FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

 Brought to you by 

** For a super deal use promo code FCT15 and get 15% off on your online  order!**

Whether kayak, boat, or RV, let Dez handle all your lighting needs.

***********************

My buddy Aaron is down with his dad visiting relatives in Inez and they want to give fishing the creek a go.  I have not seen it since the rain so it should be interesting.  We might hit it just right, and it may be a mistake, only tomorrow will tell.

Weather

65/59  Partly to mostly cloudy.  20% chance of rain.  Wind ENE 5 – 10mph.

Tide + Solunar Times

High Tide 1:52am  Low  4:22pm.  Average velocity  2 fish day.   Very High Activity 6:33 – 8:33   High Activity 12:59 – 1:59pm.

We Out Smarted Ourselves

It was a, you never know until you go, day.  Not having a clue how much fresh water, or how much the water temperature dropped, we decided to hit Garcitas and see if we could figure it out.  Unfortunately as my old buddy Tad used to say, “That is what 3 grown men did all day?”

When we dropped it in the creek it looked like it might be just a little to dirty.  So the obvious way to deal with that was to run down to where it flows into the bay and see if we could find some better water and a few fish, and we did, but “some” about covers both of them.  The creek was flowing out, possibly a combination of lots of fresh water and the tide.  First up was the bank where I have been catching them.  To make a long sad story short, we ended up catching 8 fish.  2 trout made the box and my dinner table, the rest a couple of rat reds and short trout.

The only excitement was a big ass redfish that gave Aaron a tussle, and then inexplicably pulled off.  We fished deeper banks, even went out in the bay where the water cleared quite a bit, without success.  As far as plastic colors there was no real difference in the amount of bites on light or dark.  We easily missed more that we caught, the fish were clearly “not feeling it.”

We gave it a serious go, fishing until about 3 before calling it a day.  There were 3 trailers at the ramp when we got there in the morning, none when we loaded out.  That is usually a good sign that the fishing sucks.  Though the fishing was marginal, the company was great.  Aaron is probably the best all-around fisherman I have had the pleasure to fish with.  And his dad has a 80+ year history of catching all kinds of fish in lots of places.  So today was not a case of not having the skill in the boat, it was simply a good idea gone bad.  But you know what?  We had a good time.

**********************

The Mad Trout Fisherman Does Baffin

When I got this comment from Chad it reminded me of how much I want to get down there for a few days.

After a few discussions, we decided with the boys to make a run to Baffin. My freezer has plenty fish from POC and the river. 3:00 am alarm – ouch!  At 4 we hit the road, made good time and launched by 6 am.  The first stop was Kennedy ranch shore, gin clear water, no bait, we gave it a no confidence wade. We dropped two off, gave them 200 yds, and jumped out ourselves. Water haul, that’s what i thought we were gonna catch.  So we ran to the mouth of Baffin made a quick drift, nadda.  Fired up and ran to the tide gauge, putting two on the inside and 2 on the outside.  All were throwing the corky fat boys in several colors.

Why we make the drive.

Looking for a big girl, after 300 yds Todd hooks up 24″ trout. Okay so now my wrist hurts and my patience is gone.  I switch to plastic and boom 22″, 21″ 19″.   Jeremy hooked up a 20″ on corky, then nadda after 800 yds of covering water. We pull out of Baffin head to Yarborough.  Finally some water with color, so back to the corky in a last ditch effort wade back to the boat, finally whack a 20″ on a corky.  And that pretty sums it up for the catching. We hit a few more wades but nadda.  Wind picked up to 25 out the north.  It sure wasn’t a lack of effort to catch that big girl.  7 trout, no reds, no flounder – are you kidding me.  I still love the opportunity to catch a 32″ trout, that is the reason why I go. Like hunting King Ranch verses Inez. So that’s the report before the big blow tomorrow. Thanks chad

As I type this the big blow is shaking the house and the fish cooler is blowing down the driveway.  With the winds forecast to gust 40mph it is a good day to catch up on inside stuff.  Thinking about your day, it reminds me of my fishing down there.  I throw the corky, and often the topwater, but when it comes down to it I still have caught my better fish on plastics.  That is where I first started throwing the 1/32 ounce jig head, and where last year we sacked some nice big fish.  I have often thought about how many corkys they see down there, especially this time of year.  But I know one thing, I am with you on the size thing.  I don’t go down there wanting to sack a limit, I go down there with visions of giant trout.

It really looked like yesterday had potential, but in both our cases it did not live up to expectations.  And our experiences  yesterday were similar in results, ours minus the size.  When you have the options we do in this area at times the most important decision happens in the driveway – Where next?  And I am a firm believer that the more places you fish the better a fisherman you become.  Sometimes it is tough to get out of our warm and fuzzy spot, but when it happens it can be a thing of beauty.  Thanks for the report, it makes me want to hitch it up and head that way, though the 3 am thing is kinda’ tough.

********************* 

One of my Facebook friends posted a comment on the current fishing shows, and the comments confirmed what I have been saying for a while.  It seems the shows are going more and more to girls with big ones, ex-athletes, and rich kids.  Now I am all about plugging the fine folks who help me out, but in many of the shows they are nothing more than 1/2 hour plugs that actually teaches us nothing.  I often wonder if the fishing shows and channels really give a rats ass about whether we watch or not.  With their cable contracts they are getting paid.  If I were an executive in the fishing tackle industry or TV end of it I would be super interested in the comments to his post.  The number of folks, most hard core fishermen, who commented on the post really surprised me, and the bulk say they just do not watch much anymore.   I have a suggestion, show us the real how and where, and then knock the crap out of them on the “thing” you are promoting.  That is how you will sell stuff.  I always wondered why they would not want to really teach you how to be successful with their product.  Success means spending, ask Cabela’s or Academy.  Just wondering.   (Of course as I type this what am I doing?  You guessed it, watching fishing.  So as a consumer of what is often a marginal product my opinion matters.)

******************** 

Looking at the weather, we are getting into our normal winter pattern.  Water temps will be falling, and we will be having some super low tides.  It really is a good time of year to catch fish in my favorite places, drains out of back lakes and ponds.  It is the one time of year when I see more fish than any other with the water as clear as a bell on some of those super low winter tides.  Last year around this time I was standing in ankle deep water as the mullet streamed by me and you could see the trout rolling on them.  Really cool.  The weather will be settling some the next couple of days and it looks like some catfishing with Korbin, the 2030 future Bassmaster Classic Champion, is going to happen.  And the next calmer day it will be in the water I go.  And as usual your comments are appreciated so keep them coming.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines