FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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Don’t Leave For the Chandeleurs Without It.  I won’t!

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Hope you all had a great Easter Sunday.  I stayed home and got a lot of my travel stuff organized so I can fish the lake the next 2 days.  (There is lots of trout fishing to come for you saltwater guys.)  The wind forecast remains up, and like I said later in this post, by time I get done with this bit of travel our winds should be subsiding and the summer pattern in place.  Trust me, I am getting wound back up!

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

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Weather

81/68.  Cloudy with no chance of rain.  Wind SE 15 – 25 mph.

Lake Level

Today  98.07 msl.   18 days ago  98.05 msl.

Solunar Periods

Good  7:43 am to 9:43 am.    Best  1:56 pm to 3:56 pm.

(Note:  If there ever was a set of conditions that are conducive to catching bass these are it.  Stable lake, clouds and wind, and 2 good periods during the day.  Would be nice to start off the next few weeks with a couple of good days on the lake.)

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So much for “great conditions”.   It was cloudy at 7:30 when I dropped the trolling motor in water.  The lake is stable, still off color for Coleto with areas of clear water.  (In some places I could actually see the Bang O Lure when it was jerked under all the way to the boat.)  The temp was 72 at the ramp and as high as 78, depending on where you were.  The wind was blowing around 15 mph out of the SE when I started, and cranked up to 25 mph with whitecaps when I took out at 1:30.

This is what all 9 of them looked like.

The first cove 3 jumped on the Bang O Lure with a couple of misses.  It needed to be calm for that, and today for the first time I saw a few, and caught a couple, who were flashing under it.  That allowed me to recast and twitch it under all the way back and you could see them roll up and eat it.  None of them were in the back end of a cove and all were small, which would be the theme for the morning.

Next up I wanted to fish a buzzbait up lake so I went to my favorite shallow grass flat and caught one and missed one.  Of course I missed that one when I looked up at the trolling motor he hit right by the boat.  Funny how that happens.  So I stayed with that and ended up catching 3 on it.   To really see if the back ends were declining I went to a big cove that has had them in it for a month.  I caught one on the point going in on the buzzbait but had no bites in the back end where they have been.  When I moved about 10:00 it was getting to rough for the buzzbait and topwater on the main lake, so time for some spinnerbait.

Of course on the first windy bank one jumped on right away.  I kept at it for a good bit, fishing windy banks, actually fishing those places which over the years are historically good spinnerbait banks.  I missed a couple and caught another one, which just like all the others were small.  In fact the only “good” one all morning rolled under the Bang O Lure without eating.  To finish off the trip I headed to the cove with the fishing pier and caught another one on the Bang O Lure.

So it was interesting in that they bit all 3 baits the same, and if I had to guess the Bang O Lure would be the choice right now, wind dependent.  And it appears they are moving out of the coves.  I guess I should have really tried to check out the beds which are still everywhere.  Would be interested in knowing if any are on the beds.  What I will be trying in the morning is pitching to hard woods in the spawning coves.  Those better fish have to be somewhere because other than the occasional big one they have been few and far between this spring.

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There are some comments that make me laugh and this one from Anonymous takes the cake.

Good for you – taking a break. If you over do it and kick the bucket we wont have no blog to read about your amazingly informative fishing trips.

I am still laughing, at my age you never know!  It has been a slow spring for me, though limits on the bay were no problem, the local bass fishing just did not ever truly go off.  So it was time for a little break, but as usual the fishing will come, it always does and always will.  Thanks for making my morning.

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And as usual good to hear from Rusty with a fishing report.

Greetings from La Grange!! Fished Wed morning on Bastrop lake. First hour and half was awesome. The black and blue swim jig was on fire! Retired Larry and I had a great time. All of this taking place while the wind was howling, but the great thing about Bastrop is all the places to fish out of the wind. Fayettte just doesn’t have many places to get out of a south wind. And the few that there is, will have several boats already there. We had the lake to ourselves as the weather forecast was not favorable.
Have a great time in Montana, I’m jealous.
Tight lines,
Rusty

I need to fish Bastrop some time, sounds like it has its moments.  And if the swim jig is an option I am always up for that.  As far as Montana not sure yet what we will be fishing for as it has finally warmed and things are melting.  But we are so excited about spending time in 2 national parks, the animals should be out and about, seeing wolves and hopefully a grizzly will make the trip.

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It is rare that I am packing for 2 trips at once, and boy they could not be more different from each other.  Luckily that simplifies things somewhat by just making 2 piles.  Montana will be cool weather with a chance of everything from snow to 70 degrees.  Looking at the current forecast for Montana it looks like high around 50 with rain/snow the whole time we are there.  As we will be outside chasing wolves, and anything else running around, it will be snow stuff, rain suits, and assorted boots.  And we are so looking forward to using the new camera which will let us get up close and personal.

At the same time I am packing everything for the Chandeleurs trip.  With no cross over in clothes and “stuff”, even the rain suits are different, it is an easy pack.  Just pile up all the warm weather fishing clothes and I am good to go.  So once I get back from Montana I will toss the bags and tackle in the truck and hit the road.  This is going to be a great couple of weeks.  And once that is all done our big winds will be settling and the serious bay fishing will begin.  This summer I just might try croaker, oh the horror!

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The lake continues to fall short, or maybe it is me.  But it was good to get back out on the water and in the morning it will be a last go before hitting the road.  Of course the wind will be blowing again tomorrow but what’s new?  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines