Fish Catching Travel
It was day 2 of Shoedog’s visit, and after yesterday we were determined to put a few more keepers in the boat. So at the crack of dawn we jumped out of the boat and on to the flat adjacent to the old Coast Guard station.
Yesterday all the good fish, either caught or lost, came on topwater so that was the logical starting point. Shoedog on the bank and me headed to deep water. Slowly working my way out throwing topwater resulted in a half-hearted strike from a good redfish. Shoedog had several strikes and caught a couple of little ones, but they just were not having it. So at that point I went back to plastics. Using a 4″ paddle tail on a 1/16th ounce jig head was my choice, and boy did it work.
Before I go any further I need to say something. While no great trout fisherman by any means, I have caught my share and had some fabulous days, but if I have ever caught more trout any other time in my fishing addiction I can’t remember when. And while they were small they were willing. We caught them from 7:00 in the morning until 12:00. It would be 4 on consecutive casts, then miss a couple, then another run. Over and over. By time I yelled at Shoedog to get over here I caught at least 20. It was flat out ugly.
Before it was over we only kept 4, one of them I caught was a good one. Lots were 14″, lots were smaller, but they bit and bit. Once I got the rhythm down they were just eating it cast after cast. I would hop it up in the Texas two-step and then let it fall. The paddle tail was falling nice and slow and they sucked it in. While I was using the electric chicken color, Shoedog was throwing a copper flake paddle tail. When it was at its peak it was both of us just whacking the snot out of them, fish after fish. About an hour after it started I had to go back to the boat because I only had 5 spare plastics with me, and they had already tore those up. After that I went through another 6 or 8 before it was over.
There are several reasons it was that good and there were so many fish there. When we were getting them we were waist deep on the very end of the point, though there were fish all over that place. There was a light chop from a ENE wind right on the point where it drops off into deep water, the tide was going out with the water slowly moving out all morning right on the point. So it was a perfect set of conditions that positioned a whole damn bunch of fish on one place. I wish I could take credit for figuring that set of conditions out, but we just happened to be there. Goes back to the more I fish the luckier I get thing.
So what to make of all the small ones? Of course they tend to run in size groups, but there are good trout there. The day before our percentage of good trout bites was way higher. I really think that there were so many small trout competing for food that the better ones just could not get to it quicker. But who knows? That theory may be completely full of crap and if we had tried some other techniques maybe we would have caught the bigger ones. There is an old saying, never leave fish to find fish, in this case there was no leaving. So we stuck with it and had a big time.
About noon I wanted to hit the redfish in Big Bayou so even though they were still biting some, we headed out. When we got to Big Bayou the water had really fallen out, the wind quit, and it went from decent out to flat out hot. The water was not moving and was low and clear. There was nothing moving, in fact we fished most of it over the next couple of hours, and the only thing over the side was a Sheepshead. The weird thing about that was I caught him on a spinnerbait.
Next it was off to work the Barroom Bay shoreline along the flat in a little deeper water. We stayed way off so we could hit the drop and deeper grass. We figured if we would catch a trout we would stop and wade it. I missed one on a spinnerbait and then Shoedog put a rat in the boat on plastics. That turned out to be the size of it. There were some big thunderheads with lots of lightning all around POC, nothing was moving, and we had only put 2 in the boat in 3 hours so we called it a day.
There were several around like that. Time to head to the ramp
don’t you think?
Funny how fisherman look at a day. I caught them until I was tired of it, who could complain about that. But since they were small it raises plenty of questions. Should we have moved searching for bigger fish? We they biting like that wherever they were in the bay? Did we miss out by not trying different baits? Crazy. I feel almost embarrassed thinking like that when I caught well over 50.
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I got this comment from Steve today and thought I would share it with you:
“Me and a friend were down from Waco a couple of weeks ago and had the same thing happen at the coast guard station. We had as many as 8 dolphins around us at one time. They would disappear then as we would reel in the trout they would just appear all around like you said within 4 or 5 feet just waiting for their free meal. The real show was when I caught a skipjack. The gang chase him into about 2 foot of water and then it was on, right there to see about 40 feet away. The show looked just like sea world; I think if I would have wanted to I could have hand feed them. When in the water with them, only feet away you can really appreciate their size.”
Thanks for that Steve, sounds just like our day, and it reminded me of something. One of the things I forgot to tell you all about yesterday was that exact thing happened to me. I tossed a lady back and the chase was on. I think the dolphins have that place figured out. And yep, when a dolphin is 5 feet away from you they are one big animal.
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I also heard from Billy.
“Just trying to see if this works. I had posted a comment a while back and never saw it show up. It was concerning the incident with the Dargel and the broken axle. You had said that you had never heard of that happening before. I had the exact same thing happen; with a 17′ Dargel, with a Sportsman trailer.”
First my apology that you did not see your comment when I posted about Chris breaking his axle. One of the problems with getting old is your forget stuff, and I honestly thought I had already posted your first comment. Just the fact it was the same deal as Chris’ made it cool. In fact, after you sent me that I was at Victoria Marine and asked Bob about it and was surprised at how many axles he sells. Apparently a broken axle is not as uncommon like I thought it might be. So thanks for reading Billy, and keep those comments coming folks.
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Shoedog is big on Facebook and is friends with Muskie Bay Resort. If you read my stuff you know how much I have enjoyed going there and fishing Crow Lake and Lake of the Woods. Not only are the folks, Paul, Chris, Jake, and the rest of the gang the best, the fishing is great. Shoedog gets updates on his page of Muskie Bay Resort posts to their Facebook page and boy are they whacking the big muskies. Paul said there are 2 times that are best for their muskies, August full moon and fall. They do a lot of trolling at night and it has resulted in some big fish this month. Going there is a trip of a lifetime for a fisherman, so if you do the Facebook thing and want to see some awesome muskies check out their Facebook. If it was half the drive it is I would be up there 2 or 3 times a year, it is that good.
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Again I just could not do the dead fish on the cleaning table picture thing. But if you want to see them let me know, they taste the same whether they get their picture taken or not. I am not sure what or where is next, but the weather forecast stinks. According to our guy Bill, who is never wrong, we are looking at record highs all the next week. It is going to be ugly. I do know it is a lot cooler wading on the coast than it is at the house. As it looks like the boat will be done this week of course there will be a test run somewhere in the next couple of days. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
