FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Lets start off with this:  I am not going to guess how many I caught today, and if I tried you would call me a liar.  But the plain truth, after boating over 25 in the first area they bit everywhere I tried all the way until the last bank, where  I caught 3 on the way in.  I spent the day educating a whole generation of fish!

Best I could manage today.  Smacked that Lou’s Lures Custom Jerk Bait.

And they bit it all, no matter what I tried, they liked it.  The only problem was the “real” ones were in short supply.  In fact, the only big one I saw came after a small one trying to take the jerk bait out of his mouth.  But it did not matter, they were on the chew, and who knows, how active the  small ones were may have had something to do with not boating a good one.  But no matter, it was a catch fest, and after how tough it was for a while it was just nice to have lots of bites.

Only smalls today on the Alabama Rig with Pearl Knockin Tail trailers.  But it sure is a fun way to catch them.

The crankbait caught them right along.  A nice steady retrieve with the occasional stop and go tripped their trigger.  Some of them really popped it.   The jerk bait is still getting the bigger bites, but was the slowest bait as far as bites went this morning.  Kind of a trade off, want to catch the snot out of them or try to boat bigger ones but have a lot less bites?  A problem I do not mind having.  And the Alabama Rig and Pearl Knockin Tail caught  a bunch, the ones above are a good representation of the size that wanted it today.

They bit all morning on the works.

As you can see from these pictures it was a small fish bite fest.  Actually it bodes so well for the future.  There are lots, and I mean tons, of fish in that small to 14″ range.  If we get our grass back there is going to be some awesome fishing in years to come.  There are plenty of fish.  We must have had one hell of a  spawn last year.

They are not there yet but the size is a major improvement.

Of course I headed up lake to check on the white bass, and while I only caught 2, the size is something I have not seen on the lake, maybe ever.  When the real migration starts, it is going to be a serious butt whipping and I am ready, bring on the cold weather.   The run should be in full force in the next month and I look forward to it every year.  While I was up lake I fished 3 grassy areas without so much as a pass on any bait until I caught a small one way up lake. It was the only slow period, the rest of the time it was consistent catching.   But while trolling for white bass I got a good idea where the shallow fish went up lake.  (As a side note, the fishing is better down lake right now.)

Once the lake started cooling a month ago the shad slowly abandoned the shallow grass and the fish followed.  And where did they go?  Into the creek channel where there are tons of schools of  shad which is obviously where the shallow fish went.  Along with the couple of nice whites I think I caught 5 or 6 bass trolling the crankbait.  You can see them around the shad schools.  All I have to say about that is come on winter.  It has real potential.

And the Honeydew Knockin Tail still putting them in the boat.

I only threw the Honeydew Knockin Tail on a couple of places and of course boated a few, including the nice one above.  They like it, end of story.

I fished from 8:30 to 2:00 and caught fish basically the whole time.  It turned out to be a little tough to decide what to fish.  Rarely do we get a day like this, toss it and they will eat it.  The first place I re-fished 3 times with different baits and they just kept on biting.  Who knows how long this will last?  I just hope I get one more chance Monday before heading out west.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Looking forward to some college football this weekend with multiple championships on the line.  The reason I do not bet on football is the following:  Bet the farm on Georgia.  Michigan looks tough as does Oklahoma State.  And the Cowboys won last night so looks like they are back on track.  Have a good weekend.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines