Fish Catching Travel
One of the nice things about not only being able to pick my spot, Gulf or freshwater, is the ability to check the weather and add that to the equation. Sunday night the weatherman predicted a north wind at up to 25mph, and he was right. So off to Coleto for a little bass fishing. Not being a guide, or fishing for food on the table, I have started a new rule – if the number 25 or higher is anywhere in the forecast, I am not fighting the Gulf. There are lots of days to come, like others this week, and so off to the lake I went.
It was 41 degrees when I got to the ramp, and the wind was a steady 25 out of the north, and it was cold. So after Friday I decided to go ahead and start with the same crankbait I used Friday. Over the next couple of hours I caught a limit along with a few more. While none were big, most of the ones I caught knocked the snot out of it, it wasn’t one of those bites you could not tell, they whacked it.
You can still catch a limit on that crawdad colored crankbait.
I am still finding them on shallow banks with grass. The nice thing about a cranbait that only runs to 4 feet is you can run it right over that shallow grass and when it gets deep enough it is right on the edge. A medium retrieve is still the best, but I wanted to see if I could catch a few bigger ones. So I threw the jerkbait some, while I caught 5 or 6 on it, it was not an improvement over the crankbait.
The wind was still blowing, so I decided to throw the Strike King Swim Jig, unfortunately I only caught a few small ones. They seemed to nip at the tail of the Rage Craw, but I still managed to catch several. The one below just ate it, and as soon as it warms just a hair they should be back on it with a vengeance.
He was little, but I love the way they eat that Strike King Swim Jig.
As a side note I met Eric at the lake. He has read a few of my columns so he thought he recognized me, and we chatted on the water. He had a pretty good morning considering the weather, catching a few a little bigger than I did on a rattle trap. The Rattletrap, or Strike King Red Eye Shad which as you know I have thrown some in the last couple of weeks, is a good choice right now, if you can get it through the grass. Eric is a man after my own fishing heart. He is from Houston and was on his way back from a 2 day tournament on Falcon, and just stopped to get in a few hours at Coleto on his way home. How can you not love a guy who just can not keep on driving home when he has the boat on the back and there is a lake between him and the house. Can you say fishing nut?
I ended up fishing until about 1:30 and never did boat a real good one. But when you have a big front with high skies, it tends to be tough. But the reason I quit early was my friend Jeffish was going to do a taping job on a Gulf Coast for his friend David, and I wanted to see how it works.
Making an old boat look like new.
We started of with a mid 90’s Gulf coast which was plain grey. David chose the color of his tape, and so we prepped the side and started to work.
Here is the way that Gulf Coast looked before . . . .
Let me tell you folks, doing this job was no easy task. There is not a staight line on the area we wanted to wrap, and it was tough. We worked on it that afternoon late, and finished today. And it came out really nice. It is a great way to make an old boat new, and also to set it apart from others like it. In fact, I am sure there is no other Gulf Coast that color. It changed the whole look of that boat
and after. I love how it came out, looks like a new boat.
Now I am not sure this experience made me want to run out and do another, but it was a learning experience. And if you want to give your boat a make over that will set it apart without doing the full wrap, this is one way to go. There will be a few other graphics laid on the console, and when it is done, it will be sharp.
So tomorrow I am off to the water somewhere. Where I am not sure. But it does not really matter, I will be fishing. So thanks for reading my stuff. I appreciate all of you, and I read all the comments I get. And like Eric did the other day, if you see me out, stop and say hi. I am in either the white Mako 18LTS or my old 17′ Carolina Skiff. And remember to take someone fishing, it is a good thing for both of you.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
