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Fish Catching Travel
Wow. This is seriously some jacked up weather. Cold and drizzling, this is a true feet by the fire day, and tomorrow looks even worse. In fac,t it will not straighten up until at least early next week. I actually fished a few hours yesterday on Coleto and we will get to that shortly.
The first thing I want to get to is according to the newspaper 3 boaters were recued from San Antonio Bay by the Coast Guard yesterday. Apparently they were grounded and it was late at night before they were rescued. Other than a mild case of hypothermia, thankfully everyone is ok.
It is so important that if you are going to fish this time of year that you prepare as best you can. The first rule, take, or put on, way more clothes than you need. You can always take it off if you want, but you can’t put it on if you don’t have it. And remember hypothermia can occur at 50 degrees, so stay warm.
Second, as we settle into winter proper here on the coast we will be having some low tides, and I mean occasionally the bottom falls out. So use caution, you might have been able to run over that last summer, but not today. It only takes a second to idle into an area from deep water. It is not a problem to get off the bottom if you hit it idling, it is almost impossible to get off if you hit it at 50 mph. And guess what? You might be in that little place with terrible cell phone coverage. So be sure to let folks know where you are going and when you might get back. Just saying.
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I let me heart override my brain when the wind died around noon Thursday. I could not take it any more so I loaded the boat and headed to Coleto for a short afternoon trip. What a great idea – after 4 hours without so much as a good bite I called it a day. It sure did not help matters that the high for the day was when I started and the temp dropped all day.
But the day was not a total waste. I was fishing a main lake bank in sight of the dam when a kayak came by and of all things it was Voe, who is fairly new to the area. I met him a while ago, and later turned him on to a place where he could catch some trout from his kayak. I told him I hoped he was doing better than I was, his response was, doubtful. He had not had a bite, where I think I might have had one. I fished Swimming Jig, jerk bait, topwater, spinnerbait, and crankbait. The only thing that remotely felt like a bite was on the Swimming Jig, and that was the size of it.
Later we chatted at the ramp and he said when he put in that morning the water temp was in the high 40’s at the ramp. That is a 20 degree drop from where it was a month ago. I never saw anything above 55, though I did not fish the outflow cove. The fishing will stay slow for a while with this big decline in air and water temp. But that really is not the point of this little story, the point is whether we are going to be able to launch there in the near future.
If you go to Coleto take a look at the ramp before you back in. There is the sign telling you that the end of the ramp is 22 feet from there. And you can see where the concrete breaks down at a sharper angle, and that is approximately 15 feet from the end of the ramp. So I decided to measure from the hitch to the axle on my boat trailer and it is 21 feet. So when I backed in I gave it plenty of room and had no problem launching, though I pushed the boat off by hand.
The real problem may be the cove itself. There is about 4 foot of water right at ramps end, and then it goes to 1 foot and stays there until past the marker buoy. It is definitely trim up and easy through there. If it gets any lower it could get impassible, especially for the bigger boats. I know they paid some guy to dredge some of that area out, but it just doesn’t help that much with it this low. So be careful. They need another ramp.
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A couple of posts ago I mentioned how the river had slacked off some and I wasn’t sure why, or what, the reason might be. Well I heard from Larry, who in the vernacular of bass fisherman is a “good stick”. Here is what he had to say about the river and it basically outlines what I feel happens.
Doug, Just a few thoughts on fishing the river and why the bite may have slowed. I have not fished the river in several years, but things that, in my opinion, may cause the changes in action. Temperature, pressure (barometric and people), tide movement, and salinity level. When you started catching this year, if memory is correct, we had had a few frontal passages and it triggered the fish to move into the deeper protection of the river. After a few weeks of these little fronts, we went through a warming spell and it seems like that is when things started slowing up a little? I think the fish will follow the bait supply. So…if the bay temps warm up and the bait migrate out, the trout will follow. I feel there are a lot of fish still in there, just some of them may have moved out for awhile. This cold snap we are having now should improve everything. But, you will have to use a slower presentation on lure and maybe use some type of scent on the bait. With all this opinion stuff….I believe that right now, the biggest factor on the slowing bite is the amount of rain that area has received? They had a lot more than we did here in Victoria. I know the Lake is not full, but I have heard that they have been releasing a little more water into the river also? That would cause the fish to stay deeper where the saltier water is?? When I did fish the river, i always caught more on a moving tide….just like fishing the bay. I feel I am a lot like you in my approach to fishing. When I have completed a trip that may not have produced, I try to analyze what may have caused the poorer results and think of things I could have done differently. Regardless of the catch though, it is always good to be out enjoying God’s beautiful scenery!
This is for your reading and thinking about. Just a bunch of rambling thoughts mostly on a slow cold day at the office. Thank you again for your commitment to this site!
Thanks for the comment, I always like hearing from you. Your description of the start of the bite this fall was right on. Big early cold front, then back into the 80’s, and as it warmed the river fishing slowed. I also believe that the bait, and or the fish, seek the warmer water and if it warmed enough in the bay it may have pulled them back out. And to take that thought a little further, if that happens, and the river cools enough and the temperature in the bay approaches the river, the small water temperature disparity will not prompt those trout to return.
And of course the bait is a real important factor in all this, but basically the same temperature factors affect both fish and bait similarily. And though I believe water temperature is the overriding influence, salinity levels are almost as important. And on the Lavaca you have both Lake Texana and the Navidad River influencing how much fresh water comes in the river. And I am sure when we get some rain, as some over there have, not only does it lower salinity but it also lowers water temp. Today’s rain at 37 degrees will have a serious affect on the river.
So what does all this mean? I think it will be a good test, not sure how scientific, but with this expected rain and cold temperatures for a few days it should tell us something. The bay should cool significantly so after it has a week to settle down it will be interesting to see if the trout are gone for good or back in force. Good to hear from you Larry, your comments are always appreciated.
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The poll asking you where you fish is moving right along, and the answers have been about what I thought. A little over a third of you fish both fresh and saltwater. About 17% of you are primarily freshwater fishermen, and over 45% of you are primarily saltwater fisherman. So what do I make of these numbers? Most of you are saltwater fishermen and if I want to serve you interesting stuff I need to fish more saltwater. I guess I have become spoiled and if the weather is even a little marginal I might not go to the salt, so I will try to do better this year. And it will be off to a good start when we fish with the guide for a couple of days on Baffin in February. Who isn’t up for a shot at a big winter Baffin trout? So we will keep watching the numbers and see if they change any. If you have not voted slide down a couple of posts from here and put in your vote.
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So here I am trapped in doors with no real prospect of hitting the water anytime soon. The one thing that does work out is I will be at Shoedog’s tomorrow for the Kentucky/A&M basketball game on the campus of A&M. I have seen Kentucky a time or two back in Arkansas, and as usual they are loaded. So if we are lucky A&M will get their back up and defend their home turf. Otherwise it could be a whippin’. And Sunday it is Cowboys/Packers in what looks to be 20 degree weather. It could be an old fashion slobberknocker as good old JR would say. I appreciate you hanging with me, this weather will clear up soon enough and it will be back to business as usual here at fishcatchingtravel.com, fishing. And this is the perfect time to send me a comment or story, we all love to hear from you. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
