Fish Catching Travel
The plan was to hit the Gulf for a few hours today, but the Hogs have Alabama at 5 so it would have been a short trip. So first thing this morning I went for a walk with the lovely Nancy and there were some big cloud heads in the distance and you could feel the moisture in the air. By time we had some breakfast there was thunder off in the distance and a short while later a couple of great showers. So I called off the fishing for the day, we will be on the lower Laguna Madre for a few days starting Tuesday so I guess I can make it a couple of more days. And with us still 10 inches down we need every drop.
*********************
If you read the Shoedog’s last adventure at the ramp on Fayette County you will love this comment I got from Rusty who is a regular there.
“You had me laughing!! Tell Shoedog the exact same thing happened to me about three weeks ago on the SAME ramp!! We were the only boat there at daylight and had to wait about 20 minutes til another boat showed up. The guy that pulled us out, unhooked his boat and trailer, so he could tow us. Funny now, but it wasn’t at the time.
I have now added a good tow rope ( I only had a lariat rope) to my stuff in the truck. Fishing has been very tough on Fayette last couple weeks. Tight lines and tow ropes!”
Actually this comment from Rusty made the Shoedog feel a lot better. You just never know. And congrats to the guys who pulled you out, what goes around comes around and they banked some good karma as the Shoedog says. So if you fish Fayette be warned. The other ramp is a lot better. So thanks for the warning Rusty, it may save a couple of other folks from the same fate.
*******************
Speaking of the Shoedog, he went the next day after the Fayette fiasco, so here it is.
What a Difference a Day Makes!
“If you read my escapades from yesterday at Fayette Co. lake, you know nothing went my way for sure. Almost had the truck slide in the lake and only caught 2 fish all day…..not good. So today I thought I would stay close to home as rain chances were increasing and I fished the lake here at our house. It is about 40 acres and has come back nicely from the drought of a couple years back when we lost around lf the lake for over a year.
I didn’t get out until about 8:45- a little lazy. Not too bad a wind and a nice cloud cover. I started on the smaller of two creek arms and as soon as I got of the main lake and back into the mouth of the creek started getting bit. I caught a couple nice ones and a couple small ones and then went back in the creek arm. It was calmer back there and I got no bites at all so I went back out on the main lake.
As soon as I got back out there and fished the shallow areas with weeds I started to catch more. Almost all the bites came in 1 to 2 feet of water. I fished out to the main point between the 2 creek arms and went around a couple old timers crappie fishing- looked like me and redfishlaw in a couple years!
After I got past the point and was throwing back into the shallows I got the big bite. All the fish came today on white Strike King Bleeding Bait 3/8 and 1/4 ounce spinner baits and this big girl inhaled one of them.
That is a good one on a spinnerbait anywhere.
I still love the way a bass can smack a spinner bait- nothing better! I kept catching a few nice ones and then noticed a lot of action starting further back in the shallow area back toward the larger creek arm. There is a big flat there that has a lot of good weed cover and the bass were chasing bait everywhere.
I am also a fan of the Strike King Bleeding spinnerbait. Sturdy and it catches fish.
It is always cool to see this and even though they were all small fish it was neat. They were coming out of the water and herding the bait up into the weeds and going at it. I caught about 20 little bass from this years spawn- a great thing to see for the coming years and when I got tired of that I so I started back down the opposite bank back towards the damn. About half way down- again in a bout 2 feet of water I had another good bite for my second good fish of the day.
Nothing like a fishin’ hole full of bass and crappie in your backyard!
Over all I caught well over 30 fish before 12:15 and it slowed down as the clouds cleared and it got hotter out. I had some banking to do and needed to spend some time getting some boat maintenance done and prep work for our trip to Laguna Madre next week so I knocked off and headed in. Over all a good morning fishing and a darn sight better than yesterday- but that’s why we keep fishing- for mornings like this!”
Good job Shoedog and thanks for filling in while I was out of commission. It seems like when the fish are doing that busting thing out of the blue it is usually a shad spawn. Sounds like they were on the chew, hopefully when we get to the lower Laguna this week your good luck will come with us. Thanks for the report. And the rest of you out there we would love to share your stories or pictures. Just drop me a comment in the comment section and I will get back to you be email.
***********************
I was wondering how the lovely Faye and her husband Steve (who knows, maybe Steve is lovely too) did on their short trip to POC early this week. As I wrote the other day the reports from the Gulf have been all over the place. Super high tides have spread them out, and some folks are struggling.
“Good morning, HIGH TIDES!!!
We fished Monday and Tuesday. The winds were low and the tides were some of the highest we’ve seen. Both days we caught a lot of undersized everything; reds, spanish, sheephead, sand trout, 0 – specs ( hmm – I think the really small ones were stealing my bait). We even caught one in Big Bayou that we didn’t know what it was. We called it the diamond back rattlesnake – pike looking thing with lots of teeth, about 10″ long and cigar shaped. LOL (Note: We call them Lizard fish, probably I should look them up.)
We hit a ton of areas and threw the tackle box at them. We drew a big 0 at the jetties. That’s a first for us. We hit: the old coast guard station, Mitchell’s Cut, Saluria Bayou, the reef at the entrance of Big Bayou @ the bay, Big Bayou, ICW. The most action was in Big Bayou. We trolled and threw lures all the way in on the left side. We did catch a keeper red (threw him back) while anchored on the point at the last marsh island on the left. Steve pitched a 5″ Gulp weedless shad up to the shallow flat and the red hit it immediately. He also caught several rat reds on the Redfish Magic. The best color was a white/neon green or light chartruese.
We had a really great time and we caught fish. Sometimes it’s just nice to stop and enjoy getting to cruise in our boat and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells!!! AHHHH
So Steve did good getting my yearly birthday fishing trip in to our work schedule. Let’s hope we get back down towards the end of October – 1st of November.
Tell Shoedog he’s one lucky son of gun!!!
Thanks for your time and hope you have great fishing coming up.
Faye & Steve”
Happy 30th Faye. Now talk about a great relationship, the husband gets off the birthday hook with a fishing trip, that is awesome! I could get away with that too, as long as there was some jewelry attached! Your report sounds just like what the Shoedog and I encountered a couple of weeks ago. We caught the snot out of them, just lots of small ones. Thanks for taking the time to let us know how you did. That is not the only report I have that is similar. As I remind myself often, it is not all about the catching, we all need to take the time to enjoy our fishing for what it is. You never know when the nest trip could be your last.
********************
Chis made it to the Gulf this weekend. He reported he also got stuck, though I am not sure whether it was the boat or the Raptor. Either way getting stuck is the pits. He fished the south shoreline, around Greens, and Cedars. He caught quite few on topwater but only one kept. Lately it seems like you can catch trout on topwater, but the better ones are hard to find. So the fish are biting, and as we are going to be getting some colder weather with the next few fronts it should really start to improve.
***********************
That is about it for today. I got my stuff ready for Orroyo City, and I am going to try something a little new for me. We will be in really shallow water so I think I will give topwater a go on spinning gear. Being able to toss it a long way in clear shallow water can only help, and a little fluorocarbon line should help. We’ll just have to see how that works out. I will be posting off topic tomorrow. The most common question I get is not what about this place or that bait, but how do you do a blog? Hopefully that will answer that question. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my blog.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
