FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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What happens when you stop at the discharge to check the water temp.  Not sure why she was bleeding.

I ended up being responsible yesterday and fished today.  Unfortunately sleeping a little late probably hurt, but it was pretty good until the wind really started blowing.

The water color has really deteriorated and if I did not know better it resembles the occasional turnover on the highland lakes of Arkansas.  It was 59 at the ramp, 62 over most of the lake, 65 at the discharge,  but a cool 58 degrees once you make the big turn and head up the river.

It was calm first thing and like the forecast said the wind would come up which it did by 10:00.  First up was a mainlake bank where I caught the one below and another small one on the Alabama Rig with White Ice Knockin Tails.  For the next month or so it will be a steady producer and is a great way to get a big bite.  So it was looking up, and then disaster struck.  The next spot is a deep point with big trees.  I have caught my share of big fish off it and with no wind on it was perfect for the A Rig.

On about my 10th cast as I worked the point one absolutely slammed it about 15 feet from a tree.  When I set the hook, it was way past solid, it was the real deal.  I tried to pull her away from the tree but that was not happening and in she went.  She stayed on for a while but by time I got to her, she was an easy 10 foot deep, she was gone, and my A Rig was caught in the tree.  Fortunately, the lure retriever did its work and saved me several times today.  Occasionally you lose a big one, this was it, and it wasn’t my fault.  Dang it!  I did fish one more bank near the dam with the A Rig but did not get a bite.

The Alabama Rig with White Ice Knockin Tails.  The got to crankbait.

So from there I wanted to stop at the discharge and see what the temp was, turned out to be 65.  While it is rarely on my list I fished it today and caught 4 including the bleeder above.  Besides fishing discharges is not my thing, after losing a couple of tungstan weights time for something different.  But if you like to fish it with the big cold front coming in a couple of days it will get good.

From there up lake to crank and check on the white bass.  The area I normally catch them was 57 and the locator was bare.  Made a pass down the channel looking for them, or at least the shad, and they were definitely gone.  At this point the wind was blowing right along so time to crank.  Before it was over it was 8 or 10 all small, but………   On the way in stopped at a big cove with the wind blowing out of it so went to the back and fished out.  Halfway out one slack lined me on the crankbait.  It seemed to be hooked up and really small so no big deal.  Unfortunately, it was a big deal and a really nice one pulled off at the boat, always a possibility on the crankbait.  That is the way it went today, some slack lined it, some smoked it, as long was it came in on a nice steady retrieve they would bite it.  I caught at least one everywhere until around 2:00 when I struck out 2 straight places and called it a day.  An easy dozen and a couple of shots at big fish made it a good day.

As a side note the ospreys were working hard, saw the eagle, and a herd of deer.  It is important to remember it is not all about the fish.  Time to start carrying the extra Cannon camera again, would have had some great shots.

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And it was good to get a report from our Fayette guru Rusty.

Finally some winter days! We have been fishing both the lake and the Creek last 3 weeks. The Creek fishing has been slower than usual, but have caught enough fish to keep going there. Lots of reds and flounder but the decent trout all but disappeared. Water temp is 53-56 degrees, good color but very low tides. Not a normal year for sure.
Fayette lake fishing has been great fishing in 18-30’ using Ned rigs and Senkos lots of large fish. The bass should start moving closer to spawning between now and next full moon. I’m going to focus on bass, til I leave end of February for Mexico bass fishing. I’m starting to get excited about that. Safe travels and tight lines! Rusty

A good report on both fronts.  Good to know you are still catching good fish on Fayette, a sign of things to come in the next couple of months.  Hopefully a little shallower than 30 feet.  The Creek though is both interesting and different this year.  One of 2 things happened, either the water in bay did not get cold enough to drive them in the river like usual, or it is a good indicator the current trout population after the big freeze.  My guess is some of both happened.  Seems similar to what Pat is finding on his normal winter trout areas.  And now we are really going to have a winter with a couple of fronts since you wrote this, with things headed to the 40’s later in the week.  Like I said the other day as far as I am concerned a tighter limit would only help all the way around, at least until the net studies confirm all is well.  Thanks for the comment and good luck in Mexico.

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Tomorrow it is going to be in the high 70’s with the wind blowing pretty hard.  Then in the evening it gets here with wind and rain.  The high Thursday is going to be 44 degrees, so it will be a 30 degree temp drop with cool rain.  Winter is finally here.  So will try to get my old butt earlier and get on the water before it goes to heck for 3 or 4 days.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Line