FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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Since Michael started a Knockin Tail Lures Group group on Facebook it has grown leaps and bounds.  What I like about it is seeing folks with their catch as the Knockin Tails spread around the country.  We have seen everything from muskie to snook to reds.  It is a real testament to the bait and the fish that are being caught. I always rag on one trick pony fishermen, well one thing we can say about the Knockin Tail, it is not a one trick pony.  So if you are on Facebook look it up and see what folks are catching.

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This has been the craziest no rain weather we have had in a while and it sucks.  We so need rain and as I have watched the radar for the last 2 days it seems whenever it gets close to town it just misses us.  Last night it finally poured, for a little bit, and then it was gone.  Meanwhile everywhere close seems to have gotten some rain.  Then this morning, and right now as I watch, the radar has rain all to the north and west of us, but it just dies out when it gets to Victoria.  And to make things even better there is a small craft warning on the coast.  Crazy spring so far.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending most of the day at the cardiologists.  No clue I was getting the full 100,000 mile check up.  The whole thing was prompted by an occasional missed beat.  So over the last week I have been prodded and probed and low and behold there is nothing wrong with me.  Maybe to much caffeine, sorry that is not under discussion.  At 68 no meds, no problems, I can live with that.  When the cardiologist called the Boss she accused me of putting him up to it.  Enough of that, suffice to say I will be on the water in the morning.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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TPWD raided a San Antonio restaurant and found 381 whole shark fins and another 29.2 pounds frozen.  This is particularly egregious as they know good and dang well it is illegal.  Time for the judicial system to keep up their end of the bargain.  The restaurant knows it is illegal and know who they got them from.  All methods to hold everyone accountable should be used.  Close the restaurant and pursue the suppliers and then prosecute the whole lot of them.  Time to end simple fines for this behavior.  This is intentional conduct and should be prosecuted as such.  I am so sick of TPWD giving tickets to folks who have a short fish, or maybe forgot to renew their fishing license and then serial commercial interests continue to get off with a slap on the hand.  (This has nothing to do with our wardens, they are doing their best to protect the resource and I applaud them.  They did their part now the system needs to do theirs.)  But it is indicative of the leadership at TPWD.  We have got this all wrong, commercial interests should be held to a higher standard, from fishing guides to deer breeders to oystermen. The resource belongs to all of us, and as a society we have been kind enough to let them use it to make money, with that should come a higher standard of behavior.  Break the law, face losing your profession.  Simple.

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Ed sent me this comment.

Congratulations on the posting. And doing something that you love and have the ability to share with others is phenomenal. I find myself checking my email to see if you have posted and where and what the fish are biting. Keep up the great work and I’ll continue to keep checking my email.

I am constantly humbled by this type of comment.  It really has sustained me over the years when I get tired of writing, or that it seems readers get tired of it.  So, I soldier on.  I am, and always will be a fisherman through thick and thin until the day I die.

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Then a similar comment from Windfred.

Keep posting and we will keep reading. Enjoy the insight and real reports you print

What I particularly appreciate about your kind comment is “real reports”.  That is, was, and will always be the plan.  Plenty of online bragging reports but in the end do they share any information?  Tell you how and where they did it?  You just do not see too much of that.  I try to include enough information that a person can actually catch a few, about all I can do without taking you there and telling you where to cast.  And the other part of “real report” is  how often do you see reports where the guy admits he did not catch squat?  Comes with the territory when you have a blog.  I try to keep it real.  Good to hear from you.

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And I got a thing or two from SA Joe.

I talked to a guy in a nice shiny new looking skeeter as he was leaving the lot, must be staying in the campground. He caught a 7lb bass on Tue…

That is the way it has been and why I say it could take 2olbs to win on Coleto Saturday and if big bass was 9lbs I would not be shocked.

He sent along a picture of one of the good ones he was catching.  If you look real close the answer is right there.

After he left the lake he dropped me a note saying he had a great day and caught a bunch of fish on a speed craw with dipped tail.  He finally called it a day after he got tired of fighting the wind.  So congrats on a good day.  Thanks for the report.

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With the trip to Oklahoma over the weekend, then the last thing on the medical list, it has been a week since I fished.  You would think that the retirement thing would be some kind of endless fishing heaven.  The real world does not work that way, why everyone does not bow to my fishing schedule puzzles me.  Guess they don’t fish.  For at least the time being I am back in control so back to the fishing.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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Off Topic Legal

(Before you get your political panties in a wad this is not about the ruling, this is about the Judge.)

The judge who just struck down the mask mandate has an interesting history.  She was appointed to the Federal bench for a LIFETIME (Which needs to stop.) when she had only been out of law school 8 years and had never even tried a case.  The national BAR makes recommendations on every appointment, and in her case she was not recommended as qualified for being entirely to inexperienced.  In my opinion the process failed.  I do not give a rats ass which party you belong to but there are literally thousands of highly qualified attorneys and this unqualified attorney who has never tried a case got nominated for purely political reasons, obviously not due to her legal experience.  Is this what you want from either side – unqualified judges?  Sure you do, until you are in front of one.  It is not supposed to work that way.   In other words it was complete bullshit.  You get what you pay for.  (And guess what?  We are personally glad the mandate is off!)

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