FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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It is Sunday morning, though I have not been fishing since Friday there are several things I wanted to share with you.  All I have to say is the fishing is improving daily and it is going to be a great fall.  So lets get to it.

Big Black Drum

Besides being irritated that we could not get minnnows yesterday, I got even more irritated when it did not rain at the house the rest of the day.  Then when I get up this morning all that rain that was absolutely going to drown us has not materialized.  Heck I would have taken Jeffish and Korbin today.  Dang weatherman, it is all his fault.  Then I got the following from Jeffish, it looks like things worked out just fine.

What a fish.  A mug only a mother could love!

After our failed crappie trip and chance of rain Korbin was not having it so we headed to Indianola Fishing Marina. Within seconds of arriving Korbin is catching live bait on his perch pole and into the bait bucket. We caught everything from little snappers to dogfish and couldn’t keep bait in the water as the tide began moving out. Then after a pause we caught several sand trout. Found out from a marina employee they would cook what you caught for 5 bucks so fresh caught trout filets with side of fries and hush puppies for supper. Yum! Says Korbin. After some rockin live music by 1 Nation I was asked to jump start a crabber’ s truck and for payment half a dozen live crab. Lights on the peir and here come the black drum. Guy next to me broke one off before he caught a nice one. I broke off two using my superior Wal-Mart pole rigged up with crab before I landed this beast. Nice fight and nice crowd cheering us on at the Marina. Korbin is satisfied but is ready to go fish somewhere again this morning.  And here is a blacktip a guy next to us caught.

I had not heard from Rusty, our Bastrop/Fayette expert, in a while.  I should have known after the whippin’ the Aggies put on my Hogs he would have something to say.

Gig’em Aggies Whoop!!!! Having pork chops tonight in honor of our victory. Arkansas QB is the real deal, NFL stuff. Fayette and Bastrop has been tough fishing. Hope the cooler weather coming changes that
Tight lines
Rusty

First to the game.  For a while I wasn’t sure who was interested in winning.  Both teams coughed it up, but when it came down to brass tacks the Aggies defense in the red zone was strong and may help carry them the rest of the year.  We were down there on the 2 several times, you gave us plenty of chances, but we could not punch it across.  And that was the end of that.  And you are so right about Allen, he is accurate and rarely does something stupid.  But now that we have played the Aggies I can get on board – Beat Bama!

Sorry to hear it is tough on both lakes, but it does not surprise me as Coleto has been spotty also.  I will be heading that way sometime in the near future.  Just waiting on those cool nights to get them active.  So here is hoping the fishing improves.  As usual good to hear from you.

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This summer was so hot it was hard to get motivated with the fishing and the blog.  I think some of that is the knowledge that I can fish whenever I want, for whatever I want, wherever I want.  It makes it so easy to go tomorrow, or write about that another day.  It can be hard to keep motivated with the time and expense needed to keep plugging this thing along.  Then I get the occasional comment like this one from The Mowdy.

I love reading your stuff. Look forward to it every day!

Thanks, and I really do mean it.  I try to make the blog interesting and entertaining, fishing reports aside.   And you can tell from the last couple of weeks that I am excited about the fishing and consequently writing a lot more.  I really appreciate you guys who have stuck with me along this journey.  It is over 5 years now, and there has been over a half a million visits to my site.  But it is still the core of you that have supported me from the beginning.  So my thanks is the best I can do for your loyalty.

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And speaking of keeping motivated it is so cool to be working with Coastal Fishing Gear.  Here is a response from Ken to my Facebook post on the Wade Right.

Nice! I’ve sure enjoyed my set of gear. 😎

That is the very thing I am talking about.  Telling you all about something that works and then getting feedback from you.  In the next week or so I will do a post about their cool new tackle boxes.  The big one is freakin’ awesome and I am playing with it like a little kid at Christmas.  Initially fishing reports were the primary reason I started this, but it has morphed into a general fishing blog.  So having them on board is a great motivator that keeps me writing.  Plus, wading time is here, big fish time is here, and their products will get a work out during this great time to be in the water.  I look forward to posting reviews on their great stuff.

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Ro, one of the Austin Boys, is catching some good fish on Lake Travis.  While I rarely hear anyone extolling the virtues of fishing Travis, Ro has sure changed my perspective on the lake.  Ro is an all around fisherman, a known striper killer, bass fisherman, and the wading beastmaster.  His wading prowess is legendary and the stories are something.  And on a personal note he can fix an eye good as new, and I can not thank him enough.  So when I saw these picture I wanted to share them with you.

Ro’s son Michael with a nice Guadalupe bass.

Ro filled me in on this fish when I commented how it looks like a Kentucky and whether this was “a good one”.

Similar to kentucky spotted but the horizontal lines on the belly define it as guadalupe. This 17 incher was about two pounds. A three pounder is a “trophy” guad, whatever that may mean! Sorta like a “trophy” bluegill!

Made me laugh with that comment!  The term trophy really is relative as far as fish, and fishermen, go.  One man’s trophy is another man’s bait.  Thanks for the information, that was definitely a little one we caught with the grandkids on Travis over the holiday.  One thing Ro is known for is his striper fishing abilities.

Ro with a good one.

The proof is in the pudding as they say.

Thanks, your pictures bring back old memories.  We fished stripers hard at night, especially early spring and late fall on topwater.  Many a night we stayed out till all hours, and when it happened it was usually something spectacular.  Half asleep, then Kaboom!, one would eat that spook 5 feet from the end of your rod tip.  And the stringer picture reminds me why they were such an easy fish to guide for, if there is such a thing.  Get your customers the string above, or maybe have one break 20lbs, and the day was a success.  It was nice because the stripers they caught were often the biggest fish my customer ever landed.  And last, I am definitely going to be on Travis late winter/early spring and get me some of that.  Of course the Boss is all over that, rent a house on the lake with a boat dock and I am fishing, and she is shopping Austin.  Everybody wins.  Hope to see you down at POC this winter.

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One of these days I will get some of the old striper pictures out and scan them in the computer and share them with you.  The mid 70’s into the 80’s were the golden age of striper fishing on Lake Norfork.  Whether trolling, live baiting, topwater fishing, or winter vertical jigging we absolutely killed them.  It was easy to catch a 50lb stringer with the occasional 100lb+ in the mix.  Fish 10 – 20lbs were common, and everybody was catching them.  Those were the days.

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Ok weather guy, this is your last chance.  Looking at tomorrow we have a 60% chance of rain.  Yesterday we had an 80% of rain, so I slept in and there has not been a drop here at the house.  And then I look first thing this morning and the forecast has morphed into only a 20% chance, what happened?  So I guess I will get my lazy butt up and do the best review of the weather possible – Stick my head out the door and see what is up.  No Rain? Go Fishing.  That will be as accurate as the forecasts have been the last week.  But they sure did not have any trouble correctly forecasting the heat.  So what will the day hold?  Only tomorrow will tell.  Hope you all had a good weekend.  Keep those comments and reports coming.  And keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines