Me and my wife have been planning a trip to go off grid with my overland camping trailer for quite some time. The idea was to go somewhere remote, with clear water, good fishing, and the potential to snorkel some.

We found a great spot to go and spent a little over two full days off grid!

This trip started out with getting my trailer all prepped. Filling up my ARB Elements fridge with food and drinks, filling up my water tank, and ensuring my solar system was working as it should be. All of my fishing gear, photography gear, and related camping gear was loaded up among my 4Runner and trailer…and we were off.

The trail to the river consisted of gravel roads that started off relatively smooth, but deteriorated more and more as we continued to travel.

Eventually, we reached our base camp location at which we parked my trailer. After unhooking the trailer and doing a preliminary base camp setup we headed to the water to begin day 1!

DAY 1

The start of day one on the water was windy… as was all of day 1. We had winds in the 12-15 mph range with gusts up to 20-25 mph. This proved to be quite a challenge for fishing. I took on day 1 with my Old Town Canoe Topwater 120. Believe it or not, this was the maiden voyage for the Topwater 120! I know there was a risk associated with taking a kayak I have never even paddled out to a remote location for 2 days, but I placed my trust in the quality that Old Town provides in all of their products. My wife was paddling the Pau Hana Big EZ Angler, which is my favorite SUP for fishing.

The wind made fishing very rough for both of us, but in particular, it is hard to fish a Texas rigged creature bait when the wind is blowing hard. Nonetheless, we caught a few fish!

My wife was the first to land some fish, as she caught a few small bass relatively quickly. They were small rascals, but they certainly are a blast to catch on the ultralight spinning setup she was using.

Eventually, I caught a great bass to start off with. I casted my Rage Tail Rage Bug into a hole in some vegetation. You see, often times bass will be in these holes, and if they aren’t in the holes they are very close by….waiting for some food to move by.

Once my lure hit the water and started to sink I saw a bass come out from the shadows. This fish took interest, but was just curious at the time. I decided to do a few quick twitches to bring life to my Texas rig, and the bass bit!

He put up an honorable fight that was well worth it. This bass was right around 2 lbs., which in my opinion is an awesome fish to catch. By no means was he a monster, but a good solid bass…especially on a windy day.

Me and my wife continued to search for fish, but the wind and a front that had moved in made fishing quite rough. We decided it was time to switch gears and put on the snorkeling equipment.

Neither me or my wife have snorkeled a lot, but I have gone about 5-6 times and loved each and ever one of them.

We dove into the water with our gear and were amazed with the abundance of fish and the incredible ecosystem. The variety of fish, vegetation, turtles, and natural springs that you could see bubbling into the river, providing 100% of this rivers water was truly amazing.

There were a few big bass that we stumbled across while snorkeling and I started to think of how we could catch them given the windy conditions. We snorkeled for about 30-45 minutes and then decided to give fishing a shot again.

We continued to fish the rest of the evening as the sun began to set and darkness set in. There were a few small fish caught, but nothing too big. My wife caught a few more Laregemouth Bass off of her Pau Hana Big EZ Angler, but nothing that would be setting records. Nonetheless, it was awesome to catch these fish out in the wild, and especially off of a SUP!

While the fishing wasn’t too hot this first day, the temperatures certainly were, and the scenery was amazing. It was a great start to our trip. The landscape certainly was beautiful as the sun was dropping to the horizon. We made our way back to the banks of the river where our take out location was. We began to load up all of our gear so we could start to make our way towards base camp. As we got ready we had some awesome views surrounding us.

The colors among the bluffs were amazing!

DAY 2

Day 2 came along after a good nights of sleep in my overlanding trailer (or should I say on top of my overlanding trailer) and we were both ready to go fish and explore some more! First, we loaded up on water and gear. My Klean Kanteens were filled up with cold, refreshing water thanks to my ARB Elements Fridge. After we loaded up with snacks, water, and gear we went to the water.

Written by TEXAS KAYAK FISHER