FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Weather

Thursday 10 % Precip. / 0 in  Mainly sunny. High 83F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.

Tides

Th  14      Low   6:12 AM     0.2
14     High   5:18 PM     0.8

Solunar Times

• Best Times     5:43A – 7:43A
•                          6:09P – 8:09P
• Good TImes   11:31A – 1:31P (pretty dang close – when the moon was coming up)

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The Best Balsa Bait on the Planet.  And that ain’t all!  Check out their website.

The Bagley Knocker B  –  Not just for freshwater.

Ok all you old salts.  I know it might have seemed like I had deserted the Gulf, but not true.  Just waiting for the right weather and for the topwater bite to get serious, and today was it.  Now do not get me wrong it was not fast by any means, but when it was on it was one of those really cool deals.

We hit the water about 8 and with the N wind the protected bank was the west side of Barroom Bay.  We burned about a 1/2 gallon of gas before we jumped over the side.  And just to make a long story short, it is late and I am tired, we just hopped over each other and moved the boat the rest of the day.  You can burn all the gas you want, but it is all about keeping the bait in the water.

I did not have a bite for 2 wades and meanwhile Shoedog found them.  He caught 5 reds before he found the trout.  They were in about 2 foot initially, but then they moved out to 4 or 5 foot of water.  They were just blowing up on the topwater.  I finally moved in on him when I could not get a bite.  We stood side by side and when I say they were having it, they were just exploding on it.  He actually had a real monster, mouth open, plowing water that missed it, and folks it was a real one.

So time to talk about the Bagley Knocker B.  Last fall I found some in OKC and they looked great.  So of course I bought one, long before I started dealing with them.  I have been catching them on it since fall, and today it saved my day.  It has a small tail, and I put a new feather tail on it after they ate it off this fall.  Suffice to say I love that thing, it has put some real nice trout in the boat for me the past, and today it put a couple of real nice ones on my stringer.  Try it some time, you will be happy with the result, I am.

They were smoking that Knocker B by Bagley.  One of 3 nice ones I boated on the Knocker B.

When I moved over by him this is what he had on his stringer.

He had it going on!

Now that is nice trout.

We ended up catching on plastics and topwater.  By time we finally went to catch a few redfish we had 8 nice big trout.  We moved to the old standby, Big Bayou, and caught several small trout and then I caught a nice founder.  The tide was high and ripping in the afternoon and it was a little tougher but if you could make a good cast with the wind and tide you could get a bite.  And just for you info, we are using the 1/16th Bagley Shaky head on our plastics, and the more we use it the more we like it.  And remember, use the super glue, it really helps save on plastics.

I wanted to add a keeper red to the stringer, and this was number 6 in nothing flat on spinnerbait.

We finally made one half pass in Big Bayou and the redfish were on the really shallow banks on the outside edge of the grass.  We just slow rolled the spinnerbait and after catching 5 or 6 rats Shoedog topped off his day with this hoss.

A nice flounder – everybody always shows the other side.

To put a finishing note on things, the topwater fishing lasted until about 1 and then quit.  We switched to plastics and caught a few, and then finished it off with spinnerbait.  For the day it was 8 keeper trout, and I keeper red and founder.  We caught at least twice that many over all so it was just a dandy day.  And Shoedog actually lost a couple of 18 – 20″ at the net, so it was a good day for big trout.  Anytime you can boat fish this size is a good day.  And I wish I could adequately described how explosive the bites were on top.  I had one knock that Knocker B 2 feet in the air.  Awesome!

We will be back at it in the morning first thing.  Our buddy Chris is going to join us and it will be a wading extravaganza!

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First I would like to thank Bagley one more time.  They put a link on their facebook page to my blog and I really appreciate that.  And we are discussing other baits in their line that we can use both in freshwater and the coast.  So look for more stories using their baits.  Funny how after using then since 1974, yikes 40 years, and now working with them.  Funny how life works out.  They have a great story that we will explore more in the future.

Second, I would really like to thank one of my regular readers Billy.  We have emailed a time or two but we actually met today and had a great chat.  He is, and has been a hard core Gulf fisherman most of his life.  A couple of things stuck out from our conversation.  He has fished with the Blacks who guide on Baffin for the better part of 13 years.  What makes it interesting is they are the folks who got me fishing the super light jig head, one of them the Bagley 1/32, a true light weight head with a big enough hook.  But even when he fishes with them while they are throwing it he will not put down that topwater.  He fishes it 95% of the time year around.  Now that is man committed to his topwater.

But the reason we met was he found a couple of the original foil Bang O Lures.  Where he did not say, but when he gave them to me it was a really kind gesture.  They have gotten so hard to find and it is rare to find some so they are good as gold.  I can promise you they will not see any water that has any kind of toothy critters.  So thanks Billy.  The baits are great but it was even better to meet and talk fishing.  Hopefully we can end up in the boat together soon.

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As I am writing this part Wednesday before we hit POC the next couple of days it will be real interesting to see how we do tomorrow.  I read lots of reports and they are all over the place.  Some fairly good, some not so hot.  Of course the wind is the major complaint, and I really appreciate that.

The reports that are consistent are from the guides (duh – never seen a bad one from a guide), Baffin is giving up large trout on top.  Not sure if I can make it down there next week, but it sounds like time to get there while the getting is good.  Our last trip was stellar and a repeat of that sure would be nice.  So let us see how tomorrow/today goes/went.

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Sorry about the disjointed writing and possible poor editing but I wanted to get this up before I nod off.  It is good to be back on the Gulf and today is motivation to keep after it.  I am not sure of the real reason the fish are getting bigger but I have a sneaking suspicion that the 5 fish limit is really starting to take hold.  If this is a sign of things to come it makes me all gooey just thinking about it.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines