin to the ranch in Burnet to check it out. After way too much pizza and a couple two or three beers, we headed to bed absolutely buzzing for the morning ahead.

Bright and Early

Usually when the alarm clock rings after a late night, it’s a little tough to get up. That isn’t the case when you know your absolutely about to bomb some striper. The boys and I were up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, packing the cooler and jumping in the truck with plenty of time.

The morning was already starting to warm up and we were cruising the roads around the lake, blasting old country with the windows down and gearing ourselves up for a great day on the water. It was a quick drive with plenty of parking, and Jackie was sitting on the boat waving from the dock ready to rip.

Getting Down to Business

We hopped on the boat, assumed positions at the bow - locked and loaded we took off. Jackie had been scoping out the scene for days and knew exactly where we were headed. And he definitely knew what he was doing. After a quick five minute ride, he hooked up and dropped the lines, and within seconds we were on em.

After a couple near misses, David reeled in a big one. As Jackie was netting our first catch, Ian was already reeling in the second, ripping and tossing it right on the boat. Not quite a pro move, but hey it got the job done. Joey was in third trying to balance two poles at the same time.

The Action is On

After that all bets were off. We couldn’t get lines back in the water fast enough as the next one was ripping. There’s nothing quite like four people running around the boat in bare feet trying to keep up with Jackie delegating captain’s orders and advice, all the while handling inbound booking calls to make sure everyone else's trips were going as good as ours, but we sure got it done.

Soon we had our fill of seven striper, Bush Latte Fishermen Specials, and Jackie’s jokes, so we decided it was time to head back to the dock. We pulled up, hopped out, and Jackie got to work cleaning the fish. He made quick work, and our boy Ian got a quick snack in, literally eating one of the fish’s liver. That’s how you know you’re a true fisherman and become one with your prey, apparently.

The Debrief

After we got our fish packed up in the cooler and parted ways with Jackie, we headed to a local burger joint for a quick lunch to fuel up for the drive home. It was a great chance to sit down and talk about what an excellent day we had out on the water, and share recipes for the future of our catch. David let us know the Izard special, frying up striper in Mountain Dew.

I’m not too sure about that one, but I’m damn sure looking forward to getting the gang together again for our next adventure with Jackie. He definitely made an impression for Ian’s and mine first Texas striper trip, and we’ll be sure to be back soon.