Fish Catching Travel

Buy more baits, you can never have enough!

I really do not know what to think about our weather forecast.  The big rain was supposed to come in Tuesday night, then Wednesday, then Thursday.  When I got up Thursday morning it had rained a little and was cloudy with the wind was blowing pretty good.   I would have made plans with my buddy Bobby to fish Coleto today but the weather forecast said it was going to be ugly with possible thunderstorms.

So I decided to hit the lake for a few hours and see if the wind would get them biting on spinnerbait.  When I got there the wind was howling out of the SE and it was raining lightly off and on.  With storms in the forecast, which still have not gotten here, I stayed within close range of the ramp.

My first bite on the first bank.

For a couple of hours I stayed with the spinnerbait and only put a couple in the boat.  It was really surprising that it was not working any better.  But as I moved along I kept tossing the plastic next to wood and it kept working.

Find some brush, catch a fish.

So the punch line is the fishing did not improve with the front.  The wind was howling and tossing the plastic was a real hassle.  But it you positioned the boat right and made a good first cast they would jump it.

While I was happy with the average there were no big fish in the boat today.

Finally about 2 a really big fish jumped the spinnerbait in one of those super flush bites.  I got the hook in her and when I got her to boat side and started to flip her in the boat the spinnerbait wire broke and she was gone.  That is one thing that happens when you use braid.  It is nice to be able to flip bigger fish in the boat, but it tends to straighten the wire and the repeated bending and straightening does weaken the wire.  And the one I was using got used in Canada, so it was already weak.

The plastics are still the way to go.

One place I had not caught fish was back in a cove.  I did catch 4 out of the back end of a cove that had some scattered brush, and they were positioned right on it.  That is what is making it a little tough right now, there is a pattern for catching fish, but no real locational pattern.  Find good wood and find fish, but not all wood is good.  Catch some on the main lake, then back in a cove.  Just makes it tougher right now.  So for a midday trip it was ok.  I caught 10 or so, evenly split between the spinnerbait and plastics, and with the wind, and not leaving the ramp area, not a bad result.

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The real problem is the wind, which is keeping me off the Gulf.  The wind was howling with 3 foot rollers hitting the beach in Rockport, including sending water over the road in Fulton along the bay side.  Then I got this picture today from my buddy Chris.

Froggie’s.  Now that is some high tide!

Just like I said about the tide the other day when I went to Indianola, the tides are super high right now, and with the wind blowing like a banshee off the ocean they will stay high until we get out of this weather pattern.  And then the local TV station had a report and the road at Magnolia Beach was covered in water at high tide and the Indianola Fishing Marina was closed for 2 days.  It has been a different fall this year, and what is next we will just have to wait and  see.  I am still waiting for the big rains and storms that are supposed to be here, we need the rain.

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I also got this comment from Jeff.

Doug,

I will be taking my wife down to Coleto this coming weekend for what could be our very last club tourney due to lack participation from members, we are a very small club. Quite upsetting since my wife now loves to fish with me…..Though hard to get her away from beetlespins.

On to my questions, I fish Coleto 2 maybe 3 times a year and have done so for about 5 years I follow almost all of your posts and see that your on the water there a lot. What are the water temps there like right now?  How is the swim jig bite? I am assuming the water might be a little cooler up lake(river)? Any info you could offer would be much appreciated.

We went to Fayette for a few hours last weekend and the water was still pretty hot 85 degrees, could not really get anything figured out though one in 3′ one in 6′ and one in about 10′ the one in 3′ of water was a little over 4lb’s off a swimbait.

Nice to have a wife who likes to fish with you.  Lots of guys would be thrilled if their wife would spend the day in the boat with them.  And as far as the beetle spins go, try getting her to use a smaller spinnerbait like a 1/8th ounce.  Still small enough to be easy to fish but a little bigger to temp some bigger bass.  And your report on Fayette is similar to some I have read, seems to be a hit or miss deal right now.  And I dropped you an email on some suggestions for Coleto and will be waiting to hear how it goes.  Thanks for the comments.

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I got this question from George after he read the post on how to fish the Strike King Swimming Jig.

I have  used them a  couple of times and got   fish , my prob is WHAT trailer to use.  i  mean how long because some of the  craws  are  long.

That is one complicated question, so let me try to put in terms of seasonal changes, that might be the easiest way to answer your question.  Now on using the Swimming Caffeine Shad or Swimming Shiner paddle tail, it is often a fall and winter bait when the fish are feeding more on shad.  I generally use a 4″ white swimming jig and a pearl tail.  As far as craw style trailers I never use anything longer than 4″.

In the spring, and the rest of the year, I almost exclusively use the Rage Craw in one of 3 sizes.  One trick is to be sure to cut the skirt on the jig back just past the bend of the hook.  It allows more of the craw to show and does not inhibit the flapping action of the craw trailer.  The Rage Craw is my usual choice, but in real clear water and no wind I might downsize to the Baby Rage Craw.  When the water is cooler and the fish are lethargic I might switch to the Rage Chunk.  And if I want a real big bait in the spring when the big girls are up and feeding I use the Rage Lobster.  Be sure to push the craw all the way to the head of the jig and put the wire keeper in the body.  And you can always tear some of the craw off so the claws start right past the edge of the skirt.  It just takes experimentation.

Last thing I feel is most important is I have used many different companies swimming jigs and there is no question the Strike King Swimming Jig works the best.  The head is balanced just right to get the right swimming action.  When combined with the Rage Craw it is a vibrating fish catching machine.  To really get an idea of the trailers available click on the Strike King logo at the top of the page and download the catalog.  It will put a face on this explanation.  So thanks for the question and for reading my stuff.  Feel free to comment or drop a question anytime.

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We finally have cooler weather coming around the corner.  Of course I would feel better about that if the weatherman had gotten much right lately, but that has not happened.  So it will be hard to make any particular fishing plans with this unstable weather pattern.  The Gulf is calling me and as soon as this wind dies it will be back on the salt.  And if you have any reports, comments, or questions, send them this way.  I read every one of them and try to answer them the best I can.  So keep those cards and letters coming and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines