Fish Catching Travel
POC
Every once in a while you will hear someone say to quit your bitchin’ and man up, heck I say it myself. Generally in my case it is whether it is to windy to fish the Gulf so I just wuss out and fish Coleto. Today the Shoedog was here and the plan was to head to POC and do some scouting so Shoedog could take a couple of friends fishing tomorrow. We thought we would have the flats boat back from the shop, but it was not done, so off to POC with the Carolina Skiff.
Now don’t get me wrong, the Carolina Skiff has served me well from the Everglades to the Arkansas River. It is a great little boat, but when the wind is blowing it can be a pain. Today was just that. When we got to POC the wind was blowing like crazy, shifting more to the north as we fished. To help matters a big front was sitting right on top of us, and around 11 it actually started thundering and lightning, which ended our day, thank God.
From Froggie’s all the way to the Oil Cut the water was a beautiful shade of brown, if you like dirt with that water. And even in the Oil Cut the wind made it next to impossible to fish like we do, easing down the bank throwing plastics and spinnerbaits. We put exactly 3 fish in the boat from 7:45 until 11 when we headed to the ramp. 1 red and 2 trout, of which none measured. About the time we were going to quit, it was just to much hassle, Bob called and the boat was done. So we headed to town, dropped off the skiff and picked up the other boat.
Coleto
After putting all the “stuff” back in the boat it was off to Coleto. One thing about this time of year, with the warm water temperature, almost 80 at the lake, a good breeze means good spinnerbait fishing.
Shoedog started things off with a nice one on spinnerbait. We were making sure the ones we are making and taking to Canada ran right, and they did.
We started way up lake, Shoedog with a spinnerbait and me with a buzzbait. We both stayed with those the rest of the day. The spinnerbait he was buzzing right along, I was reeling the buzzbait at a moderate retrieve. The pattern simply was wind – a good breeze pounding on the bank, and there were fish. And within the wind, most of the fish came near points, mouth of pockets, anything that would normally hold fish, had fish as long as there was wind.
I finally started helping with the buzzbait.
It seemed like the spinnerbait was the better bait, but before it was over I think it was a tie. Once on a good windy bank, they would hit one of the other. Most that hit the buzzbait assaulted it and there was no missing them. They seemed to come closer to the bank, while the spinnerbait fish came a little farther off. Probably due to how fast he was whipping that thing in.
Spinnerbait or buzzbait, either way when one decided to eat they were smashing it.
We ended up catching over 20 this afternoon. It was a really solid bite, and we put several like these in the boat. It may not have won a tourney, but our top 5 were solid. We caught them way up, in sight of the dam, and right on the main lake, as long as it had wind. And while it helped if the bank had good wind, the good bites were on deeper banks. It seemed the real flat banks were not nearly as good as the deeper ones. And that will hold true if the lake keeps dropping.
The biggest for the afternoon.
Not having fished Coleto in a couple of weeks I was surprised how far down it has come. It was in a little holding pattern, but now that we are not getting the rain it could get ugly later. Getting in and out could be an adventure real soon.
So while the day started off tough, we would have quit down at POC no matter what, it made a nice comeback. Being able to come back and hit Coleto, and catch a nice bunch, made it sweet. So we did not suck it up and man up in the wind at POC, no big deal, there will be other days. Plus I am not one of those folks who subscribe to the adage that suffering makes you stronger. Far as I am concerned, suffering breeds suffering, and nothing more. So keep stopping in, with the flats boat back the Gulf is still in my near future. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
