Fish Catching Travel
Talk about bad luck, we were on our way home yesterday after a little shopping and there was a big storm, which looked like it was at our house. To bad, it missed. Just a few miles south and west of here some folks got 6 inches of rain. Good for them, I just wanted a little of that at my house. You could really tell when I got to the lake this morning at daylight as there were puddles everywhere, and it was just a tad cooler than it has been.
Since I have been off my game the last couple of weeks I decided to make a plan and stick with it. The most important part of that was to take it slow and easy. So I started with a 6″ plastic worm that has a straight tail, like a big drop shot worm. My color choice is almost always green with red flake. Combined with a 1/4 slip sinker and a 5/0 VMC wide gap, that allows for a little slower fall, and is plenty good for out to 20 feet of water.
I started on a flat point covered in grass where I have caught them lately, but it was missing one thing: deep water. So after no bites I headed up lake and decided it would be points with a flat covered in grass with at least 20 feet of water nearby. That turned out to be the ticket.
Bite #1. She was skinny but a good fish anyway.
I ended up catching 4 off that bank, all before 8:30. One thing that was consistent was that you needed a long sloping point with grass, but it had to have deep water close by. Most of the bites came from around 10 foot of water.
Another pretty nice one.
As far as how I was using that worm it was just hopping it up really slow and letting it fall on a fairly slack line. About half of the fish I caught today ticked it, the other half were just there when I lifted up. One thing about this morning, as I was throwing it to the edge of the grass and working it out, you had to be very careful when you lifted up. It was hard to tell sometimes that it was a fish. So if you are throwing a worm in the grass edge and you lift up and feel resistance, move it very easy, you can often feel them swimming with it, like several did today. And though I only had that one place with more than one, any sloping point with grass had a fish or two.
The last good one of the day.
It was nice to put some fish in the boat. It was simply a matter of slowing down, getting a pattern, and then sticking with it. The whole rig worked well when combined with 20 pound mono, allowing for a really slow fall. For the morning I caught 9 bass, missed a couple, lost 2, and had a good one break me off. I quit at 12:00, so not bad for a short day. And it was a good time to quit as I had my last bite around 11.
There really was no way to tell if that little front and rain helped, or I finally got back in the game. Either way it is still possible to put a few bass in the boat right now. Here is the bait I was using.
I wanted you to see not only the worm, but the hook. The worm is a fatter do nothing style, which helps with the sink rate as does a lighter hook. Some folks like a stouter hook when fishing in grass, but I almost always use a finer wire hook. That VMC is sharp and seems to be easier to get it in them, so it is my hook of choice right now. A lot of folks also like to peg their slip sinker in grass, but I rarely do that. By leaving it sliding Texas style it allows me to drop the rod and take up my slack before I hit them or they drop it. At least this is what works for me.
So if you get chance to hit Coleto maybe this will help you put a couple more in the boat. With the afternoon still a little sketchy I think I will go again in the morning, and keep trying new places that look like what worked today. And then maybe later this week I will give the Gulf a try if the Southwest wind lays some and we have a good tide day. No matter what I am ready for this weather to break. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
