Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cindy Nguyen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Cindy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Of all the amazing fishing adventures I have gotten to experience, nothing beats the memories I have made with my family. It is truly what shaped who I am today
Growing up, family dinners were always apart of my life and they continue to be so today. We often gathered around fresh caught seafood that my family brought home after camping the sands of TCD and Galveston.
My parents always reminded us of how fortunate we were to have fresh protein on the table as in back home in Vietnam, they were unable to harvest easily in abundance as we can here. I grew up eating croakers, pinfish and lady fish cakes caught right off these rocks, most of the time with just a soda can and some mono. 😆
Like many Vietnamese families that found refuge in the states, my family came here in the late 70s with the clothes on their backs and quickly adapted to the gulf doing the trades they new best. Shrimping, crabbing and fishing. When my uncles came back from shrimping, we’d have fresh gulf colossals, snapper, blue crabs and stone crabs for days.
I never expected the last couple of years to be so darn hard. Lost loved ones, chemo, on going ups and downs, but the silver lining is it has truly taught me to slow down. Check on those I love and most importantly always making sure I live my days exactly as dad would have wanted me to, fishing and helping anyone I can reach the water so they may also find this deep love and respect for the outdoors that my parents gave me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Cindy but my friends call me Sid. I have been in love with the salt for as long as I can remember and I have been fishing the Texas coastline since I was tot; mostly off the beaches, piers and jetties in Galveston, TX with my family. In the summer s we travel to Seadrift, TX to fish off the rigs with our family and friends.
In Texas, you can find me on my kayak with friends stalking redfish, trout and flounder.
My best days in life have been on the water and every time I hear someone say, “I wish my kid liked to fish, but they get bored..” I tell them “because you need to take them catching!” – croakers and pinfish did it for me.
I am an angler with no barriers. Though my passion is light-tackle inshore fishing, I revel at an opportunity to chase offshore species, and the occasional buggy whip adventure.
I have a passion for traveling the world and sharing with others the places they can go, the food they can eat, the fish they can target and most of all the people that make those places so special.
My goal for fishing is to take my passion for the sport and promote the lifestyle the best I can.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I think of resilience, I think of my mother., the incredibly loving, hardworking, gracious, faithful & courageous woman.
I owe so much to both my parents, but my mom is our ROCK. She has held our family together as their siblings used their home as a stepping stone to get them to where they are today and raised us to never forget the struggles their generation and the ones before made for us to be American born.
We didn’t have a lot of money, but I learned to feed a family on pennies and she made sure we never felt like the grass was greener on the other side. Our childhood was sit down family dinners (dad was adamant about that), beach camping, fishing, grilling, road trips, driving us and cheering at our, volleyball, dance competitions, Girl Scout meetings and football games, and time spent with family near and far. I can’t thank her enough for being the glue that still holds us all together.
My mother has overcome things I couldn’t fathom in life. Could you imagine being stripped away from family and all you you’ve known with just the clothes on your back? She has HAD IT ALL AND LOST IT ALL and my mother is the most resilient person in my life. I love you mom. Yesterday, today and everyday for the for the rest of my life I will always make sure she knows she is the queen in our lives.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think being true to myself and others has earned me a place within the fishing industry. I did not get in this because I was looking to fit in or force anything. This is who I am. Fishing and sharing my passion for it is what has enabled me to connect with people and businesses to promote the sport and more importantly, help educated and advocate preserving our resources for future generations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cindynguyenfishing.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sidtx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redfishgeek
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindynguyenfishing
- Twitter: CindyNguyenTX
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@CindyNguyenFishing/about
Image Credits
David Teran Sam Root