FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

After looking at the weather again I decided to be on the water at daylight and see if I could beat the wind, in other words how long I could take it.  The wind was blowing right along and there was occasional sprinkles.  The water temp was still in the low 60’s and has not warmed up as much as it might have, but the biggest jump was way up lake where it was up 3 degrees.  In some areas the color was poor, in others it is real clear.  How close are we to spring?  The tilapia hit the beds big time and the bass will not be far behind.  If you are a bow fisherman the time is now.

***************The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

************** 

One of my favorite bites!

My plan and hope were to smash some on spinnerbait.  And fortunately, several cooperated.  They wanted it buzzed fast right below the surface.  There was only one problem, they were in the shallow bushes on points.  So great a pattern right?  It was if you could take it.

I cannot emphasize how hard the wind started blowing.  It was an easy 15mph+ increasing as the morning wore on.  They would not hit the spinnerbait in a cove with little wind.  Once I figured it out the wind was starting to howl.  It was freakin’ blowing a good 30mph.

Twins!

The bite started about 9:00, until then it was slow.  Several jumped on the A Rig with Pearl Knockin Tails but that bite is about over as it warms.  I could not buy a bite on a swim jig or the crankbait, so I finally toughed it out and headed for the wind.  It had to be moving the minute it hit the water, when fish this size and up hit a waked spinnerbait it is one ferocious bite.

I am using my last Buzz King from the lure company I worked for in the late 70’s.  It just so happened on one of my trips back to Mtn Home that I found a dozen, and alas, this is the last one.  It actually won $50k for a guy Tad sponsored.  The reason it is so successful waking is the wire is just a little finer than most and with a #5 willow it makes a huge wake, which the better ones like.

I did lose one other good one and had another make a pass at it and just miss.  But seeing them come out of nowhere and stop that bait is a thing of beauty.  It is so important to have it moving when it hits the water, why I switch hands on the rod while it is in the air.  Often they are right on the bank and if it is not waking they are not having it.  Additionally, it has to run straight up and down.  Rember it is a fleeing “gizzard shad”.  When there is little brush like Travis or Norfork I use a trailer hook, but on Coleto you have to throw it in the trash so no trailer hook.

Best I could manage on the A Rig.

While the A Rig will still catch them you can’t throw it to the bank or move it near quick enough.  The 3 or 4 that did jump on today were small and there is no way you could fish it properly after the wind really came up.  By 11:00 it was howling, and I mean whitecaps on the whitecaps.  Where the good bites came it was like standing on a beach ball while you fished.  The wind would take your bait wherever it felt like, making accurate casts tough.  And it was almost impossible to get more than a couple of casts before you were blown by. But the hour that they bit it was on, and while wishing will not get you much, I sure wish it had stayed at 20mph, it would have been a beat down.  But no complaints, anytime this size smokes a waked spinnerbait I am all in.

***************

Here is the Coleto Bassmaster Tournament schedule for the rest of 2022.

• March 19   Choke Canyon
• April 23   Coleto
• May 21   Choke Canyon
• June 25   Mathis
• July 16   Coleto
• August 27   Sommerville
• September 24   Coleto
• October 22   Choke Canyon
• November 19   Fayette
• December 10   Coleto

Good luck to all.  I remember what that was like.  Monthly club, 4 winter month Bass A Thons, the Federation Championship one year, and then the occasional random tournament.  I was really “mad” at those fish back then.  So the only question is there any talk about resuming the Wednesday pot tournament.  If any of you hear anything let me know would definitely fish a couple.

**************

Props to Montana wildlife officers.  Some fool killed a 56″ moose, which is a good one, then cut its head off and left him to rot.  Long story short they caught him 2 years later.  Then the court came through and fined him $12k, a 3-year fishing ban, plus a lifetime hunting ban in Montana.  That is exactly the behavior that is used by antihunters and fishers to justify the increased restrictions on our outdoor sports.  It is the behavior of folks like this, and knuckleheads on the water, that lead to further restrictions which we have to guard against at all times.  So good on Montana, he earned it.

**************

Looking at the weather it will be Friday before I get back on the water.  It looks like the wind will be much more tolerable and it will be cloudy.  Look out, the kind of great day I have had on Coleto in the past.  At least that is the plan. We are headed to the desert for a few days and I have several things to do to get ready for that.  There is no such thing as over prepared when messing around down there.   Our last trip down we saw folks walking out of the desert in a place where the highway is not that far from the border.  Always an adventure.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines