Fish Catching Travel
It had been awhile since I duck hunted, so when my friend Chris called and asked if I wanted to do a Cast and Blast it was a no brainer. So we launched at the dock in Seadrift and headed for Mission Bay.
It did not take long to get the decoys out, and by time shooting time came we were ready. About 5 minutes after legal time a nice group of redheads came in hot, but did not set their wings. Whether they were spooked, or just looking, they bombed by but we did get a couple of shots off. 2 bit the dust, so not a bad start.
To bad the rest of the morning was not as successful. Over the next couple of hours they came in, mostly singles and doubles, with very few actually setting their wings. Chris did whack a Gadwall, and unfortunately my shooting, as it usually does, left something to be desired.
Chris and our few ducks as we head for some trout fishing.
While our morning shoot is probably not a real success by big time duck hunter standards, it was great by me. With an absolutely dead calm wind, and mile high sky, it was far from a classic duck day. But all in all we saw more ducks than I thought we might, we did some shooting , and the breasts are in the fridge marinating for tomorrow’s supper. What is not to like about that.
I want to say a little something before I get to the fishing. Those of you who read my stuff know I often post on online fishing boards so folks can get a fresh fishing report. Well the report for today is just for those of you who read me regularly. So enjoy.
We left Mission Bay and headed up the Victoria Barge Canal to the BP Dock. It is quite a ways up the canal, but being in Mission cut the drive quite a bit. If you read the fishing information post the other day you know I told you about a big catch some other guys made, and the important point was those trout came from 12 foot plus of water. And it was not from the BP dock. With the really cold weather the trout are seeking warmer water, a place they can drop off and stay warm. Well, the Victoria Barge Canal is such a place. There are lots of rivers, inter-coastals, canals, and harbors on our coast. When we get weather like this – they are the place to be. So get out your map and go to looking.
When we got to the dock there was about 6 boats in there, and we saw them catch one here and there, so we just started drifting. It took about a half hour to get them going, the fish were right on the bottom in 12 foot plus water. For about an hour they were smaller, and we were only catching about 1 keeper for every 10 trout. After a few changes in our presentation things picked up. Then about 2 pm our presentation, combined with the better fish bite, put some nice trout in the boat.
Chris with a nice one.
There are a couple of important points about the fish we caught. One, we switched to an 1/8 ounce jig head, which fell a lot slower. Two, we did not work it as aggressively as usual. And three, they wanted it on the bottom. With the water temp there about 48 degrees, it was important to think like a trout, a cold hungry trout. When we slowed down, and made sure to bounce it off the bottom, they really began to eat it.
For me it was a dark body, chartreuse paddle tail, for most of the fish. But my bigger ones came on a paddle tail in Electric Chicken, my favorite color. Chris meanwhile dug out a slug looking bait, a small straight tail, in a red flake, that almost looked like it was a copper color. Once he got on that color with the smaller jig head he put it on me for a while. Additionally, he did put a couple of the bigger fish in the boat on a Corky fished super slow on the bottom. Finally with a long ride back to the ramp, we called it quits about 3.
A nice bunch of trout.
Some of the 15 we kept were pretty good trout.
When we got back to the ramp and were cleaning fish a guy came over and asked if I was Doug, of course guilty as charged. It turned out to be Matt, a friend of Todd my fishing buddy from Austin. Todd has spoken highly of him and that we needed to meet, and of course where else but a cleaning table. We also met his dad who was fishing with him, and they had a nice mess of trout. I am looking forward to fishing with him in the future. In fact, since he also bass fishes in the Austin area I wanted to let him know here, I would love to fish a lake up there with you some time. Nothing like inviting myself.
Today was a success, but how could it not be with some duck hunting and trout fishing. Winter is my favorite time to fish both fresh and salt. Once you get on the fish, you can easily duplicate that pattern in many places. The rest of the week will be a day trolling for trout in the river, and then either Baffin or drifting one of our local bays. Like I said before, find the soft bottom with scattered shell, and you will find the trout. And you might be surprised how shallow they are. Not every trout on the coast goes deep, they seek warm water wherever they can find it.
It looks like my website will top 100,000 visits for the year this month. I can not thank you enough. I can not tell you how much I appreciate you reading my reports, rants, and often times, senseless ramblings. It keeps me writing this stuff even when I am up at 3 am, home at 6 pm, just wanting to sit on my butt and chill. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
