FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Looking at tomorrow the forecast is a little different than it was a couple of days ago.  So looking at the tides and prime period, along with the potential for rain later in the day, it will be up and gone a little earlier than I have been.  How the fishing will be remains to be seen but you can’t catch them sitting on the couch.

Weather

61/54.  Cloudy with a 60% chance of afternoon showers.  Wind NE 10 – 20 mph.

Tides 

Low  10:00 AM     0.4   High   9:10 PM     1.0.

Solunar Time

8:22 am to 10:22 am.

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Redfish Candy!

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WOW!  Love me some Lavaca River!

I have been fishing pretty hard over the last 7 years, half of it in the salt.  Today was one of those days that started off great, and ended great, and the middle was nuts!

My first bite.  That is a nice snook anywhere!

My last bite.  This is all the higher I could lift her.  This was a hoss!

The water temp was 56 degrees, it was cloudy, and if felt like rain as I headed down river.  The water has some color, and basically stayed that way most of the way down.  First up was one of my favorite banks with plastics on a jig head.  Trout was the quarry today so I figured that would be the ticket.  The first bank produced zip, so I moved to my other favorite bank, and again zip.  It was not happening on plastics.

So I moved again, went back to the popping cork, and it was game on.  One just took off the minute it hit and it was the first time in my life I was happy it was not a big trout.  I knew it was big but when she thrashed I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but no, it was a nice snook.  It is the first one I have caught up here, but the fact it was in the river is not surprising.  Snook go to deep water when it gets cold like this, they can not take a freeze, so this one was just where you might expect to find one, if they were common, and they are becoming more common on the middle coast.  But enough of that, it just made my day.

So why am I showing you these two peanuts?  Because I wanted to show you my slam.  Not sure what a redfish, trout, flounder, black drum, snook slam is but I caught one.  I am just gonna call it a “Monster Slam”!

From that point on the  tide was slowly falling and the wind was just right to ease down river keeping a cast length from the bank and popping my cork.  For shits and giggles I used several plastics on the cork, including a Controlled Descent white/limetreuse Paddle Shad.  (See black drum above.)  I definitely learned one thing, any plastic worked, as long as it was white.  I finished the day throwing a cheap fake shrimp plastic and they did not care.

Here are just a few of the trout.  Nothing big, the top 2 first thing, the second couple later in the morning, with a bunch in between. I have no clue how many I caught.  It was trout mania!

From about 9:30 until I quit at noon it was bite after bite.  Rat reds, numbers of trout, the bite was on and I had them down.  I set the plastic about 20″ below the popping cork and threw it right on the bank.  Basically popping it, letting it sit for a count of 4, and popping it again.  Some were right on the bank, some half way back, you had to be sure not to get in a hurry working it.  Some of them smoked it, some barely pulled it under, but they were eating it.  If I were guessing, and I will, I can not think of anytime it was more than 4 or 5 casts without a bite.  It was crazy.

After making a couple of passes with the popping cork I intentionally went back and re-fished it with plastics on jig head, totally without success, not even a bite.  So back up and fished it with the cork and caught another 10.  Not sure why, but I have a history on the Lavaca with the popping cork.  And having the blog and looking back it has happened like this before.  My best guess is they don’t want to chase.  Popping cork is not the glamour bait, but if it is not in your arsenal you are missing out.  I always say let the fish tell you how they want it, or stick to your one trick pony, I bow to the fish.

So what a day, and it was topped off with me laughing my ass off so hard I almost threw up.  It was starting to drizzle, I had caught a ton, so I am putting everything away, putting my coat back on, and grabbed the self inflating life jacket.  I had some trouble getting it over the hood on the jacket so I gave it a jerk, and it inflated!  Are you kidding me?  So now I have this big giant balloon on my back and it was hell getting it off.  Ridiculous.  Wish I had thought to take a picture.  But I can not think of a more fitting way to end the day.

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When I got back to the ramp I had a guy stopping to check it out and I got to do my favorite thing.  He is going to fish with a friend from Fort Worth next week and I was lucky enough to fill him in.  I get so sick of people lying, hiding what and how they caught fish, and I have never really figured out why they do that.  When he gets to fish next week I hope he kills them.  It gives me great pleasure to help folks and I hope everyone who reads this gets a little bit of help catching more fish.

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Larry, who I met with Rusty yesterday, dropped me a comment letting me know he is out there.  Nice to meet you too and glad to have a new reader.  And a big thanks to Rusty, he saved me a copy of the article and cover of the AAA magazine when Dan and I were chasing a big one and I got it today.  My pleasure to see you guys and hope it is not that long before we meet again.

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I did forget to tell you something the other day that I find interesting.  When I kept that red the other day, everything else you see on the blog is CPR’d, he had a small catfish in his belly.  Why interesting?  Because a few years ago I got some plastics in the Bargain Cave at Cabela’s for $1.  They were a goby imitation like they use on the great lakes and it looks just like a little catfish.  I smacked them pretty good that year, and next time I hit the river I will find them in the tackle room, somewhere.

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So that is it for today.  As I said yesterday there is more fishing to come.  I love being a multi-species guy.  It never gets old to whack some trout and reds, then drag a nice bass out of a tree top.  And maybe a few crappies or catfish for the pan.  Fishing is a big world, so many fish, and so many ways to catch them.  And topping it off with a snook just made my day – year – decade.  One of those memories that will never fade.  That is why we fish, because we never know what might be on the end of the line.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines.