FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Brought to you by 

** For a super deal use promo code FCT15 and get 15% off on your online  order!** 

Normally I try to put up the tides and weather but being gone 3 days and leaving the computer at home I did not get to it.  To sum up the tides, it was high in the early a.m. and the low was midafternoon all 3 days, and we had good moving water most of the day.   The weather was stable and the wind kept in the 15 mph range all 3 days.  And just to list them in case I miss a few we fished the following –  Barroom, Shoalwater, Pringle, Contee Lake, the drain out of Conte, Cedar Lake, and maybe I will think of a few more later.  Since it was 3 days, instead of separate reports I will just do it in this one big ass report.

3 Days of Wacky Fun.

The reason I started calling them the Austin Boys is other than meeting Todd, I met the majority of them all at once.  No way in heck I could remember all their names at once.  I am finally getting the hang of it and have a reasonable idea who is who.  So when Todd called me and asked me to come along I was on board immediately.  It is always a good time.  No whining, no getting pissed off, no bitchin’, just a bunch of guys having a great time in and on the water.  Todd and his boat crew would be down Thursday afternoon, the other bunch would be down late Thursday and we would see them somewhere Friday.

We started Thursday afternoon in Barroom as they were not getting there until after lunch.  Todd, John, other John, and Pete met me at the house and it wasn’t long before we were in the water on the Barroom shoreline.  We dropped folks off and basically kept jumping each other and waded quite a bit of the shoreline.  It was not fast by any means but we caught some nice reds and a few trout.  Plastics were better early and a few fell for topwater as the day waned.

What a way to end the day.

Todd’s lean, mean, well lit fishin’ machine comes equipped with plenty of tunes.

Todd’s Shallow Sport is a work horse and carried the 5 of us for the weekend with plenty of room to spare.  We headed to the cleaning table Thursday night to clean fish when a couple of young knuckleheads came up with 2 huge reds in a cooler.  (I can say that, it takes one to know one, when I was their age I was also a knucklehead.  No disrespect intended.)  Fishing the big jetties they had a big bull on the stringer behind the boat when they heard a commotion, saw some floating blood, so they pulled he stringer in.

Sorry this one came out dark.  Notice anything missing?  There are things in the ocean that can hurt you.

Looks like a big bull shark did the deed.  It looked like a big part of the red was cut off with a knife.  It probably would have made the slot, it would have been an interesting measurement.  They also had one that was really huge, one of the bigger ones I have seen taken here.  I am not sure that they might have had a good experience with a game warden, but it was interesting to see.  We cleaned fish and headed to the house to get ready for a long day on Friday.

We sacked a few on a short Thursday afternoon wade.

As we headed out at daylight Friday morning the weather was awesome.  We did a quick wade on Barroom sacking maybe one or two, so it was off to Pringle to drift and wade.

Over the side and off we go.

Let me say this now to let you get a feel for how the whole trip went.  Other than one spot, a drain out of Contee, we caught fish everywhere we went, just never did knock the crap out of them at any one place.  Some people might refer to this as a grind, I like to call it fun.  Todd loves to drift Pringle so we dropped Pete and John off on the east shoreline for a wade and the 3 of us did some drifting.  I was throwing the whiskey/chartreuse Hogie paddle tail when I had a bite.  And when I say a bite it actually slammed my paddle tail.

The biggest one I have stuck in a while.  And boy am I styling with matching shirt and my Cocoons fit over sunglasses.

The only way to describe the bite was she smacked the living crap out of it.  Hardest trout bite I have ever had.

She ate right next to the boat, and Todd made a quick net job and in she came.  We did not have a big stick to measure, or a scale, but I could care less.  Like I often say here, it doesn’t matter, it was just  flat big and heavy.  So a few pics and back in she went, no worse for the wear.  Thanks for the tip Chad.

John with a nice flounder headed for the pan!

We caught fish drifting in Pringle and the boys caught some wading.  We fished some in Contee and then went outside and fished the drain.  A few came over the side in the lake, none at the drain in the bay.  We kept hunting and pecking the rest of the day and finally made our stand where we ended our wade on Blackberry Island.  It was a keeper here and there, keeping the action going.

My buddy Todd with a nice red.

I did my small part.  Notice on the last 3 pictures, some of the boys have joined the Wade Right crew and give it nothing but great reviews.

Pete with a nice 23′ trout as the sun sets. What is better than that?  And look at the rest of Pete’s pictures closely, notice a theme?

Day 2 catch headed to Fishmass.

And Ro and the boys put a dirty dog whippin’ on them Friday.

The fishing was consistent and we had a couple of ok stetches of topwater fishing.   Dark plastics with chartreuse paddle tails ruled the day. Everybody caught fish on our last wade when we called it a day at dark.  A good time was had by all and of course there was awesome food, drink, along with a healthy dose of bullsh#t for dinner.  Todd is a heck of a cook, and I don’t remember the name of what he made but it had crawdads, pasta, and a cream sauce to die for.  Everyone burned out early and we were up and at it first thing the next morning.

When we stopped at the station for gas and ice we met up with the other boat that got in late Thursday night.  Ro with 3 other folks whacked them pretty good Friday so we decided to drive down to Charlie’s and put in as we were headed to Shoalwater and Cedar.  The ramp was crowded and it seemed like everybody decided to fish.  We followed them into Shoalwater and they stopped where they caught their reds the day before, so we went down the bank a ways and jumped in.

                   Following Ro and the rest of the outlaws as dawn breaks.

Seriously, is there any better way to start the day?

We all had some blow ups on top and before we left Shoalwater we put a few nice reds in the boat and I added a nice trout.  From there it was off to Cedar Lake for some wading.  Todd and I drifted the back end out a few times and while we caught several, they were all small.  The others waded the mouth and they managed to string a few.

Pete with a keeper flounder.

Hey!  Wait for me!

Ro and the boys showed up as Todd and I decided to wade the outside.  Everyone spread out and were catching a few in front of the lake.  I had a little drum run and managed to boat 2 out of the 4 I should have caught.

A little drum hot spot.

Thanks for the pic Ro.

From there it was back to Shoalwater for a little drifting and wading.  The boys waded and I drifted with Todd.  That day he was throwing popping cork and shrimp and I stayed with plastic.  Plastic really did keep up with the live bait.  It was one of our last drifts in Shoalwater before he started catching more on shrimp than I was on plastics.  Those we caught were all small and we did not add any keepers to the pile.  The boys added 4 more reds and had a couple of doubles wading the shoreline near the mouth of Shoalwater.  Some of that is real soft and is a tough wade, but they stuck it out.  Must have been the high octane fuel they were burning.

Other John and Pete with a couple.

As LSU was playing Bama that evening we headed in early as Todd is a big LSU fan.  We took the obligatory tourist picture before we cleaned fish.  Ro and the boys also got in and had about the same amount of fish so it was a cleaning extravaganza.

Other John, John, Pete, and Todd.  End of my 3 days, one more for them.

FIRE!

I had to save this for last.  What is up with the fire extinguisher?  I hope I get the story straight as I was in the water about 25 yards away.  They had moved the boat closer in with the trolling motor when they got out to wade the front of Cedar and left it down, and put down the power pole to hold the boat.  When Pete got back in the boat, all of us were still in the water, when for some reason that big ass trolling motor started running on wide freakin’ open high!  And what made it more amazing, picture this, the Power Pole is still down and the trolling motor is screaming wide open, causing the boat to twirl around the Power Pole like a tether ball.  Now this all happens in seconds.  Pete kept his head and I think he got the Power Pole up, or it dragged lose, the boat takes off and the trolling motor plug begins to smoke like crazy.  So he grabs the plug and attempts to unplug it and the whole thing, plug and the receptacle, pop out of the floor and start on fire!  I mean flames.  I have a drum on the line and can not get to my camera – Rats!  Pete grabs the fire extinguisher and puts out the boat.

That was just crazy, really.  I hate to laugh, again, but come on man, that is funny stuff.  Sorry Todd.  It could have been a lot worse thanks to Pete’s quick thinking.  It could have happened while we were running, the boat could have caught on fire, or it even could have happened when nobody was in the boat and we would have watched it scream off into the bay as it started to burn.  It is good to be lucky, but better to have your safety equipment in good working order.  It is a reminder, next time you are in your boat look at your fire extinguisher, I just checked mine in both boats, you might be next.

I know I have forgotten some things but you get the point.  Fishing with them is so much fun.  Good conversation, good drinks, good eats, all a big part of the Austin Boys POC fishing trips.  They make it a few times a year and I consider myself lucky to get the invite.  They are already making the December plans as I write this and everyone is getting excited just talking about it.

Heard from Todd this evening and the fishing was tough for him and the boys today.  There was some sketchy weather that ended up keeping them close.  It wouldn’t be a multiple day fishing trip without the occasional slow day.  It often comes with trips like this no matter where you fish, but it all evens out in the end.  It takes a lot more than the occasional slow day and boat fire to keep a good man down!

So another great day of fishcatchingtravel.  If the Great Spirit decides I am worthy of a few more days may they all be as fun as the last 3.  We only get one run at this life and spending it outdoors with good friends will lengthen our days on this earth.  So take a kid, the neighbor, a total stranger, but take someone and expose them to our great sport.  We are lucky to live where we do and fish where we fish.  And no words are sweeter as the sun rises than one of the Austin Boys hollering – FISH ON!  Thanks for including me.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines