FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

“SAVE OUR WATERS”

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt

Brought to you by

The Best Wading System on the  Planet.

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The last 2 days have been fun.  First up was the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge with the Boss to see the whoopers and whatever else was out there.  Then this morning I ended up fishing the lake for 4 hours while the cleaning lady was at the house.  I try not to get to  close to work, it might stick!  As far as the fishing goes it was going to be a short morning so I could get the truck detailed for the trip to see the grandkids.  It turned out to be not to bad considering.

The turkeys were running amok this morning.  Girls on the left and boys on the right.

Weather

81/69.  Low patchy clouds with 20% rain.  Wind S 15 – gusts to 40 mph.  (I did not look at the forecast before I went so I was a little surprised how windy it was.)

Lake Level

Friday   94.43 msl.   Today  94.37 msl.  (Back to dropping like a rock.)

Activity Periods

Minor 10:17 am to 11:17 am.   (Only time I was out this morning.)

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The new Knockin Tail Lures are coming soon.  

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I followed a boat in as it was just peaking daylight, and we were the only 2 there.  The water continues to drop but the temp had come back up a couple of degrees, in to the high 60’s, which is nuts for this time of year.  The wind was basically howling and it was nice and cloudy.  With only  a few hours to fish I headed up lake, got out the spinnerbait, and never put it down until I quit at 11:30.

When this size eats a spinnerbait they smoke it!

It was blowing hard enough that all you had to do was point the boat down the bank and off you went.  It was not fast by any means, but it is good to see a few more of the “medium” size bass.  For a while there it was all small with the occasional big fish.  They are still next to cover, but where continues to change as the water falls.  The decline is slow but steady and the fish are definitely moving with it, it has/is just a matter of figuring out where they have moved to.

The only other one out of 7 that would have measured.

I could not ask for a better spinnerbait day.  While it may not be the best bait right now, one: I love it, two: Easy to fish in high winds.  I am fishing a 3/8th tandem with a big willow on the back.  Still making a wake, the best bites seem to come when I get it up making a bulge, and then slow it down as much as possible.  They really are not interested in chasing anything fast, but as windy as it was today pitching was basically out of the question so spinnerbait was it.  At least the ones that did bite whacked it.

As it got later in the morning I headed down lake and it was a total bust.  For an hour and a half not a bite in the clearer water.  The fish I have been catching down there have flat disappeared.  So keeping to the schedule I called it day at 11:30 to be responsible.  But for a short morning, and not fishing all the places I have been catching them, not to bad a result.  But hey, I was fishing!  Like I said the other day not wishing for a blizzard and 10 degrees, but it needs to cool off a little to get to the “real” winter fishing.

I forgot to tell you something about the other day.  The  critters were really moving around, saw big gators, deer, an eagle, and a couple of ospreys having a good day fishing.  But that was not the highlight.  As I moved down the bank there was a couple of big boils, thought it might be a gator then a little head popped up.  It was an otter!  What a cool animal, the first one I have seen here.  Not sure if they are rare or common in Texas, but whatever, it was a great moment.  We all need to remember that it is not always about the catching, and seeing all that the other day made my day whether I caught fish or not.

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Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The weather was beautiful Saturday and the Boss wanted to hit the refuge and see the whoopers and take a hike.  It was our second time going, and as usual we saw lots of wildlife.  And thank goodness we bought real binoculars, if we had not had them we would not have been able to spot them.  So we ended up seeing 2 pairs of whoopers, along with all the stuff below.  They are one awesome bird.

Real tricky!

Birds, birds, and more birds.

The Refuge was full of ducks.

They may not be much for eating but they are cool looking.

We are not big bird watchers, prefer things with hoofs and paws, but it is amazing the number of different birds.  Every kind of duck, shore birds, herons, egrets, and tons we could not even guess what they were.  For real bird lovers this has to be a bonanza and a bucket list place to visit.

This guy was cool whatever it is.

There were a couple of big boys out today!

Last year we saw lots more gators, but this year is so dry that some of the ponds are gone. It looks like the 2 big boys above took over the big pond and ran the others off.  We did see a real giant, all we could see was his back as he was way across the lake.  But that thing was a giant, and I have seen lots of big ones.

The armadillos were out and we did see one snake.  And when we left we saw 4 or 5 deer including a little basket buck.  With the hunting going on there right now it did not surprise me to see them in the no hunting area.  Of course we hiked up the observation tower, and a couple of other observation areas, and there was something moving everywhere.  And there were several boats off the shoreline wading on what I could tell were reefs.  The wind was calm and it looked perfect.  A nice way to spend the afternoon as we continue on our wildlife viewing adventures.

This has been a good year in that department.  Wolves, grizzly, black bear, bison, elk, mule deer, coyotes, fox, gators, Bighorns, mountain goat, to name a few.  And our quest will continue at the end of the month as we will be visiting Zion National Park in Utah.  There are bighorns, lions, deer, and ringtails to name a few.  Who knows, we might just get lucky.

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I do not know if GBRA is noting reduced numbers with the fee increase, but it sure seems like there are a lot less people on the lake.  Of course with the fishing less than stellar it has probably affected the number of folks fishing.  And as far as I am concerned, great, it seems like I have the lake to myself, but that is purely a selfish reason.  I am still against $17 to get in, that is to much.  It will be interesting to see how it affects things this spring.

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It has been a good week around here.  Fished 4 days, caught fish, made the park, it has been all about the outdoors.  The weather has been fantastic most of the week, but looks like that might change.  But we desperately need the rain.  Still over 14″ down, it is dry as a bone.

We head out for a few days with the parents and then the grandkids.  Looks like the weather is not to bad up there which will be nice.  Seems like every winter when we head that way it is either nice, like last year, or nuts like the year before when they closed the interstate.  I like a little winter but do not miss that foot of snow, 40 mph north wind, and 10 degrees thing.

And when I get back it will back to hard at it.  This time of year only comes once and I will be taking full advantage of it.  Hope you all have a good week, we will.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines