I am not really that big on fishing the weekends, especially the holidays. I prefer to let the folks have them who can’t fish during the week, 1 less truck and trailer at the ramp adding to the confusion. But yesterday was on of those days where I had nothing to do, and the wife was working, so I decided on a short wade in Powderhorn Lake.
What a beautiful morning it was. Dead calm on arrival I was pretty sure it was going to be a topwater kinda morning. I headed out of the marina following the stakes and ran back to the left side of Powderhorn Lake. The area I like to fish is just above the pond about halfway back. There is a stake marking an oyster bar that is directly behind the old platform, and you can see a small high bank right down from it.
I eased in quietly and jumped over the side. I started with a blue and white Heddon Spook Jr., the one with the feather on the back hook that my friend Aaron showed me, and was rewarded with a fish on my second cast. Over the next hour or so I only managed to catch 8 or so, with one small red.
Now there is a an oyster bar there that usually holds a fish or two on high tide, and you can usually find them around it somewhere. And the bottom is nice and hard, making it an easy wade. So I worked it over pretty good, and then waded around the area with a few other bites on the topwater, when of course the wind came up. So now it was time for the popping cork. I have caught several fish the last week or two using a Strike King Rage Shrimp about 20″ below the cork. So why not give that a try? It is a good alternative when the wind is blowing.
I managed to catch around another 8 trout as the wind picked up, but combined with the tide, it started muddying the water up. That is one thing to remember there, if the wind blows on it, it will muddy up quick. So I went ahead and threw a white plastic for a little while without much success. So off I went to the pond just past where I was wading.
I have had some real success in that pond in the past, but had not been in there in a while. On low tide it takes a real shallow draft to get in there, but it holds redfish pretty consistently. In the water went the trolling motor, and I headed in on the left hand bank throwing that Redfish Majic. As the tide was now way up, I was able to fish the whole thing, including the small creek in the back. Now usually that is an almost sure thing for those reds. But not today.
I did have a couple of “bumps” which I thought were flounder so I stopped and threw the popping cork around the old duck blind on the mud flat, thinking the flounder might be there. Only one small trout came over the side, so back to the spinnerbait I went. I fished the whole pond and headed out throwing it down the left side going out when I had one whack it. After a great tussle over the side she came.
Nice 30″ redfish. It is hard to get a 30″ redfish in the picture when you are the one holding the camera at arms length, and you are only 68″ long yourself!
It was getting a little after noon, and since I had only one bite on spinnerbait over the 1 1/2 hours, I decided to call it a day. The Powderhorn has plenty of trout, though I have noticed that the ones in the front of the lake are bigger than the ones in the back. I guess about a third of the ones I caught would have measured had I been keeping them. But no matter, there are fish in the lake right now, and if you have not fished the Powderhorn put it on your list. And if you want to read a little more about Powderhorn Lake go to my Fish Catching Travel section in the header and read about access to the Powderhorn.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.
