Fish Catching Travel
A fun day on the water.
The weather report called for wind up to 30 mph and they were dead on. Have you ever noticed how here on the coast when they call for little wind they are always wrong, but when they call for lots they are dead on. But that is another story. So with high winds an absolute certainty it was definitely a bass kinda day.
I headed up lake to try to find somewhere the wind was not blowing to bad, and even though I never found that, I did find some places to fish. With the spawn in full swing on Coleto, there are bass and tilapia on the beds all over the lake, it was time for some serious shallow water fishing. So my first stop was a really shallow bank with isolated grass.
With the wind a spinnerbait was the first choice. Today I had one of those moments of insight as I remembered that in the “old” days when I was guiding in Arkansas an all white spinnerbait was a killer on windy spring days. So I got one out and went to buzzing. They liked it just fine.
Sorry it is blurry, but this was the first fish I caught.
The fish were shallow, and I mean shallow. Over the next couple of hours I caught them consistently. They wanted it fairly fast, and several hit it when it popped out of the water right on the bank. For some reason this time of year they like that all white, and that means blades too. I was not really burning it, but moving it right along, and I caught fish in 6 inches of water, half way back, and right beside the boat. It wasn’t a matter of searching out a windy bank, it found you. It is so awesome to see them hit it right in front of you. It was one of those days when you better not give up on it.
This was my biggest on a spinnerbait. Notice the tandem blades with a big willow in the all white. She blasted it!
The fish were clearly up and biting. I just kept riding the wind and running the spinnerbait catching little ones and nice ones. After a couple of hours of that it was time to dip into a couple of coves and throw the swim jig. At this point in the day I was already happy with the results, but with some better fish moving I thought I might be able to make that swim jig work. And boy did it!
My biggest of the year so far. I am still throwing a 1/4 ounce brown swim jig with a Rage Craw trailer.
When I started with the swim jig I went to a bank where it was only 3 foot deep a long cast from the bank. The first one I caught on it was a good one. Next came the girl above. With the fish that active I was reeling that swim jig almost as fast as the spinnerbait. She came out of a clump of grass right next to the boat and ate it right in front of me. It was one of those hits we dream of. She immediately went nuts, got wrapped up on something, and did her best to get off. When a fish like this gets wrapped, and you can not get her off, it helps sometimes to hold the line just tight and see if she will swim out, and she did. Now I do not have a clue what she weighed, and as I have said many times before when I catch a big one, who cares. Big is big!
It was about noon so out came the Go Pro camera. I was hoping to get another good one of film but it was not to be. With only 45 minutes or so of time I just did not get the job done as far as getting a big fish on tape. But they kept biting. I probably ended up catching about 10 on the swim jig. So here is short video on how it is done.
The only real mistake I made was not taking the bigger boat today. The wind was so hard that it blew that Carolina Skiff wherever it wanted to. The heavier boat would have slowed my drift some, and would have helped me add some more fish. But who is complaining. When you can catch fish like these my rule is never look a gift horse in the mouth. I started at about 8:30 and quit a 1:30 when the bigger fish seemed to slow down. If I had used the other boat I would have stayed a while longer but the wind at this point was howling so I called it a day.
After struggling on Lake Fork it was nice to be back in the fish. I am always amazed at how different the fishing can be on different bodies of water. Bass are bass, but where and how they bite is so specific to each body of water. The fish on Coleto are in full spawn. Did you notice on the one fish in the video that there are white spots under the water. Those are beds. Now I am not generally a sight/bedding fish fisherman, but if that is your thing, Coleto is the place to be. The forecast for tomorrow is even more wind with the possibility of some storms so as much as it kills me I will take the day to catch up on my life. But I can promise you that I will be back there Thursday. Now is the time.
So thanks for reading my stuff. I enjoy every day on the water, and days like this just keep me coming back for more. It is my pleasure to share it with you and I hope in some small way you might find something here that will help you catch a few more fish. So keep those comments coming, tell your friends, and take the time to take someone with you next time you go.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
