Fish Catching Travel
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Weather
Overcast 72.9 °F Feels Like 74 °F
Tide M 7th Low 10:39 AM -0.2 (No high for the day, and low is getting later, the good tide is right around the corner, and next week will be the Gulf.)
- Best Times: 8:47A – 10:47A 9:14P – 11:14P
- Good Times: 2:33A – 4:33A
Wind
As soon as I got up this morning I hitched up the boat and headed to Coleto. It was already blowing pretty good, and was looking to pick up as the day went along. That sure turned out to be right on. Funny how the weather man can miss the wind forecast fairly regularly, but there is one thing to know for sure, he is never wrong when the forecast is for big wind. So knowing it is forecast to blow hard for 3 days with a significant chance of rain or storms, it was fish this morning or it might be a while.
The lake is still falling slowly, and there is grass and other stuff growing on some of the flat wetter banks. Before I forget, what makes that significant is that if we get some rain and a raise this week those fish will charge that stuff in a heartbeat. The last few trips they have been on grass and cover. The ones I am catching are shallow, and like last trip I got to see several fish eat it today.
The white Strike King Tour Grade Swimming Jig is still the ticket.
There is not a lot of grass and what you do find in some of these coves is really shallow, but there are still some fish up there foraging around. So have that jig moving when it hits the water and do at least a couple of erratic speed cranks/stop in the first 10 feet or so, and if you feel anything, set the hook. They are not slamming it, but they are eating it. Kind of a trade off, if you recognize a bite quick enough they are coming in the boat, but hesitate and they are gone.
Some of them are pretty beat up right now with the spawn in full swing.
I probably caught maybe 6 or so on the Swim Jig so I decided to fish a bait I told you I was going to fish next time out. Now that is not such a big deal, if the wind is not blowing 25 – 30mph. To explain that statement it is important to know how I fish it.
In the early spring through out the spawn they will eat a bubble gum trick worm. It is a ton of fun to fish, and it you like visual strikes it is the bomb.
More fun than a barrel of monkeys!
I throw this on at least 15lb test, 20 if I have some fluorocarbon. A weedless hook, generally a 2/0 or 3/0 in red if you can find them, and no weight. (And that is why it was so tough to fish in high winds.) Tossing it to the bank I give it a tug and it does the collapse and open thing, and I just twitch it along. The best depth seems to be where you can just see it. About half of them you will see them roll on it, others the worm just disappears or you see your line move. You need to get any slack out and bust em’.
They thought they were going to chew some bubblegum.
The bubble gum trick worm is particularly effective in the back ends of pockets and coves. It is a soft presentation and a fairly finesse presentation. It can be worked slowly over trash and cover, just twitching it along. Fishing it is really a believe your own eyes thing, yes, one really does have it. Fishing the last 2 coves with it before I quit I boated 4 or 5, had one break my line, and missed a couple. And it is real important to wear good optics, today since it was cloudy it was Cocoons in the yellow lens, which made that worm super visible, a real plus.
By 1:00 it was almost blowing me off the front deck, it was just to much of a hassle and getting worse, and it sprinkled some but never did rain. Considering the conditions I was happy with the results. If it had not been blowing the trick worm would have really smoked them. Those fish are in the back ends and looking to eat, making it the perfect time for the trick worm. It is something they do not see that often and is worth giving it a try. When I came back to the ramp it was white capping to beat the band and it was definitely time to call it a day.
His eyes were sure bigger than his stomach. What a weird fish in freshwater.
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Got this great question from Chuck that I was actually thinking about today as I tried to keep from blowing off the bow of the boat.
I’m enjoying reading your blog. I have a kayak fishing tournament coming up on Coleto March 12th and wonder what may happen to the fishing if it rains a whole bunch like the weather guessers are saying it will ?
Lets look at a couple of scenarios. The lake is going down and there is actually new growth coming up where it is freshly exposed. The water has come down enough that much of the shoreline cover is a little to shallow. So if we get a gully washer, but no mud, the lake will come up and flood lots of new growth and cover at what I think is the perfect time. Now if it really muddies up it will affect them, but mainly the back ends of coves and creeks until they start to clear, and then it will be on big time.
There is one scenario that is really tough, and that is if we get a monster raise. I have seen that happen over the last 40 years several times where the fish did not come with it. When that happens the fish still bite but it is basically at the place they were when it came up. And as we are in the spawn right now we do not want it to rain a ton right before this moon.
But the real point is how cool is the rain runoff? Looking at this week’s forecast it is going to stay warm until it cools off a little at night at the end of the week. Until then the rain temp should not have any great affect. But if it rains hard and cold one night look out, everything will change in the big coves and the lake itself, none of it for the good.
One thing about the kayak, as you paddle out of the ramp cove you will get an immediate take on the water color. It may be clear like it is now, or off color, or dirty. So as you paddle out to the main lake you will get an instant read on the color, and what effect it might have had, especially in the coves, depending on the amount of rain we get. Maybe this does not make a lot of sense, kind of hard to condense all the possibilities. But one thing is for sure, if it just rains some and blows the next couple of days it will have no real affect, the bite is on. But if it is clear that it has muddied up as you paddle out, stay on the main lake and look for tips of grass sticking out, that is the first place I would look. So thanks for the question, and sorry for the rambling answer. And let us know how the tournament goes.
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Had a great time eating oysters at Fulton the other day, followed by more seafood for supper in Corpus. Growing up in Iowa, where seafood is those $1 packages of pop corn shrimp or fish sticks, you really do not have a clue about seafood. Fresh huge shrimp, oysters on the half shell, oyster shooters, po’ boys, grouper sandwiches, and octopus, whether beside the Aegean Sea or in some dive in Louisiana, it is all good and makes my mouth water thinking about it.
The forecast this week is something. If it rains even half of the time they are forecasting we could really get wet. And combining it with 20 – 30mph winds just makes it perfect. So who has a clue what is next? It is up in the air. Who knows, I just might disappear a couple of days. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
