FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

“SAVE OUR WATERS”

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt

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I feel like a kid at Christmas.  After almost 3 months I will be on the lake first thing in the morning.  It has come up just a little, and the fish  have basically been unmolested.  Topped off with a cloudy forecast, as long is there is no dangerous thunderstorm, it should be good.  This will be a day where the end result will be a side benefit, in my case just getting to chase some bass will be enough.

Weather

83/65.  Mostly cloudy, humid with a 65% chance of rain or possibly a thunderstorm.  Wind  NNE 7 – 10 mph.

Lake Level

Today  95.07 msl.   March 2 (Almost 3 months ago.)  94.26 msl.

Solunar Times

Minor  8:50 am to 9:50 am.   Major  3:59 pm to 5:59 pm.

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The new Knockin Tail is now available in Victoria and all along the Texas coast!  So join the rest of the cool kids and toss the hottest new bait in a long time.  You won’t be sorry.

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Tale of 2 Times

When I got up it was still storming so I watched the radar seeing if I could head to the lake.  Finally it stopped raining and there was a clearing, and it looked like it was going to just miss us.  So off I went, and even though there as some lightning off to the South, it looked like it was going to miss and it did.

There was one truck at the ramp when I got there.  Though the lake is up a hair, it looked just like it did.  There was a little color at the ramp, and it slowly gets a little more off color as you go up either arm.  The water temp was 82 – 84 over most of the lake, and I actually covered a bunch of it before calling it a day at 1:00.  It was still really overcast when I got there, with the lightning in the distance I decided to fish a couple of main lake coves close making sure it was going to pass.  There was basically no wind of any sort, which ended up hurting as the morning went on.

The buzzbait bite was on.

The first 3 places I fished before heading up lake had plenty of fish like the ones above.  6 in the first cove, 3 or 4 in the next, and it went like that, probably 20 before they quit.  The first half of the coves and the points were the hot spot, nothing in the backs.  It seemed like when you caught one it would be a couple of more in the same spot. I easily missed as many as I caught and it was fun.  After making sure it was not going to kill me I headed up lake.  It was really off color, but I did get a few bites.  One thing I intentionally did was alternate between the swim jig, buzzbait, pitching the beaver style bait, and the Bang O Lure.  Why none of those produced was a little puzzling.

The last fish.  Notice the sky, it cleared up and got completely calm.

By about 9:00 it was starting to really clear.  I specifically hit a couple of sure thing pitching spots without a bite, up both arms, which also surprised me.  One did finally jump on the swim jig and unfortunately I broke my line setting the hook, definitely my fault.

From that point on I went from up the main arm all the way to the plant and did not have one single bite in over 3 hours fishing my favorite places.  It did not help that it was almost dead calm.  The plan was to get an idea where they were and what they wanted, but when the bite quit it quit.  So I did not figure out a another pattern other than the buzzbait after the sun came out.  Finally around 1:00 I called it a day.

There was a few folks out, most crappie fishing on the bridge, and I saw a couple of folks catch one as I passed.  There were maybe 6 at the ramp when I quit, and the morning folks were calling it a day and there were others coming.  Not sure exactly what happened to the fish, but I will be back at it in the morning.  There has to be some better patterns and since I am wanting to take a couple of different folks when I get the Mako back, finding options to catch them is next.

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Sunday the Boss and I headed to Rockport to catch the fishing show at the Fulton Convention Center.  It far from met my expectations, it was small.  And having not fished like a madman this spring I had no particular tackle needs, so with it being free and not spending any money it was an unusual trip to a fishing show.  But I still like being around fishermen no matter the setting.  But there was a problem, I mean no masks and no social distancing.

After that we stopped at Tackle Town, and it was a freakin’ madhouse.  Good for them and the rest of the town, it was nice to see everyone open and making some money.  But no matter where we went it was us and about 2 other people wearing a mask or even attempting to observe any kind of social distancing.  That behavior will have 2 possible outcomes – 1 good and 1 bad.

From folk’s behavior at Rockport, and around much of the country, we are about to find out whether opening like this we have crossed the line and are on the downside of the virus.  Or, and this is the big or, we are about to see spikes around the country.  Only time will tell.

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A Couple of Travel Notes

First off we are headed back to Colorado in a week for a week of trout fishing.  We are headed to a completely new area for us, but there are many different opportunities depending on the snow melt.  (I just got a great email back from a local fly fishing shop and we are good to go.)  And it is a great area for seeing tons of wildlife so it will be our usual stay outdoors all day until we drop.  And with gas prices within reason, and we do all our own cooking, it will be a cheap trip to a world class fishing destination.  And as a bonus we get to stop in and see the grandkids on the way home.

Then later in June it will be off to the Chandeleurs for the annual trip.  Tim spoke with Capt. Howie who just got back from his latest trip and it was good.  They limited, and not on school trout, but on big trout.  So with the lake open, more fly fishing, then the big boat trip it is going to be a great month.

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Well it happened the first day of the CCA tournament.  A guide who comes up on my Facebook page had a customer, who was not registered, catch a 10lb trout.  That thing was a hoss.  Registering is not a good “bet”, but the payoff is high.  Plus the money goes to a good cause.  So if you plan on hitting the salt this summer register, it just might happen.

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TPWD

into effect on Sept. 1, 2020:  Increasing the minimum size limit for flounder to 15”.

close all flounder fishing from Nov. 1 – Dec. 15 will take effect Sept. 1, 2021.  (Delayed from closing this year.)

For full length on these and other issues: https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/feedback/meetings/2020/0521/agenda/item.phtml?item=3

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It was good to be back on the lake.  Clearly I did not have a real clue but give it a couple of trips and that should clear up.  Time to look back on May/June and see what was hot in the past, one of the great things about doing the blog.  So hope springs eternal and I can not wait to get back out there a time or two before trout fishing in Colorado.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines