FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Monday morning I had some things to get done so I thought I would slip out for a few hours and catch a couple of bass.  So I hitched up the skiff and great, no taillights.  At times I just want to park it and take a break, but as with all boats, things happen.  The ground wire broke so I pulled out a spare plug and re-wired it and was on my way.  One thing about being prepared is when things like that happen it may piss you off, but you can still hit the water.  But to bad I was not really ready to go, I left the camera at the house.  Oh well, my much maligned flip phone will save the day, just not all that well.

Weather

80/62  Sunny Chance rain 20%  Wind  SSW 10 -20

Lake Levels

 Last trip  95.45 msl  Today  95.29 msl  (It is really dropping!)

It was 11 by time I started fishing.  The lake continues to drop and the ramp is just a little bit away from maybe being a real issue this winter.  It was sunny and the wind was blowing around 20 out of the south.  I started on a main lake channel bank and caught a nice one right off the bat on a white swim jig.   I stayed with it for an hour and did not have another bite.

So up lake to my fall back stomping grounds, and the fish were there.  I alternated between the white and the bluegill swim jig, and the darker was by far the better bait.  One thing I really like about fall is the number of big gators out there soaking up the sun.  So with my little flip phone I took a couple of this guy.

One big lizard!

He was not the least bit concerned about me.

If I had to guess he was around 8 – 9 foot long and really a solid looking terrifying eating machine.  As they are want to do at this time of year, he was out on a sunny bank soaking up some heat, not even a little bit concerned with me as I fished right by him.  You see most of the big guys in the late fall, and then early spring, usually on flat banks with full sun.  This time of year with cool nights they hold up waiting on the sun.  Winter, to cold, and summer, they feed at night, they seem to disappear and you rarely see these big guys.  Don’t know why they interest me so much, but I have always like seeing them.   There weren’t many of them in the farm ponds of Iowa when I was growing up.

Yes I really did catch a couple.

I fished all types of structure and banks up lake, and while the ones that bit ate it, I only had around a dozen bites the 4 hours I fished.  I did put 9 in the boat, and had a limit of smaller keepers, all like the 18″ incher above.  With the wind whipping right along I gave spinnerbait a go after a couple of bass tried to catch the swim jig next to the boat as I was reeling it in.   Spinnerbait, along with buzzbait, did not produce a fish.  But with a mile high sky and rapidly dropping water levels it was not surprising.

Today I was really in a holding pattern.  With the wind expected to blow up to 25mph today (Tuesday), the planned trip with a reader to POC today got moved to Wednesday.  I hope that was the right decision as the wind speed is not supposed to be that high tomorrow, but there is a chance of rain early.  But like every fishing day, and every cast, you make your decisions and you go with it.  So tomorrow right after daylight we will be wading POC somewhere.

It is really interesting how differently I feel about each day I fish.  It is always different, from hard core desire to knock the crap out of them, to taking it easy like today.  Actually sitting down as I fish, watching gators, birds, ducks, and just enjoying being outdoors.  Those type of fishing days are few and far between.  I ended up boating 9, 1 on the white and 8 on the dark swim jig.  They were a nice average, but that is what they were, average.

Tomorrow will be a wading day, just hoping it starts off ok.  Thursday morning it will be off to Jerry’s world to watch the Cowboys play the Redskins.  The game on Sunday was a thing of beauty.  All detractors aside, the Cowboys are for real and their performance the last 2 games is living proof.  So if life works out perfectly it will be some big trout and reds tomorrow, then a Cowboys victory.  A great 2 day stretch, life is good.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines