FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Tip For the Day

Before you leave the driveway walk around the boat and trailer.  Lights work, rims tight and greased, tie downs and winch strap ok, air in the spare, any new rust, motor turn over?  Taking 2 seconds can save you hours of trouble and maybe even big $$$$.

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I had my usual great time at the Houston Fishing Show.  They claim they are now the largest in the country and while I have no clue if it is true it is one great show.  The only other outdoor show I have attended that was in the same class is the Tulsa show, which has tackle, boats, and RV’s.  (Funny story time –  The last time we attended the Tulsa show Jimmy Houston was there with his marina and tackle booth and the Boss leaned over and said – “I thought he was bigger”.)

First up I stopped by the Coastal Fishing Gear booth, makers of the Wade Right fishing belt.  Both Tim and Jason were on hand, it was their 8th year at the show, and as usual it was good to see them.  This year they added a fly box to their line of wading products, which also includes a really innovative fly rod holder.  The box is big enough for the large flies used in saltwater and includes the clip to attach it to the Wade Right like their other small tackle boxes.  So if you are a fly fisherman, fresh or salt, take a look at the rod holder, it can keep your rod and reel off the bank or out of the water if you are changing flies or releasing a trout.  They are having a good show and I wish them the best of luck for the rest of the show.

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Next up I headed to the My Coast Outdoors booth where I got to shoot the breeze with Michael and met his dad.  Incidentally his father actually made the molds for the Controlled Descent Lures.  Since Michael came out with the Controlled Descent Lures his company is growing as folks begin to really appreciate the possibilities of being able to actually control how the bait’s atttitude.  My favorite, whether deep or shallow. is the way it will suspend level, they just can’t stand it.  And I will be throwing the Pearl Silver Jerk Shad on Coleto to take advantage of the shad spawns to come.

The latest addition is 2 new colors, a watermelon red color, which is still my favorite fresh or salt, and a Purple Demon Limetreuse in the Paddle Shad.  He also had a few in the solid body and is seeing how it goes at the show and is mulling over adding solid bodies to the line.  And I really like the cool hats.  In this day and age the clothing aspect of the fishing business had become a big part of it.  Who would have “thunk” it?  I probably own more “fishing clothes’ than I do regular clothes.  I can look as good as anybody while I am not catching fish.  So good luck Michael, great to watch My Coast Outdoors grow.

As far as the rest of the show the one thing I like seeing is something I have been preaching about for years, the smaller, lighter, and less expensive boats.  There has been a market of for that style of hard core fishing machine without all the frills and there were multiple on dispay.  Easy to tow, good on gas, easy entry into the market, there is a place for them in the boating industry.  One thing many of them posses for the saltwater fisherman is access to areas otherwise not accessible with a bigger boat.  There were plenty of boats at the show between inexpensive and stupid expensive.  And of course the other end of the spectrum was represented with the likes of New Water Boat Works.  Not sure $80K will put more fish in the boat but you sure will look like you know what the hell you are doing.  (Maybe!)

There was one booth, sorry I never checked who they actually were, but they had some great deals.  I bought 3 spools of fluorocarbon that were less than half of what it is at Academy, and several hard baits which were ridiculously cheap.   Other than that I did not see anything else I could not live without.  But just like every year I left feeling motivated to fish harder and longer.  Just walking around and chatting with folks and seeing what this business had to offer was worth the trip.  So if you have not ever attended it is well worth your drive, just be sure to bring the wallet.

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 Those of you who read this stuff know I often spend Saturday morning watching fishing, and this morning is no different.  The Muskie Hunter is on Cave Run in Kentucky  (Would like to fish it some time, it also has some really huge stripers.) this morning and watching them catch muskies gets my blood running.  They are such a cool fish and give a new meaning to freshwater predator.  Catching my big one was one of my great fishing accomplishments and it would be nice to repeat.Sorry if you have seen this before but I still get excited looking at her!  That is a freakin’ monster by any measure.  And catching her on 10lb line with a Red Eye Shad rattle bait on my smallmouth rod made it all that much better.

The point of this?  As I try to decide where my week or 2 long fishing trip will be this year I am having a real problem deciding what and where to go.  A Florida trip would be fine, back to Lake of the Woods in Ontario is a possibility, and a fall trip to fish the streams of Southern Colorado has been on my mind since our trip there this year.   The advantage of Colorado, no need to take the boat.  The others are long tows, but at least being able to stay at least a week or two makes it worth it.  The trip to Peru next month should give me a little fish catching travel to tide me over until I make some final decision.  It’s a tough life.

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Tip for the Day #2

You can read all the fishing reports you want, talk to them at the tackle store or marina, there are lots of ways to get a good report.   Well I know another.  Coming back on Hwy 59 there were at least a dozen trucks at the ramp on Lake Texana.  There is nothing more to say about that except – Go Get Your Crappie On!  As soon as that ramps starting filling up the bite is on and with the warming temps better get it while it’s hot.  There are some serious crappie in that lake.  (And they are going on Coleto as I speak.)

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Here is a little review of the Lew’s Speed Spool LSP, I give them an A+.  I got 3 last month and so far could not be happier.  It is light weight and my favorite part, they cast a mile, you can almost empty the spool.  They handle light line well, at Falcon it did ok with 20lb test, though it is built for less and as I fish 10 – 14lb as a rule it fills the bill.  So now it is a question of just how long they last.  When it has the misfortune to have me as an owner they will get a work out, I will let you know what I think after a year of hard use.  Interestingly, when I had my tackle store in the mid 70′ they came on the scene and it was a must have.  I loved mine but they disappeared from the market and it was great to see them back.  At $50 it was “expensive” for those days.  Now look at the cost of a fine reel, about what I paid for my 15hp Johnson in the old days.

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I may just slip out early in the morning even though it is a Sunday.  While I prefer to leave it to the weekend warriors I have not fished enough in the last couple of weeks so think I will start the week off strong.  Spring is here and I feel a little revived after a somewhat slow winter.  And to the rest of you, have not heard from some of you in while, so if you have a report, picture, or just a bitch drop us a line.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines