FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
This does not do the morning justice.
Weather
78/88. Mainly cloudy and humid with 10% chance of rain. Wind SE 12 – 20 mph.
Lake Level
Today 95.12 msl. 5 days ago 95.15 msl.
Solunar Times
Minor 6:06 a, to 7:06 am. Major 12:39 pm to 2:39 pm.
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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.
For all your wading needs.
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I started on my buzzbait spot and low and behold it came through. When getting to the ramp at 6:00 it was fairly calm, the water temp was in the low 80’s over most of the lake, and the color varies depending on where you are. But one thing remains consistent, throw it in front of a big one before the sun is up and get a smashing, and this one did exactly that.
Sorry for the fuzzy but it was humid as hell this morning. But the buzzbait came through.
I stuck with the buzzbait until the sun was full up, catching a couple of smalls and losing another pretty good fish. All of the bigger fish bites are coming on points, and it really helps if there is some cover to go along with it. But after a while it died like is has so since I was up lake I tossed the blue/blue swim jig, catching a couple of smalls in the off color water. But I kept going back to the pattern that has not worked but should, a Pearl Silver Jerk Shad in the grass, so time to give it a good go.
And the Controlled Descent Pearl Silver Jerk Shad came on as I found a few more fish in the new grass. They were eating it.
I was fishing the Pearl Silver Jerk Shad with a 4/0 VMC hook, swimming it in a walk the dog pattern, targeting grass and newly flooded cover. While they were not on all grassy cover, a few places had some, definitely an improvement. The ones that were hitting it were eating it. They wanted it right on the edge of cover, after throwing it over the grass to the bank. I did miss several off the cover, it was tough to see with the wind, but the point, they were biting. The one above was back in the stuff and smoked it. Why this pattern/bite is so late I do not know, but time to hit it hard. Most were small but with all the cover there is a sweet spot out there somewhere.
As long as the water stays stable there will be more fish moving into the grass. And along with the Jerk Shad we should have a good frog bite coming. But right now there is a shad spawn going on in the morning in some places, and there is tons of fry. Soon the panfish will start spawning, and all of it should move into the grass off and on. There are lots of areas that have potential, and it should be a good pattern going forth.
Not a bad morning, not great numbers, maybe 10 or so, but at least another good one and a new pattern. Things are looking up on the lake, it is just late this year for some reason. How long the really shallow bite will last will be mostly water level dependent. But for the time being worth getting up for.
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And this from Lacy.
Enjoy reading your adventures & pics and keep them coming so be sure to Test your kill switch to make sure it works, & keep it attached.
Funny you should say that. I wear the self inflating vest and keep it attached to the kill switch and on the drivers seat no matter the boat and put it on anytime I am going above an idle. When I load the boat after each trip I disconnect the kill switch from the jacket and run it through the steering wheel so it does not flop all over the place on the road. One side light to that is when I back the boat in next time and forget to unhook it I find out how well it works when turning the wheel. Everyone needs to listen to that piece of advice, check your kill switch to be sure it is functioning properly, it may save your life. As I have said many times, do it for those that love you, it is the least you can do. Thanks for the comment and should have another photo dump when we get back from Colorado.
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Every once in while folks have a great run tournament fishing whether fresh or salt, and Colton Knipling and his crew are literally taking the salt by storm. A real credit to their ability to find and catch fish. Winning regularly is no easy feat and they are on one big roll. Congratulations.
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Of all crazy things the Boss got a survey from Mercury motors last week. Funny it came right now since the part on order is still not here after over 6 weeks. It asked for comments and of course how could I refuse. But what was interesting was the list of all the Mercury motors I have owned, and here it is. 3hp, 10hp, 25hp, 60hp, 50hp, 90hp, 2-115s, 135, and a 150 Black Max. At least that is all I am able to recall. And I used the living crap out of the whole bunch of them.
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Watching the weather last night it was a reminder, April winds have not left us yet. The Dude was talking 30 to 40mph gusts the next few days. Maybe later this summer I will be missing it standing waist deep in the Gulf, but for now please go away. But at least we had some rain and are expecting more.
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Tomorrow the truck goes in for maintenance prior to hitting the road for Colorado so I will be without wheels tomorrow. I believe in keeping stuff up, really reduces breakdown chances, especially when we will be in the high mountains for a few days. Hopefully it will be back on the water Wednesday, it looks like it might rain, and as long as the wind does not blow it should be a Jerk Shad beatdown. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
