FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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The best fish that will be  caught on the boat all month!

There are things in this world besides fishing.  We had a great weekend at lake on Friday and the beach at Rockport on Saturday with the family.  The kids got in the water and basically stayed there.  Mia, the oldest always wants to fish, but the catching and touching part is not on her list for some reason.  But she reeled in a catfish all by herself screaming the whole time so she just might be a fisherman.  They are headed back to Oklahoma City and when you read this I will have fished POC.  It will be the bay Tuesday and Wednesday and it will be interesting.

Weather

83/88.  Partly cloudy with a 20% chance stray shower.  Wind S 10 – 20 mph.

Tides 

Low  12:44 am  -0.22.    High  12:02 pm 0.84.  (It will be a rapid rise until high then slow fall.)

Solunar Periods

Minor 7:43 am to 8:34 am.    Major  2:41 pm to 4:41 pm.  (Day classed as good.)

*****************The new bait is coming.

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Dink Fest

You can tell I am just not on them particularly well.  I have never claimed to be a good trout fisherman, but I try.  And after 2 days in the blazing heat I only know just a little bit more than I did before.  The drive back and forth a couple days in a row gets a little old so I just stayed over night to get a nice early start Wednesday and that turned out to be a good decision.

Let the games begin.

Taken at the same time as the one above, moon going down, sun coming up, and there was a bite.

One of the purposes of this trip was to test the new bait from Controlled Descent and I stuck with it both days.  I have been sworn to secrecy as Michael is off to ICAST in Orlando for the debut so you will have to forgive me for leaving a “little something” out of the report.  Suffice to say the punch line is coming soon.

Day 1 it was all on me as I simply fished like crap.  Poor planning led to fishing stuff in the wrong order, which I should not have done with what I learned last trip, but we live and learn.  First up was an area at South Pass, and I caught 7, all on the new prototype.  Unfortunately nothing to spectacular.

They liked the Blackgold/Limetreuse in the new bait.

They were out in 3′ plus on an area where shell was scattered around, with no real grass.  I worked that area over pretty good and had no luck shallow, which is not a surprise.  The water is a lot clearer out on the island than near POC and the water temp is 86 degrees over most the area.  The tide was rising as the morning went on and after what little bite I was on slacked off time to move back down the island to my favorite drain.  Once I got there I realized I fished it in the wrong order as there was grass everywhere in that area making it tough to fish.  So time for a little boat fishing.

So I decided to fish the Oil Cut and Big Bayou out of the boat and neither produced.  Literally not a bite.  The water color in Big Bayou is crap and my favorite deep places produced nothing, uncommon for this time of year.  At this point the wind was dead flat, the tide was slack, and it was hotter than hell.  But oh well, so I called it a day.  Time for a burger and a brew.

Day 2

The morning plan was to fish them in reverse order and that turned out to be a good decision.  The wind was blowing pretty good at daylight, but at least it never got above that all day.  I got to the first place as it was just breaking daylight and there were fish moving everywhere.  While the bite was on the size left something to be desired.  Though I landed twice as many as the day before, nothing was all that big, unfortunately.

There were lots of rat reds but none of the trout were worth a hoot.

The trout I did catch there, maybe 8 or 10, were all small.  I did learn one thing both days, good trout and shallow is an oxymoron.  I am making an assumption here but all the fresh water has the better trout deeper, at least with what little I know.  There was bait moving everywhere and several of the small trout I caught were puking up small shrimp.  As I was working with the new bait I did not throw a popping cork with a fake shrimp, which I suspect is a good choice right now.  After a while it was time for a move with all the grass coming with the rise.

So it was back down to South Pass to an area with little grass to give it another go.  While only a couple of small trout jumped on there was one little bit of excitement.

Nothing like a few black drum to save the last place.

I tossed up on a flat shell point and thought I was hung.  As I pulled back it started to slowly swim off, felt like an oyster at first, one of those where he did not know he was on, just pulling slowly.  Of course I did not set the hook and off he came.  A couple of casts later the first black drum  jumped on, then the next.  The first bite was definitely one of those monsters and if I had set the hook it would have turned out better.  But again, no good trout so I called it a day.  When I got to the ramp over half the trucks had taken out.  But both days there were boats going out later in the afternoon, and I am sure there must be a bite late.

As far as the new bait it is almost there and I am looking forward to the refinements which are yet to come.  It is a cool idea and my results the last 2 days were more a function of me not having a clue so I can’t wait for the final result.  And I intend to rectify my trout results over the coming weeks.  It is croaker time and as usual the lure fishing gets a little tougher in the summer.  And when it is combined with all the fresh water in the bay it can be tough.  At least that is my story and I am sticking to it!  Not fishing a lot it will take me a little time to get on some good fish, but I will keep banging my head against the wall until I get it right.

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Of course being mid week there was lots of traffic, the ramp was hopping at daylight.  There was one incident that I feel the need to comment on.  I was wading a point near Pringle and there was another boat about 150 yards down from me, also wading.  Then here comes a brand new Majek.  This thing is tricked to the max, matching custom colors, dual power poles, with an engine the size of a car.  Now he does not come to close to me but as soon as he passes he makes a beeline to the shoreline, and I mean super shallow, and runs right on the bank all the way to the other guys. I can hear him grinding the bottom.  Freakin’ stop it!  Why burn a shoreline with several boats fishing it?  Are you that freakin’ clueless?  Do you have not give a rats ass someone might want to fish there right after you screw it up?  Another of those doing it cause I can but we are not impressed.  Just because you can does not make it right.

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As you all know I have struggled on Coleto this spring but I am definitely not alone.  I was beginning to think it was me.  The tournaments on the lake have been flat horrible, and the latest one met the same fate.  The Texas Bass Nation had a tournament Father’s Day, and like it has been all spring it definitely left something to be desired.

Only 9 boats fished, a function of scheduling it on Father’s Day, and I am sure most of them would have been happier to stay at home.  The winner only had 3 fish with a total of 8.10 with a big fish of 4.64lbs.  3 others also had 3 fish, all weighing around 5lbs, 3 guys had I small fish, and 2 blanked.  They caught a total of 28 bass all day, with 15 keepers, which barely works out to 3 fish per angler all day.  Sad!  These are hard core tournament fisherman and I was hoping someone would knock it out of the park, letting me know it was me.  I really wanted them to catch them.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  They found exactly what I have this spring.  So the big question. where are they, or are they gone?

Since they killed the grass the lake has been on a steady and steep decline.  I have been banging that drum the last year and unfortunately I might be right.  From a lake where a big fish was a possibility on every cast to a barren puddle.  It really is sad and it leaves me wondering what has happened to what was one of the best lakes around.  My only comment is we have to drain and clean, pull any weeds and grass off to eliminate the spread, but it is just fine for a company to kill all the vegetation without any oversite.  Somehow it does not seem right.  What worries me is the proliferation of catfish, and the crappie fishing is fabulous on the lake, which leaves me thinking something is horribly wrong with the balance.  In the 8 years I have been fishing it I have literally put hundreds of nice big bass in the boat, the lake was full of them,  Now it is a struggle to put 3 keepers in the boat.  I just do not know what to think.

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And if you are in the Victoria area this weekend do not forget the Grand Opening at Angler’s Arsenal.  There will be lots of stuff happening so stop in and support them.  The fishing tackle business is tough, I know I had a tackle store for a couple of years in my younger days.  They are great folks and we are lucky to have a great new store in the area.  Sorry I will be out of town and will miss it, but would be there is I was in town.  They have a great selection so bring your wallet.

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Next week it will be back to the bay to try to improve my trout results and keep fishing the new bait.  It should be out soon and I am looking forward to the final results.  And if any of you have any thoughts or comments lets hear them.  A few of the Austin Boys will be down this weekend and as soon as I get their report I will let you know.  They are good fishermen and hopefully they can help me out some.   And they had a hard time finding a house for the crowd from Port Mansfield to POC due to what they told me was a ton of tournaments this weekend.  If you are out there be careful.  Time to start making the kill switch a regular practice before it goes in to effect in September.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines