Pro Shop | Ben Pascal | Laguna Madre Outfitters
Pro Shop | Ben Pascal | Laguna Madre Outfitters
My guiding career started at the ripe age of 19 in Colorado in 2007 and spent two summers learning the nuances of guiding in Colorado. Wanting to get my USCG license, I began guiding at fly-out lodges in Bristol Bay. I spent the next 5 summers in Alaska and during that time, migrated south to guide the winters in Chilean Patagonia and Argentine Tierra Del Fuego.
At one point, I set up an internship with a real estate company selling ranches in my home state of Texas. Following my passion more than parental advice, I backed out of the internship. I drove to Florida, purchased my first poling skiff, and towed it back to South Texas in 2012.
I get asked all the time, “how did you end up on Texas’ Lower Laguna Madre in a town of around 200 people?” When I first started fishing Alaska/South America, my shoulder seasons (Spring/Fall) were spent traveling British Columbia, Baja, and other remote destinations on epic road trips for months at a time. As fun and exciting as that travel was, I quickly ran out of funds.
I decided I could stay plenty busy closer to home in the salt. South Florida, or Louisiana, were possibilities, but being a Texan, I figured all my friends from high school and college at Texas A&M could afford the gas money to get down to the coast to fish with me rather than traveling all the way to Florida or Louisiana. As my fishing business blossomed, I eventually stopped traveling to guide in Alaska and South America. Several years later, I purchased multiple waterfront properties. I rent these to my clients and pick them up off the dock for an easy, turn-key package without the fancy “lodge” feel.
Redfish are the primary focus, but we also have some extremely large speckled trout that we sight cast on fly. We occasionally target snook, black drum, sheepshead, and other common flats species. It is a target-rich environment, normally with very clear water. I would describe our fishing as classic sight casting and tailing redfish are common. Most of our fly fishing is done either on foot or from a poling skiff in shallow water. I recently added a panga to my fleet to add more gulfside fishing into my program with a focus on tarpon, snapper, cobia, and anything else we can feed a fly to in the Gulf ofMexico.
For the last 9 years, I have spent the mid-winter months guiding the Louisiana marshes. My wife and I are expecting our first child in January and we decided paternal responsibilities this winter outweigh a few extra charters out of state. I look forward to fishing the Texas coast this winter and staying closer to home with our newest family member.
I load all my redfish reels with Amplitude Smooth Redfish lines. It is slicker than competing lines, significantly more durable, and still lands soft for presenting flies in ultra-shallow water. Gulf side, I add Sonar Intermediate and various Full-Sink lines to my quiver depending on how we fish. Last summer, I had a client land an IGFA 16 lb. tippet-class record mangrove snapper on SA Saltwater Fluorocarbon tippet and Sonar Intermediate line.
When not on the water with customers, I spend a lot of free time keeping boats and engines running, and fixing something I’ve broken on the water. When not in the workshop, I enjoy smoking BBQ, working on our garden, hanging out with my wife and 3 dogs, and hunting the beautiful South Texas brush country. I’m now wrapping up my 12th year guiding Texas’ Lower Laguna Madre. It is a super-shallow, hypersaline, and windy fishing location. I’m able to fish year-round on the Texas coast, with April-December being the most consistent time frame. We are blessed our bay system is insulated by development between Padre Island National Seashore, the massive King and Kenedy Ranches, and Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife refuge.
