FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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It is 6 in the morning (Thursday) and since I can not sleep I guess I will take a run at fishing the lake.  The weather is sketchy, but not bad, so the plan is to fish down lake as this cold front moves in.  There has to be other places and or ways to catch them, so that will be the goal.  And of course I hope there will be a big bite in front of our first real cool front of the year.  So we shall see how it goes.

Weather

84/58  Clouds with showers increasing in the afternoon.  Wind NNE 10 – 20  Chance of rain 60%.  (Right on.)

Lake Level

Last trip – 96.03 msl   Today  –  95.96  msl   (Quite a drop since Monday)

Solunar Times

• Best Times     2:59A – 4:59A
•                          3:28P – 5:28P
• Good Time     9:14A – 11:14A  (No big bite or activity until up lake.)

It was foggy as all get out as I drove to the lake.  The wind was not blowing, but it started as soon as I put the boat in.  The front was all around the lake and it was partly cloudy.  It was real apparent the lake has fallen even more since Monday.  We need some rain, simple as that.  And before it was over I did get wet, for a minute.

The plan was to fish down lake and try to develop at least a semblance of a pattern, and I stuck to it most of the morning.  Unfortunately I had a rough start.  The first point I fished had a fence on it and one ate the senko.  Great, a real big one, the first in a while, to bad he tangled in the wire and broke off.  Bad start.  From there I alternated between senko, swim jig, buzzbait, and topwater.  I put 2 small ones in the boat on senko, and had 2 really nice ones blow up on the bazzbait.  They ate it and were hooked up, but for some reason they jumped off.   Who knows, it may have been operator error.   So now I am “0” for 3 on good fish.   I was using a brand new Lunker Lure buzzbait and it got hung, I gave a big jerk and busted the blade.  Dang it!

     Thanks to my poor performance these guys made the blog today.

I had a couple roll on the topwater minnow, but I just could not entice them to eat.  No matter where I fished it was the same, a bite here, a bite there.  Flats, channel banks, points, no where had more than a bite.  I fished places I had not fished in months, and just could not pattern them.  Finally I said heck with it (In other words, wussied out.) and ran up lake to throw the swim jig.  And of course that worked.  In fact, my second cast one knocked a foot of slack in my line.  I love that bite.  This was all around noon or so, and it was interesting how when the fish were really biting the deer were out and feeding up a storm.

   Hoped for a big bite as the front rolled in, but it just did not happen.

The wind was blowing out of the north and getting a little stronger each hour, and the clouds were rolling in.  After I succumbed and ran up lake and caught 5 or 6 pretty quick to get my fix, it was time to work my way back down lake.  On the way back I fished 4 or 5 more places without a bite.  I finally decided one more spot in spite of showers off to the north.  Turned out to be a bad choice as I got poured on heading to the ramp and while putting it on the trailer.  Of course once I headed home it never rained another drop.  A perfect example of how my day went.

The water color has stabilized on the lake, from brown up lake to almost clear down.  The water temp is still stable, but hopefully this front will start to really bring it around.  Though if the lake continues to drop as fast as it has fishing might remain spotty for a while.

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And Chad the Mad Trout Fisherman was hard at it on Keller Bay yesterday.

Kellar bay , we fished hard today! Started before daylight, fished till 3:30 and it was a grind to find quality fish. Tons of mullet on the shorelines but other than big reds 28″ 26″ 25″ the fish were small . The little trout became a pain in the butt. We fished shallow, deep and in between. The wind blew in every direction, and the good trout were far and few. We boxed 12 from 16-19″ but we waded 3 miles for them.

I did notice the water warmed back up . Great day fishing, slow day catching . I did see some teal, shovlers and redheads buzzing this morning so it wont be long now and we will be doing the blast and cast. Thanks chad

First, as usual thanks for your report.  The small trout are an issue, great for catching, but it does get old.  Chris even commented on the number of small trout we caught yesterday.  Sounds like your day went about like ours did, a good day fishing but tough if you were boxing.  But any of us would be happy with that mess.  Obviously the last thing we needed was for the water temp to come back up, but the next couple of nights will change that.  We saw a few pintails yesterday, and I saw a couple of bunches of ducks flying over the lake today.  My buddy Chris is a big duck hunter, I am just not that mad at them like I am those fish.  I like to eat them as much as shoot them.  In fact, I am way better at eating them than I am actually hitting them.  This front should really bring them down and we will be looking forward to your duck reports this fall.   And I like the way you use the term blast and cast.  I always thought blast and cast was the right order of things, not cast and blast. I really appreciate your reports, and while I hate to ask, you have already done plenty, but how about dropping us a note on your plastic choice right now?  Most of us need all the help we can get.  Thanks again.

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And I got this report from Jim, and it looks like I need to head that way.  So many places to little time!

Cooler weather, gotta love it. I fished Fayette this past Tuesday as water temperature there have started to fall. Got to the lake at 6:45am and was met with overcast skies and breezy conditions. Got launched and headed to my first area with the intention of throwing topwaters. Water temperature was 83 and looked good. My first cast with the pop’r produced a 21.5″ 6# Fayette beauty. I always worry about catching a fish on the first cast but that one got my blood going. Worked the area over with the pop’r for 30 minutes with no more takers so I switched to a shad colored swim bait and put 4 more in the boat inside 30 minutes. The area I was fishing averaged 2.5-3ft with shoreline reeds. The lake is down about 1.5ft also so these areas are normally deeper. Working down the bank I saw some emergent vegetation coming up so I picked up a black/blue swim jog and started chunking. I caught 5 fish on the swim jig by just using a steady retrieve through the vegetation. 1 of the 5 fish was a 21″ 5.5# Fayette fatty. Beautiful fish! I rotated between the swim jig and swim bait until about 9am with no more takers so it was off to the dam. I fished the bottom edge of the dam where it flattened out which was 12-13ft with 1/4oz TR Berkley Havoc worm. This technique produced 3 more fish between 2-3#. By now it was about 12 noon and the bite had slowed to non-existent so it was time to leave. I think there was 10-12 boats on the lake. Gotta love fishing during the week! Can’t wait to go back next week with all the cooler weather on the way.

Great report!  All I can say is I love that lake.  When it is slow it is good, and when it is good it can be crazy.  And what is not to like about the average size you boated.  Fayette is one of the great fishing holes in this state.  There is nothing better than fishing during the week, one of the great advantages of retirement.  So thanks a freakin’ lot for your report, now I am going to have to head up there ASAP.  These cool nights will have all our finned friends on the move no matter where the live.  So many places, so little time.  Thanks for the report and I appreciate your continuing support.

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I am trying to wake up from this alternate universe I am living in.  I mean it can’t be real, can it?  The Hogs winning, the Cubs winning, the Cowboys are winning.  Just where in the hell did I wake up this week?  This is like some kind of dream, really!  It was not that long ago they were all losing like it was some kind of plan.  If this is a dream I will go ahead and sleep a little while longer.  All the way to the World Series and Super Bowl!

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And I want to send along birthday greetings to my mother-in-law Joy.  She is recovering from her second hip surgery and got some good news today on her recovery.  So keep working at it, you will be home soon.  I can only imagine how much fun my lovely wife and her dad Jack are having watching the Cubs together.  Both her dad and mine have been Cub fans for over 80 years.  So win one for the old guys, they have earned it.  But I miss her, no really, so send her on home tomorrow.  Somebody has to take care of me!

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It is 6am and I am awake and trying to decide if I am going to fish somewhere today.  With the wind expected to blow up to 20 plus out of the north I will pass on the bay.  There is this little lake outside Gonzales that I have been looking at.  Not really sure how the fishing is there, the TPWD website says the fishing is good, so as I drink my coffee I will read reports and the weather to make some kind of decision.  I know one thing, I love fall.  Jim and Chad’s reports just stoke the fire.  Stayed tuned.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines