Fish Catching Travel
A day that makes it all worth it!
Like I said in my post yesterday it was scheduled to rain and I expected to be moping around the house. But the report was for only around a 1/2″ during the day so I finally put on my big boy pants and headed to the lake. As I have told you many times, give me a nice warm day with a drizzle and I can catch them. So taking my own advice I went, and it was awesome.
The wind was out of the north and it was lightly raining when I got there at 11:00. On fall days like this there is only one choice for me, spinnerbait. And after Booyah was kind enough to stand by their baits I wanted to throw one of their spinnerbaits all day, and I did. I wanted you all to be sure that those couple of baits were no reflection on their great stuff. I was throwing a 3/8 ounce white tandem with nickel blades and as you can see, it freakin works.
Fish Number 1.
It started off slow and I only caught this one and another during the first hour, but that was before I figured it out. From noon until 3 they were trying their best to jerk my arm out of the socket. Unfortunately I broke off a big one, over 6, when the 20lb leader broke at the braid. Hard to describe the force when a big fish stops a buzzed spinnerbait. So I tied the next Booyah directly to the braid and it was game on.
Impossible to tell you how hard they were stopping it.
One reason I was able to tie directly to the braid is I was “buzzing” the spinnerbait. It was a matter of tossing it right on the bank and pulling it right below the surface at a fairly high rate of speed using a 7 to 1 high speed reel. Of course moving it that fast is purely a reaction strike and when they stop it, they stop it.
I love fishing a spinnerbait!
I did make one change to the Booyah, the rear blade was gold and I switched so both blades were silver. In the fall they eat big shad, and I want maximum flash and vibration. But other than that I fished it right out of the package, and before the afternoon was over I caught a ton of fish, I lost count. Since the three that broke the other day came from the same rack at the store I really think it was just a run of bad wire. The one today held up all afternoon, a real trick when they were wearing it out like they were.
It just went on and on and on.
The fish were on three types of banks. Flats with grass, points, and somewhat unusual, calm spots. Once I figured out they wanted the calmer water with it running right below the surface it was just plain ugly. When you would catch one, you would catch another, or 2 or 3 more. Watching that spinnerbait waking in the clear water and them smashing it was what this old hard core spinnerbait fisherman lives for.
It is hard describe how good the fishing really was.
The real windy banks had a fish or two on them, but it was those moderate depth, grass covered, calm banks that were the ticket. I think with the cool rain and north wind blowing on the windy banks the water was a little bit cooler, and the calm banks were warmer. But no matter where I was they wanted it bulging the surface, most of them getting it within 5 feet of the bank.
It was a Booyah kind of day!
These pictures are just a sample of how the day went. By 3:30 my hands were getting cold, it was raining harder, and I called it a day. If you like having fish literally trying to rip the rod from your hands then this was the day. There are so few perfect days for any specific technique, and this was spinnerbait heaven.
So I made all the right choices today, rare when a fishing day goes so perfect. I caught lots of fish on one Booyah, and it is still tied on my rod. So the experiment went great, and I can not recommend their baits highly enough. Today was a real test. Tied directly to the braid when they stopped it it was an explosion of epic proportions. What a day.
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A Reader’s Tale
I got this from Billy in response to my post What a Long Strange Trip its Been, and I have been lucky enough to never have this happen.
“I’ve got a really good one; at least I think so, but it will be a bit more lengthy to describe.
Years ago, a buddy and myself were launching way up the north fork of the Carancahua River, going down river, and fishing a sand flat right at the mouth. There were two ways to get onto this flat. As you are going down river, there are two islands. If the tide is high, you can cut through them and get on it. If not, you have to go around the tip of the last one and come back up. The fishing on the day in question is irrelevant. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you how it was(as you said, the mind forgets things after so many years). The “interesting” part begins as we are leaving the flat to go home. On this day, the tide was plenty high enough to go through the islands. So, my buddy fires up the tiller steered motor on the small aluminum boat and starts heading around the tip of the islands. Now the fun is about to begin. At this point, I tell him, “why are you going around the tip, just cut through the islands”. So, what does he do? Turns the motor to the right as hard as he can. Yep, you guessed it, threw us both out of the boat. I went over the right side and he over the left. Initial thought as I’m going over the side is, “holy crap, I’m getting ready to die by drowning”. After getting dunked and then coming to my senses, I…….stand up. Remember, we were fishing a flat. The water is maybe knee deep. My buddy does the same. At this point, we are both laughing our back sides off because we realize we are going to live. However, there is still a small problem. The motor is still running and the boat is heading straight away from us…….towards the back end of the flat…….which turns from sand into…….something slightly firmer than quick sand. Now what to do? We stand there watching it motor away from us. Well, as luck may have it, a wave catches the boat just right and turns the motor. Now it is doing wide arcing donuts at about two thirds throttle. So, we head off, walking towards it. As we get up to it, we stand there watching it as it makes two donuts wondering what the heck we are going to do. On the third pass, my buddy reaches out and, miracle of all miracles, hits the throttle. The boat idles down, we get in to it, and head to the house. Yes, I know, a very blase ending to a thrill packed ten minute ordeal. Which, by the way, is much shorter than the time it has taken me to formulate this into print. I have told this story many a times over the years, but never typed it out. Two side notes. First off, my buddy and my self were the ONLY things thrown from the boat. Not one rod, tackle box, ice chest, nothing else went over the side. Second, we have always said to each other when recounting this, if someone would have filmed this and turned it into America’s Funniest Home videos, we would have been run away winners.
O.k., I’m done now. Sorry for the long drawn out story, but I couldn’t condense it any and get it across.
Thanks for reading(if you do so).
Billy”
Course I read it and you could not have told it any shorter. That is one cool story that could have turned out so wrong. Sometimes things just happen, some good, some bad. Instead you walked away from it no worse for the wear. Wasn’t your turn. Thanks for sharing it with us.
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I got this comment from Rick, and I am still laughing!
“What a long strange trip it’s been”…… Are you an old “deadhead” ? Greatful Dead that is.? Great story’s!”
I refuse to answer on the grounds it may tend to incriminate me. But I was a teenager in the 60’s and that is all I have to say about that.
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What next? No matter what I will be down in POC for some trout and reds with Todd and the boys Friday. Unfortunately it looks like this front will linger with rain, and then Friday night it is expected to cool off considerably. But that won’t stop the boys from Austin. I am not sure they can even catch fish if the conditions don’t suck. Who knows, I might even sneak out for a few hours today, when they are eating spinnerbait like that a little rain and wind is just an annoyance. I love fall fishing! So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
