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.
As I was trolling along today I thought about how much I like trolling. Whether on the open ocean fishing for sails or marlin, crankbaits for white bass, or gigantic baits for muskie, stripers, it has always kept my attention. I guess it is just the anticipation and not really knowing what is coming next. And today was a perfect example of that. And for you folks who think trolling is just dragging crap around you could not be more wrong. It is a technique like any other method to catch fish. Depth, color, speed, location, just like any other technique there is a way to do it, and if done right puts fish in the boat.
Weather
37/67. Sunny with a 4% chance of rain. Wind NNE 10 – 15mph. (Small cold front blowing in.)
Lake Level
Yesterday 94.22 msl. Today 94.21 msl. (The slow but steady dropping lake level.)
Activity Periods
Major 8:50 am to 10:50 am. Minor 2:28 pm to 3:28 pm.
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The new Knockin Tail Lures are coming soon.
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The wind was blowing 15 mph right out of the north when I dropped the boat in at 8:30. It had cold front written all over it. Not sure how much farther the lake can fall but it is coming down and the changes are really apparent every day. First was up lake to hit a couple of spots and then check on the white bass. Little did I know that after catching 4 on plastics it would be another 24 trolling. I love this time of year.
The boys are back just waiting on the girls.
With the wind blowing fairly hard out of the north and a mile high sky I managed to come to the right conclusion. At times in early spring when the whites move up they go to the softer banks, mud, clay, that hold the heat and are out of the wind as much as possible. I think it probably has more to do with the shad. Still running a shallow Shad Rap on 10lb line that gets about 4 1/2 foot deep, and the smaller Shad Rap with a bill that runs about 7 foot, and both caught fish. Trolling about 2.5 mph, it was best right on the edge of the river channel.
2 of the 4 crappies.
They are not as far up as usual, a combination of the white bass hoard is not there yet and the falling water, which is leaving the “good spot” less that 5 feet deep. Once I figured out the depth, 6 was good, with a few out of the channel in 10ft+, it was consistent. While not fast by any means these fish are the vanguard, it will only get better. The bank I was fishing was as protected as it could be from the north wind and fairly calm. You could occasionally see a shad flip, and of the 24 I caught trolling about half could be seen on the locator. I like that, see fish, then a little while later whap!
Best of 4 on plastics. And of the 9 bass trolling this was a good one.
I kept after it until about 3:00 and ended up catching 10 whites, 9 bass, 4 crappies, and one gar trolling. It is so close to “on” that with the good cold front we have coming, and the next moon, it will be as good as it gets on Coleto. The white bass are never all that big on the lake, which is puzzling. The numbers are usually ok, but of all the places I have caught them Coleto just does not have the jumbos. It is not the Nueces River by any means. And speaking of that I will be headed that way in a month, or sooner depending on the reports.
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Got the new Bass Pro Master Cataloge and there is nothing particularly new worth mentioning. They send this one and that one, which I look at a couple of times, save all year, and then in the trash they go. I rarely buy anything out of the cataloge, usually at the store. Now if there is something I like a lot and it turns up on the Bargain Cave, maybe, but I like to put my hands on stuff before I buy.
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Tomorrow is installing the new stove. Then the weather looks like it might go to crap, with high winds forecast. And once that passes it will be back on the water. The year is starting off with a bang and the next couple of months will be the usual epic. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
