Fish Catching Travel
The best baits money can buy.
Sorry for the dearth of reports this week, but weather, broke stuff, and just plain bad luck have kept me from my duties this week. But finally I think most of it is getting resolved.
Yesterday and today have turned out to be incredibly frustrating. At times I think it just might be simpler to keep it to one boat, it sure would be cheaper. After dropping $1600 on the skiff, it was some more hundreds on the LTS. The old saying a boat is a hole in the water in to which you throw money is so true. But if you own them you have to take care of them so they will take care of you.
I picked the Mako LTS up from Victoria Marine after the 100 hour check with a couple of other things fixed prior to the Everglades trip in 2 weeks. From there it was supposed to be simple. Take off a broken locator and replace it with a good one. Simple right? Wrong. For some reasons there is no power at the nose of the boat, including the running lights.
I went over it all repeatedly yesterday and finally gave up. According to the weatherman we were set for 30+mph winds so instead of fishing I was determined to find the cure. Well guess what? No such luck. At this point I am completely stumped. I am not sure what is next, but this is the kind of thing I have messed with for years, but this one has me flummoxed. So after working with it this morning I am calling it a day. Time to come up with another plan.
One side benefit of getting ready for the Everglades is being sure everything else is in working order. First the flares were out of date. Now that usually is not a problem, but it is a bad idea as far as safety is concerned. And if you get boarded for a complete safety inspection a ticket is sure to follow if your flares are out of date.
It was also good to check the fire extinguisher, the spotlight, and anything else including the throwable cushion. As the Coast Guard told us when they stopped us in Chris’ boat, they will be writing tickets if it is not readily available. That means out and ready to use, not in a compartment. So if you have not checked all that in a while go over everything in your boat, it may save you from a ticket, or it may save your life.
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The Shoedog is on an extended drive time through Yankee country visiting family and friends. He is in Arkansas visiting our buddy Clyde and Tom is along from Iowa and they got a chance to fish Bull Shoals yesterday.
Tom and I went out on Bull Shoals today, Clyde had to work. We went to Oakland and it was windy but not terrible. After I got ( sort of ) used to a foot control after a lot of years, we caught 3 smallies, one black, one Kentucky, one white bass and a gar. A beautiful day and we only saw 2 boats from 9 am to 3:30 pm and believe it or not, on this massive lake, one of them pulled right in front of us and cut us off back in a creek channel! Unreal how some “sportsman” are.
All in all a good day- weather to improve next two days and we will be after them- fish fry tomorrow night. Tonight speckled trout I brought from Texas!
Can’t wait for the report on today. Hopefully there will be a few pictures so good luck and let us know. Bull Shoals can be one great fishing hole this time of year.
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I got another complaint because I have not posted enough saltwater reports. As I have said many time before, if you are not happy with what I post, or when I post, or where I post about, please do not subject yourself to my blog. With the winds blowing a steady 20 mph, and at times well over 30 mph, it is just to much of a hassle to go to the Gulf when it is that windy. Plus I have no financial sponsors, and other than Strike King, no advertising on my site. All the cost is on me, and believe me over a period of a year it is substantial. It is a real pain to spend time and money and get to the Gulf and it is blowing. In my case there will be plenty of other days when it is right. So I make do the best I can with what I have to work with. But don’t worry, as soon as it straightens up it will back at them.
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And thinking about the Gulf it is time to renew your CCA and Star tournament registration. Remember if you can get it done by the middle of May you qualify for the early bird boat drawing. Someone has to win and it might as well be you. Plus, a free magazine and a chance to win more boats and trucks. What is not to like about that?
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So when I went to back the LTS in the garage it was only 2 so I decided to hit the lake for a little bit. Of course when I got there it was really blowing, making about half the lake a real hassle to fish. So I headed up Perrido Creek and went into a large cove that was a little out of the wind.
I fished buzzbait and swim jig, and though I boated a couple, it was just not fast by any standard. I think I put three in the boat before I moved.
At least the 3 I caught on it ate it.
After fishing that cove I started working whatever small pockets without wind I could find. I told you last week it was time to try the pink trick worm. The fish are shallow, some on beds, and the water color is just not clearing all that much. So I finally gave it a try, and it worked.
Wow! It really works.
Basically all you do is take the pink bubble gum wacky worm and rig it with a 3/0 weedless hook without a weight. Run the hook through the band about halfway down the worm so that when you pull it it collapses and then straightens out. I like to throw it on braid with a 20lb. mono leader, weightless. They seemed to like it best by letting it sink just out of sight and then pulling it a couple of times and then stopping it, letting it fall.
I ended up catching 7 or 8 in the last hour before dark.
This is such an effective way to catch fish when you have high off colored water. You can throw it right in the trash and work it through nice and slow. It was real obvious they had not seen it before, and it was awesome to see them roll up out of nowhere and eat it. Initially I had it on 15lb. test but broke a nice one off so I went to 20lb. Since you are thowing it as far back in the trash as you can you need the heavier line to get them out.
So after a good short afternoon trip I was looking forward to getting in a little more fishing in the morning.
The next morning the wind was already howling out of the south. We have been stuck in that pattern for over a week now. 20 – 30 has been the norm and has kept me off the Gulf. I went into the first big cove in the Coleto arm and it only took about 5 minutes before the first one came over the side.
Fish #1 came out of bush right next to the boat and smoked it.
One more came over the side in that cove so I headed up lake looking for pockets where it was calm enough to fish. I stopped at a cove by the bridge and several more fish ate that worm.
Getting a little bigger.
There did not seem to be any particular type of cover any better than any other, though the fish have related to wood a little more than normal. The fish seemed to come out of 2 places a little more than others. One is clumps of real heavy wood cover, and two, right after the outside edge of the cover or grass line. Once you work the bait to the outside of the cover let it drop a little deeper and watch your line. You can often see them swimming away with it.
Things were really starting to come together. This is a lot more like it.
At this point I had put around 7 or 8 in the boat in the first 2 coves. Next I headed into a cove with the wind pounding in it. That particular cove has a hook in it with a calm place in the back, perfect for really windy conditions. I motored through the timber, dropped the trolling motor down and headed for the back. Next disaster struck, I hit a stump top and broke the swing bracket on the trolling motor. Now it is made of pot metal, probably to prevent real damage if you hit something, but whatever, the part broke. Damn it! I was really starting to get this pattern down and was looking forward to a good day.
According to the weatherman we are to get up to 6″ of rain this weekend, starting last night. So when I got up this morning and it was calm and not wet I was irritated. I know it is coming but I could have got a couple of hours on the lake. The trick worm is working right now, and if you get in the right spot it could be epic.
Additionally the Coleto Bassmaster tourney is set for Coleto tomorrow, and the weather looks to be ugly. But there will surely be some fish caught, and it should take a good string to get in the money. The weatherman is still saying 4″ of rain tomorrow with some storms possible, so good luck guys, it should be something.
After I got home I ordered the part to fix the trolling motor direct from Minn Kota and it should be here in a week. It will be a quick fix but until then it is nice to have another boat. So every time I start whining about the cost I get the reminder why it is a good thing. I would be out of commission right now, instead I am just waiting for this stormy weather to pass and it will be back on the water.
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My father-in-law had a little run in with a table saw, and as we all know table saws always win. So minus a chunk of his thumb he is recuperating at home. It is always easy to say it could have been worse, but in this case it is so true. So Jack, I hope you are feeling better and back in the shop soon.
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And last but not least I heard from my buddy Aaron who is now working up in the Sherman TX area on a new pipeline. He is lucky to be staying at a friends lake house on Texoma. Now it was funny he called yesterday to tell me they caught 30+ stripers last night because I had just made a drive in that area and was getting all excited about fishing some stripers. In fact, we probably drove close to where he is staying. So as long as things work out a trip to Texoma is in order sometime in May.
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Not sure if that is everything today, but I am off to get a couple of things done before the rain gets here. There is a huge area of heavy rain on the radar right around the corner, so I am out the door. Sorry reports have been down, but that is the way it has gone around here. But with better weather in the future, and visions of tarpon jumping in the Everglades in a couple of weeks, life is about to get a whole lot better. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
