Fish Catching Travel
I got the full report from the Shoedog on his trip yesterday to Fayette County. He caught them pretty good. Over the last couple of years we have really done well later in the spring when the traffic is down. It looks like that fishing pattern will continue. We have put well over a 100 in the boat several days this time of year, and Shoedog said it was an easy 30 for him yesterday.
Shoedog does Fayette County
“I guess my hands and back weren’t sore enough from 5 days fishing in the Ozarks, so I set off for Fayette Co. early Thursday morning. This is the time of year that I have had some of our best days there and I was hoping to repeat past successes.
I got to the ramp about 7 and was surprised to see only about 6 trailers- I guess the small threat of rain scared a few off. I skipped the first real shallow point that we usually stop on because I figured that the bass would probably be a little deeper post spawn. So I went out and started on the long point that comes off the main lake into Oak Thicket Park. I can usually catch fish at some point along this bank, and on the usually windy days it provides some relief from the ever present SW wind.
His big fish of the day.
Normally I will stay out in 10-12 feet of water ,or maybe 8-10 feet, and cast into 4-6 feet and retrieve over the grass beds with whatever bait we I am using. So. that’s what I did. The first thing I noticed was that the lake is a full as I have seen it in a while. Either from recent rains or pumping in from the Colorado River, it is bank full.
I started with my old standby Smithwick rattling/suspending Rogue that I have had a tremendous amount of success with from Texas to Canada and everywhere in between! The last few years I have had amazing luck here in Texas with it on many different lakes.
That Rogue has worked lots of places this year. It is the 4 1/2 inch, 3/8th ounce in the Red Bream.
I got more that 3/4 the way down the bank without a bass. I noticed there was less grass and fewer bull rushes than the last few years- a change that I think is a long term effect from the drought and the extremely long cold winter.
I finally caught a couple and noticed they were shallower bites as the wind had taken me a bit closer to shore, so I re-fished the bank a little shallower. Got bites immediately and noticed tilapia and bass up on the bank in and around spawning beds. Now, whether they are still in spawn or not, I have no idea, but there were a lot of fish shallow.
Another nice Fayette County fatty.
So, I concentrated on fishing the bank from about 5 feet throwing into 2-3 feet and started whacking them. Maybe they were up in new growth grass or still spawning, I don’t know, but I was not too worried about that! From then on it was classic Fayette County fishing. I tried a few other normal spots and deeper depths but they were shallow so I listened to them.
This morning I was on the TPWD site reading about the lake and was surprised to learn that shad were not the main forage specie in the lake, but red ear sunfish is. When you look at the Rogue I use you can see why it might work! Not something I planned, but over the years you get lucky once in a while and tie on the right bait at the right time and this one has proven to work for me.
I finished with right at 30 bass and 3 or 4 good ones. It is hard to beat this lake if you like bass fishing- period.
Now is time to do some boat maintenance and plan for Canada in June with Doug, Clyde and John- well and maybe a trip to Belton and a few days at POC and maybe a Coleto trip……..Later- and hope you caught some, too! “
Folks the fish were shallow and I can promise you he was using the jerk/jerk/pause/jerk/pause – then do it all over again cadence. I had to watch him catch the crap out of them on Bull Shoals last week, and Fayette and Falcon a number of times. So keep that in mind on your next trip to Fayette. Incidently we have also used the same cadence with the Rapala Shallow Running Shad Rap in the silver foil on Fayette this time of year with great success.
Tilapia
My friend Jeffish sent me the following picture from his trip to Coleto yesterday.
Fresh Tilapia straight from the lake to the plate is a thing of beauty.
There are still enough Tilapia on the beds on both Coleto and Fayette County to make a trip worthwhile. Jeffish says he hit 2 of the first 3 he shot at. That of course begs the question on how many more shots it took to kill the third one. Not being a Tilapia affecianado I am not sure how much longer they will be shallow on power plant lakes, but if you want to get a few now would be the time.
Random Thoughts
Everything is falling into place nicely today. Checked out at Bob’s and the flats boat check up is done and he is just waiting on the trim pump which was covered under warranty. It should be in today or tomorrow, and since that is all that is left to do we will have the boat back shortly. And that is a good thing as I would love to get out anytime in the next couple of days. Then Shoedog is down for some POC time, followed by an ex-employee and her husband for a day or two of Gulf fishing, so the saltwater reports will be coming in hot and heavy this week. I may even be over in Matagorda a couple of days this weekend with the crazy bunch from Austin. Looks like a good week coming up. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
