FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

I prepared this for Monday morninig and it did not work out.  I was up early and headed to the lake while it was still dark.  Unfortunately there was lighting off to the SE and the closer to the lake I got the bigger it got.  That was that and it was back to the house, I don’t do lighting.   This morning it was back to the lake as there was not a lot on the radar though of course it was coming.

Weather

76/92.  Intervals of clouds and sunshine with a 805 chance or rain and thunderstorms, humid.  Wind E 7 – 13 mph.

Lake Level

A week ago.  95.36 msl.  Today.  96.39 msl.  (Up over a foot.)

Bite Times

Minor   10:00 am to 11:00 am.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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The water temp was 86 at the ramp and it had just a little bit of color.  And it is definitely up, which ended up meaning something.  It was cloudy and real humid which led to my decision to get right to the good stuff and see if they were there.  The first place it was one, the next 4 smalls, and from there it was hunt and peck until I finally got a clue.

Swim jig with a Knockin Tail trailer.  Watermelon red stick worm.

The first 6 or 8 were like the ones above, but after switching to the swim jig things improved, at least until the rain came.  I was not all that sure what I would find with the lake on the rise, you can never predict for sure how they will react to a big rise, and a foot plus on Coleto considering where it was is a big change.  The raise has put the water back up in quite a bite more cover.  So after fishing wood it was time to try the swim jig with a 4″ Greenback Knockin Tail.   Want the rattle even more in off color water.

When the lake went down I switched from 15lb test to 12lb on the swim jig to go along with very little cover.  Now quite a bit of the grass is back in the water and there is fish in it.  After catching a small on the swim jig I had one break my line, my fault.  The bites were coming on the back side of the grass.  Then the one above smoked it right after it came out of the grass after giving it a big hop.  Always remember that bass will track it and at times a hop will trigger a strike.  The last good bite, a 3+, came off at boatside when I attempted to boat flip it.  Stupid move on my part.  And then it started coming over the hill with rain off in the distance.  I tried to stretch it out and of course I waited a minute to long and had a miserable ride back to the ramp.

But I will say one thing, it looks really promising.  I fished 2 1/2 hours catching 8 or 9, and would have ended up with a good string if it had not poured.  The last 2 places I managed to fish before the rain came had plenty of water in the grass and there was fish in both of them.  Hopefully that is a sign of things to come at the lake.  And with rain forecast for the next week we just might get a lot of what we lost back, which bodes well for the future.

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Starting to think about Colorado again.  There is a TV show, Fishful Thinker, where he fishes almost exclusively in Colorado and I have learned quite a bit.  I had no clue that Echo Lake right out of Pagosa Springs holds the record for the biggest largemouth at 13+.  But the one thing that really stuck with me was how he fishes light jigs in the rivers and streams and catches some really great trout.  So last month when I stopped and checked my favorite spot on the river I tossed a 1/16th olive marabou jig and caught 3 in nothing flat.  So will sit down and tie a couple of dozen 1/8 and 1/16th for the couple of weeks I will be fishing out there at the end of the month.   And of all things a couple of guys I know will be out there at the same time.  Depending on how close they are hopefully we can fish together.  But no matter what it will be good to be back in the mountains, which has turned into our happy place.

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Definitely going to try to get back on the lake as soon as I can.  As the water comes up if it will just not rain buckets a good cloudy day could be something.  And it will be interesting to see how the influx of fresh water affects the bay.  Only another week and summer is officially over and the traffic on the bay will decrease immediately.   Fall is here so let the fishing begin.  While I do not want my life to pass by at high speed all I have to say about this summer is bye, you sucked.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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