FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Put your favorite Knockin Tail under a Four Horsemen popping cork and hold on!  A deadly combination.

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I finally got the boat out and headed to the lake.  I had a meeting in the morning so did not get out on the water until 2:00.  The first thing I noticed on entering the park is the new sign:  Annual Permit  $250!  Are you kidding me?  That is a rant for another day.

Weather

High 90.  Cloudy in the morning giving way to sun with a 20% chance of rain.  Wind N 15 – 25 mph.

Lake Level

Today  93.31 msl.   6 weeks ago  93.12 msl.  (It has been that long since I fished!)

The water level is about where it has been for months.  It was 84 degrees at the ramp and 80 way up lake.  The color is fairly clear with a little more color up lake.  And the wind was 15 – 20 blowing right in the ramp cove.  As long as the lake does not come down any more the ramp is “ok”, but if we do not get any rain it will be unusable at some point.  And I sure was feeling it just getting the boat in the water.  (Kind of amazing how much strength you lose staying in the chair for almost a month.)

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

Brought to you by

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This is a fish.  This is me with a fish.  This is my happy face.

With the wind blowing I headed all the way up lake.  It was blowing right down the pike so time to toss the spinnerbait.  Over about an hour and a half 3 smalls jumped on.   None were any bigger than the spinnerbait and I did miss another.  Wish I had been out earlier when it was cloudy.  But being mid day with the sun full up it was not surprising.  I was starting to get tired and with the wind there was no way to throw plastics up there so just decided to do a little trolling.  Today was not about catching fish, don’t get me wrong but just being out there was good enough.

They were definitely biting!

Fishing the edge of flats and points and staying in 10 – 15 feet with a shad color crankbait that runs around 10 feet was the ticket.  Put it 50 feet behind the boat and troll at 2.5 mph. Not only was there white bass suspended, though most were small, but crappie were mixed in.  Interesting that the crappie were nowhere near cover, but I never look a gift fish in the mouth.

About as big as white bass tend to get on Coleto.

Besides this one maybe another 5 or 6 whites jumped on, all small.  And to go along with it 4 or 5 small bass also participated.  I stayed with it for about 2 hours and finally the heat started to wear me out so I called it a big success and headed to the house.

Everything on the boat worked, I had my tackle organized before we left, and it was all good.  Just catching a few fish and being out on the water was plenty.  The old song is so true –  “You don’t know what you got till its gone.”  Can’t wait to get after them this fall.

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This weekends football notes.

Florida at A&M.  Multiple penalties hurt them, a couple 15 yarders including wiping out an interception.  One wiped out a 15 yarder on Florida, then a 37 yard TD for Florida.  OMG then another on the kick off.  Undisciplined.  But Spiller is an absolute beast and Mond actually looked like an SEC quarterback.  A&M averaged around 7 yards a play, you have to win with that, which they did.  A fabulous winning drive with great use of the clock.  A big win that could be season changing for the Aggies.

Oklahoma at Texas.  While I only caught some as I watched the A&M game it is a perfect example of how crazy college football is this year.  Oklahoma 1 – 2, who is having a terrible year, beats Texas leaving them both 2 – 2.  After the A&M game got over I was lucky enough to get to catch the overtime finish.  What a freakin’ game!

Arkansas at Auburn.  Arkansas reverted to more of the same old same old in the first half.  Giving up a TD on a blocked punt sure does not help.  Second half was a flat slugfest on both sides, another good game.  Then we got screwed and ended up losing by 2.  It was a crazy play that I have never seen, and neither had the announcers or the refs, apparently. Hard to describe unless you saw it.  So no reason to hang their heads, they played all out.  Another great game.  Good games today all the way around.

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Again I want to thank all of you who sent along your good wishes and there are just to many to share.  But I wanted to share this one from fishfearlarry after my first run at it since getting “better”.

So sorry to hear that you have contacted the virus. I have family members that have battled it, and each one says the same thing….”you don’t want this!” My brother was in the hospital twice because of it. I hope you continue to heal and get your strength back soon! From what I hear, the fall bite is turning on. Not to alarm you, but the people I know that had the virus has said it takes a while to get your stamina back. So, that just means that it will have to be half say fishing trips and maybe drifting/fishing from the boat for a while. God bless you and glad you seem to be improving!

You called that one right.  At least I got on the water, and am already planning on the bay this week.  But it is hard to put in to words how rough it was.  Trust me, the last thing you want to do is give this to someone with a pre-existing condition or an old fart like me.  (Just a comment on the folks who “play'” a Doctor online giving out medical advice.  How you can ignore the guidelines if you have someone with pre-existing conditions or an elderly relative I do not know.  This is real.)  Thankfully I am in good shape or I guarantee it would have been a different outcome.  Thanks and good to hear from you again.  And this is the last word on covid, lets all try to put 2020 behind us!

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There are 2 projects coming soon.  Finishing wiring the running lights on the skiff, a little clean up, and it will be ready to go.  I really hope that someone who wants to get on the lake or bay for little money will end up getting it.  But it will make a trip to the river or creek before it hits the road.  That thing will be around long after I am gone.

Second, picked up some hull cleaner to tidy up the LTS hull.  Actually going to try it on the cowling too, a real small area first, to see if it can shine back up.  The little area I tried on the hull looks great.  When the mechanic says I have one of the best looking motors on the inside,  (Persistent maintenance.) but ugly on the outside, time to see if I can bring it back some.

But first it will be some fishing.  If I can get my lazy butt up early it will be off to POC Monday morning.  Not sure if I will do any wading yet but really looking forward to the fall fishing on the bay.  Prime redfish time and as soon as it gets a little later in the year, in other words super low winter tides, want to give the flyrod a go.  No better time to see them and our winds can be nice and low late fall.  So plenty to look forward to so keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines