Published in leading magazines, wire services, and web sites across the country, Phil Shookâs articles on business, travel and angling combine a lively magazine feature writing style with journalistic skills developed during a distinguished career in daily newspaper work.
BROOKIESTexas Sporting Journal (July/Aug. 2015)
Trophy trout on Manitoba’s majestic God’s River.
LIGHT-TACKLING TARPONTexas Sporting Journal (May/June 2015)
Texas summertime hotspots abound.
END OF THE ROAD BONEFISHTexas Sporting Journal (March/April 2015)
Abaco Road, Bahamas
SPANISH FLYTexas Sporting Journal (May/June 2010)
Mexico’s Caribbean coastal lagoons are fly-fishing paradise.
DRIVE-BY FLY-FISHINGFly-Fishing in Salt Waters (March/April 2010)
For a real Texas adventure, work your way down the wild South Coast.
BRAZOS SANTIAGO PASS, TXSouthwest Fly Fishing (Nov./Dec. 2008)
Prospecting for silver and gold.
MEXICAN PIN-TAILSTexas Sporting Journal (May/June 2006)
Less than 200 miles form the Texas border lies a hunting lodge that’s close to heaven, but still close to home.
TARPON ALLEYTexas Sporting Journal (July/Aug. 2005)
Before you pick a fight in this neighborhood of the Gulf, you need to know about the bullies wearing silver.
FISHING FOR A PIRATE’S TREASURETexas Sporting Journal (Jan./Feb. 2005)
Notorious buccaneer Jean Lafitte worked the upper Texas coast for gold. With a rod and reel, you will find the booty he overlooked.
RINGNECKS ON THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAILTexas Sporting Journal (Summer 2004)
When you walk up a pheasant in the drainage of the mighty Missouri, you’re hunting knee-deep in American history.
PROSPECTING ON PADRE ISLANDFly Fishing in Salt Waters (Jan./Feb. 2004)
Discover a winter wonderland in South Texas.
GHOSTS OF THE MIDDLE COASTSaltwater Fly Fishing (Feb./March 2003)
Looking for a low-cost, easy-access destination with great fishing and lots of variety? Pack your wading shoes and head for Texas.
TEXAS ON THE ROCKSSaltwater Fly Fishing (Oct./Nov. 2002)
The Lone Star State’s jetties have some of the best, most varied fishing on the Gulf Coast.
CAUGHT RED-HANDED
Texas Sports Journal (Fall 2002)
Fly-fishing for shallow reds looks easy on paper, but any number of things — not the least of which are related to the fish’s temperamental nature — can derail a great plan.
THE LOWER LAGUNA MADRESaltwater Fly Fishing (April/May 2001)
From the shallow grass flats and tidal lakes near the mouth of the Arroyo Colorado River to the jetties at Brazos Santiago Pass, anglers can find some of the best inshore fishing in the South.
TEXAS RED HAUNTSFly Fisherman (Dec. 1999)
The world’s best year-round places to throw a fly at tailing redfish.
FLY-FISHING TEXAS STYLEOdyssey (Summer 1999)
Hypnotic in its simple elegance is the skillful cast of a fly fisher.
BLUEWATER FLY FISHINGTexas Parks & Wildlife (June 1999)
From Sabine Pass to South Padre Island, more and more Texas anglers are choosing the fly rod for their offshore angling adventures.
PADRE ISLAND SURF SAFARISaltwater Fly Fishing (Oct./Nov./Dec. 1997)
The autumn blitz gamefish galore to the surf of Texas’s Padre Island National Seashore.
BOUNTIFUL BOLIVAR PENINSULAFly-Fishing in Salt Waters (July/Aug. 1996)
A bonanza of blacktips, bull reds, black drum — and tarpon!
FARLEY BOATS AND TARPON: BUILDING A TEXAS LEGENDTexas Parks & Wildlife (Oct. 1995)
For more than a half-century, the Farley family of Port Aransas produced hand-crafted fishing boats that were the choice of tarpon fishermen, shrimpers and even presidents.
FISHING ON MATAGORDA ISLANDFly Rod & Reel (May/June 1995)
Redfish and snowy egrets at a Texas pirate haunt.
TEXASFly Rod & Reel (April 1994)
On the coast — the redfish are back.
FROM POPPING CORKS TO POPPING BUGSTide (Jan./Feb. 1994)
It didn’t take long for growing numbers of saltwater flyfishermen to discover the point-blank opportunity available year-round along Texas’ middle coast.
GETTING TO KNOW TARPONTide (Sept./Oct. 1993)
The long, silver fish with the short fuse has thrilled anglers for more than a century. Only recently, though, have researchers begun to unravel the mystery of the tarpon.
JETTY FLYFISHINGTexas Parks & Wildlife (Sept. 1993)
Modern tackle makes the leap from trout streams to tarpon.
REDS AND SPECKS AMONG THE ROCKSFly Fishing Quarterly (Fall 1992)
Redfish and seatrout head for deeper water in the fall. Catching them in channels and around jetties calls for a shift in your tactics — and in your tackle.
BAJA BLUEWATER BONANZATexas Sporting Journal (Vol. 4, Issue 4)
For the adventurous, the waters off the Baja Peninsula of Mexico beckon with the promise of reel-burning runs by marlin, tuna, dorado and wahoo.
BAFFIN BECKONS: RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOWTexas Sporting Journal (Vol. 2, Issue 1)
For trophy-sized speckled trout and burly redfish, the place is Baffin Bay, and spring is the time to catch them.