FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

“SAVE OUR WATERS”

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

The Wade Right Fishing Belt

Brought to you by

Check out the new Madre Sling

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

Another beautiful morning.

When the Boss says “get supper” you get supper.  She really likes my fried fish, and I am actually fairly good at it.  But she says nothing tastes like fresh trout on the bank of the White River, which we did for clients when guiding, and she is probably right.  It was really nice when guiding for a trout dock and everything was packed and ready for lunch.  Good times.  (If you can live on $35 a day.  But I am glad I had the pleasure of fishing the White River regularly, it is full of trout.)  So of course this morning was the lake to troll up supper.

Weather

82/96.  Breezy and humid -Sunny/clouds – 23% chance of rain.  Wind  SSE 15 – 25mph.

Lake Level

Today  93.16 msl.  Friday  93:17 msl.

Solunar Time

Major   12:22 pm to 14:22 pm.

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

The new Knockin Tail is catching fish!  Ask for them at your favorite tackle store.

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

It was the last light wind as I put the boat in.  The water temp is still basically 90 over most of the lake and the color is so so.  Since trolling was the plan I fished 2 places I haven’t fished, and 2 places I have first.  The buzzbait put one in the boat and I lost a keeper, and plastics was a total of 1 small.  While stuck in a bush and shaking the plastic I reached down and moved the trolling motor and when I looked back my line was 5 feet from where it was and hauling ass.  With my superior skill I somehow missed that one.  About 8:30 time to troll up supper.

Smacked that little shad colored crankbait.

Starting where the white bass were the other day, the big open water before the turn to the discharge, they were still there.  And unfortunately they had not grown any.  So time to troll in the 10 – 18 foot range and head down towards the dam.  Using the mapping is critical but of course it is not the whole story.  No map will show the little cuts and points and watching the locator I have learned quite a bit.  One of the places where there was a big school not only have I not fished it much, they were on a little turn, which only by trolling over it could you see it.

Around 10:00 they started biting and a mix jumped on, and at that point the wind was blowing pretty good with white caps on the lower end.  A couple of keeper white bass, 3 keeper largemouth, and a bunch of smalls.  Interesting how no crappie or catfish have shown up, you usually catch one or two trolling.  A small silver shad looking crankbait, hard plastic that rattles like nuts and runs about 10 foot, was the preferred bait.  Caught a couple on a small Shad Rap, and even caught 2 switching to a rattle trap style bait.  There are not great big schools of shad, at least I have not run over any from the dam area up to about the discharge cove.

One result of trolling is that I have found a couple of banks with some really good fish on them.  Where the big one jumped on the other day produced the nice one above and a couple of smaller  ones.  And I ran over what was a really big school, looked like dozens of  nice ones, and doubled on bass in a second.  I tried to turn around and get a screen shot of the school but didn’t see them again.  Both areas were similar in that the wind was pounding on them, both bunches were in the 10 foot range near a turn in the bank, and both banks had a good drop within reason.  Definitely places to fish later.

There was hardly anyone out at today, think I saw 3 boats, and no one was at the ramp when I took out at 11:30.  The crappie are still biting, when I cleaned fish someone else had cleaned a wad of crappie earlier.  There was some real good ones in the can, and as it has been on Coleto, they are biting.  So for what the plan was the day was a success.  And when they are sizzling in the pan it will be all good.  One thing about trolling, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

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

It is easy to see if you are paying attention that boat sales are up and it is a good time to sell on the used boat market.  I see it in the ads and on the water and here is confirmation.

Total new boat sales – from personal watercraft to yachts – in May were the highest in a decade, and June was strong as well, reports the National Marine Manufacturers Association, based on the latest sales figures available.

When it comes to new power boats alone, the 115,000 sold in May and June combined represented a 30% increase over the same two months last year.

Much of the increase is of course the result of covid.  A way to have fun, and keep social distancing, there are definitely more folks on the water.  I saw this years ago during one of the economic downturns when boat sales actually increased in tough times.  And here we are again, and economic downturn and folks are buying boats and going fishing.

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

And this comment on Coleto Creek.  When I voiced my displeasure at the rise to $17 for the day user fee and its potential affects on retirees and vets, their response was that the increased revenue was needed for maintenance of park facilities.  Ok, so with the water dropping, and probably continuing to drop for the near future, now is the time to do some real work on the ramp and the approach.  (Be careful putting in just in case, the drop off on the end of the ramp is getting closer.) And along with that, from the minute you turn into the park the road is a mess.  So while they said all the right things it remains to be seen whether it will be followed through on.

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

We are starting to get excited as it will be a couple of weeks in the mountains of Colorado.  And I mean in the mountains.  In a perfect world the rivers and creeks will be down and I can fish those places I have scouted the last couple of trips.  And it can only be topped off by the elk bugling.  Should be a good time to be there and a little cool weather will be appreciated.

The next couple of days look like the wind is going to blow some so we will probably take a drive somewhere, want to pick up some stuff for the St. Joe Bass Fishing Club.  Thursday is looking promising for the Gulf.  Though when it comes down to it I am just killing time this week until the holiday is over and dove season begins, which really reduces traffic on the bay.  And with that, if we are lucky, slowly falling daytime temps as we head to fall.  So keep on stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines