Fish Catching Travel
I was headed to Indianola this morning but when I got close I realized it was not quite daylight, so I kept on going to POC. I figured with the holiday it would be crowded, but with an early start I hoped the parking at Froggie’s would be ok. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the ramp about 6:45 and there was only 7 trucks in the lot. That will not be the case starting tomorrow.
So off to Big Bayou to throw some topwater. I have heard reports that the topwater fishing has been good in the morning until the sun gets up, and it was exactly like that. The tide was way up, and the water was still moving some, when I got to the first bank. I missed one until I got to the end of it, and where the drain separated 2 islands there was bait everywhere. It was there I caught my first trout. Though small at least it was a trout. I started working the drains and if there was bait, there were fish.
From then until about 11:00 they hit that topwater pretty good. Now I use the term loosely because they did hit it, and I put 7 reds and trout in the boat, but I missed at least 4 times that many. I mean they were knocking it up in the air, following it with big wakes, swirling behind it, you name it and they hit it that way at least once.
This was the best, and first, of the 4 reds I caught on topwater this morning.
Now do not get me wrong, I missed my share. I probably lost at least as many as I caught. Some got the jump on me, a couple of good fish pulled off, and of course several hit it when I was looking for the next cast. One real big ass red even smashed it right at the boat, but I think he saw me at the last second and turned off, either way it was a good one.
This trout was the first trout I caught and was important for a couple of reasons, not all good.
I almost always take a picture of the first fish in case there is not another, but the real reason I took the picture is I wanted you to see the topwater. It was a black and chrome Skitterwalk. It is important because during the morning I threw pink Skitterwalk, a smaller chrome Top Gun, a KVD topwater, and a smaller Zara Spook. They clearly wanted this bait. In fact, while they hit the others, this is the only one that I was able to put a fish in the boat with. One of those times when they wanted exactly what they wanted.
Another reason this fish was important was the camera battery died right after I took this picture, so there were no more pictures today. You would think a guy who blogs would have his camera stuff up to snuff, but oh well, stuff happens. And lastly, that plug no longer exists, at least on the end of my rod. For the last month Big Bayou has had some jacks schooling and today was no exception. Normally I do not mess with them, to dang much work. But in this case I am fishing the Shark-a-thon on North Padre in October and Jacks make good bait.
So about 10:30 I see them tearing it up close to the boat, not the first bunch I saw today, so I headed over with the trolling motor and cut them off. Now they looked small, so I heaved the above lucky bait out and of course a real giant smashed it. It was one of those 20+ pounders we have on the Texas coast, and the fight was on. So in spite of knowing better, I am hooked up to a bruiser, you know how they are, it is 95 degrees, the wind is not blowing, and I have it on my trout topwater rod with 10lb. line. You can guess what comes next. I babied it for as long as I could, following it around, sweating like a pig, when finally the line parts. So, sorry Chris, we could have used that one for bait in October. After a long hot fight I lose an $8 bait, that will teach me.
At this point the tide seemed to be slack to slightly falling so I headed into Barroom and chased bait schools. Until about 11:15 they continued to hit the topwater, unfortunately I did not get the hook in many, some their fault, some mine. So I switched to plastics and caught a couple of small ones, and one nice one. I threw the popping cork some, and did catch a couple of more trout, but of course had to do battle with a big Gafftop. That is one problem in the warmer months with a popping cork, Gafftops love it, so I put it down.
Finally about 12:30 I called it a day. It was flat out calm and hotter than all get out. But the morning was sure worth it. I know that wherever I saw bait, I got them to hit the topwater, and there was bait everywhere. Right now if you have a favorite place, and there is bait, throw that topwater first thing. It seemed I got the same amount of bites from both reds and trout, it did not seem matter. The key was bait, and you could see rafts of mullet, it was simply a matter of following them.
My best guess is around 11 or 12 came over the side today, I know there was 4 reds, and the rest were trout. Of the reds 2 measured, of the trout, maybe 4, but I was not keeping any today so who knows. All in all not a bad morning. Since I do not fish the holiday weekends, something I am lucky enough to not have to do, I am actually jealous of you that will be on the coast for the long weekend. If that is what I found without burning even a gallon of gas, I can only imagine how good it would be in some other places. To bad I did not bring the wading stuff today, it probably would have been the way to go. So if you are out this weekend give it a try.
I want to say a little about the holiday weekend. The forums are always full of folks talking about incidents following a busy weekend. People cutting them off, buzzing waders, and moving in on them when they are catching fish, among others. So folks please be nice. Give folks some room. Have your boat ready to back in the water when you pull up to the ramp, it is not time to unhook the tie downs, get out the rods, or buy some bait when you are backed up to the ramp and others are waiting. If you are leaving the dock at or before daylight turn on your running lights, if they don’s work, wait until daylight. If you meet someone who is coming at you and they do not have a clue as to the rules of the road, be the bigger guy and yield to them. And last, be sure you have your safety stuff together, fishing license, life jackets, the whole deal. The Coast Guard, Game and Fish, the cops, you name it will be patrolling this weekend. It only takes a minute to check stuff over, and it is sure cheaper than a ticket. The holidays are supposed to be fun, don’t let it ruin your weekend.
So what’s next? I am not sure, I may even sneak out this weekend early, this morning got my blood running. When they are hitting topwater like that it is to good to pass up, so I might even violate my no fishing on the holiday weekend rule. Be safe this weekend and have a great time with family and friends. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
