FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
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Don’t Leave Home Without It. I don’t!
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Wednesday morning the wind was howling and it was cloudy, but after looking at the hourly forecast I decided that there might be a window so around 11:00 I headed to the lake. The following pictures are not there to toot my horn, (Duh!) in fact they are an example of what is becoming my increasing frustration/puzzlement at how the fishing on the lake has been the last 6 weeks.
Unfortunately other than these 2, 1 other small bass like this was the size of it.
What makes it difficult for me to decipher what is going on with the fishing is the current lake conditions. It was 60 degrees at the ramp, obviously the affect of the north wind blowing right in the ramp cove, the interesting part, it warms considerably as you head up lake. Much of it is in the low 70′ and was 73 degrees way up lake.
I specifically had a plan today. It was to pick a big cove, a good spawning cove and one that we all fish year round. Now logically that would be a good choice this time of year, maybe some pre-spawn to spawners as it was 72 degrees and slightly off color. It was blowing pretty hard so spinnerbait in all the way to the back, which is quite a ways. Then a slow and methodical pitching and flipping all the way back out. Every bush, tree, grass, and anything else that looked good. Not a single freakin’ bite, nada, zip. In the words of Forest Gump, that is all I have to say about that.
From there I headed way up, the color was so-so but it was 71 degress. Right off the bat a little jumped on the swim jig. Keeping at it for while got exactly one more bite in an hour, and I missed that one. So crankbait was next, and while one more bass and the nice crappie above jumped on, that was the size of it before I quit late afternoon. Unfortunately the high winds kept me from fishing more finesse style stuff deep, which is the only thing I have not tried yet.
When I got back to the ramp, only 3 trailers left, the guy who watches the ramp was there and I got the weekend tournament report. He reported one club was in town and they had some small fish but nothing worth talking about, similar to other clubs he has seen weigh in this month. I even went to the cleaning table and peaked in to see what had been cleaned that day, and other than a couple of small catfish and a few crappie, not much there. I must admit I am stumped, plain and simple. Where are the fish? And more important to me, where are the big fish? How gone are they? Just click on the picture tab above and then click on bass, that is what I normally catch on Coleto from January into May! All I have left to say is I do not have a clue, and I hope this is the perfect storm that has made the fishing like it is, and not a view of things to come. I kept saying this winter the bite is coming, but no. But I will keep pounding the lake, they can not beat me this easily. Probably.
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Fresh or salt it has a place in your arsenal.
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So with Wednesday’s results less than stellar time for a change, so headed to the Nueces River for the white bass run. After viewing online reports I learned the following, the river is higher than normally, milky white, and most reports said the fish were running small. Last time I fished it in the spring there were some real bruisers.
Sharkey Magee towing his daughter upstream as they fish. I might even try a kayak if I had a human trolling motor!
I launched at Hwy 59 outside George West and started trolling shad style crankbaits, which in the past have been killer, today not so much. Working up river, everyone was heading up, not a bite trolling which is unusual for that river. But with the color so poor I wondered if that was the problem so it was time to cast.
No Nueces giants, this was the run of the mill for the dozen or so caught today.
The first few came on crankbait, the rest on a Roadrunner crappie jig. For some reason most were hugging the bank, and occasionally shad would jump and a quick cast produced a fish. Way up river it settled into the 6 – 9 foot range, and the classic spot, the downstream side of shallow shoals, held fish. Hopping the jig off the bottom produced most of the whites. I did have one big ass drum break my line trying to flip it in the boat, bad idea on 6lb line, but no great loss!
During the day I spoke with lots of folks, who reported various success. Some nothing, one boat a limit, some with a few, but no one reported really big whites. That was very consistent with the online reports. Now I did not go to an area way up called the rapids, not interested in fishing with the crowd, especially on the river. So after going fairly far up I just floated with the current tossing the jig and catching one here and there. It was not fast by any means but I did catch about a dozen before calling it a day.
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So this week the bay fishing produces again, but my freshwater endeavors have been less than satisfying. Looking at the next 10 day forecast produced the same results, less than satisfying. But with fishing you take the good with the bad, and all the slow trips are cured with one bang up day, it keeps us all fishing.
Not sure what the plan is but I might try to slip out Sunday for a wade and redfish trip to Keller Bay. After that where to fish it still up in the air, but Thursday the fun begins. We are off to 4 wheel in Big Bend for 3 days. We love it out there and this trip are specifically going to a couple of areas hoping to see a Big Horn Sheep as there are a couple of places with the largest population in Texas. And just driving the desert, and doing some hiking, seeing all that the park is makes for a great day. After that I will be heading somewhere to fish for 3 or 4 days, will just have to wait and see what the weather brings. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
