FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

The only way to recover from striking out is to fish more.  And since I am currently mad at the lake there is one way to fix that, head to POC.   Since I do not have a clue it will be a simple plan, go to Big Bayou and fish the deeper places they have been and see what happens.  Seems like a good idea.  Until I know how it is not going to run all over hell for the time being.

Weather 

61/67.  Cloudy with a 25% chance of rain.  Wind S 10 – 15 mph.

Tides

Low 6:43 am  High  7:04 pm.

Solunar Times

Major  10:28 am to 12:28 pm.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Great Morning.

Today I stuck to the plan and fish Big Bayou through the last of the falling and the beginning of the rise, and as usual the fish dictated how it would go.  The water temp was 58 at Froggie’s and never got above 60 anywhere I fished.  It was cloudy with a light wind and stayed that way.  The plan was to fish the deep stuff, and the oyster bar where I had been catching them, and then a little spinnerbait fishing for redfish.  Neither worked out all that well, and what trout I did find were not where I historically catch them.

Could not get any better than this.

Basically the places they were are not where they are now.  (Though I am not sure where they are.) One place that  surprised me was a flat point in front of a drain, it had water running over it and maybe some bait.  As a side note, I saw very little baitfish flipping stuff.  And I was very surprised that the deeper areas that normally holds them only had a few smalls.  In fact, it is not that I killed them, but normally there are some nice ones, and a good red or two when I catch that many.  But the good fish were not there, or having what I was pitching. Both the Purple Demon Limetruese and the Mansfield Magic Knockin Tail caught fish, and I did not notice any difference.

I  probably scratched out a small limit of keepers, but that was it.

I did not see any appreciable kill, at least in Big Bayou.  A few floaters came by but nothing big.  The ramp at Froggie’s was covered with mullet and a few catfish, until I took out.

A whole bunch of grey/mangrove snappers.

There were a bunch, at least 50, that washed up at Froggie’s.  Not sure where they came from but they did not look that long dead.  Interesting.  Some were big as a good tilapia on Coleto.  I have caught a few in the barge canal, but none as big as the ones I saw today.  Just a indication of what might have happened.  Only time will tell.

The water was running some during the prime period, but it was light and only made a little difference.  And with the light wind it made boat control easy.  So that had no affect on the results.  I spinner baited my favorite bank without a bite, but the tide just did not get up any to speak of.  So sticking with the Knockin Tails until quitting put 2 in the boat here, 3 there, off and on until 2:00 when I called it a day.

There were tons of dolphins early.

The dolphins were tearing it up when I got there, and when I moved they all came with me, doing the swim under the boat thing.  One group had 2 small ones and they also came along for the ride.  Always cool when they do that.  And they did not bother the fishing, but I was not having any big runs so they quickly lost interest.

Not sure what to make of today.  Maybe 20, all basically like the ones above and 3 small rat reds.  I did not lose any fish, and maybe missed a couple, so it was not me, at least mechanically.  So I can honestly say I do not have a clue.  I talked to a guy at the carwash who lives there and he says he is not all that concerned and has been catching fish all week.  Hopefully that is the case.

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After sending us the picture of fish sunning and trying to recover Steve sent along this follow up.

Just as a follow up, I visited the same flat Saturday and Sunday morning.  No fish congregation was observed, but there were a couple of fish moving.  On Sunday, the wind shifted so that it was blowing onto the flat from the Southeast.  There were a few dead mullet, all about the same size at 8-9” long and one dead catfish, about the same size observed.  Real work will keep me away until next weekend, but it was interesting to observe the same flat several days in a row.

That is great news on several fronts.  First looks like they have returned to their regular haunts.  And great to hear that you saw no new dead fish.  From what I am reading at the moment it looked like the kills are localized, but we shall see after this years netting survey.  Thanks for the update.

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I am still mulling where I might fish this weekend.  Looks like we are going to have a round of high winds early next week, welcome to March on the Texas coast.  Still debating between fresh and salt, but just might have to fish Travis, Amistad, or Falcon to get my bass fix.

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Wish I could add to the conversation on the fishing but I did not really learn anything today.  The missing better fish is a little puzzling but it was a major event.  Hope they were just hanging out mouth shut and not gone.  Just have to go more.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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A Better Cork built a Better Way

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