FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Tip of the Day

Tungsten slip sinkers are to freakin’ expensive, but they are worth it when flipping or ptiching.  Smaller and considerably denser, it allows your bait to fall straight down, important when pitching to standing hard woods.

This time of year you can find the big gators sunning themselves during the middle of the day in small out of the wind pockets.

Weather

83/70   Scattered thunderstorms increasing in the afternoon.  60% chance.  Wind   SSE 15 – 25 mph.

Lake Levels

Today  96.41 msl    Last Thursday  96.46 msl.  (We need rain!)

Solunar Times

Best  8:06 am to 10:06 am.

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Get inhaled!

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I did not fish Monday, it was just to windy.  It has been blowing 25+ for almost a week now and I am sick of it.  The forecast for Tuesday at least had some clouds and a chance of rain, but it still blew 25+.  So in spite of the wind I headed to the lake.

It was blowing right along when I got there.  (3 tucks at ramp when I got there, 2 when I quit.)  The water temp during most of the day was in the mid 70’s and the level keeps dropping.  It has really got the fish confused as to whether to spawn or not.  We still have fish who are spawning, some who are done, and some who want to.  There are few visible beds with fish on them, and it seems the ones in the spawning coves have moved off the bank to the wood.  And to further confuse things, and me, they will hit anything, but nothing in particular.

Swim jig, creature bait, nothing stands out right now, but everything will catch one.

I started up lake with a swim jig and spinnerbait as it was to windy on the main lake to pitch.  It was one here and one there, none amounting to anything in the weight department.  The ones that fell for the swim jig were literally right on the bank, associated with wood and most bites came within 5 feet of the bank/cover.  And that turned out to be the pattern for the morning.  Most are hitting the swim jig after  a hop a little off the bank, which usually means they are tracking it, common with the swim jig.  Around the 1:00 I moved down lake after catching 10, and the pictures give you a pretty good idea was to size.

The spinnerbait bite has been leaving something to be desired so when I moved I headed first to a windy point and promptly caught 2, then nothing.  It was starting to get to me as I just could not find a good one.  I thought about quiting, it was blowing like a mofo, but around 2:00 decided to put on the big boy pants and soldier on.  So I made a tactic change, and while it produced another 6 in one cove and 5 in the next, none were big fish.

Spinnerbait and senko, they will eat it all but nothing stands out right now.

Occasionally I have a lucid moment of insight and today I made the right move.  With the water dropping, but the fish wanting to be shallow, it made sense to hit a spawning cove with enough hard woods to give them a place to hold.  They were tight to the wood, and I mean when you pitched the plastic it had to basically land within inches of the wood and then fall straight down.  Make a good pitch and get a bite.  Miss it by a foot and nothing.

The best set up seems to be 4/0 worm hook with a 3/16th tungsten weight.  It lets the bait fall straight down and not away from the cover.  Then as I learned on Falcon with Aaron last month, move it but don’t move it.  In other words shake it but keep it as close to the wood as possible.   In 2 hours 11 made the boat pitching, less than half “hit” it.  Most were just there, or actually started swimming off with it.  Today they liked the wood in the 5′ of water range, most in the middle of the coves off the bank.  One thing I will give them, yesterday afternoon they were biting, just no big fish.  One was definitely spawning and I can only surmise some of those bigger fish are spawning in a little deeper water on wood.

As a side note I spent several hours today working on a big swim bait pattern that is killing them on Fork.  It just is not happening on Coleto, but it is probably a good indicator of the difference in both lakes.  Fork is in the high 50’s and the fish are pre-spawn where here they are way past that.  I am still going to give it another go or two, it is a big fish pattern, but it may have to be on the shelf until next spring.  But I will not forget.

Funny how when you catch 23 bass it is not a “good” day.  Maybe my expectations are to high.  The last week it has usually been a matter of working your way through lots of smalls for the big bite, and I just may have missed her today.  Usually when I get done I speak with a gentleman who comes to the lot each day and reads, plus talks to fishermen when they get their vehicle.  He is a good source for reports and he reports some pretty tough fishing, both bass and crappie.  For some reason the crappie fishing is tough, even for the hard cores.  Again I think falling water has a lot to do with it.

As I type this thunder is rolling in the distance.  They were talking the potential for 2″ of rain, then down to an inch, unfortunately it has not really rained a drop, and they have taken any real chance for rain out of the forecast for Thursday.  The best we can hope for is a gully washer today, or the lake will continue to fall and conditions will remain in a state of flux.

It will be a day of weather watching and if it does what they say, except for the wind they have been wrong more than right, so a bay trip might be in order.  It is big trout time and if the big bass on the lake are going to be as finicky as they are it is time to switch gears.  So I will get the salt stuff organized, how does stuff get so messed up, and make a decision first thing in the morning.  And if any of you have something to say let’s hear it, this is a much more interesting place when you participate and I appreciate every comment.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines