Fish Catching Travel
What a difference a day makes. After a relatively nice day at POC we would get a rather dramatic weather change When we hit the lake at 7 it was 59 degrees and the wind was blowing 10 out of the North. By 2:00 it was 40 degree and the wind was howling out of the North at 35 – 40 mph. That wacky Texas weather.
We headed up lake and first fished a cove above the bridge. We put 6 in the boat there, all on topwater balsa minnows. The water in there was 59 degrees. As we fished up lake, the water temp slowly dropped another couple of degrees, and the bite definitely slowed. That said, we did get bites almost everywhere we tried, and it was real apparent quick, if you caught 2 there was a good chance at least a couple more would be there.
The best one of the day. One of 3 or 4 like this we caught today.
With the temp decreasing up lake we made a move to a mid-lake cove, and caught 4 or 5 out of it. One of them that Shoedog caught was a good one. We kept moving down lake, catching them here and there, but it definitely continued with the catch a few, then nothing. Shoedog did catch one on a Chatterbait and another on a jerkbait. The fish wanted that topwater right on top, not jerked real hard, just twitched. Most came on grass edges and points, but close to the bank. It was cool to see some of them in that clear water roll over on it.
As we headed up the other arm of the lake to get out of the wind, which was building, the water temperature started dropping again. And so did the air temperature, which we found out at the truck had dropped almost 20 degrees from when we started. Then about 1 it was there, and when I say the fish quit, they quit. Flat not even a bite. Of course that turned into a good thing, we quit too. Coming back down lake was the roughest ride I have had on Coleto. It was humping and it was definitely time to call it a day.
So not a bad day, we easily caught 20, with 4 or 5 nice ones. They were eating that topwater pretty good, and there was plenty of action. The really good fishing on Coleto is just about to start. The big girls are not shallow now, but they have to be staging close to the spawning coves and for jig and Carolina rig fisherman time to find a big bunch deep.
But nothing compared to the coyotes. As we fished along in a cove Jeff told me to look at the coyote, and there it was running through the brush at waters edge. It was dark, with a black ting to it’s coat. Behind it, also running like mad, was a bigger, grey coyote. It looked very much like my Husky. It’s back hair was up, and it was going to kill that other coyote. They crashed though the brush and the first one made the lake edge and jumped right in.
Unbelievable. They were maybe 30 feet in front of us when they went by, and coyote number one was running for it’s life. We could not tell if they were male or female. So who knows why coyote number one was run out of the territory, but there was no mistaking coyote number two’s intentions. Shoedog said he saw another one, I was to busy watching the first one. Every day in the outdoors is a blessing. But when we were lucky enough to top it off with a close encounter like we witnessed today I count myself lucky. What a sight.
So not a bad couple of days with the Shoedog here. We caught fish both days, in fact probably 70, give or take a couple, but none of them were “big”. But I am not complaining, it is just the prelude to what is coming. For both fish, and fishermen, the next few months will reach a fever pitch. There will be lots of big ones coming.
They did dredge out the channel around the boat ramp at Coleto, but it was dark when we left, and had 3 foot rollers on the ramp when we quit, so I can’t tell you what exactly got done. We still need some water in the lake, the ramp is steep, and I would still be really cautious when putting in. Thanks again for stopping and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
