Fish Catching Travel
When I posted the other day that I had not heard from Shoedog on the Nebraska fishing trip. So I figured it just did not amount to much. I got this from him today and I was sure wrong about that, sounds like they had a great time.
A Day on Small Water in Nebraska
“Shoedog here- after 13 days of set up, selling and tear down of our booth at the Nebraska State Fair- we needed a day on the water! I had spent 8 years in south central- Nebraska- that is -and Terry has been there another 10 or so since I came south to Texas. We have spent a lot of time on the many irrigation lakes there as well as Francis Case Lake in South Dakota and the many I-80 lakes that are along the highway between Grand Island and Kearney, NE.
Terry doing what else but selling some shoes. Need to get that boy retired, add to the confusion around here.
We started at a 8 or so acre lake right in the city limits of Grand Island- a sand/gravel pit lake. I- as usual- started out with a jerk bait and on about the third cast had a great strike and after about the first run new it wasn’t a bass. Right on, it was a nice channel cat and he was a great fight- amazing how sometimes they just smash a hard bait!
Nice jerkbait fish Shoedog.
We had a nice run on typical small water bass- about 25 on jerk baits, cranks and Terry was flipping them out of the docks and the lay downs. On one dock he caught one and as he was releasing it he had another before he was finished letting the first one go!
Look at this picture really close.
We decided to head down the road and hit a couple other lakes as the sun got lower in the sky- we had the worst conditions for bassing- not a cloud in the sky- man it was bright out!
Next we hit a similar size lake that we have caught bass on in the past- we caught 4 there with the largest about 2 pounds. Then we met up with Justice, the new young feller that is our partner at Brown’s Shoe Fit Co. in Kearney, NE. This kid is alright- likes to sell shoes and fish- go partner go! He said that an older customer greeted him at his store in Kearney by asking him if he liked to fish, to which he replied- Why, yes sir, I do. The fella said- that’s good- most of the guys in the state pen don’t!
Love those smallies.
The Nebraska outdoor folks have targeted the small “interstate” lakes more since I left there. Some are more for bass/catfish, some for trout in colder weather and the last one we went to was set more for smallmouth bass- one of my favorite species. We caught five in our last hour before dark, with this one Justice caught being the best. It was just shy of 18″ and smacked a KVD 1.5 square bill hard- a great way to end our day- 3 partners in the shoe biz and buddies on the water- it doesn’t get much better than that!
Nice one!
Now I am back to Texas and ready for the fall fishing that lies ahead- schooling Reds and some flounder runs- and hopefully a couple new lakes that we have not hit before. Stay Tuned- same bat time- same bat channel!”
Now that is fun and looks like it was a great time. If you really want to catch a fish, there is a way. I think lake and pond hopping is a cool way to fish, and it sure would seem one of them would have a bite on. And nice when you do it with old buddies. I got to fish with Terry once, but he and Shoedog have been fishing together for years. We just can’t seem to get him down here on the Gulf, so Terry the invitation is open anytime. Give you a case of the redfish disease.
(Please excuse the unruly format, this report came to me in something the site did not recognize. So even though it may be somewhat disconcerting I wanted to share it with you. As you know, we may not be pretty all the time, but so what. It is all about the fishing!)
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I got a call from Aaron the other night right at dark to give me the scoop on Coleto. He had put a couple over 5 in the boat and while we were chatting he said he heard something schooling. After we hung up he went over to where they were smacking the surface, and using his flash light, found they were catfish. He said most of them were in the 1 – 5 pound range and there were lots of them. Whatever they were eating, they were doing it right on top. Folks that is a little strange, not unheard of, but not common by any means. So what does that mean? Of course we are going after them tomorrow night and see if we can sack a bunch. Should be interesting.
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I told you Chris sent me a picture of a red and I managed to delete it, he also sent me this from his trip to POC last week.
The picture he sent was a good one and they caught one more rat red. He thought he might scratch a few more out, but he had the wife along and he wanted her to catch some fish. When they were moving they came on a school of those big jacks so they stopped. Adriana hooked 3 and they all broke off. The big ones are so tough on light gear. He said that ended up messing around with that for quite a while. I am sure it did, landing one of those really big jacks is work. Secretly I always hope they break off, even with a $6 topwater in their face.
They did drift Pringle once without any success. It was windy as all get out and the water was way up with the reds scattered. The tide was high like that today. It was high-low (sorta)-high in about a 4 hour period today. The East wind has lots to do with that and it means something to the fish too. Fall is coming. Thanks for the report and looking forward to Port Mansfield in October, the fishing should be good.
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Speaking of schooling redfish you are absolutely right Shoedog, and add a flounder and some trout and life is good. It is late as I write this so I will get to that tomorrow. But Aaron and I had a fun day out of POC. Next it looks like we are going to see if those schooling catfish are there. That has a hit or miss factor to it, they will either be there or not, we’ll just have to see. So stop in for the POC report, I will get at it tomorrow. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
