Fish Catching Travel
The Best Baits on the Planet!
2015 fishcatchingtravel.com
It has been another great year here at fishcatchingtravel.com. Fishing has been all over the map, from slow for our first week in Canada, to hot all over the bay this fall. We also had good trips to Florida and Baffin this year. While the number of big bass out of Coleto was off, the sheer number of nice trout this fall has been fantastic. Limits have been the norm and 30+ plus fish a day not uncommon. What a fall.
And it was great to welcome a new company on board, Cocoons Eyewear, my sunglass of choice for years (Notice what is around my neck in the pictures below.). A great product at a great price, they give those of us who wear glasses a way to see all those things we need to see under all conditions. And Strike King stayed with us this year so a big thanks to them. I love their lures and if you pay attention to the pictures below you will see the results of using the best lures on the planet.
January
The fishing was good on the Gulf and the lake. I got a new 4Runner, and Shoedog had an epic day catching 4 giant Black Drum on light tackle. That was the day after a “guide” at POC said you could not catch Black Drum on lures.
The trout fishing was good this month.
1 of 4 giant Black Drum Shoedog landed on his trout rod on a truly epic day.
The Strike King Swim Jig fishing was hot on Coleto.
February
The lake remained consistent in February. We hired a guide to learn a little more about the Baffin area and Shoedog managed to catch the big fish for the day and half trip. The few other trips to the bay were not that productive.
Coleto remained good.
Shoedog whacked a personal best on the King Ranch Shoreline.
March
What can you say about March. We caught them on the bay, and Coleto was really good. I managed to catch my heaviest bass in a long time. Love that spring time fishing.
The lake was red hot.
The Strike King Swimming Jig was killing them on Coleto.
Look at the size of this momma! I told you the Strike King Swimming Jig is the bomb. The biggest bass I caught this year.
The trout fishing was consistent.
The topwater fishing with the KVD Sexy Dawg was great.
April
The bite at the lake continued to be hot. The bay was a little slower but there are always fish to be caught. And we towed the boat to the Everglades and had a great time.
The spring Coleto bite raged on.
The bay fishing was tougher with muddy water conditions.
My personal best snook in the Everglades.
The Shoedog was laying the smack down on the Everglades reds.
May
We finished up with our Florida trip and I was lucky enough to catch a nice Cobia on my trout rod. And after we got back it was bass fishing the rest of the month, and the size was tailing off as the fish wrapped up the spawn on both Coleto and Fayette.
That Rage Shrimp on a popping cork will catch anything.
Shoedog put 5 nice shook in the boat the last day of our Florida trip.
And bass fishing on Coleto with the Strike King Square Bill was the ticket.
And the fishing on Fayette with Strike King Square Bills and Swimming Jigs was up to the usual standard.
June
Both the lake and the bay felt the effects of the spring floods as we had more rain in the last couple of months than all last year. The freshwater had a negative effect on the bay fishing this month. But we did catch fish at POC, Keller, and the Powderhorn. The bass fishing remained good in the flooded grass on Coleto.
The Powderhorn and the Redfish Magic produced for me.
And they were eating the KVD Sexy Dawg topwater on Coleto.
July
The fishing on the bay picked up this month. The bass fishing remained ok, with small fish being the rule. They moved into the shallow grass and stayed there until the water came back down. And the lovely wife and I did a trip to Terlingua to do some 4 wheeling.
Mu buddy Chris and I had a good day at POC. And the big shark going nuts around us sure added to the excitement.
A Terlingua resident.
The top of the mountain.
The pitching bite in the grass on Coleto remained consistent.
August
I did a little bass fishing early in the month, and it was still pitching in the grass. Then it was our annual Canada trip. We got hosed by the monster cold front the first week, then it straightened out and we caught lots of fish.
I did get to offshore fish this month.
Shoedog with a real nice muskie.
We had a good lake trout bite.
I finally managed to catch a muskie, the first of 2 I caught that day.
September
The fishing in Canada really picked up our last week. Once we got home it was a trip to Fayette and then several to the bay. It was when I really began to see that something had really improved our trout fishing to the good.
Our buddy Clyde with the monster smallmouth of the trip.
I managed a couple of nice smallies on the Strike King Buzzbait.
Shoedog with a nice smallie.
They love that KVD jerkbait on Fayette.
The beginning of what would be, and continues to be, the best bay fishing in years. This was a real big girl, 29″.
Tripletail are one cool fish. My first in Texas.
October
The bay fishing from POC, Powerhorn, and Cedar Bayou remained as good as it has been in a long time. And a few lake trips I squeezed in were ok, but it has started to slow down on Coleto.
POC and the KVD topwater.
The good trout fishing continued.
Chris with a nice 25″ red on our annual trip to Cedar Bayou. We had a good day all around.
November
What to say about November? The bay and river fishing was off the charts. Good solid trout seem to be everywhere. Coleto was as slow as it has ever been for me. But I guess we can’t have it all.
These 2 came back to back. One of the best days of trout fishing in my life.
The Austin boys were here a couple of times and it was a major killin’.
And Shoedog was down and we put the smack down on them.
And Garcitas heated up and we limited there.
And the Lavaca River while off-color had its share of trout.
December
Cocoons Eyewear came on board this month. I have worn them since I first saw them years ago at a Bass Pro and look forward to trying the different colors. And the trout fishing remained hot on the bay and the rivers.
My pleasure to have them onboard.
There are no words left to describe how good the trout fishing has been this fall.
John , one of the Austin boys with his personal best.
Then Pete got in on the act with his personal best.
A Fayette fattie on the KVD jerkbait.
Again this year we had well over 100,000 visits, and have had almost 450,000 in the 3 1/2 years we have been blogging. It will not be long before we top 500,000. And from hearing from many of you I know you are hard core fishermen. We have done this without any service that inflates the numbers, or gets folks from God knows where, and without advertizing. And not counting views on the blog, our videos have been viewed over 100,000 times.
And we have tried to stay true to our purpose, helping you find and catch more fish. It is really an honor that you make the choice to come here and read these ramblings. And we look forward to your comments and reports which are a valuable addition to the blog. So keep them coming, it inspires me to keep writing when I know you are out there.
There are many things I hope to accomplish this year with the blog. A few more how to articles, maybe add a rod and reel sponsor, and of course some fishing trips, with Baffin topping the list in the next couple of weeks.
I wish you and your family nothing but the best for the new year. So keep stopping in and I can not thank you enough for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines