FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Beautiful!  The day was already a success before I even got in the water!

Weather

85/78. Isolated morning showers then partly cloudy later, 30% chance of showers. Wind ESE 10 – 15mph.

Tide

High 6:30 am. Low 8:17 pm.

Solunar Times

Best 6:08 am to 8:08 am. Good 11:53 am to 1:53 pm.

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Redfish love them!

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The wind was out of the east around 15mph and the tide was high.  Since conditions were exactly the same as 2 days ago there was 3 places on the list and 2 new ones.  While the fishing was not quite as hot, fish were caught on all stops.  It was wading all morning then a couple of hours of boat fishing.

The topwater was good about an hour and then they slowed down.

Today it seemed the fish were a little farther off the bank.  It was 3 drains off the island and they were out where the channel kind of flattened out and quite a bit more scattered.  But like 2 days ago it was topwater, DOA Cal, and the Controlled Descent Paddle Shad in the Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse Glitter.  None of the places was loaded with fish, but keeping a bait in the water and fishing the area systematically caught fish everywhere.

I did manage one good trout today.

You could see some of the fish early making a half hearted run under the topwater without committing.  So I would just switch to plastics and catch some.  Before it was over I fished near South Pass, Army Hole, Big Bayou and some other drain I am not sure which lake it comes out of.  I covered some miles both in and on the water today.

This guy smoked the Controlled Descent Paddle Shad.

After I quit wading it was time to check on the school of reds in Big Bayou and they were there.  With the water so shallow and off color on that bank the “brown’ Paddle Shad seemed logical.  Just reeling it a little ways and then pulling it a couple of feet and stopping it produced 2 real nice ones and 2 smalls.  It was rigged on a 3/0, 1/16th ounce swimbait hook.  With no floating grass to deal with it is fine to leave the barb out, when they hit they are usually there.  Plus the lighter weight hook lets the tail vibrate even more.  The key just like the spinnerbait.

They were eating it.  The other good one there.

After catching 4 I left them.  Don’t hassle them to much and they should stick around.  So the day was a success.  I needed a few trout for the fry pan and actually kept a limit, rare for me.  Thinking about them sizzling in the pan has my mouth watering.

I rarely do the dead fish picture, and I even messed that up.

There were definitely more small trout and reds today, but there was just enough good ones to keep me fishing.  Plus as long as something is tugging on the end of the line I am happy.  And you never know when that good one is coming, in fact the trout above was the last fish of the day.  I finally called it a day at 3:00, and left them biting.

So here is what I have learned in 2 days this week.  The fish are biting, that in and of itself is great.  When combined with something different, a drain, some grass,  oysters, structure of some sort, they are there somewhere. Today it seemed wading was a waist deep thing throwing out.  This is one of the times when if you do what you are good at, or like to do, it will work right now.  And a popping cork with Gulp or a Marker 54 shrimp would hurt them right now.

One thing I found interesting is the drain I love so much on the island was really changed last year during the hurricane.  Mud ran out of the back lake and the down tide side is a lot softer and does not have nearly as many fish.  What were potholes are now mudholes.  The bay is a constantly changing underwater topography and nothing beats wading to learn when it happens.

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(Funny, I wrote this yesterday before I took a dead fish picture.)

I did want to let those of you new to the blog know that 99.9% of all the fish I catch are CPR’d.  When it is just me and the Boss a couple here or there, cooked fresh, is all we need.  As a result of that I have quit taking very many cooler dead fish pictures.  Of course it still happens when fishing with a crowd, then it is all about the pile.  And this is not a complaint on folks who do, they are your fish and as long as they end up simmering in the pan it is all good.  Plus, they are dead.  Taking them as they are caught when I generally do not keep them is the only way to give you a true picture on how the day went.  There is a downside to that, when it is slow the pictures do not lie.

And to go along with that I rarely measure or weigh a fish.  It seems as I get older it is a simple, it is big or not.  The numbers are really not that important, one day a 20″ trout is “big”, another it takes a 28″, it is all relative to how good the fishing is.  A perfect example, a 5lbers on Flacon is just another fish, out of your farm pond it is a hawg.  Often fishermen get so wrapped up in the numbers that we forget the reason we are out there – To enjoy being out there with a tug on the line,

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The bay is good right now and hopefully it is just the beginning of what will be an epic fall.  And the flounder should start showing up for us rod and reel folks.  And I do keep them!  Not sure what is next, though I feel like a trip to the lake in the morning.  But I am laughing right now as the news just gave the Coleto fishing report – Slow for everything.  But one thing can be said about my fishing habit, I am persistent.  Plus it definitely will not stay that way.  And as I have been saying all summer, when fall comes it is game on so let the games begin.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines