Fish Catching Travel
After a bunch of trips to the Gulf it was time to take a morning and head to Coleto. I get folks who love the salt reports, and some who love freshwater, and Coleto Creek in particular. So with the boat repaired and back on the water it was a crack of dawn fishing start. With our days topping a 100, it has been a morning bite for me no matter where I have been fishing.
The lake has obviously come down some, and the upper end is clearing. The plastic frog bait has just not worked for me like it usually does this time of year, but it should, so it was the bait of choice. I stopped right above the bridge and started point hopping wherever there were grass mats on the point. Right off the bat I missed one, then didn’t have another bite until the third point, and put this one in the boat.
Any guess where he came from? Or what he was caught on?
From there I just worked my way up, and on an isolated patch way off a flat bank I lost a pretty good one in the grass. It is really important to be tackled up for throwing the frog in vegetation. I use 20lb Big Game and an Extra Heavy weight rod. And if you get one hung in the grass keep steady pressure, don’t really pull, but keep the pressure on and head right for them. If you pull to hard they might come off, let a little slack and they might be gone. No matter what, it is a cool tussle to battle it out in the grass with a big one.
Nothing like hand to hand combat with a big fish! This is not a light line, light tackle, technique.
This girl is the reason you have to throw the heavy stuff. She was on a flat point in about 2 foot of water in heavy cover. One of those cool bites where they just suck it under in a slurp. We fought it out and I ended up winning. This is the biggest bass I have caught in a while and she made the morning a hit. And before I forget, it is hard to not jerk the instant you see the bite, but with a frog you just can not do it. The best way for me to remember not to set the hook immediately is when they hit I stick them like I am fishing a Texas rig worm. Drop the rod as soon as they hit, reel out the slack, and cross their eyes in one continuous motion. Being soft they usually will hold it plenty long to get a good hook set.
Last frog fish of the morning.
I ended up missing one more on frog and then caught this one about 9:00. So though I had 7 bites, that was the end of the frog bite. Of course I did not know that and continued to fish it. Working my way back down lake I hit a couple of places without a bite. At this point it was already smokin’ hot, and the wind had basically died. So my last stand was throwing the swim jig on the island near the ramp.
And a Strike King Swim Jig fish to finish off the morning.
The one above just swam along with the bait until the rod began to load was the last bite I had. The last few times I have gone the swim jig has been about the size of it for me as far as catching them. So though I keep working on the frog, maybe getting it down a little more, and the buzzbait, the swim jig has still generated the most bites considering time fished. But it is hard for me to quit that frog right now, as the big girl above shows, the frog catches big fish.
When the day was over it was 8 bites, 4 in the boat, 3 misses, and 1 pulled off in the grass. So thought I would show you all the fish as I did not post any the last couple of reports. With the water temperature at 90 degrees, and a falling lake, I will be happy with that any Texas summer day. It was real apparent today, when that sun got up they shut up. I thought frog in the heavy mat should get better, but it didn’t. I may not have found that place yet, but it is out there somewhere. Find that right grass spot now and it could get ugly on that frog. By the same token, plastics will work, but it just isn’t the same.
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I forgot to tell you all something that happened to us on Tuesday when the Shoedog and I were fishing POC. We were in Big Bayou and the fish had basically quit, so we fished the long deep bank on the right as you enter the bayou. When I say there were some sea turtles, I don’t mean a few, we saw lots. We see them occasionally, but this was amazing. They were coming up, swimming around, and I even saw one swim out of the grass on the bank and try to catch? another one. There appeared to be dozens of them there. What they were doing there we had no clue, but it sure was interesting to see.
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I forgot to take some pictures of the boat hull so Shoedog had his adjuster, Brian of Progressive, send him some. (I was way to distressed to take any pictures at the time.) Before I go any further, Progressive was nothing but great to work with. Brian was professional and personable, and the claim was handled quickly and without hassle. So thanks Brian, Progressive, and Victoria Marine for all your help. If you have not looked into Progressive for your boat insurance consider them, our experience was nothing but all good. Kind of restored some of my faith in insurance companies.
Here were his comments on the boat:
“The fiberglass was the biggest part and even that wasn’t too terrible. Let me know if you want more ( although these pics are about the sum of it! “
See why I think it was a standing pipe I hit?
That corner was not off when I looked at it. I assume a quick poke in there and off it came. Who knows, it could have sunk. If I had seen that I probably would have started bawling!
So the boat is back and good as new. Of course you can not even tell that the bottom was ever touched. It could have been much worse. And on that note, insurance is a mandatory if you fish the bay. And when Shoedog picked the No Deductible option the insurance cost more, but what a great choice. So be sure yours is current, it could happen to you. And even though Brian says the fiberglass wasn’t that bad, it looked beyond horrible to me. No matter what, I am still very embarrassed it happened.
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If you like catfish, jugging and trotlining on Coleto is the way to go. I have heard several good reports and there were a few folks sacking them up today. One boat I saw was pulling in what looked like a real good one. A few perch or fresh Tilapia and you are in business.
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One last word on the trout fishing. We caught lots and lots of trout Monday and Tuesday, and while it was a good time, the better fish left something to be desired. That is a function of us throwing artificials and not live bait this time of year. While we are not croaker fishermen, that is so the bait of choice right now. From what we have seen, setting up in about 3 foot of water, fishing any break in that 3 -4 area with croakers, should really be good right now for the better fish. I may have to give that a try some time.
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I am not sure what is next, it is so dang hot. But at least there are some options right now. The gulf fishing is great and who knows, maybe I am getting the bass down a little bit better. But no matter what, it is definitely a putting on your big boy pants thing to fish much past noon. Who knows, I might just run some jugs and a trout line. Nothing like fresh catfish sizzling in the pan. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
