Fish Catching Travel

Baits that catch fish!

We are fishing now!  After a couple of months of crappy weather and rain I have been hitting it pretty hard lately.  I think it is 7 times in the last 2 weeks, and who knows, I may just do it all over again tomorrow.

Sometimes when I go fishing I just hate fishing.  Why you say?  Because just when you think you have it going on the fish remind you it is their world.  The other day it was a pretty good day of topwater fishing on Coleto.  So when Voe and I left the ramp I really was expecting to catch some good fish, and maybe even put that big girl in the boat.  So we started walking the dawg with the KVD Sexy Dawg.  First was the 3 places where I wacked some big ones, but they were not having the same bait they smashed 2 days ago.  So the hunt was on.

Finally a frog fish, I figured the white was the way to go.

We started throwing the book at them, and most things worked, for 1 or 2.  We worked up lake and back down.  There are still fish in the coves, and as long as the water does not fall much they should stay there.  One point on Coleto, it just seems it has never been that killer of a morning lake as a rule, and today was no different.

Voe with a nice one on a scrounger head and lizard.

Voe threw the scrounger head with various plastics and had some success, he even put a small squid used for offshore fishing behind it and caught one and had one break his line.  I kept with the big 4, buzzbait, swim jig, frog, and the KVD topwater.  Though it was slow at daylight it got better as the day wore on.  We started catching one here and there, then a couple in a cove, then 3 on main lake bank, and so it went.  The one thing that was consistent was grass.

Of course one on the Swimming Jig, what has become my go to bait.

If I had to say what I have learned the last few trips on Coleto is that while they are in that grass at times, they do not want to chase it.  Right before we quit Voe put on the double fluke rig and had a couple of bites in maybe 15 minutes.  While he did not hook either of them up, it was promising.  Not having fished that rig it looked mean, and Voe said when there is a big shad feed it can be really effective.  Which brings me to the shad, if there are lots of shad flipping around, those fish are close somewhere.

Finally a good one absolutely smashed that topwater about 10 feet from the boat.

Really watching the locator close there does not even seem to be any deep grass emerging off the bottom yet.  While a little more rain will be ok this week, we do not need any more color in the lake.

And I just had to show you one on a buzzbait.

So as you can see, we caught them on lots of things but just did not find the best choice.  Who knows?  There just may not be a best choice.  And some were deep in the grass and do not appear to want to move very far to eat.  But no matter what we tossed they were in the grass, so choose your bait accordingly.

By 2 it was over 100 heat index again today so we quit, actually when they seemed to be biting the best.  And folks, stay hydrated and cover up.  Not only is it necessary, it can extend your fishing day.  Summer is here to stay.

For the day it was probably around a dozen fish, all on different baits.  I mean almost every single one.  I really was surprised that the topwater fishing was not any better than it was.  Heck my buddy Jeffish stopped yesterday and got some advice and went our for a couple of hours and put 5 in the boat including a good one, all walking the dog.  Fish can be fickle, and today they were.

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I get a lot of nice comments and I read each and every one, except the spam.  I really appreciate those nice job, love the info, that kind of stuff.  Every once in a while one comes that keeps me writing.

Doug- I want to thank you for sharing the details of how you fish and the locations.  It is really helping me feel more confident about testing different spots out in POC.  I have been fishing  POC for years (but only a couple of times per year and usually the same spots (ceders area along the peninsula).   Thanks for being so open.  You are definitely a fishing mentor.  Brian.

One thing that happened to me when I came here was it was all on me.  Other than a couple of guys, I really got no help.  It was keep at it, range out more, and learn what I could.  That has been one of my pet peeves for quite a while.  This is not some secret scientific formula, it is fishing.  So here you have a fishing nut like me saying it is only fishing.   But that is all it is.  We should enjoy every day on the water, and helping other folks catch a couple of more fish is good thing, it makes you a better person.

Spreading out in the POC area does have it’s hazards.  But if I had to give people one word of advice I have learned exploring the Everglades, Louisiana, and other shallow bay areas of the coast, just take it slow.  And if you do not know it like the back of your hand idle in and out.  It only adds a minute to the day and you can never go wrong as you explore different shallow areas.   So thanks Brian for letting me know reading my ramblings have helped, that is the point.  And the rest of you, I love to hear from all of you.

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I heard from Aaron out of Austin who was down here last weekend for a couple of days.

Hey Doug,

Thought I would shoot you an update from the weekend fishing.  I started Friday at Indianola and fished the PH ranch shoreline from 6-9AM.  There were probably another dozen waders scattered on the shoreline.  I caught only one 15” trout on topwater.  The other folks were slinging bait and I didn’t see any of them catching fish either.  I moved to the hurricane cut and picked up some small reds in the area but the bite was slow.  I loaded up and drove to the other side of PH to see how it looked but it’s still chocolate milk on the other end.  I saw plenty of gators on both ends of PH just as you did. Nice to be on the water but a slow morning for sure.

I tried Coleto Saturday morning and landed a 20” on topwater on my third cast.  Over the next 3 hours I only added two more fish.  Sounds like you had a similar experience.  I don’t have any better theories than yours about the abundance of bait fish killing the bite.  I hope to redeem myself with a better trip next month.

Aaron

The fishing has improved some since you were here last week.  And as you can tell from the report above, the bass are still not settled down, but at least they are biting.  (It doesn’t look like you are suffering from lack of bass from the pictures you have passed along lately from up your way.  It is not like you haven’t caught some big bass in the last month.) And the trout fishing from what I am hearing can still be spotty, but at least in my experience this week it is also improving.  So by time you get back down here again it should be quite a bit better, I hope.  Thanks for the report.

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I am really looking forward to next Friday and Saturday.  Ro, Pete, and John, along with a few other guys, will be down from Austin for a couple of days of fishing.  Those 3 are waders who keep after it so I plan on hitting the POC area near the island a couple of days next week.  Maybe I can find a few fish to help out the cause.  A couple of the other guys are going to soak a little bait for tarpon.  I hope they get that done, it is one thing I really want to do some time.  And it was funny when I got the text from Ro, I had just finished wrapping him a little present.  So Ro when you get that package in the mail it is just a thank you for helping me out.  It will be a good time, they are good fisherman and great guys.

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That is the size of it for today.  Maybe a early morning trip back to Keller Bay is in order.  I did not wade last trip, but now that I know the fish are there it might be a good quick trip to boat a few more trout.  The Captain of Team Nancy complains that I cook fish while she is at work and she gets to eat them on day 2.  That is a legitimate complaint.  Know matter how good it tastes day 2, nothing compares with fresh out of the Gulf and into the grease.  So I guess I am having to go trout fishing and get her a fish fry.  A fisherman can rationalize any reason to go fishing, especially when it is to help others.  Right?  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines