FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

“SAVE OUR WATERS”

*******************

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

Brought to you by

Check out their new CFG Madre Sling

Not sure what the weather will bring tomorrow but I will be up early and on the lake as long as it is not pouring or lightning.  It has been a little sketchy here and there in our area, and it is pouring (77 degrees outside.) as I write this.  We sure needed it, to bad it came at the expense of those south of us.  But as Capt. Mac told us before we moved here, it is not a question of if there will be a hurricane, just a question of when.

It looks like the lake has come up just a little but surely there is more to come.  And since it has been a cooler rain it should help drop the lake surface temps some, but as far as water color up lake it remains to be seen.  Hope I can get out first thing, could be good.

Weather

75/91.  A 60% chance of a shower or thunderstorm in the morning but otherwise mostly cloudy all day.  Wind SSW 8 – 14 mph.

Lake Level

Today  93.79 msl.   Friday  93.80 msl.

Solunar Period

Major  7:21 am to 9:21 am.  Minor  1:54 pm to 2:54 pm.

**********************

The Knockin Tail is the perfect trailer for the swim jig.  They smack it!  

*******************

Well that was hardly worth the effort.  I was out at daylight, and while it was not really foggy, it was actually wetter than that with serious suspended moisture.  It was apparent at the ramp the lake is rising and the water temp was around 85 in most places, a 3 – 5 degree drop.  And up lake the color is still fine and things were looking good, as long as it lasted.

Started on a main lake point close to the ramp with a buzzbait which produced one small and several misses.  So next up was a deep point with plastics, same result.  So I headed up lake to toss the swim jig, and see if the water color had changed.  It was around 8:30 and so far major non-productive but at least 2 smalls came on the swim jig and one on plastics.  The bite was clearly not on and then off in the distance it started thundering.  I gave the Boss a call and it was raining hard in Victoria so time to get closer to the ramp.  On came the raincoat and then came the rain.  With it thundering around me time to call it a short morning.  (It is thundering as I write this.)  Sometimes it just does not happen and today was a perfect example of that.

*******************

Local News

Hurricane Hanna turned out to be a little more than it looked like, but most of it went south of Corpus Christi.   Port Mansfield on down to South Padre had high winds and it will be raining for days, some areas have already had over a foot.  We have only had a little more than an inch in the last 24 but it is expected to to continue for a couple of days.

In this area sad to report that the Indianola Marina caught fire, according to the news maybe in the bait room, and ended up with a partial roof collapse and it looks like it is a total loss.  The surf was super high but the fire trucks got through, hopefully they will be back on their feet as soon as possible.  And from the pictures there is still a bunch of water on the roads down there.

And on a tougher note one man was killed and 3 taken to the hospital after a boating accident at midnight Friday out of POC.  According to what was initially reported they were on an SCB going fishing when they hit some kind of marker on the intercoastal.  My condolences to the family and a sobering moment for the rest of us.

And on that note I rarely come back in the dark on the bay.  Though I night fished for decades on freshwater lakes the bay is a whole other animal.  It only takes a minute and you never know what might be floating, semi-submerged, or in the case of the many channel markers, what might have moved or fallen over.  It is dangerous on the water anywhere after dark, and the bay has its own special hazards.

**********************

Since I wrote the above I have seen the pictures from the scene of the accident that night.  They are sobering.  I will not be sharing them out of respect for the family of the man who was killed, as I would not share them if it was your family or mine, it is only fair.  Plus I am sure there is a serious ongoing investigation.  Over the years as a medic we ran some boat accidents, including a Champion that was 30 feet up the bank in the woods after hitting the bank at night, or the Boss working a boat/swimmer accident at daylight that turned out be a nurse friend of hers who was horribly mangled by the prop, just to name a couple of the more serious ones.  These pictures were in that same vein – terrible.

As I eased out this morning I thought back to those pictures.  No matter what it was like yesterday, or where you thought/think you were or are, that has nothing to do with the current moment.  All it takes is an instant and in this case it had a horrible outcome.

**********************

As you all know I am regular reader of the TPWD website, where you can learn all kinds of interesting stuff.  One current issue that TPWD is taking comments on is statewide catfish limits.  As far as the basic proposals I only have one problem, it is becoming increasing clear that you almost need a law degree to decipher each particular body of water.  If  catfish are your thing, and you have an opinion, check out the proposals and comment.  If you don’t no complaining if it does not go your way.

Of course these area/lake specific regulations are a good thing for our wildlife, but man it can be complicated.  After reading over the Colorado hunting regulations  (South of this road, north of that road, with Boot Hill as the west boundary.) it reminded me of the Ontario fishing regulations, which seemed to go so far as –  “If it is Tuesday after lunch and you are fishing on this particular body of water in spring you can only keep 1.4 fish between 11″ and 12″ before it gets dark.”  Now that may be a serious exaggeration, but you get the point.

My favorite Texas regulation is the 13″ inside spread on whitetails.  And what is, or is not, a buck, or legal depending on where you are.  It is not a simple matter by any stretch.  Arkansas is much easier to decipher – If it has 3 points on one side, kill it.  Simple enough.

I guess my point with this ramble is it has become more complicated to be sure we are in compliance depending on where and what we are doing.  (Case in point:  Missouri requires a paddle.)  It has gotten to the point that you better have an annual book in the boat or pack to double check just in case.

********************

So today was a wash, but at least the boat got a good soaking on the way home.  It looks like it will be Friday before I am back on the water as I will be spending the day tomorrow with the Boss, and then a quick trip to Austin to get the car serviced.  You would think a retired guy would get to fish more, but life follows you no matter your age or station.  On the bright side there are a couple of goodies on the way and am looking forward to sharing it with you next week.  So keep stopping in and thank for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines