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 Post subject: New Staccato
PostPosted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:56 am • # 1 
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Location: The southern tip o' Texas
We (the PD) and I have had a great relationship with a local gun shop / range; they have been really good to us. As I prepare to retire they decided to get me a pistol that I have always wanted but couldn't afford, at pretty much their cost, for a going away gift (I just bought a house down in Harlingen and am retiring & moving down there in March). So, I am now the proud owner of a Staccato XC with a Holosun 507 sight. This thing is INCREDIBLY smooth shooting; it's an amazing pistol and it's scary accurate. I'm going to qualify with it and carry it as my duty pistol until I retire, as soon as my Tucker & Byrd DC-1 holster arrives.

I've always carried a 1911 in .45 ACP; although I have some 9mm off duty guns this will be the first 9mm duty handgun I've carried. If any of you are considering a Staccato; go for it. You won't believe how smooth this platform shoots! This is absolutely the finest handgun I have ever owned. I wish I could post photographs.


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:46 pm • # 2 
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Congratulations and thank you for your service!


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 9:01 am • # 3 
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I just saw this topic, Jim. Congrats on your years with the PD, and I think it's really great of that gun shop to sell you that pistol at cost! You might very well need that new gun in Harlingen with all the illegals coming across the border.

Now that you're settled there what are you going to do in your retirement, besides hunt and fish?


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:51 pm • # 4 
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Hi Cliff; apologies for the late response. I just finally got my computer set up at the new digs. I attempted to respond several times on my haunted, evil iPhone to this thread, but for some reason it wouldn't let me post.

Anyway, I'm loving the fishing down here. The Lower Laguna Madre is so shallow that, as much as I love my Skull Island skiff, I'm gonna have to sell it and get a tunnel hull. The Skull Island has a jackplate and a custom low water pickup, and a Jack Foreman custom prop; I can run in 6"or 7" on plane without chopping grass, but I need well over a foot of water to get up on plane. So, I'm having a Chittum Challenger with a tunnel built; I should have it this summer. I hate to spend that much money right now, but I moved down here for the fishing; I might as well get the right boat for the job. I imagine an 18' carbon fiber tunnel hull that weighs 220 pounds will get me into -- and back out of -- some pretty skinny places. And I won't have to idle several miles over a foot or less of water to get to a spot where I can get back up on plane. It'll run ankle deep, and I'm guessing I'll be able to get on plane without chopping grass in 6". And it'll pole like a dream...... You need to come down for a week after I get it and break it in. I bought a new bed for the guest room and nobody's used it yet. I'm five minutes from Valley International if you'd rather fly than drive. When it gets too windy I have some fairly sheltered spots where I can use the 2 weights (at least in winter; the water temps in the bay are in the mid to upper 70s right now) and have a ball with the reds and specks. In the summer the water may be too warm for really light tackle; I'll have to see. And I'm having the new boat rigged with a 80# trolling motor on a Power Pux; I'll be out at the South Padre Island or Port Mansfield jetties with the 10 & 12 weights chasing tarpon during the summer, weather permitting. I haven't caught a tarpon since I lived in Florida, and I'm really missing those critters. There's supposed to be a resident population of smaller tarpon here in the LLM, but I haven't encountered them yet.

It's really hard to find affordable hunting down here; even coyote and hog hunting. But eventually I'm sure some opportunities will turn up. If BATFE hasn't made all of my guns illegal by then......

The people down here are amazing; they are mostly very engaging and friendly. And for the most part, much more courteous than what I've become accustomed to living near Houston. It's very refreshing.

Shannon Drawe (texasflycaster.com) is opening a coffee shop / bar / fly fishing outfitter down on the island; I will be working there part time (hopefully just on weekends once it gets rolling). I can use the extra shekels, and it'll be a great way to meet other local fluff chuckers. Should be fun. I was really shocked when I got down here to find out that there isn't nearly as much interest in fly fishing here as there is up in Rockport / Corpus Christi, and further up the coast. I'd have figured this would be a fly fishing Mecca. But alas; spinning reels rule down here. Oh well......


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 10:38 am • # 5 
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That's great news about the move, I'm glad you're getting settled in the new place. Houston has become a mecca for far too many yankees moving there from the north who want it to make it like the places they left. In the Dallas area we have a lot of Californians moving here and our favorite saying here is "Don't try to Californize Texas!" (Oh boy, is this going to start a fight!! :lol )
You should have a great time catching specks and reds on the fly down there. I'm sure that you'll have a lot to offer the customers in that outfitters shop with all the knowledge you've gained over the years.

As for me, I haven't fished in almost two years because my shoulders have gotten really bad with torn rotator-cuff tendons as well as tendonitis. Getting old sucks! >:( I met Shannon several years ago when he did an article about my flyfishing records. We ran across each other at a little lake in Prosper that I used to fish at least once a week. I was flyfishing for bream with my 3-wt and had caught several in one spot, so I told Shannon to fish there while I moved several feet away. I promptly caught a 6.5# bass which jumped several times and Shannon got several pics of it in the air. Ask him about it. :lol


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 12:41 pm • # 6 
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Location: The southern tip o' Texas
I feel for you; those rotator cuff tears are horrible. I've wrecked both of mine. The right one still bothers me, but I can manage a fly rod. I will ask Shannon about the video; he's actually up in your neck of the woods to cover the Fort Worth Fly Fest. He left his car at my place; I'll be picking him up Tuesday evening at Valley Intergalactic Airport.

Git'cha a tube of Aspercreme and work on those shoulders. Come on down when you can chuck a fly again; I'll do all the poling and you can just stay up on the bow, LOL.


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Wed Apr 19, 2023 6:24 pm • # 7 
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Just a little teaser here; tomorrow (Thursday) night Shannon and I are going to hit the Brownsville Ship Channel for snook on the fly. Been reading about that fishery for years, and I haven't caught a snook since I left south Florida in January of '72. As I recall, unless you can find them on the flats or in the surf, they hold tight to cover. Once they feel the steel, they make a powerful run for that cover, and a 2 weight fly rod on snook around barnacle-encrusted dock pilings is about as useful as mammaries on a snake. Shannon's been consulting with the local pros, and has snagged a snook or two himself in the channel; he advised that we'll need HEAVY dark Clousers to apprehend those thugs. I tied up some purple / olive Clousers with large and extra large lead eyes on some #1 and #2 hooks. I'm taking the 9 and 10 weight rigs; I'll leave the half weight and two weights at home this trip. I tied up some leaders with 5' of 50# fluorocarbon and 5' of 30# (in addition to the barnacle-encrusted pilings, snook have very sharp gill plates). Taking a small spool of 40# fluorocarbon just in case......... I'll let y'all know how it plays out after I've had some time to fabricate some excuses or exaggerations, whichever the situation mandates......... :lol


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 11:06 am • # 8 
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Good luck, hope you catch a few!


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:01 pm • # 9 
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Shannon got an overslot snook. I got a 19" mangrove snapper, and Shannon got one a little bit smaller. About 11:00 the wind laid down and we were attacked out of the darkness by a huge flock of sharp-billed buzzards, that Shannon called mosquitoes. Since my mangrove lunged out of the net at my hand and sunk one of those dog teeth to the hilt in my trigger finger, I nixed the release. I will return the bite, with interest, this evening.


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 10:10 am • # 10 
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You're quickly learning why insect repellent is one of the most popular products along the coast. :lol I'm originally from New Orleans so I learned that trick long, long ago.


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:48 pm • # 11 
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(cringe)....... I can't stand bug spray -- or anything else -- on my skin. Don't know why; I just can't tolerate it. Even in southeast Asia, or in the Everglades, I would spray my clothes and put them on, but I couldn't stand it on my skin. Deodorant is the ONLY exception.


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 10:48 am • # 12 
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"Deodorant is the ONLY exception."

I'm sure the women are happy about that. :lol


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:26 am • # 13 
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You just made me realize something, Cliff: Women are the other exception.


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:04 pm • # 14 
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Shannon and I took both of our skiffs up to Port Mansfield yesterday; it was his last trip before he returns home tomorrow. We were supposed to have a high tide at 11:53 am, with moderate (for the LLM) winds. I took my 8' two weight, and a 9' six & a 9' eight. We set up on a flat with a pretty big gut running into the channel between two islands, figuring it'd be a good draw when the tide started dropping. I had a weightless fly on the two, a 5/32" beadhead shrimp pattern on a #6 Gammy B10S on the six weight, and a heavy purple/olive/cream Clouser on a #2 Gammy SC15 on the eight weight. We caught a few specks and ladyfish, and Shannon got a flounder. We saw reds, but never got an eat from them. As the winds exceeded the predicted velocities, the tide just kept coming in. It was still flowing in when we left at three, tired of fighting the wind. There were some big black drum tailing on the flat I was wading with the six weight. I always have to cast to those fish, even though I know it's almost a guaranteed bust. I had one that looked to be about thirty pounds working toward me in knee deep water, and I started casting to it. The wind had the water clouded up, and apparently it turned under the leader. At first I thought it was an eat, but that brute was foul hooked on its side. Apparently it didn't even realize it was foul hooked; it just kept meandering along at the same pace. I got it on the reel and played it for a minute or so, until the line went slack. Sure enough, I had a big scale impaled on the hook. I'd have probably had to beach land that fish if the hook hadn't pulled out; Shannon was on his way to me to help. Anyway, it was fun for a minute. About 3 1/2 years ago another friend and I were fishing that same area as hordes of big drum swam by. He couldn't stand it. I rigged a 40# fluorocarbon leader with a 7/0 circle hook on his spinning rod, and he caught one on a crab that we estimated at over fifty pounds. Made his day......


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2023 2:17 pm • # 15 
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Many, many years ago, probably about 55 years ago (wow, I AM REALLY OLD!!) when I was living in New Orleans, I was fishing out of South Shore near the train trestle bridge over Lake Ponchatrain and was using a medium action spinning rod with a Mitchell 300 reel loaded with 12# mono and cut crabs. I caught three black drum that averaged about 34#. I remember my grandmother took a picture of me in my driveway standing next to those huge fish. I donated them to the Salvation Army who was happy to have them.

You must have thought you had whale on the line if you hooked that fish in the side!


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Mon May 01, 2023 2:38 pm • # 16 
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"I donated them to the Salvation Army who was happy to have them."
I've always heard that those big drum were wormy and tasted bad. Their clientele musta been mighty hungry............


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 Post subject: Re: New Staccato
PostPosted: Tue May 02, 2023 10:28 am • # 17 
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hipshot wrote:
"I donated them to the Salvation Army who was happy to have them."
I've always heard that those big drum were wormy and tasted bad. Their clientele musta been mighty hungry............


:lol


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