Fish Catching Travel
Ever have one of those days that started off fine and then went downhill, only to recover later? Well that was my day today. I woke up about 6 and decided to head to Keller Bay. I have wanted to fish that area for a while. It has one of my favorite wading banks, and with the trout fishing being so good now I headed that way.
When I turned off Highway 59 and headed towards Olivia I got to the small bridge over the back of Keller Creek and it was closed. There was a big loader apparently dredging out something off the bridge. To bad that they forgot to put the sign up on 59 that the road was closed. So no big deal I headed back to 59 and went north to hit another road that would take me there. About 4 miles off 59 I got ready to turn on that road and there was a sign that there was a bridge closed about 2 miles ahead, and it was only open to local traffic. Not sure what that meant, and already miles out-of-the-way I gave it up and headed to Indianola. So it was one of those hour drives and I still was not anywhere.
When I finally got to Indianola the cloud cover was gone and it was blowing straight out of the east. As the tide was just starting, and Lavaca Bay was chocolate, it was blowing mud into the Powderhorn and the whole front of the bay was off colored. I started on the first bank on the left and fished the first couple of pockets with a spinnerbait. It took me an hour and I only caught this guy.
I always take a picture of the first one, you never know when it will be your last.
With the water-color still off, and the wind blowing down the Powderhorn, I decided to hit the area they call Mailbox. It is the small pocket on the south side about 1/2 way back. I caught another small red on the spinnerbait but ended up not catching another fish though I fished the whole thing. So there I was about 2 and 1/2 hours into it and only had a couple.
So I cut across the bay and went to the north bank past the duck blinds and kept throwing the spinnerbait. The water was still a little off colored but the tide was starting to run. I finally got on some reds. I noticed that in the small pockets in the long bank where there was calm water there were little bait fish, and that was where the reds were. I caught a couple of small ones, then this guy.
This was a freaking hoss! He was on a school of little bitty bait.
I can not emphasize enough how important it is to watch what is going on around you. If you see bait jump, water move, or anything else that looks suspicious, throw at it. When I caught the one above there was little bait jumping and moving, and I threw into it 3x when he finally hit. I kept going down that long grass bank when I caught his twin about 5 minutes later.
The Redfish Magic strikes again.
It was about 3 when the water really started to clear. There was bait moving and the fish were definitely getting more active. When I saw some jump behind me I picked up the topwater and had one just smash it. It turned out to be a small red who hit it like he was a giant. I kept going down the bank, and where the bank heads into the last cove before the bridge area I saw some fish working behind me. I headed out to them and the fiasco began.
It was a big school of reds, and I mean over a hundred. I got excited and tossed the spinnerbait and got a huge backlash. I wasn’t able to get it out so I tossed the topwater but did not get a hit. So I grabbed the plastic, a Gamble Flapper, and tossed it to where they had been and promptly lost one. After he came off I tossed it towards the bait, and promptly messed that up. Then they were gone. To bad, that was the biggest school of nice reds I have seen in a while.
So I headed back to the bank and on the point I saw fish chasing bait where the water was running around it, and promptly missed a couple. Then I caught a trout, and then another, and then missed a couple more.
This was the size of the trout. Notice I am throwing that Strike King KVD in the bone I told you about last time. They like it.
I got quite a few blow ups, and then I had something big flush it like a concrete block. I set the hook and the fight was on, and then it was over. Whatever it was opened the split ring on the front hook and was gone. Just an example of how the day was going. One comment, this was as far back in the Powderhorn I have caught trout. And I managed to catch 3 and should have had several more.
I was hot and tired at this point and decided to call it a day. Considering how it started, and how I fished, it turned out okay. I caught 7 or 8 reds and 3 trout, and should have boated some more. But at least I finally caught some trout in the Powderhorn. I can not wait to get back and try the back end, who knows, maybe that is where they are and why I have not caught to many the last several trips there.
So this week will be busy. It looks like my brother can finally shake loose and fish a couple of days. It may conflict with the boys from Austin coming, but Jeff has not been down since this winter, and he needs the break. So who knows, I may fish all week. No matter what it will be a few days at POC no matter what. So keep stopping in and I will keep reporting. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
