FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

How about this weather in South Texas?  After a long period of drought, we got more rain in a couple of days than all spring.  Though we are still down I just looked at the forecast and it includes rain at least 14 days out.  Not sure how they arrived at that but keep it up.  It may not be the best weather for fishing when it includes lightning, but we need the rain so keep it coming.  And it sure is nice to see all the “green” this time of year when it is usually a dirty summer brown.

And I hope you all had a good weekend in spite of the weather.  Since I worked on this yesterday, they are slowly taking the rain out of the forecast which is fine by me at this point.  I am ready to do some fishing and the cloudy thing with low chance of rain fits the bill.  So let the fall fishing begin.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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It was barely daylight when I made my first cast.  I stuck with the pattern today, and while it was not quite as good as last trip, it was still one good morning.  The bait was definitely not up lake it was last week, and much of what I saw was off the bank.  So I stayed shallow and the bite was on.

The lake has some color to it, at least in the Coleto arm. The water temp came down a couple of degrees and it was dead calm at the ramp.  And the lake is noticeably up.  At least they got the light fixed at the ramp, it has never been that bright.  Now if they would do something about the roads, but I digress.

The last fish of the morning, a real solid.  Many of the fish are skinny right now but this girl has not missed many meals.

There was a real difference in the way they hit the buzzbait, few were aggressive with most just pulling it under.  You had to stay diligent because as soon as you took your eye off it one would hit, and it would be a clean miss.  None of that toilet flushing strikes today.  But they cooperated until the sun came completely out.  So, I switched to the swim jig with a Knockin Tail trailer, and they liked that.

Obviously started with the buzzbait.

I also added in the spoon and Knockin Tail, which produced 3 smalls, but since it did not get fished until after 10:00 by then I wasn’t surprised with the results.  Several did swirl at it in bushes and if I were guessing starting with that first thing would also be productive.  But definitely switch to the swim jig when the sun comes out.  Still using the pumpkin color swim jig with a Greenback Knockin Tail trailer.  Still do not know why if you fish a swim jig you would not want the Knockin Tail, it can only help.

The swim jig finished out the morning.

Later in the morning I headed up the plant arm to fish 2 spots before I quit and it was no bueno.  I tossed the works at them in cover and could not buy a bite.  At 11:30 I called it a morning.  Not sure how many I boated but it was another consistent morning.  There is so much cover in the lake right now.  Time to fish the good spots but keep checking other areas where there is good green cover.  And finding the bait close by sure helps.  But the end result, fish what and how you like but just keep your bait in the water.  The bass and crappie are biting on Coleto.  And I ran into a guy who was tearing up the blue cats up the creek.  If we are lucky the fall bite will keep on rolling.

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Yes you can do this.

Do not get me wrong, I respect Bill Dance.  Thanks to him I discovered the Bang O Lure and it has given me decades of pleasure and results.  But I do have a problem with his labeling on the saltwater show.  He fishes with Peter Deeks who is a guide in Florida, and they just smash the huge trout and snook.  So, I figured even I can do this, so I looked him up as I really wanted to fish with him.  Well not so fast Grasshopper.  You can do this, for $900 a day!  Sorry but $900 a day inshore does not qualify as anyone can do this.  I love fishing but man is the cost of our sport going up.  So not anyone can do this, a growing problem with our sport.

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Huh?

The barn light at the Coleto ramp has been out over a week, which makes it a little sketchy offloading in the dark.  (It was fixed this morning.)  So I let the dude at the gate know and when I was heading out he stopped me and said it is not theirs.  He told me that the light is directly connected to the power company, whoever that is, and they reported it over a week ago.  As a guy at the ramp said at least they raised my rates!

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Remember………..

I have repeatedly comment on the chronic wasting disease issue in captive deer breeding facilities in Texas.  Well guess what?  It has been found at another facility in a county that has had no prior cases.  I do not know what it is going to take but neither you, nor anyone else, can tell me that we are not going to have a big outbreak as a result of the spread from these facilities.  It continues to be a slow steady spread and is a real threat to our wild deer.  You see it so often, and in other states, forgetting that the first and only responsibility is to WILDLIFE!  Captive deer, while great to eat and genetically improved for some folks who want to shoot a giant without the effort, are a threat to the native population and TPWD needs to take extreme measures to protect them.  Study all you want but it is time for real action before it is to late.

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One thing I forgot to mention about our trip to the Laguna was that Michael fished the 3.25 (I should quit calling it a 3 1/2.) Glass Minnow Knockin Tail some and it caught fish, probably the number 1 producer that day.  Of all the colors this is probably the most universal and effective color for fresh or salt no matter the quarry.  If there is a complaint, and think about it, all sizes like it so you have to wade through more smalls.  When was the last time you heard someone complain about catching to many fish?  It really does the job and will put some in the boat when I am in Colorado.

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That is all for today.  The fishing will continue, where and what remains to be seen.  And with Colorado just 2 weeks away I am starting to get excited.  A little fly fishing, some house looking, along with animal chasing it will be the usual big time.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines