FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Weather

70/88.  Sunshine and some clouds with a 5% chance of rain.  Wind   ESE  9-20 mph.

Lake Level

Yesterday 96.29 msl.  Today   96.26 msl.  (Looks like it will be a slow steady decline.)

Bite Times

Minor         9:02 am to 10:02 am.

Conditions were almost the same this morning.  I went with the buzzbait until the sun peaked over the hills catching a couple.  Picked up the chartreuse crankbait and on my third or fourth cast absolute disaster struck.

One literally knocked over 2 foot of slack in it and took off for deep water.  She was on and it was big, real big.  At first I thought it was a catfish, but no slime ended up on the line.  It came all the way to the boat and there was no doubt it was a giant.  I did nothing wrong and then she just came off.  It made me sick to my stomach.  Really big fish come so rarely, and this was as big as I have seen in a while.  It took a minute to digest, and maybe just maybe I will get another shot someday, but it was right up there with the giant I lost on a Bang O Lure about 10 years ago on Coleto.  Oh well, you live to fight another day.

I think it was 5 or so like this, all on the crankbait.

Fishing was not as good today for some crazy reason.  Since it turned out I had enough fish for the fry I religiously stayed with the crankbait but just never did have a run.  One here, one there, but no real pattern today.  After losing Ms. Big I was hoping to get another good bite but as the morning wore on it really slowed down.  From about 11 until I quit at 1:30 not a bite.  And I made sure today to try new places, which absolutely did not work out.  So with it getting hot and with the bite seemingly over I called it a day.  But there is no doubt the memory of the big fish will be permanently burned in my brain; it really smacked me a good one.  They just do not come along that often.

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Just because you can does not mean you should.

This is an actual photo of Desert Bighorns taken in the Badlands.  Whoever took it manipulated the stuff out of it so turned it to black and white, the best view.  Too bad as the original must have been amazing.

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This buying a house thing is much more complicated in Colorado than it was in Arkansas or Texas.  Hell in Arkanasas you just said you wanted it and then you bought it.  The banker who was also a real estate agent in mulitple states said it gets more like California.  When they make something mandatory Colorado seems to follow.  Lots of forms and deadlines and other assorted busy work.  But it will be a labor of love and if all goes well we close January 5th.

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Have some house keeping matters to take care of the next few days.  A flu shot is top of the list as the Boss says it has arrived.  But I will be back on the water shortly.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines