FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
****************
You never know but today’s fishing could not have been any different if it tried. First the weather, it was almost dead calm and sunny, and the bite was definitely not on. I only threw the buzzbait until the sun came up, from that point on it was plastics and swim jig in the area I caught them yesterday. While I was not surprised due to the complete change in conditions it was a lot slower than one would have thought.
**************
The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.
For all your wading needs.
***************
The only fish of note today. A Kentucky or spotted bass.
Today I lightened up some on the weight, a pegged 3/16 tungsten on a stick worm and the small ones sure liked it and other than one that jumped off it was all smalls. My magic tree produced 9, but not a one measured. And where I caught them yesterday on the swim jig it was a complete strike out. Another place produced a couple on swim jig, but again all small. At times I bitch about the wind, today I was hoping for some. I tried to fish stuff in the right order but not really sure that would have made a difference, it was simply the weather. And other than the Kentucky not a fish worth taking a picture of.so I spared you that.
Speaking of Kentucky or spotted bass they are slowly establishing a population. It is still a fairly rare catch but that is one of several (Maybe 10.) I have caught since spring. And remember TPWD told me they only shocked like 5 over 20 years so that tells you how quickly they have spread. In fact, thinking about it I might have caught a couple in the prior 12 years so looks like there are here to stay.
In spite of the slow fishing there was a fallback plan today, which was to put a few white bass on ice. We have been eating salmon right along and it is time for a fry so I had the cooler ready to go. The place they usually stage, along with bass and at times catfish, is a big flat off a major channel turn. Today they were in 14 – 18 feet of water scattered on shad. Using a rattling shad style bait that ran about 10+ was the hot bait.
I needed about 5 or 6 of the Coleto smalls and it took a couple of hours. (Course it did not help when I got number 5, a nice one, which I promptly unhooked and tossed back. Brain fart.) The bass were the big hit and easily boated twice as many. The white bass are small on Coleto but there is a few of them and like all fish, a good soak and fry cures lots of ills. While the fishing was slow it is good to be back on my home waters. This time of year is not the easiest, but like i always say the more I fish the luckier I get. Nothing beats time on the water.
****************
And speaking of fish the crappie are just going nuts on the lake. When I cleaned fish a couple of guys were cleaning 40 nice crappie, all caught on minnows. He was telling me the minnows are $5 a dozen. Yikes. I sold them 3 dozen for a buck at the store. And I did not use them then, always been a jig guy. Not sure why I have not worked that over some on the lake, there are plenty of them there and the guys who chase them regularly are quite successful.
****************
My favorite time of the year is right around the corner. Time to renew the fishing/hunting license. (Puts me up to $400 on fishing this week and I have not even left town. Ouch.) It means folks are about to get the guns out and start blasting away, which reduces folks on the water. So get out there and kill something. And if there is any left over give me a call, will be happy to take it off your hands.
***************
It is really sad to read the Falcon Lake Tackle website. The lake is past way down, it is getting dangerously low. Launching is getting to be a real problem and those pesky hardwoods can eat a lower until right up. And from what I read there is only one or two ramps left open on Amistad, which includes Rough Canyon. Glad I was able to fish them during their heyday. Amazing where all that water went. Water is going to be the big issue at some point, ask the folks out west. It sure would be a good time to extend ramps while the water is down, we can only hope the drought will finally be a thing of the past, but don’t hold your breath.
It seems to me the dilemma going on out west with the Colorado River can only be solved this way. Go back to the original agreement between the states and users, set those % as the baseline, and then cut every user from farmer to cities the same amount. If it is 50% or whatever then hold them to it. Everybody is more important than the other guy so make it across the board and tell the end user to figure it out. We can not continue to use that much water, end of story.
***************
And this from SA Joe commenting on my reel guarantee story.
Went the same with shimano rods. Bought some really nice ones back in 2006 for my Air Force retirement presents with left hand retrieve reels. They were lifetime rods. One sticker came off. But I was able to return one but still have to pay for some no questions asked plan they had. Still 1/2 cost of newrod, got a bait casting rod Shimano Curado. And did with a spinning rod I lost in water 2 months after I got it. The luck I have
That is actually where one of my lifetime reels went, to the bottom. In the end they keep on making it and we keep on buying it. But hey, it is half the fun of fishing.
***************
I got called for jury duty in Victoria. They have a website and you can sign up, fill out your info and they will contact you with any changes. So up early Wednesday, shaved, showered, clean clothes and off I go. Surprise? Not really, there was no court. The lady asked me if I had gotten the text, which if you think about then why in the hell would I be standing there? I was a successful attorney before I moved to Texas, now I would rather eat my own kidneys than practice law in Texas. The whole system sucks, just saying.
**************
Not sure what and where is next but there is no real change in the weather on the horizon. But fishing will be involved one way or another. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
