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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That was a pretty amazing cold front that blew through Texas Wednesday.  It even brought a few flurries to Texas and with it some serious cold.  But today is warming and nice and it will only get better the next few days before rain returns on Sunday.  It will be interesting to see how things change on the lake after all that.

After sitting around today and reading up on all things fishing a couple of things came up that I had to comment on.  So many of the issues facing fishermen involve the water, whether on it, taking from it, of not getting it.  As I grow older I increasingly realize that water is the MOST important issue in fishing.  There are serious issues out there that affect every one of us who grab and rod and hit the water.

One long and skinny Musky.  I had to add one random picture as long as you have to read this drivel.

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The Good

GBRA, TPWD, and BASS Nation are getting together this weekend on Coleto and will be building approximately 100 fish shelters in the lake.  According to the Victoria Advocate once they are placed they will be mapped and locations will be available online and at the park.  This is a real step forward.  Lake Norfork and Bull Shoals did this decades ago and it was a success.  Not only for bass, but it really helped the crappie fishing.  So Props to everyone involved, it can only lead to better fishing.  And a shout out to the Coleto Creek Bassmasters for doing their share.

https://www.gbra.org/documents/news/2020/020502.pdf

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The Bad

I am not well versed on the water issues between Mexico and the US on the border but there is a problem that has been festering for years.  Apparently we have a treaty involving water sharing, and Mexico has not been in compliance.  The owner of Falcon Lake Tackle has written about this issue off and on, and as Falcon is dependent on some of that water it is an issue for fishermen.  Now Mexican farmers, who want to lay claim to all the water, have taken over some of the Mexican damns in the area after a face off with the Mexican army.  So stay tuned, but this is just another water issue affecting fishermen.  Unfortunately our water issues are on going to get worse before they get better.

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And the Ugly

In the Currents magazine from CCA there is an article on the state of oyster fishing, and it is ugly.  At one point alone there was over 300 boats tearing up the reefs in San Antonio Bay.  Wardens made 664 contacts with commercial oyster boats and here is a quick view of the ugly results.  93 citations, 230 warnings, including undersized, over the limit, and taking at night among the laundry list of violations.  58,000 lbs of live oysters were returned to the bay from the violations, multiple folks were arrested for different reasons including 2 with prior oyster violations, and on and on.  The state is hoping to increase penalties in an effort to rein the violators in.

I do have two suggestions,  (Among many.)  Repeated violations = confiscation of the boat. It may not deter others, harsher penalties generally not work, but at least that boat will be out of commission.  Second, require the boats to participate in a yearly meaningful habitat restoration in those areas that are harvested.  (That is in THEIR best interest.)  All I know is after fishing Florida and seeing them harvested by manual means, then coming to Texas I was appalled.  I could not believe it the first time I saw 25 boats on South Pass just ripping the bottom to shreds.  How could this be happening?  Of course I know now how it works, and to complicate matters there are lots of folks who rely on the annual oyster harvest.  There will be changes coming and we need to be paying attention.

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And I got this interesting comment from Lacy.

Thanks for the report
Tides not that great . I like those sunrise
High incoming ones

Believe this is the first time you have commented.  Guess I need to fish with you some time.  I like the sunrise tides, but I prefer falling at daylight from a high.  My skills on rising tides are limited, I always seem to lose them when the water comes way up.  Thanks for the comment and feel free whenever the spirit moves you.  And thanks for reading, it is always nice to hear from different folks, lets me know this is not totally in vain.

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I know you are all probably tired of hearing me talk about the Knockin’ Tail.  I get it, hopefully when they are in production you can pick up a couple of bags and see for yourself.  Besides the rattle of course, the one thing that I really like is they can take a licking and keep on ticking.  Michael, owner and designer, and his son, smoked a ton of trout out of Corpus last weekend and only had one tail bitten off.  I have been using the same one, and it has caught 15 – 20 so far and is still good as new, just a little worse for the wear with all the teeth marks.  In my case it really does help to use a screw lock and super glue it.  Nice to know you can fish a plastic until you lose it and not have to be constantly messing with it on the water.

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Not sure what tomorrow holds, one of those decisions made first thing in the morning.  But the weather is coming around and the fish are biting.  Spring is here and with that the return of folks on the water.  So be nice, be bigger than the other guy, and respect everyone on the water, even the ass hats.  And for God’s sake get your boat organized before you pull up to the ramp!  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines