Guests' Comments and Photos Matagorda vacation rental

A vacationer from Bryan, TX wrote:

Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 9:43 AM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: Information Request

Another great weekend at the house!! This time we brought my mother and my 96 yr. old grandmother and they loved the place. My husband doesn't fish at all but still loves coming to the house. Saturday afternoon, I caught a 46lb 36" Bull Red off of the pier, ( Course, had a lot of help from my friends!), and later that night, my brother caught a 40lb 36" Red in the same place. My brother-in-law hooked what felt to be a huge fish but it got caught on an oyster reef and eventually cut the line. Also, on Saturday night, there were a lot of small sand trout biting off the top of the water. You could barely wet your hook before you were reeling one in. Of course, we released them all but it was alot of fun. On our last visit, we caught a lot of good sized sand trout and a sting ray.

We met a few of your neighbors and they were all very nice and friendly. Overall, we have had two really great trips to the house. To anyone interested in renting a place, I highly recommend The Natural Angler. Ken is great to work with, the house is perfect and the fishing is a blast!!

Thanks again for two great weekends!!

A Vacationer from Round Rock , TX:

From: Ken Nguyen [mailto:NaturalAngler@Hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 7:50 PM
Subject: Refund Copy

Thank you Ken

By the way, we really enjoyed the stay. I hope you were happy with the way everything was left.

Edward

Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:39 PM
To: NaturalAngler@hotmail.com
Subject: Enjoyed our stay

Had a great time at the cabin. Caught three nice flounder and plenty of sand trout.
Saw some coyote on the other side of the river.The new light works great.
   Hope to do it again next year.

         Eugene

From: Texas Select Seasonings

Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 12:21 AM
To: 'Ken Nguyen'
Subject: RE: Texas Select Seasonings

High water? I wish I had cast my surf rods!! The reds were probably running hard.

Stone crabs are my favorite to eat with spicy butter. I also like to make a hot boil soup with blue crabs, stone crabs and dried hot chilies. The best bait for stonies (stone crabs) is fresh whiting or croaker. Crush the heads on these fish fresh and add scales, guts after cleaning (we keep the fillet for a snack). Put all of these parts in women's panty hose and tie off in the middle of the trap. The scent will travel with the tidal movement and stonies will make their way to the trap. The left side of your pier on the incoming tide at night is best for big stonies.

Your river house is perfect for so many species and most customers, even dedicated fisherman, do not read all of the signs for maximum harvest. The river has every opportunity to catch fish and crabs but they must have patience and do more than just fish the lights. Stingray are plentiful. The picture I sent was the biggest so far on our past trips but I have caught smaller ones that we ate sautéed with butter, chilies and my herb seasonings over rice. Stingrays are good eating and most people think they are trash.

You can use any photo I send. We love your river house and I hope one day you and I can fish together.

William R. Powell-Owner

www.texasselectseasonings.com

From: Vacationer from Brownwood, TX

Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:37 PM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: Re: Deposit Refund Natural Angler

Ken,
Lana and I thank you for letting us rent your summer home.It was a wonderful experience.Wecaught a few specks thursday night off the pier,I think I kept four but we quit before 10:00.We went to east bay with James Arnold Friday morning.He guides out of Bay City but used to have a shrimp and oyster business in Matagorda and Seadrift.He was a great guide and new the water well.Lana caugh a 26" red and we kept 3 more reds and 5 specs.We were on good fish for about 4 hours.Bay was pretty rough coming back but we made it just fine.We spent most of Saturday between rain showers on the deck and pier.Met the neighbors to the south of you from Rosenburg.I had told Lana that I wanted to fish late Saturday nite off the pier.she wasn't to enthused until about 8p.m. when the sandies and specs really turned on.i think we quit about 2 a.m..The neighbors and some of their other family came by about 9 p.m. and we were catching fish on every cast.About 10;30 it slowed a little bit and then the larger specs moved in with a few nice size reds mixed in.We had a great time and had no problems with anything.We have already checked your calender for a time for a trip back.Met some wonderful people while we were there at the riverbend resturant and rawlings bait store.Thanks again for everything. Lana & Billy Laird
Ken Nguyen <NaturalAngler@Hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Vacationer from Houston, TX

Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 7:37 PM
To: NaturalAngler@Hotmail.com
Subject: Cabin

Ken,

We had another good time at your cabin. We did not catch any reds from the pier but caught a few keeper reds.

Look forward to visiting your cabin again.

Tim

From: Houston, TX
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:56 PM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: Re: Natural Angler's Cabin Refund Deposit

We had a great time and look forward to renting your cabin again next year!!!

From: Vacationer from TX
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 6:53 PM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: Re: Item #Natural Angler's Cabin - Notification of Payment Received from brent matula

ken,

i recieved my refund.we had a great time at your place,fishing was great,we caught around 80 keeper trout off your pier,we tryed fishing the surf & jetties but it was way to much wind.

From A Vacationer in Texas

Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:49 PM
To: NaturalAngler@Hotmail.com
Subject: rental for October

We would like to rent your cabin in the month of October. On the 10th and 11th if at all possible. Let me know if these days are still available. When I looked at the calender they were O K. we rented your place last Oct and enjoyed it very much. Last March we used another cabin on the river and have come to the conclusion that your place is the best by far.

From: Vacationer from TExas
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 8:03 PM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: RE: Information Request

Ken,

Had a great time. Caught 19 keepers from pier. Rained

sat. @ 4:00pm till 7:30pm and again @ 5:20 mon. am.

Hope we left the house the way you want it. If not,

tell me so we can fix. You have a wasp nest under bench on upper porch. Your faucet with hose on fish cleaning station won't turn off all the way and has a good drip. I,m not

complaining but thought you should know. I'm sure the

cleaning lady won't see the drip.

My son and daughter in-law came down sat. and left sun.

If I owe you more money let me know. We are checking your

calender to find more dates. would like to come once a month.

I can fix things like faucets, and kill wasps. next time I come I will take care of these things and not bother you.

Once again, thank you. Had a really nice time.

The house is very clean and very pretty.

Dan

From: Vacationer from Austin, TX

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 6:57 AM
To: NaturalAngler@hotmail.com
Subject: The fishing trip was great

Hi Ken:

We had a great time in Matagorda, and your cabin was a big part of it.

We caught flounder, a very small black tip shark, toadfish (ick),

silver perch, gaftop catfish, eels, loads of crab (by accident, using

rod and reel), and croaker right off your fishing pier! We even saw a

guy catch a ray just downstream. We also booked a guided kayak tour

and went to the beach. It was all fun!

The cabin was very accomodating. I can't think of a single thing that

would make it more enjoyable. I've already recommended you to some

work friends.

Attached are some pics. Let me know if you can't view them; I'm using

iPhoto and its not the best utility for sharing.

Thanks again Ken,

Jill

From: Vacation from Houston, TX

Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 4:29 PM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: RE: Rental agreement 3/15/07-3/18/07

Thanks Ken,

We had a great time. Would love to rent with you again.

Sharon

From: Vacationer from Lagrange, TX

Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 5:21 PM
To: NaturalAngler@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Beach House

hey Ken.

Sorry i didn't respond. I had alot of work to do before our trip, and the locked boxed work. My family and I had a really great time at the house. It was a perfect set up with the fishing and relaxing. My uncle and I fished most of the time in the bays, but my mom, aunt, and girlfriend fished and crabbed at the pier the whole weeked. My aunt cought a 22 inch red on your pier, but i didn't take a picture of it. Everything worked good in the house. I used your water hose to wash my boat and motor, but it didn't reached where i parked so i brought my water hose with me. The water hose i brought with me i forgot it. i lefted it connected to your water hose so you can have it, i really don't need it around the hose. The door to the washer and dryer was open, but we did not need us it. Well thanks again for letting us rent your house.

Joey

From: Vacationer from Houston, TX
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 7:02 PM
To: NaturalAngler@Hotmail.com
Subject: RE: FW: Pictures from This Past Weekend

Hello Ken, just wanted to let you know we had a great weekend at your cabin. We weren't quite as successful as Wild Bill but we did land one 43inch Bull Red off of your pier with dead shrimp on the bottom of the river about 4AM saturday morning. My friend and I were the only ones awake at the time and we didn't have a camera so we woke everyone up to show them. That was easily the most enjoyable fight I have ever had with a fish although I was nervous about losing it since I caught it on a baitcasting rod/reel with 14 lb test. We also caught some flounder, redfish and a stingray all on dead shrimp we just let sit on the bottom of the river. We did not catch any speckled trout at your place but caught a ton of sandtrout on all different types of lures and bait. Our guided trips on Saturday were great too and I would recommend Bink Grimes and Bobby Gardner if any of your customers need recommendations.

Thanks again,

From: Texas Select Seasonings [mailto:spice@texasselectseasonings.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 2:43 PM
To: 'Ken Nguyen'
Subject: RE: Our rental this past weekend-Billy Powell

I have chased bull reds and sharks in the surf since 1979 from West of San Luis Pass to my favorite beach, Bryan Beach in Freeport. The end of Bryan Beach is similar to where your place is because a river dumps into the Gulf at one end and that is usually where I camp.

There are many artificial choices but they work best for slot reds and undersize. The bulls have a mouth that you can put two fists in so a big chunk of fresh cut bait on a circle hook is always your best bet imo.

I make my own leaders for reds based on what has worked over the years for me and will take some photos one day and email them with dimensions. One very important note about fresh cut bait is how it is cut, presented and kept fresh. I use larger croaker (cut or live), sand trout and especially mullet. A large piece cut a few inches behind the head at an angle and then split the head from the brain through the lips puts out a scent that will drive a big bull crazy. This technique with a large cut bull mullet is what I call the “silver bullet”.

When catching bait fish other than with a cast net I always use artificial baits called fish bites. The inventor sent me samples several years ago and I have been hooked ever since. I call them whiting killers when surf fishing because it is guaranteed if whiting are present this bait will catch em 8-1 over dead shrimp. This time of year dead shrimp catches a lot of hardhead, especially in off color water like the river was last week.

The numerous trout we caught in the “very windy” conditions were mainly on trout rigs fished under a rough weather cork with weights or with a lure a good friend of mine invented called “Snapper Slapper”. The original designs were offshore but he has some killer options with the right amount of lead to use alone or tipped with cut bait for scent. I highly recommend these if you target reds with lures. If you do buy some tell Woody and Russell “Wild Bill” said howdy!

The gafftop were caught on chunks of sand trout. On small 7” or less bait fish I dock the tail then cut the rest in half. I also cut the top and bottom fins out of the bait because gafftop like to soft nibble like a fresh water catfish and I have more luck with that technique. Over 40 gafftop were caught during our visit even with the rough weather.

Bull reds will be in and out of that river cut in front of your house until the first big cold front so wet a line as often as possible. Most folks say September is the best month but my best months have been April-May and October-November. Of course they can be caught year round but those are the best months for the type of fishing I usually do.

Work has kept me away from the surf most of this year so it was a real pleasure to hang a few off your pier!! Make sure and get a rod/reel combo to cast about 2/3 across and set a surf weight in the river bed. I hope my schedule allows me to get in on some more of the action this month also.

Good luck with the reds!!!

PS This is an awesome recipe we make for shark and bull redfish steaks. It was featured in a magazine earlier this year. The sauce is great for scallops, shrimp, lump crabmeat etc. over a grilled fish fillet.

Note: (click here for recipe in *.doc format , click here for recipe in *.pdf format). For more recipes go to www.TexasSelectSeasonings.com.

From: Texas Select Seasonings [mailto:spice@texasselectseasonings.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 9:23 AM
To: 'Ken Nguyen'
Subject: Our rental this past weekend-Billy Powell

Hiya Ken,

Wow! We survived a big storm that hit around 11:15PM Thursday evening with estimated wind gusts at 60+. I spotted my 5x10 trailer under your house and the tires were resting against the deck. The wind came in without warning across the river directly under the house and flipped a 162 marine ice chest full of ice upside down breaking all three hinges! I was making my way in under the house when the wind grabbed this 6’2”, 226 lb frame and spun it like a top. I was only a few steps from being in front of the house and out of the wind fortunately but it was a really crazy feeling no doubt. Rain ran sideways for over an hour then slacked off for the next few hours. Lights went in and out. I looked around for damage and everything looked OK. That’s Gulf Coast weather for ya!

At 1:30AM I started fishing the light on the pier and trout were boiling the water both undersize specks (15”) and all size sand trout including keepers. The water was off color but fish were biting. The next few days the wind shifted and blew non-stop with occasional rain showers. Water looked better on Friday and large gafftop up to 9 lbs. were hitting steady on large chunks of cut bait cast with a surf rod deep in the river and anchored with surf weights because of the moving water. On Saturday the bull reds finally showed after fishing hard for them and I managed 4 really nice ones (released after photos). We dressed several big gafftop to fry and sand trout. I also caught a stingray and eel.

Sunday after the wind shifted, the surf pushed into the river cresting over the bulkheads and your neighbors pier. In the front of the driveway was flooded also. I have some pictures for you that will follow later today. My prediction is whoever gets the house this week will have all of the bull redfish they can handle! That’s what I fished around the clock for!!

We plan on making your wonderful river house an annual event. Next year we are talking about renting in the spring and again in October for bull reds and trout.

Have a great week!

From: Vacationer from Brownwood, TX
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 10:11 AM
To: Ken Nguyen
Subject: Re: Rent Check TodayNaturalAngler's Cabin

Ken,

Is there anyone staying at the house on Thursday night? I caught the flounders in the late afternoon and

early evening walking the pier and by dragging a small finger mullet along the bottom. When you get to

come down, I'll show you how to rig up for flounder fishing. If they are running, you can catch them all

day long.

matagordaleonardwaddellphotos4 (2).jpg

Photos submitted by our guest, Cliff Waddell of www.brownwood-tx-realestate.com

From: Vacationer from Bryan, TX
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 8:23 AM
To: NaturalAngler@Hotmail.com
Subject:

Ken, I received my refund. Thanks. We had a great time this summer and we plan on coming back again. Maybe even before it starts getting cold! Your place is great and it fit us all perfectly. Thanks again!

From: Vacationer from Bryan, TX

Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 9:19 AM
To: NaturalAngler@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Item #Natural Angler's Cabin

First of all, I changed my email address so it might not be familiar to you.

The house was great. I loved how organized it all was, how clear the instructions were.... Perfect.

I am looking forward to my next trip at the end of the month.

And, my aunt came and stayed with us which I hope was okay. She decided at the very last minute to take us up on the invitation.

Thanks again!

From: Vacationer from LaGrange, TX
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 5:21 PM
To: NaturalAngler@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Beach House

hey Ken.

p.s. hope everything was lefted ok, and if not please let me know.