FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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The Knockin Tail, if it has fins it eats them!

The plan was to fish Wednesday and when I got up it was 43 degrees and raining.  It continued to rain until noon and finally cleared up and began to warm.  I went ahead and took the time to start on the garage cleaning and organization.  So good to get a lot done today, amazing how much stuff you can throw out, the rest will be for the garage sale.  Tomorrow it will be up in the morning and gone for the day.  Very interested to see how the fishing will be the second day after a cold front with a 20 – 25 mph wind out of the north.

Weather

46/69.   Nice with plenty of sun and 2% chance of rain.  Wind 12 – 18 mph.

Lake Level

9 days ago.   93.15 msl.    Today  93.08 msl.  (Can’t wait to see the ramp.)

Solunar Time

Major  11:54 am to 1:54 pm. 

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Making chicken salad out of chicken poop.

When you see this white bass fishing you are in business.

I did  not even hit the road until 9:00, it was 42 degrees and blowing a good 20 out of the north.  And not a preconceived notion except for one thing – it was going to suck, and as far as bass fishing, it did.  The real difference, it was 73 at the ramp, 74 in mid lake by the discharge cove, and as low as 62 way up the lake.  It had been in the mid 80’s over most of the lake before this cold front.  (It may have hurt the fishing today, but it will get us into real fall/winter fishing.)  And the water is nice a clear over most of the lake.

To make a long bass story short, 5 places, one small on a rattle bait.  There were just not biting.  And those were places that always have fish.  But with that kind of temp drop, bluebird sky, and a brisk north wind, was not expecting anything different, and they did not disappoint.  The real question was what was the water temp up lake?

It just seems to early for them to be there.

When I got to the area where I had been catching them it was 63 degrees with the wind pounding down the lake.  Tossed out a rattle bait and hooked up right away.  It really did surprise me as the water temp there had DROPPED 18 degrees!  But the shad were still there and the whites were even a hair bigger than they had been.  Of course when you are used to catching them 3lbs and up these are midgets, but they are Coleto’s midgets.  Never have figured out whey they do not get big, there is plenty to eat.  And speaking of eating this size is by far the best.

Whether shad colored or fire tiger, the rattle bait was the ticket.

I messed around with them for a couple of hours, they were right in the channel around shad schools.  One of those deals where once I go over a big wad it is just a matter of time before one hits.  One difference is while catching over a dozen whites, only 2 small bass jumped on, a pretty good indicator of how they were feeling.

After trolling a while I let the wind blow me down the bank, it was howling, throwing the rattle bait, and caught one small.  As it got later in the afternoon it warmed considerably so headed down lake hunting up a couple of banks with sun and as little wind as possible.  That went over like a lead balloon.  Jerk bait, swim jig, rattle bait, did not matter, they were not having it.  Never did fish plastics because of the wind.

So at 4:00 I called it a day.  The wind was still blowing like crazy, but the water temp was definitely rising everywhere I fished.   But boy were the deer active, I saw an easy 25 today.  If you really want to see a really big gator, days like today are perfect.  Saw a real monster sunning on a calm bank, actually probably the same one I have seen there for years, and where I  saw one smoke a duck.  And last there was big flock of teal, something you don’t see on the lake all that often though there has been more ducks the last few years, especially with the loss of grass and with it the coots.  Gone are the days when the bass would be on a bank with grass and the coots would just keep in front of you tearing it up making it hard to fish.  It used to piss me off, now sure miss them.

Spoke with the gentleman at the ramp who comes every evening to watch the sunset and chat with fishermen.  He was around for several folks driving their trailer off the end of the ramp.  Folks do not get to close to the edge, one of the trailers over the edge ended up with a bent axle when they jerked it out.  He said most that had trouble were bigger ski style boats.   So just be aware.

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I  got this comment on from Matt.

With Coleto so low, have you ever considered fishing Texana? It is full. The areas north of Highway 59 can be good for bass, crappie and white bass.

Yes I have considered it, and have actually fished it twice but was clueless.  I would love to give it a go.  You have an email coming as I am not sure exactly where you are talking about.  Appreciate any help you can give me.  Will let the rest of you know how it comes out.  Thanks for the comment.

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And it was good to hear from John.

Glad you are feeling better Doug and can enjoy the creek. Stayed a few days at Fayette area. Bream harder to find as they go deeper now. Did get into some nice bass hitting cranks at the intake a few times. They have made some nice repairs to the facilities at Fayette but the cast netters where the worse I’ve ever seen. They come right up to where you are trying to fish.
Still looking forward to a time we could go to POC together sometime. John

There are more and more  complaints from Fayette concerning the netters.   And there have been other problems, including the drownings last year.  Hopefully TPWD are hitting the lake more often, at least keep some of it to a dull roar.  If it is as bad as I am hearing , and you are not the only one, might be time to set a time when netting is allowed, at least everyone would know.  And congrats on the bass, they are always good ones there.  Hopefully we can figure something out on the bay in the future.  Thanks for commenting.

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Looking forward to fishing with the Austin Boys next weekend.  Whether fish are caught or not it is always a good time.  Tomorrow it will be back to the creek.  Looking forward to seeing if the cold front has changed things.  No matter what I think I know, it could be completely different. But the falling water temps should help at least in the short term.  As I have said before the river/creek bite can be fleeting so time to take advantage while it is good.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines