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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Before I get to the fishing I have a story. It is absolutely the best example of the joys of boat ownership that I have ever seen, and I have seen my share. The names are changed to protect the guilty, but there are several lessons to be learned at their expense.
So Owner has a boat he has had for quite a while and has just not been able to use as much as he likes. Buyer and his relative, who owner is friends with and have fished with for years, are wanting to buy said boat. The plan, meet at Travis, fish with us on Saturday, and see how it goes. From there the fiasco begins, much to our amusement!
Lesson number 1, Nothing is harder on the “stuff” on the boat than not using it. In this case the sellor’s rationale to sell the boat is it is not getting used as much as he would like. So they drop the boat in the water and guess what? The battery is dead, but hey, no problem, just a quick jump start, then run it a little and no problem. Sure………
They meet up with us and we are fishing a long bank so they idle past us and start fishing. Sure……. The trolling motor batteries are dead. Great. But hey, no problem, we were all going to troll some anyway so they go to start the boat, Oops….nope. The battery is deader than a hammer. So we hook them up and take them back to the ramp. The plan, once started they will just leave it running and troll. The best laid plans………
At this point we are giving them a load of crap. We get the cables, jump them, and we all head up the river when they start lagging behind. So we turn around and head back, and the hydraulic steering is starting to really act up! How bad is it? They have to turn around and head to the ramp to get some fluid. Of course at the ramp after they fill up the fluid will the boat start? Of course not!
So now it is off to the battery store. Not sure if it was just the starting battery or the trolling motor’s too, but the batteries are around 4 years old. They finally come and meet us a while later, with 3 new batteries and a working steering.
Lesson number 2, selling your boat to a good friend is always a little sketchy. Heck I would probably not buy a boat from me. I learned a lesson when selling a Champion to a friend and the hull ended up being cracked. Good thing we were friends with the owner of Champion.
But in this case their troubles is really a lesson in boat ownership. So lesson number 3. Often the real cost of owning a fishing boat is batteries, cables, oil, trailer lights, you know the drill. (Almost forgot when I walked up with anonymous owner to get some cables a brand new LED trailer light has broken off the trailer and is just hanging there. The hits just keep on coming!) In this case the boat is fine and none of what happens has squat to do with the engine or the hull. It is the accessories we all struggle with if you have owned a boat or two. Case in point. Last year and a half I bought a new trailer, 2 graphs, gel batteries, a new trolling motor, and had some upholstery recovered. The hits just kept on coming.
Lesson number 4. Do not have your friends all there when you sell a boat. As their morning progressed so did the amount of good natured crap we gave them. Neither the seller or the buyer was spared our pithy comments. There has never been a greater example of the joys of boat ownership. But it was all in good fun and was definitely the highlight of the day. At least on our end!
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Just got some of the new Knockin Tail Lures in a multitude of colors and they look fabulous. So click on the link and take a look. Heck pre-order some as it is going to be first come first served. And now I don’t have to hide them when I catch a fish!
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I have fished Travis once in the past, this time I was meeting Ro for a night of camping and fishing, and some of the rest of the boys were coming on Saturday to fish. Ro and I met up at Pace Bend Park to get a camping spot and then on the water. I did not realize it was primitive camping with no electric. (The problem, no coffee the next morning. Hard on a coffee addict.) So we pick a spot and are on the water by 11:00.
The water temp is around 50 degrees, the water is clear, and there is not a breath of wind with a mile high sky. When you add the cold front they just had it added up to some tough conditions. Ro has basically grown up fishing Travis so we started in his favorite area. And it was slow, with him boating one or two. That bites were well over 15 foot deep, which turned out to be telling. I threw jerk bait off and on both days without a bite, they were just not on the bank.
So we moved and he started catching them, I on the other hand can not get a bite. He is fishing a brush hog on a heavy shaky style head, I am throwing a stick worm. We ended up fishing 3 hours and while he caught 6 or so I have not boated a fish. Time to do a little trolling. We head up the river to the go to spring spot for whites and stripers (The Boss had dibs on any striper.) and do not catch a single white bass. But the largemouth are jumping on, including a double, most from the bait running over 20 foot deep. We finally decided to spend the last bit of light back on the bass. My pea brain finally figured out my problem. Ro is fishing the bait in almost a do nothing style. Really slow and deep, but without abrupt hopping. I had been hopping it to aggressively. Basically they wanted it crawled.
Finally we hit a spot and put 5 in the boat real quick, and I get 3 of them in nothing flat. Nothing to big, but Ro wants to release a few to the grease so in the end we kept 4. If I had got with the program a little quicker it sure would have helped. Then back to our camp on a bluff overlooking the lake as the sun sets. A campfire, burgers on the grill, a clear sky full of stars, it is all good.
The next morning John joins us and we run right across from the ramp and fish a long deep cove. Ro and I are doing ok, and now that I am working it properly I am doing my share. We probably get 7 or 8, adding a few more keepers to the box. The day started off clear and as the morning progressed it clouded up and the wind started blowing. Instead of helping matters we maybe caught a couple on the next 3 places. We decided to end the day, quitting time was 3:00, by trolling. It was even slower than the day before, not a bite. Whatever turned the fish off it just quit. Which worked out fine as it was out quitting time.
Sorry there are no pictures but I was just having a good time and blew it off. But if you saw a picture it would have shown nice fat bass. While we had nothing over 2lbs, everyone we caught was stout. They were fattened up for the spawn and had obviously been working the shad over. Actually with the way they were biting, which was not very good, it was a good result. Plus got to check in with David, Joey, John, and Ro. I always enjoy fishing with them and this was nothing new. And David, hope the batteries didn’t cost to much. And Joey, welcome to boat ownership. Did I say that? Hope you all made it back to the ramp!
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I was interested in what Coleto had done the last few days after our rain and it looks like it has stabilized. Hope that continues.
4 days ago 94.38 msl. Today 94.39 msl. (Looks like whatever rise we got has stabilized.)
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I would be on the water in the morning but duty calls. Got my summons for jury duty and have to be at the courthouse at 8:30 in the morning. Since I have retired I can honestly say I do not miss going to court. And since generally attorneys do not make the panel, and if it is a criminal case, my chances of being on the jury are a big fat Zero. So I will go and do whatever, then will get sent on my way for $35.00. And I promise to waste every bit of it on tackle so there is that.
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My week is totally up in the air. About the time I think there is no way I will end up on the jury it could happen. And then it turns into a murder case and it takes 2 weeks. But if not, I will be on the water Tuesday, rain or not. And then the Boss and I are off to somewhere to do something. Exactly what I could not tell you. But as all good husbands know, yes honey. I do know she will be off to visit her mom in a couple of weeks and I will definitely be off fishing somewhere. Way past time to give the new Knockin’ Tail a serious go on the salt. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
