FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Tip of the Day

Don’t stop on the railroad tracks!  Funny anyone has to say this.

The day looked great for some bass fishing, but it is getting off to a rocky start.  Up early, all ready, stuff to the truck and boat, and then like I always do before I leave the driveway, turn the boat motor over.  As I reached for the key I noticed the instrument lights were on, oops.  Guess last trip I turned off the graph but not the main power switch and the motor barely turned over.  So while a pain in the ass it will be ready to go in an hour, which gave me time to prepare this as I wait.  Though it is killing me.

Weather

65/55  Considerable cloudiness.  Periods of rain poss thunder.  40% chance.  Wind NE 10 – 15 mph.

Lake Level

Friday  96.42 msl   Today  96.43 msl   (Nothing like a little stability.)

Solunar Periods

(The only relevant period today is while I am sitting here waiting for the battery to be charged.  Nice.)

********************Get inhaled!

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The gators were on the move.  And if you are a turkey hunter hope you were out there, the turkeys were going nuts this morning.

It was drizzling with a nice light wind, a real change from the last couple of weeks.   The water color remains slightly off-color, and the temp was down a little in the low 70’s, a side affect of the winter front we had the last few days.

Starting with spinnerbait it was a strike out, then crankbait, which put 3 or 4 small ones in the boat before I lost it.  But with the wind blowing lightly it was time to pitch.  See below.

I took more pictures today to give you sense of how good it was.  And I did not take a picture after noon though the bite stayed the same all day.  It was just plan good.

There were plenty this size and tons of small ones.  No big ones, but numbers sure made up for that!

From 9:00 until I quit at 4:15 they bit, and bit, and bit some more.  Whether coves, main lake, creeks, it did not matter.  Wood, the more the better, and if it was a thicker patch, there was a fish.  The biggest one above came out of a pile after getting all tangled up.  It is usually a matter of taking your time and letting them swim around until you can pull them out, which she did.  Unfortunately 2 more did the same thing and no matter what I did I could not get them out.  Tells you how thick the brush was.

Sometimes I have a pretty good idea about how many I caught, but today, not a clue.  The last 2 weeks it has been 20+ every trip, today it went way past that.  They were really on the chew.  About half would tic it pretty good, the other half would just start swimming with it.  Still using a 1/4oz slip sinker with a 4/0 hook and a 20lb fluoro leader.  And while they will hit most any plastic, they definitely want the 5″ stick worm in a watermelon red.   As I spend more time pitching it is apparent how important accuracy is.  Make a good pitch tight to cover, don’t let your bait fall away from the cover, and you are in business.  I even caught 2 out of 1 bush a couple of times today. Though I retied several times today a couple still broke off, which if you throw into enough heavy stuff is going to happen.  Pulling them out of the brush is hard on line, but great for the soul.

And with the wind being within reason it was possible to fish most places, which really added to the catch rate.  I did give spinnerbait a go several times, and that other thing I have been working on, but they were not interested.  They wanted it pitched right in their mouth, and you could tell as several ate it as soon as it hit the water. and very few further than a couple of feet away from any cover.  The term bunched up is not really accurate, but once you caught one on a stretch of bank, another 4 or 5 or more would come quickly.  It was just that kind of day.

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Fishermen are funny people.  Everything is a big secret, not telling the whole truth is not lying, and stretching the truth is a way of life.  Who knows what to believe?  Today is a perfect example, I know I put an easy 30 in the boat today, which I know from doing this blog some people just aren’t having it.  The reason I bring it up is a little encounter at the ramp on Falcon.  Our trip was over, and Aaron had just put on a pitching clinic catching a bunch of great fish.  As we were getting the boat ready to go a guy, dressed in the required clothing and pulling a big ass bass boat, came over and asked – “How did you do?”  So of course I told him exactly how and where and his response – “Oh, come on.”  First, then why the hell ask?  Second, I actually had the pictures and offered to show them to him, at which point he changed his tune.  It really is a sad comment on a part of the fishing culture when you ask and expect a lie.

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So what a day.  Very few days offer everything. clouds, light wind, fish shallow, water stable, it does not get any better than that on Coleto, and most other bass lakes.  But the run is over, at least on my part.  Looks like Wednesday will be the bay with my buddy Chris.  It has been while since we fished together and I am looking forward to it.  Plus, can’t wait to eat a few trout.  And Jeffish and I are only a week away from some serious striper fishing, it is gonna be a great week.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines