Fish Catching Travel
The original plan was to fish with Chris and Troy for crappie on Coleto but when I got to Chris’s, no Troy. It turned out the no Troy trip also turned into a no crappie trip. But the good thing about Coleto is the bass always cooperate.
It was perfect when we hit the water at daylight. Calm, it was perfect for crappie fishing with small jigs. The first thing we noticed was the lake had obviously dropped several inches. And to help matters the watertemp above the bridge dropped 10 degrees from a week ago. That probably should have deterred us right away, but we gave it the old college try.
To make a long story short we fished in a couple of coves and managed to put 1 crappie in the boat. We fished brush, stumps, and trees from 3 feet to 12 feet. We even stopped at the bridge without success. For an 2 hours of crappie fishing it was exactly one fish. Of course that is if you don’t add the 6 or 7 small bass that hit the jig. Chris even threw the small crappie spinnerbaits and crankbaits.
Chris with the first bass he has caught in a few years.
After Chris caught this bass on the small spinnerbait I was starting to think we should be bass fishing. Before we headed back down lake we tried another cove for crappie and fished for bass some. I think we caught a couple of small ones before we headed down lake.
As soon as you get a short distance downlake from the bridge the water starts warming considerably. It went from a low of 57 degrees to 64 down lake. That is a significant change when combined with another drop in the lake. We did hit the back ends of a couple of places, and though there were lots of beds, we did not see any tilapia or bass.
From then on it was main lake banks with at least 10 foot of water and the wind blowing on them. The Strike King Swimming Jig caught fish, as did crankbait. We picked them off here and there, slowly adding to the total. As it got later, and we were on a main lake bank with light breeze I caught the one below on a spinnerbait.
A little better, this one smoked a spinnerbait.
We even fished one bank 3 times, putting 5 or 6 in the boat on each pass. It was not fast fishing by any means, but they clearly moved in the afternoon. As we came off the main lake heading into a main lake cove I caught this freak.
Fattest shortest ever? If this girl makes it to old age she will be a hoss.
So our 2 best bass came in the last hour on a buzzed white spinnerbait. Probably the most fish came on the Swim Jig. Chris actually caught several right after he tied his first one on. He was using a 3/8th and I was using a 1/4, and the fish obviously like the little heavier jig. It was one of those days when the fish just were not real active, but still catchable as the water temperature slowly rose. That last fish came from 68 degree water, the warmest we could find. That tells you how important water temperature can be when you are talking spring pre-spawn and spawning fish.
And you can be sure to see the alligators any warm spring day on Coleto. We saw several, including these good friends.
A couple of close friends.
They all act different. This one basically ignored us, then finally slipped in the lake.
He just sat there close to the boat looking at us.
One of the real benefits of taking pictures at the lake is preserving the memories. Looking back at the fat fish above, the gator laying his head on the other gator, and lots of the others I have taken, document how fat that one really was, or how cool it was when the Osprey carried the squirrel away. Time outdoors is precious, and if we are lucky every day has something to remember.
I am not sure what or where is next. Monday it is jury duty day. Being a retired attorney I have actually wanted to sit on a jury, but as a rule lawyers are never picked. Of course that means I will be selected for some really long trial. If I am dismissed, Chris and I are headed to the Gulf Tuesday, weather allowing. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to deteriorate some, to a high of only 50. But I am still thinking of hitting the water.
While the day was slow overall, we did manage to put over 20 bass in the boat. From 8″ to a big fattie, they tended to run small today. Obviously I need to spend some time on my crappie locations skills, if I could ever get the bass off the brain. If I have not gotten back to a few of you, sorry, just trying to keep up with the blog and life at the same time. And stop in tomorrow for a Fayette County report. Sounds like Shoedog put a few in the boat.
I want to thank you all for reading my stuff. Hopefully you like reading it as much as we like bringing it to you.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
