FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Insanity – Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!

Weather

60/53.  Cloudy with a 20% chance of stray showers.  Wind NNE 10 – 15mph.

Solunar Periods

Best 11:40 am to 1:40 pm.  (Day classified as average.)

Lake Level

Today  98.26 msl.     2 week ago  98.37 msl.

*******************Fresh or salt it has a place in your arsenal.

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We will get to the insanity thing as soon as I get through with the report.  When I got to the ramp there were several bass boat trailers at the ramp, and more came during the day.  Must be a tournament this weekend.  I hit the lake at around 9:00 and fished until dark.  The water is finally clearing just a little and the water temp remained like it has been, 61 to 65 over most of the lake.  While the lake has fallen a little it basically is remaining stable.  Many coves are still fairly off color but the bigger ones seem to have areas that are a little clearer.  And most of the bites did come there.

To make a long story short I caught 7 smalls, 5 on the Bang O Lure and I probably missed that many on it, and 2 came pitching a craw to cover.  Of those, 5 came in one cove.  I did have one try to jerk the rod out of my hands slow rolling a chartreuse spinnerbait, definitely a catfish bite.  At least there are some males headed to the bank, but clearly the rest of them are not.  But I gave it the old college go, (That is what 7 years of college will do for you.) and that goes to the insanity thing.

When the Boss got home and I told here how the day went, her comment – “You are bored.”  She is partially right.  I have been stuck in a fishing rut.  Thinking about it I have been hard at it the last almost 8 years, but may have been in the old – “Can’t see the forest for the trees” thing.  But being hard at it should not include being “hard headed”, which I have been the last couple of months.  As the lake has changed, and it really has over the last 2 years, I have not changed with it.  And a good illustration of that is my conversation with a gentleman from Missouri who was just taking out.

I asked about his results and he relayed the following.  He caught 3 keepers and had several others he thought were big fish that he did not get to the boat.  He is fishing a shaky head.  He said he tried multiple colors and the only thing that got bit was a watermelon seed color.  I got that feeling they were not particularly shallow.

In the back of my mind that little voice has been saying do something different, unfortunately I have not been listening.  (Funny how I often listened to that little devil on my shoulder telling me to do stupid shit when I was young and dumb.)  It should be simple right now, look for staging fish getting ready to head to the bank.  When you find them like that it can be a killing. Where to look?  Points at the mouth of spawning coves, channel bends and channels part way back in big spawning coves, and deeper secondary points inside the same coves.  Deeper being the operative word.  Standard bass location pre-spawn.  It’s not like these locations are a surprise.  And when the bite is tough shaky head is a great option, and one I have tons of experience with, and have completely gotten away from.

My experience?  Fishing the deep clear lakes of Arkansas and Missouri for 25 years.  Back then we did not call it some fancy name.  For us it was just a 4″ worm on a light jig head and light line, which worked well in the gin clear waters.  It caught fish when other techniques did not.  So what’s old becomes “new” again, common with some fishing techniques.

So how did I get stuck in this “rut’?  Much has to do with me getting enamored with fishing all the shallow grass Coleto had.  Easy to get stuck in the rut when you catch lots of big fish regularly in water less than 5′.  Such a change from fishing lakes almost devoid of cover where in October catching bass in 50′ of water was not uncommon.  We regularly deep water jigged winter bass out of 25 – 50′ of water and we filled the boat year after year with stripers and whites at this depth.  So fishing deep is nothing new to me.  (One caveat to this, I will not anchor on a point and drag a Carolina rig for hours.  It may be effective but I find that extremely boring.   Fishing should still be fun.) It boils down to me not changing when it was time, probably a function of getting set in your ways, which seems to affect me more as I get older.

Time for a change on my part.  As the grass has disappeared other techniques are now back on the menu.  A Rigs, deep cranking, spooning, light line small baits, all have a place and time in a good bass fisherman’s arsenal.  No amount of wishing will ever return Coleto to the grass filled bonanza it was, at least in my lifetime.  The fish are still there, the problem is me.  Fishing is always about change, time of year, weather, raising or lowering water, and you have to stay with it daily, monthly, yearly.  And like I said, and will again, you can not make them be where they are not.  End of story.

Now to what the Boss described as boredom.  One result of loving time on the water is even when the fishing sucks I still treasure every day on the water.  There are many days for me that the results are a side benefit of being out there.  So while it may be a “local” boredom it is not with fishing.  Fishing in some of the great places on earth can also have an effect.  But with Montana in April, and Louisiana in May, there is some great fishing to come, and trust me, it will not be boring.

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I got this comment from Gage, who I believe is a first time commenter.

Do you have any advice for the seadrift area trout or redfish. Ive been catching them in the back creek in coleto back almost up to shroeder on double tadem rigs and tiny ttf minnows all the way up to 4 1/2 pounds. hope the tip on the lake helps They been in the channel 8 to 12 ft bouncing right on the bottom. The water has cleared up back there.

Thanks for a real report.  It goes along with my post today.  There is more ways to skin a cat and my stubborn ways sure have got me in a rut.  When you think about what I learned from the guy at the ramp this makes perfect sense.  You can not hurry the bass, they will come to the bank when the  time is right and no amount of my shallow efforts will put them there.  We all have out slumps and it is nice to have someone help out a fishing “brother”.

As far as your Seadrift question, not sure if you mean tomorrow or generally.  But generally if you have a boat here is my .02 for what it is worth.  My experience fishing out of Seadrift is limited, the barge canal, one winter Mission Lake, rare trips to San Antonio Bay, and heading to Cedar Bayou. The drum hole has it’s moments as does the barge canal, all close. On the other hand if you head across the bay to the island I can help.  It is a long ride that can be rough out of Seadrift but in that area you have some great places.

My first piece of advice, is always get a good map.  Along with regular maps I use the Lakes and Bay Fishing Atlas which you can get it in some gas stations.  It is good for a general layout and planning a trip, and includes most of the coast and tons of lakes.  I am using it as we speak.  From Ayers Point to Twin Lakes there is all the fishing you could ever need.  There are tons of drains and small lakes, which all hold fish at times.  Additionally Panther Point is there, one of the good shell wades on the bay.  So sorry if this is to broad, but if I were headed out of Seadrift that is where I would go.  If you want more specific info please drop a comment and I will email you.  I really appreciate you commenting, it is refreshing to get the occasional real report.

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Here is a possibility SA Joe for your guide question.

Good Morning Doug
This is Steve from Waco. I haven’t dropped you a line in a while, but I can help with the gentleman looking for a guide. We have a weekend home in Seadrift so I spend a lot of time in the area. I have fished a couple of times with Captain Derick Kuyrkendall, he’s my go to man on saltwater and has become a good friend in the process. Capt. Derick fishes the jetties at POC and state waters. A jetty trip would be the all around best choice, not so weather dependent and you would catch more and bigger fish. A day at the jetties will bring good size trout, bull reds, black drum, sharks, jacks and maybe kingfish. If everything went just right you would have a good chance at a tarpon, but not at spring break, just not warm enough yet. If I were taking my sons fishing only one time, I would not recommend a wade fishing trip. The boat stops and everyone gets out and goes their way down the shoreline. Capt Derick fishes out of a 26’ Pathfinder so you have room and a big boat under you. He only fishes the jetties so he can flat put you on the fish. In the summer time he is the tarpon man, hands down. Check out his face book page. https://www.facebook.com/patriotguideservice/ Capt. Derrick taught me how to tarpon fish, we caught 5 tarpon last summer and looking for more this year. He’s a great guide, good teacher and all around good guy. Promise you won’t be sorry; you will have a great time.
Steve Roberts
http://patriotguideservice.com
https://www.facebook.com/patriotguideservice/
Captain Derick Kuyrkendall POC

Good to hear from you Steve.  And I whole heartedly agree that is the way to go for newbies, and one thing about the jetties, they are consistent year round.   If you want to get anyone hooked on fishing results are important and getting your line stretched at the jetties is the way to go.  Your recommendation is appreciated and is good advice.  So Joe, check him out, it is definitely a good option.  Thanks for the comment.

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Yesterday started off with me losing my phone, which goes along with the fact I forgot it when we went to Louisiana early this week.  And when I got up this morning my casting shoulder hurt like hell.  Getting old is not for the weak!

It is raining as I write this, and 55 degrees out.  Just what we need, more rain, and rain that is colder than the current water temp at that.  Looking at the weather 10 days out we are stuck in this pattern, which is normal for this time of year.  It has been an interesting winter to say the least.

So to the tackle room I go to fix a rod tip, go through stuff, and get ready to hit it.  While I may have gotten a little off track it has nothing to do with how often I go.  Where or when nest?  Not sure but the salt is next, it really is big trout time and I am the one who preaches fishing for particular fish when the time is right, and the bay is right for big ones.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and  Tight Lines