FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Home of the Bang O Lure.

The last few days have generated several comments that I wanted to share with you. THe first is from Mac, one of my loyal long term readers.

Doug, your reports and pictures are always beneficial to your many readers. I have never seen any discrepancies in your work. Even if they were upside down, sideways or any other pictures , they all make us want to “saddle up and go fishin”.
We all do realize the time it takes to share your stories. I know several old fishermen in rest homes who along with me look daily for your stories. I guess they are catalysts to get me off the couch and fish hard and often. I have never been to Canada in person, but I will be with you in my thoughts while you fish. One thing Doug–You are dedicated to all of us. After a long day on the water, you still have time to let us in on your adventures. Thank You and also your wife for her letting you do this. Take her out for dinner tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You, Mac

PS It would be a a sad day if you stopped your sharing of your thoughts and experiences.

As usual your kind words humble me. It is hard some days to keep it up but I love the outdoors and love sharing it with others. And as far as the little woman, I am sitting on the balcony looking out over South Padre while she is on her morning walk. The bay is flat and the Gulf has a nice roll. My point is this, whether a small creek or a big ocean, whether I am fishing or not, the water has always made me feel a certain way. While that is hard to articulate I think most of you know how it feels. You all give me so much more than I give you, and the thought that there is an old salt, like I am becoming, who can’t get out any more and gets to spend one more day on the water with m makes me the luckiest guy in the world. Thanks again.

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And speaking of respect around here I got a question from Joe Bass that is asked around here occasionally.

I keep getting some ugly dude holding some beautiful bass in them. Whats going on with that ????

That guy is the other dimension me. I really am a lot prettier live!

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The Shoedog and I did really rip them the other day on Fayette and that generated a couple of comments, first from the resident Fayette fishcatchingtravel.com correspondent.

I would have commented sooner but I have been on Fayette Lake enjoying the exceptional fishing this past week. As you found out, the bass are hungry. What a great time+….I’ve been on the water almost everyday and going tomorrow. Your fishing report was spot on!
tight lines and look for my white Champion boat when you visit again.
Rusty

Good to know we figured out what as usual on Fayette is a good bite. As of course thanks for your report and I will watch for that Champion. I had the 4th Champ made in the old pad style them went to the 16.8 V. John Storey the owner was friends of Clyde and I and it brings back lots of memories of the years in North Arkansas.

And speaking of that I just watched the Bassmaster Elite held there last month and it was something to watch Randall Tharp win on a bank I fished hundreds of times. Times and equipment change, but our sport still comes down to one thing, catching fish. Keep in touch and see you on the water.

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And Jim dropped me this comment on Fayette.

Doug,

Awesome report. I was on on Fayette this past Tuesday with similar results. The bass were feeding and it was on. We got on the lake at 6:45am launching out of Oak Thicket. We went up by Park Prairie and fished until about 9:30am and had landed 10 fish on Texas rigged trick worms. We then moved over by Johnny’s Pond on a secondary point and started throwing Pop-R’s. We started catching them almost every cast! We were in about 6ft throwing toward the bank. The fish were in very shallow water hanging around isolated grass. When the top water bite slowed we switched to a black/blue swim jig and continued the hammering. We alternated between the two depending on what the cloud cover was doing. Cloud – Pop-R, Sun – Swim Jig. Unfortunately we had to get off the water at noon but by then we had boated 32 slot fish with two fish going 5lbs. Gotta love Fayette when the bass want to eat!

I also wanted to let you know I will be on Coleto tomorrow prefishing for a club tournament Saturday. I should be there at about 6:30-7;00am. I think I saw that you might be there too. So if you see a silver/red/white Nitro Z21 with two black power poles, stop by and say “hey”. I will be on the lookout for you too.

Jim

Fayette is on right now, and there is nothing like being able to fish separate and distinct patterns. But the important thing about Rusty and Jim’s report is location, location, location. Good healthy green grass is always the place to start, good grass = good fish no matter where you are in this country. Thanks for the comment, but there is more from Jim.

Thanks for all your help and advise. I wanted to let you know I won our club tournament today with 19.97 lbs and had big bass with a 6.64lber. I caught a total of 10 fish.

I didn’t catch any fish on a CR. I did however catch fish on topwaters (which I had a small limit before 7am on) and throwing a TR power worm tight to cover later which I caught my cull fish as well as the big one. Btw….. I caught the 6.64 within 10feet of where I caught the 6.40 on Friday. Just goes to show that lightning can strike twice in the same spot ⚡️.

Tight lines! <“}}}><

Jim

Now that is what I am talking about. I figured after the other day when I caught them it would take 20lbs and that turned out to be spot on. Looks like you had the kind of week a bass fisherman lives for, knocking the crap out of them on one lake and then winning a tourney on a completely different lake. Congratulations, oh wait, one more thing from Jim.

Here is his 6.4 he caught in practice.

Again way to go. And thanks for painting that big X on the water where you stuck those big girls, can’t wait to put their sisters in the boat. Keep in touch, we can all use all the help we can get.

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I had not heard from fishfearlarry in while, and he dropped this note the other day.

Your second to the last paragraph sums it up perfectly! When I was younger, it was all about limits and then stay on the water catching as many as I could. Now, as the years go by, it is more about the beauty of a sunrise, the challenge of sight casting and catching a redfish, perfecting my ability to see little signs of bait activity, and just being thankful that I have the ability to recognize that all the beauty of the outdoors is a gift from God. A limit is not an issue, just a bonus. To fish alone is peaceful and calming, to fish with my wife or good friends is good relationship building, and to fish with my nephews is a good opportunity to show them how this old man can still put a “whuppin” on them and hang with them! I am not able to get on the water as much as you are fortunate to be able to, but your reports keep reminding me of why I love the water so much. Thank you for your dedication to this blog. I know it would be easy to throw in the towel after all this time. PS: those salty fish bite when it is windy too

This comment is the kind I love to get. It reminds of the few years I tourney fished and guided pretty hard, and took it all the wrong way. It was so much about catching fish that it often took the fun right out of it and after a few years I slowly slacked off. The problem was me, I was young and dumb and did not realize what I had guiding and fishing so hard in the beautiful mountains of the Ozarks. It was all about catching and nothing more. Now it is about catching if it happens, but there is so much more. A big gator growling, a loon hot on a musky as the Shoedog fights it, coyotes howling and this list goes on. As I get older I have learned how lucky I am and that there is a limit to all of us, and going back to Mac’s comment, there will be a day when it is all about the memories. So enjoy your time outdoors, it is a privilege. And I know those stupid bay fish bite in the wind and trust me, I am going to hit the bay a lot harder in the days to come. Thanks for reminding us what it is all about.

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And last but not least is Clyde and the new Lund. They finally got it all rigged and ready to roll. So to understand this picture you will need a little background.

That is one beautiful boat. Send us the maiden voyage fishing report.

That is our old buddy John. He owned the dock where I had the pleasure of living, working, and guiding for years. A great boss and a good guy John is getting up in years and fishing and moving around in the boat is getting harder for him, as it is for the rest of us. The reason I tell you this is if you have read this stuff for a while you have seen pictures of the inside of Clyde’s old boat. Stuff everywhere, it stayed in a completely trashed state. And remember the trailer from hell on our Canada trip? Well that is what John has dealt with fishing with Clyde for years. In fact John had to sit on a bucket! John did not know Clyde was buying a new boat so Clyde called him up and gave some story to get him over. I bet John is as excited as Clyde about the new boat, no more bucket. See you guys in Canada in a couple of weeks!

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View from the balcony.

I know it is a little fuzzy but I wanted you to notice the pavilion just right of center. One of the ironies of life is that the Boss is allergic to shellfish. What? A crawdad and shrimp eating old fisherman married to a woman who is highly allergic to supper and bait? Well yesterday there were folks having a crawdad boil over there and you could smell it from the deck. Then last night she had a reaction. That is crazy! Over a 100 yards from the boil and she has a reaction. Guess it is a good thing I only smell like bait but do not fish with bait.

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Time to wrap it up this morning. I really appreciate everyone participating, makes this a lot better place. So now we will crank up the 4×4 on the beast and head out on the beach. Time to get some sun and a maybe just a little fishing while I am at it. Hope you all had a great weekend, we sure are. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

This and That 5/15/16.

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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