Life, Loss, and Skinny Texas Reds

By Jess Males

Aaron Thomas Gates is a fourth-generation donut master who runs Gates Donut Shop in Corpus Christi, Texas. Aaron is like a brother to me. We met in 2017, when I invited some people from my Backwater Fly Fishing Instagram page to join me on an eight-day hike through Wyoming’s Wind River Range. At the time only a few people qualified for the adventure—and out of those few, only Aaron showed up. He flew from Texas to Colorado, rented a car in Denver, and drove to Cody, where he picked up my good friend Mark Evans and me from the airport. We spent the following eight days in the mountains, hiking and catching cutthroat trout from alpine lakes. As our adventure out West drew to a close, it became clear to both of us that we had gained a lifelong friend. My international guiding jobs kept us from fishing together throughout most of the year, but we tried to meet up for an annual weeklong trip. Since that trip to Wyoming, Aaron and I have fished together in Costa Rica, Belize, and Texas.

When I heard the sad news that Aaron’s father, Guy Gates, had passed away, leaving Aaron to run the family business on his own, I knew I had to make it to Texas to spend some time with him. My guiding schedule in Costa Rica meant that it would be a few months before I could get there.

Capt. Court Douthit, another great friend who lives and guides out of Dunedin, Florida, is a local legend in his own right and a flat-out tarpon junkie. During a few weeks of tarpon fishing with me in Costa Rica, I mentioned to Court that I would be flying to Texas to see my friend Aaron and spend a few days pushing through the vast skinny water flats that Texas is known for.