Fish Catching Travel
This is truly a south Texas cold front, or as they call them down here, a norther. It blew in yesterday like a freight train while we were fishing, and we are feeling the effects today. The wind has laid some but it is still out of the north, and it looks like it will struggle to see the 50’s today. At least the sun came out a little while ago which should really help. After that it will start to warm, and if the forecast is right, rain will be coming back to our forecast by the weekend. Consequently I am home and bored. At least there is fishing on, which I am watching while writing this.
**********************
Chris is wanting to fish the Gulf Thursday and hopefully I will get to fish with him. It will be interesting now that his has had time to think about how he felt about our guided trip. I have hired few shallow or fresh water guides and have not really had the kind of luck I hoped for. But the kind of luck I hope for is the kind of luck that only comes around occasionally, so it has more to do with my expectations, which is fishing beyond my wildest dreams. And my other thought on hiring a guide is I really do enjoy figuring it out by myself. For me it is all in the doing.
************************
Speaking of our guide trip Kevin sent these pictures from his camera to Jeff.
This fish made our trip. Thanks to Kevin for sending these to Shoedog.
************************
It really was amazing how long it took me to get through all the baits in my tackle boxes. Basically they all came out, fresh and salt, and were looked over, organized, and in some cases put in the done pile. What took the longest was all the hard baits. I lightly sanded them all to smooth them out, some I took all the way to a straight bone color, and then hooks and split rings if needed, which most of them did. If I had to guess it looks like there were easily 100+ hardbaits. But doing that job renewed a few, saved a few, and relegated a few to the retired pile. In the end it definitely will save me some money and it is nice to have everything organized and ready to go.
**********************
I got this question from Tim about Falcon and really had to think about it.
Just wondering if given the only times you could be there would you give me an idea from best to least? Jan. Feb. March April
Thank you
My order:
March – Post spawn but lots of fish still shallow, a few spawning. Little chance for a serious norther as the month goes on. Can probably fish as many different techniques as you want at this time.
February – Spawning, fish coming and going.
January – A good choice but so weather dependent. A big north wind and it can be impossible to fish. Not a ton of traffic, a good time to catch a real one.
April – to late, to hot. (though I do not care about the heat)
Now those answers were totally dependent on the form of your question. As far as I am concerned one of the best times to go is November. That is when deer season opens and it is like someone pulled the plug on fisherman and let some of them out. One of our best trips was then and we saw very few boats, considering what we have seen some trips. And no matter when you go, go during the week, there is a tournament, or 4, every weekend all spring. The decline of the fishing has reduced the traffic somewhat, but it is still a great place to catch that fish of a lifetime, and there have been a few real big fish caught in the last week. (see website – and I should have a report from Voe by weeks end.) Thanks for the question and feel free to comment anytime. Since I am not an expert, or even a real beginner, here is the best place for up to date information on Falcon. http://www.tackleandrods.com/lake/flash.htm
********************
Prep is starting for the Florida trip. First it was 2 Penn reels to the Tackle Box in Victoria for repair. The Penn International 975 is a light line high capacity level wind primarily used for sailfish and other smaller offshore fish. I like to use it with 25lb line for tarpon. It had been used so rarely over the years that when the button to cast stuck I was not surprised. But other than a spring hitting in a couple of places it seems the grease got hard from little use. That rarely happens with my reels. The 7500ss spinning reel is a great all around spinning reel for tarpon and the likes. It holds plenty of 20 or 25lb, and you can cast live bait a mile. Both of these will be used for live bait.
The other reels I am using are Okuma levelwinds that can handle 50lb line. They will get a work out at Boca Grande for tarpon and the Everglades on hopefully a Goliath Grouper. I have seen some Goliaths caught on TV in the Everglades and that is one thing I would like to get done while we are there. And while fishing Boca you need to get control of the tarpon immediately and try to move them out of the school, so 50 is a mandatory. If you don’t get that done he might end up jumping in another boat, or tangling the heck out of you with other fish.
Then I went over the leader box with parts and lines and made a shopping list. I make my own mono and steel leaders, depending on the application. The good thing about going through all that is it is the very same preparation as it would be for Canada. So once I get it all done the very same stuff will be used in Canada, minus the fluorocarbon leaders, which just won’t hold up to the muskie. As a side note, I love making steel leaders out of the bleeding wire that is bright red. We have been using that for several years now on our Canada baits and the red seems to help a little.
*******************
That is my winter musing for today. As far as fishing and the weather the next couple of days will dictate when and where. If it works our I will either be digging a ditch or fishing, crazy choice huh? But I hope to at least get on the coast for one day real soon, maybe give the Austin boys a fishing heads up before they get here and save them some time. And if you have something to say, maybe been fishing, let us know, we would love to hear from you. And if you are anywhere near Victoria and are catching some white bass in a local river or creek let me know. I am always up for a day of that in the spring. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
