FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Here we go, another year of fishcatchingtravel.com.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would still be here.  But on we go.  Life throws us curve balls at times, I really did look like we would be on a different path.  I honestly had not thought about where this might go, or even that I would be here.  So lets just see what the new year brings, as long as I am upright and fishing the blog will still be here.  Not promising it will be all that, but the years fishing plan is taking shape and I will continue to share it.  And day one 2021 was Travis, to bad I fished like a rookie.  It has been a bad month for me when I have had a fishing rod in my hand.  So time to head to the bay soon, an easy place to get well.  Maybe I will even put some dead fish on the front of my boat to show you how nice the front of the boat is!

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

Check out their new tackle box and plier sheath.

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I hate it when I fish like crap.  And after a full day on Travis I have to admit I started with a clue and ended up without one.

The Boss had an appointment on Monday, which she unfortunately put on the wrong calendar day.  She found out the day before we were leaving for Austin, but since we had the house rented we went anyway.  It came with a dock, which I love, just put it in the water and walk down and fish.  But the water level left me somewhat confused, of which there ended up being no recovery.  It is the 3rd time I fished it and it has been up some crazy thing like 25 feet, then once at pool, and is now down 25 feet. Amazing how that happens, and it does change things.  But no excuse.

The weather Sunday afternoon was supposed to be almost dead calm, and once we got there it was blowing a good 15+.  I wanted to watch the Cowboys (What a waste that was!)  so I just fished for 2 hours before heading in.  Not a bite, and there were folks fishing up a storm.  A reminder why I generally do not fish the weekends, especially on lakes like Travis.  But Monday brought a new day.

A good start.

I was scheduled to fish with a friend who lives there but he had to cancel.  Unfortunately his wife is going through radiation and he felt like he should hang around, good call.  So my best wishes to them, it is tough, and we are hoping for the best for her.

Starting on a deep point bluff end at the mouth of a cove it took about 5 minutes to catch a nice one on the Rage Craw.  That is where they are supposed to be, staging to make the big move.  They had a bunch of rain which cooled the lake off, but it came up a foot.  The water temp was 58 and it was dead calm.  I caught one on the craw and then one on jerk bait.  That would turn out to be my downfall.  My love of jerk bait fishing ended up wasting lots of time over the day.  And that was my fault.  We all have days where we just keep trying to make them do what we want, and that was my day.

The really like the Lou’s Custom Jerk Bait.

To make a long story short only 2 more smalls jumped on the rest of the day.  One each on plastic and jerk bait.  I stuck with the points and some interior secondary points, and did manage to miss a couple, so I will blame it on the fish.  With the weather so great I made the long run way up the Pedernales to see if the whites were there.

They are sure nicer than the little guys on Coleto.

As the day went on the water temp started increasing into the low 60’s, but up river it was still in the 56 – 57 degree range and somewhat off color.  But the urge to merge for them is great, and while I added a couple more smaller ones and a bass or two trolling, then it was time to head back down lake as I had a long run.  On the way I hit a couple of other places without success so at 5:00 I called it a day.

So the day was not a complete loss, it has been a coon’s age since I made a 30 mile run, and on a flat sea it is a thing of beauty.  And though it was tough for me the time flew by.  I am not deterred though and will be back before spring is over.  It was just like old times in Arkansas, to bad I did not fish better.

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I wanted to share this come from Steve, who should be writing himself.

I imagine that writing for a blog can sometimes feel like talking to an empty room. Only the echo of your own voice for feedback. Well be assured that there are many of us that appreciate the time and effort that goes into an endeavor like a blog. For me, almost daily I tune in to see what’s new in the FishCatchingTravel world. It is usually an escape to fish vicariously at your side, but there are road trips to sweeten the pot and an occasional diatribe to add some spice. I think of Hemingway and the torture that he went through to write–only to know that the thought of not writing was capitulation, giving in and giving up.

I don’t know what drives you, but just know that you and your work is appreciated, warts and all. This is not a democracy, but my vote is for you to keep going. After all, the alternative would be to not go, and that would be no fun at all.

While I am not anywhere near the same universe with Hemingway it really does sum it up.  It is a struggle: anyone out there, is this interesting, why am I doing this, I don’t want to fish today, and on and on.  The diatribes are my Tred Barta coming out. somebody has to say it.  As far as a democracy, that is what makes blogging what it is, no democracy here.  Of course it would be nice to make a few bucks off this, but I am to opinionated for that.  If I do not use it I do mind telling you why.  And  I will not quit ragging on the fishing world when they need it, in fact a diatribe is coming soon.

Other times the words just flow and it is a simple pleasure doing it.  And you are so right, there is no alternative, I will be fishing and will be blogging along as I do.  Thanks for the comment, appreciated.

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And from Anonymous.

Happy New Year!

Your blog is inspiring , and good luck in 2021

Thanks, appreciate the kind comments, nice to know you are out there.

And from Lee .

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us Doug! Wishing you and The Boss a happy New Year and May 2021 be the best yet.  Hope The Boss comes out okay if she has it. Appreciate the work she is doing! Tell her thanks! We moved to the upper end of Travis to a lake front community. But I haven’t been able to fish nearly enough. I’ve only been out twice which is a bummer. They just didn’t seem to get into a Fall top water and active bite pattern which was weird. They seemed to jump to a deep water, winter bite immediately. Good luck!  Thanks for sharing your adventures with us Doug! Wishing you and The Boss a happy New Year and May 2021 be the best yet

I feel you pain on Travis,  (See above!) it is a deep bite, at least for the time being.  It is so similar to what happened on Coleto, shallow, then gone.  But in the end that makes fishing what it is, you never know.  The Boss is fine but not to happy as Victoria cases are on the rise, 83 cases yesterday alone.  But she is optimistic, but not pleased, with the vaccine roll out but hopefully they will get it straightened out soon.  Thanks for the comment and the good fishing on Travis is right around the corner and then break out the Bagley Bang O Lure, they love it later in that clear water.  Good wishes for you and your family.

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And last from Frank with a question that comes up every year.

Doug,
Hi, my name is Frank Rembert, I communicated with you awhile back when my wife and I were looking into re-locating from College Station to Victoria to be closer to inshore fishing, due to my wife’s medical problems we decided to stay put for awhile, also my son Kevin is the one that provided you the Four Horsemen Popping Corks to try. That all being said, the Lavaca River is one of my favorite Fall and Winter fisheries and was wondering with your years of experience there if you could hazard a guess as to how all the recent heavy rains there have affected the fishing and how long it will take to re-stabilize and return to somewhat normal conditions.

Sorry for the late reply, been off my fishing feed this week.  My experience on both the creek and the river when it is over, it really is over.  Can you still catch a fish, probably, but we have some serious cold rain coming, maybe over an inch, which will probably end the big bite for the year.  So I am just waiting to see what tomorrow brings.  If it is not to bad I will give you a real report, though we are headed to Big Bend for a few days to chase wildlife, hike, eat, drink, be merry, and not listen to the news.  And if I hear anything in the meantime will let you know.  I hope you wife is doing well.  It has been a long year but hopefully this next one will be great for all of us.

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Anonymous:

Happy New Year! Your blog is inspiring , and good luck in 2021

Thanks.  At times it inspires me to get in bed and pull the covers up over my head.  But it is really a labor of  love, but like so many of us tend to, we keep whining in spite of things being just fine.  Happy New Year to you.

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And a great question from Jimmy.

Doug, I always read your post and really look forward for new ones. Being you always seem to enjoy sharing your knowledge would you give me tips for trolling for trout. I hear they do this frequently on the Lavaca River. What type of lures, size, color, speed of troll, how far behind the boat would shorten the learning curve. This would be another approach to fishing when I have members on the boat that can’t cast lures.

Thanks,

Jimmy

My sharing knowledge may have more to do with me liking to hear me talk!  But that aside here is what I know.  The first time I put in on the creek I idled a little ways and there was a dude in a canoe trolling small Rapala minnow baits as he paddled.  I asked and he showed me 3 20″+ trout.  Then a few months later my buddy had a motorcycle wreck and could not cast so we solved that by taking a paddle tail, don’t remember which but of course now it would be a Knockin Tail, put out 50′ of line, and I trolled with the trolling motor.  Once we got the speed down we caught a bunch, but mostly small.  And I have caught them once in Keller Bay and once out of POC, both times in the winter.

So if I was going to head out I would have 3 baits.  Knockin Tail in a pearl/white etc. on a heavy 1/8th or lighter 1/4 jig head, a couple of small spoons, Sprites or Little Cleo, and a couple small Shad Raps that run in the 5 – 10′ range.   Most of the water in the creek and river is in the 10′ range so baits running 5 – 8′ is about right.  Getting hung up comes with the territory but that is how you learn the depth your baits are running.  Once fine tuned you are in business.

A good start would be trolling one of each, let the fish decided.  Speed is usually dependent on how slow I can get the boat to run, somewhere between 2 and 3mph.  Cast it out behind the boat, pull off another 30 foot of line and ease along.  Keep the drag fairly light, I prefer to keep moving after hooking up, hopefully getting another bite which happens, so reel them in real slow or they will pull off.  Definitely a mono technique, and if you use more than a 10lb you will need a little heavier baits.  And if you feel one that misses it, give it a slow pull forward then a fall.  Success I suspect is not like regular trout fishing, find them and smash them in one spot.  It might be one here and there as you cover water but in the end the take home results might be the same.

The caveat, I have not trolled for trout like I have for white bass.  The few times I have it always seem to catch a couple, and with some experience and time on the water I am sure it can be super effective.  And thinking about it now, trolling for trout is an area that is waiting to happen.  Only done by a few there is much to learn and I suspect when it is fully explored it is going to be a killer.  Thanks for the question, my answer is a little windy but like any other technique there are not any real “right” answer, only what works for you.

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Off Topic or Lawyers say the craziest things!

I am sure the majority of you know about the woman who accused the black kid of taking her phone, then actually assaulted him, which is a felony.  Now her attorney, who I am sure is a fine person, had this to say about the attack.  It was not racial,  (I call bullshit.), it would not have mattered if it was a 90 y/o lady or an Asian.  Oh My God!  So if we accept there was not a racial component your well thought out stunning defense means the following:   Your client would be more than happy to berate and physically assault and toss to the ground a 90 y/o lady!  That makes us all feel better about her.  And one last word, give his dad real props for not slapping her silly, she earned it.  Put your hands on the child of another like that and you deserve exactly what you get.  End of story.

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The last few days have been hard, our country is better  than that.  When I stood before the Arkansas Supreme Court and took the oath to the Constitution it meant something to me.  The oath means that I would never break and enter any government building, that I would never be with the kind of folks who would brutally murder a police officer, I would never steal from my government, that I would never set foot in a courtroom and file absolute nonsense, or be dishonest in my dealings with the court.  Somehow that has disappeared and it makes me sad.  This is not who we are.

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Sorry for the late replies.  Just trying to catch up so excuse the errors and spellings but just trying to get back to square one.  I hope to fish some early this week, then it is off to Big Bend.  We love it there, good hiking, a few animals, some great roads.  And this year we will be headed over to one of the state parks to continue my quest to see more sheep, which I assume are desert big horns, will have to look that up.  Yesterday we were on North Padre for some fresh oysters and man was the tide low.  Great time to explore your favorite area, you never know what you will learn.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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