FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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I wanted to give the lake a go today as the weather had some possibility with clouds and maybe rain.  Dropped the boat in at 6:45 and headed up lake.  The water temp was 88 at the ramp and basically 90 over the whole lake.  And the lake is coming down and clearing nicely.

Weather

79/94.  Sunshine with patchy clouds and a 60% chance of rain.  Wind  SSE 10 – 20mph.

Lake Level

Today  97.31 msl.     May 27.   98.12 msl.   (Basically down close to a foot.  And this was the last time I fished the lake.  Wow.)

Solunar Periods

Minor 5:27 am to 6:27 am.      Major   12:34 pm to 2:34 pm.

*******************Knockin Tail Lure with a built in tail rattle!   Michael is at ICAST in Orlando and it is coming to a store near you.  And my tackle box!

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I headed up lake to fish a couple of deeper channel areas with good cover that are historic summer places.  First I hit my favorite buzzbait bank, without a lick of confidence, and after no bites put it down.  Then it was the pitchin’ stick with a 3/8ths weight and a 5″ watermelon stick worm.  The plan was to take a picture of every fish today, so here is how the first hour went.

Nothing all that big but at least they were biting some.

They all came on the worm, and every one was on a deeper bank with good cover.  But the surprising thing is how shallow they were, most bites came in the first couple of hops though I kept working it out to the boat all morning.  The first one came on a shallow brush pile, the other 3 on a stretch of a little deeper water with good cover right on the break.  One did break me off in a bush, not sure if it was any account or not, and another swam around a tree and pulled off when I tried to ease her out.  From then on I started working down lake.

A good one finally jumped on.

I started point hopping, concentrating on deeper ones with timber.  After fishing 3 of them out to about 20′ it was clear that was not happening.  One of those has been a consistent producer for years but continues to be barren.  From there it was a long bank that is flat breaking to the deeper water in the area with lots of cover still left.  The swim jig got a serious workout without so much as a touch, and I might have missed a couple on the worm.  As I worked down that long bank there was a small point sticking out with good cover so out went the buzzbait and wham, finally one worth a hoot.  One of those great blow ups.  Of course that is probably the worst thing that could have happened.

I stayed with it for a couple of hours in places it should work, but didn’t.  During that time I did crank several points with a DT 20 and one old road bed, again without success.  So at 1:00 I called it a day.

Obviously if you stay with plastics right now on the lake, you will catch fish.  The problem, they ain’t much, which might simply be a function of me not throwing it in a good ones mouth.  I do think if you stay with buzzbait, and just maybe choose the right places, it is possible to catch a good one here and there.  But it would be work in this heat.  On the other hand if I had tossed the stick worm on the good one I did catch today I am sure she would have ate it.  Overall the fishing remains like it has been, extremely spotty.  But there are still folks catching crappie and jug fishing.

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The Coleto Creek Bassmasters held their June tournament and the fishing continues to be tough.  1st place won with 4.12 and big fish of 2.57.  2cnd had 4.01, nice job Johnny, and 3rd had 3.24lbs.  This is of course their home lake and it shows how tough it has been as they are all good fishermen.  For a while I was beginning to think it was just me.  But like all real fishermen hopes springs eternal and I will give it a go this week.  (And my results today mirror theirs.)

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When you travel and fish you just never know.  Good days and bad, they happen, and unfortunately Rick had a poor fishing part of his trip to Costa Rica.  They started off with a tree falling on the shuttle van, nobody hurt, but they did not get to the resort until 2:00 am.  Then an earthquake rattled them, followed by his buddy cutting his lip and getting stitched up in the Quepos ER.  The joys of travel.  But they loved the Falls Resort which has great folks in a fabulous setting.  While it was not the “perfect trip”, it comes with traveling, they really loved the beauty and would go back in a minute.  Me too!

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As you all know I look at boats for sale on a regular basis.  (Daily)  There are so many, often way overpriced.  But every once in a while you see one that is a steal.  It may not meet your “fancy” definition, but this was an older hull redone with an engine barely broke in that I actually looked at.  The trailer was hardly used, it had been on a sling, and with a small amount of additions it would be a fishing machine.  It just reminds that if you are patient, good deals are out there.  And always remember to be realistic about how much it will be fished or used related to the bucks you will put out.  I see lots of almost new expensive boats for sale all the time.  It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

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Though it was not gang busters it was nice to catch a few bass.  I had pretty much “given up” on the lake for the time being but today kind of renewed my faith.  It was not an unusual result for a summer day,  (At least the last couple of years.) and I definitely should have been out earlier.  But this was it for the week, unless I get lucky Friday, as I will be out of town for a few days.  When I get back it will be some bay time.  I have been doing things a little differently from my usual on the bay and I intend to get back to doing what works for me.  And if any of you have anything to say drop me a comment.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines