FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Weather

94/74  Partly cloudy with 20% chance stray shower.   Wind  S 10 – 15 mph.

Lake Level

Today  95.59 msl  Last Thursday  95.61   (Holding steady.)

Solunar Periods

Best  10:25 am to 12:25 pm.  (Only relevant period.)

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There is something innovative and new coming!  Stay tuned.

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Part of the reason I have cut the fishing short the last 2 trips is to be able to respond when the adjuster calls concerning the car.  Of course he has not called yet, 5 days later, and I have not heard a word from the Hampton Downtown Dallas, Advantage Valet of the insurance company.  But that is another story.

What a beautiful morning!

The skiff had not seen the water in a month or more so it was time to run it a little.  Nothing worse than letting a boat sit to long.  And giving it credit, it started right up and did not miss a lick all day.  And occasionally when I am using it I am reminded of how simple has a lot to be said for it.  A 50hp Merc which is great on gas, and nothing more than a trolling motor and small locator.  You just can’t kill that hull, it will be 19 years old soon and has served me well.

I had 2 plans today.  One worked out great, one about like it has been.  The fish are still on the cover, but they are getting smaller, or maybe I have educated them.  But either way while it was 10 or so pitching I did quit that around 10:00 to do a little white bass trolling.

It is “Ground Hog” day pitching on the lake right now.

Today they seemed to bite off the cover a little bit.  With the sun not full out they were close to cover, but had not buried up in it yet.  One did manage to break my line, which is a hazard that comes with the territory.  I did not fish everywhere I have been catching them when I decided to catch some white bass.  Coleto is not that great a white bass lake, but they are in there and with just a little effort they can be caught.

What?  Eating a banana on the boat!  Not sure where that superstition came from but after catching around 30 it sure did not hurt anything.

White bass can usually be found on the lower end main lake this time of year and it took me a little while to find them.  In the process at least 10+ bass jumped on.  They bit just about everywhere I trolled and once I found the whites they were mixed in with them.  Using shad style baits that run 10 foot deep with 50 feet of line out, it was just a slow troll to get them.  And once I found them it was 8 or 10 fairly quick with several bass mixed in.

They were on the big flat point, way out, that separates the ramp cove from the fishing pier cove.  They tended to be in around 15 – 20 feet of water and most strikes came trolling over the end of the point and then down both sides.  Once thing about catching white bass that way, they smack it.

Nothing huge but boy it is fun and they were whacking it!

I kept after it until about noon and it was consistent.  Every year about this time I give it a go and rarely do I not catch a few, though today I fished lots of miles before I caught them.  But I will give trolling one thing, it catches fish and without our grass it has opened many places you could not troll before.  Simply take a shad style bait, toss it out behind the boat, and then troll slow.  Once you start seeing shad schools on the locator, and the lower end has lots, you will usually find the whites close.  Trolling like that is a great way to get kids on the fish, and put a few in the well for dinner.

They are one cool looking bird.

The wildlife was on the move today.  Plenty of deer moving around, saw a big pig, and an eagle.  But while I was up lake there were tons of the birds above, they look like a kind of stork, sitting  in the tall trees lining the bank.  As I fished down the bank they would take off out of the tree and fly down the bank to a great big tree.  Now that tree was full of turkeys, and every time the birds landed in the tree the turkeys went nuts and gobbled their rear end off.  Which set off the turkeys on the other side of the lake, for 15 minutes it was a turkey gooble  off.    Spend enough time in the outdoors and you never know what you will see.  Makes getting up in the morning worth it.

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It was a short morning but actually fairly productive.  I have caught tons of whites over the years trolling and it was nice to put some in the boat.  If we did not just eat some salmon and then some trout I would have kept a couple.  One tip with white bass, soak them overnight in 7Up, it takes the red out and no fishy taste.  It works.  As soon as I hit post I am going to get ahold of someone who I owe a fishing trip to and start to schedule the week.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines