Clendon Taylor fell in love with fishing at an early age while making trips to the coast with his dad. He now owns and operates C&C Guide Service as a multi-species guide based out of San Antonio.
“I remember my first fishing trip like it was yesterday,” Taylor said. “I was about 5 years old, and I was fishing off an old pier in Rockport. We didn’t catch much that day, but I had a blast. Then shortly after that, we went on an offshore trip and caught a mahi-mahi. I’ve been hooked on all types of fishing since.”
Born and raised in San Antonio, Taylor spent his childhood watching hunting and fishing shows and reading fishing and outdoor magazines.
“I couldn’t get enough of it,” he said. “When I was in school, anytime we had to go to the library for an English or reading class, I would always pick out some sort of outdoor or survival themed book.”
When he was in about the third grade, Taylor began fishing on local lakes, like Braunig and Calaveras, with his grandpa.
“We’d mix in some coastal trips here and there, but Braunig and Calaveras is where I really cut my teeth as an angler,” Taylor said. “From learning to throw a cast net, to perfecting working artificial lures, and just about everything in between, I learned and developed the basics of fishing on those lakes.”
Throughout his grade school and teenage years, Taylor spent all of his free time fishing with a close friend of his.
“We would cast a line anywhere we could get access,” he said. “We did a lot of pond-hopping, just trying to catch fish as often as we could.”
At age 15, Taylor joined some local bass clubs and began fishing tournaments.
“Seeing other anglers be more successful than me really motivated me to learn how to become a better angler,” he said. “That was my drive.”
Taylor was successful in the bass clubs, and continued fishing club tournaments after high school while working a full-time job. As time went on, he realized that he enjoyed taking others fishing for fun more than the competitive aspect of tournament fishing, and that’s what helped turn his focus towards guiding.
“I had a day job, where I was putting in 60-80 hours a week, most of which were outside in the sun and heat,” he said. “I felt like if I was going to continue working that much outside, I might as well do something that I love.”
Taylor said eventually, folks began asking him to take them fishing.
“Trying my hand at becoming a fishing guide just made sense,” he said. “A lot of people wanted to go fishing during the week when I couldn’t take off from work. I had to just take a leap of faith, cold turkey, and hit the ground running.”
Taylor now has been guiding three years, and pursues largemouth bass, crappie, white bass, catfish, stripers and redfish on San Antonio-area lakes with his clients. He guides trips on Lake LBJ, Choke Canyon, Canyon, Braunig and Calaveras. Targeting multiple species allows him to keep his anglers hooked up with fish.
Taylor said meeting new people is what he loves most about guiding.
“You never know who you’re going to meet through fishing, and I am fortunate enough to meet new people on my boat all the time,” he said.
Taylor also installs boat accessories and electronics, and offers courses on boat handling and how to use electronics and graphs to find and catch fish.
