FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.  I kept to the house while the Boss worked most of it.  Unfortunately, the wind is back at it and has been blowing today.  It may just be a little sketchy in the morning, but since it has missed us repeatedly, I do not hold much hope for rain.  So it will be off to the lake in the morning, kind of a last call depending on the fishing.  It is hard to get really motivated when Alaska is right around the corner.

Weather

77/95.  A stray shower in the morning; otherwise, partly sunny and breezy with a 48% chance of rain.  Wind   SE 15 – 36 with possible gusts to 40mph.

Lake Level

Today   95.85 msl.    8 days ago   96.00 msl.

Bite Times

Minor   7:11 am to 8:11 am.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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On the way to the lake the flags were straight out, which was no big surprise.  It was basically straight out of the south and would stay that way until I quit at 11:00.  This morning was a fill the request from the Boss for a fish fry and I got that done.  Of course since it only takes 2 for us you would think after 50 years of it I could catch 2.  The water temp was 82 at the ramp and 84 over the rest of the lake.  The water color is clear down lake and real off color up lake. I started with a buzzbait close to the ramp while it was still dark and managed to put the best one of the morning in the boat.

A classic explosion on the buzzbait.

What made this bite interesting was as soon as it came over a stump she rolled on it and totally missed.  Normally this size does not cooperate by having another go at it, but not this one.  I almost grabbed the pitch bait but instead tossed the buzzbait back over the stump and she absolutely exploded on it.  What a great bite.  Unfortunately that was the last good one on the buzzbait so around  8:00 I put it down after I head up lake.  I pitched a log or 2 and caught a couple of smalls, then tossed the swim jig and Honeydew Knockin Tail some and caught 4 or 5 smalls out of the same place they were in last week.  They were in some of the last of the green grass left, and since I missed a couple who knows, maybe it was the better ones.

They really got on the spinnerbait when it would cloud up.

One thing that has remained constant with the shallow fish since the water came down is they are on stumps.  If you know a stretch that has a bunch chances are there are fish on them.  Of course then there is no excuse when you miss one, since you can see the whole thing.  And they are probably catchable on whatever you want to throw on them.

The weird.  I am always amazed when a bream smokes a buzzed spinnerbait.  This one ate the blades off.

As the morning wore on the wind kept up and it would cloud up for a little.  I had caught on spinnerbait, swim jig and Knockin Tail, buzzbait, and pitching a creature looking thing.  Spinnerbait finally won out and I stuck with it the last hour.  It was definitely best in the clear water.  You had to be on your toes as they all bit close to the bank/stump and really did not load up on it.  It would just disappear, which is cool, as long as you are paying attention. It seems moving baits down lake in the clear and slow up lake in the murk.  But there are still enough shallow to keep it fun.

Bass fishermen (me) have a tendency to be looking for the next cast before they are done with the current cast, looking in front of the boat, and of course that is when one eats.  Easy enough if they are blowing up on it, but the rest of the time if fishing shallow you can not turn your head.  It just works that way.

I was not sure what to expect this morning and was pleasantly surprised.  Of course anytime the fish bite the way I want them to is a good day, and a couple made the cooler for supper.  Catching a dozen plus before 11:00 qualifies as pretty good fishing, considering it was 90 degrees when I got in the truck to take out.

Coleto has plenty of short fish and everyone should eat a couple occasionally.  Oklahoma’s research has shown that eating the smalls ones is good for lakes and they are changing their limits.  Ok, we saved the bass with catch and release decades ago, but we have done to good a job.  This don’t eat bass thing is not good for who?  The bass!  It is ok to eat a couple, and as my buddy Ro says, tasty basses!  As long as we keep throwing all the big ones back our fishing will always be good.  Now we get to see if the ShareLunker fry are going to change the face of bass fishing in Texas.

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Those of you who read this know that there is comments coming on the mass murder in Uvalde.  But in this case I am going to wait just a little as they are stone walling much of the information.  It looks like a major SNAFU but there is a couple of things I want to know before I comment.

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I sure hope you have seen the moose chasing the grizzly.  If not google it and watch one cool crash.  And people are surprised in the parks when they get trampled.  A moose can move.  In fact a lady got gored by a bison just the other day in Yellowstone.  Speaking of moose Alaska and British Columbia is less than 2 weeks away and it is getting harder to wait.  Funny how that happens with cool trips, it takes forever to get there and then it is over in a minute.

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The plan is to go again in the morning.  At least it is only going to blow 15 – 30.  As far as rain goes I have absolutely no hope no matter what they say.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines