FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
Good Luck and Tight Lines
No Fishing
TPWD has closed lots of places on the salt to fishing until further notice. Instead of me going through the list just click on this link to a TPWD new release to see if it covers anywhere you might be fishing. Good for them as we sure do not want to lose the gains we made this year.
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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.
For all your wading needs.
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Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Looks like we weathered the cold front fairly well here in Texas and it is about to warm up. I am watching football Sunday afternoon as I get this ready for tomorrow. Normally I fish Christmas day as the Boss was working but decided to wait until tomorrow and get it on the warming trend. Hoping it will get the white bass moving and maybe some A Rig and jerkbait for bass. No big hurry in the morning, except I will wake up early and probably go anyway. Just have to see how the weather affected the lake. And then maybe a little salt later in the week as it really warms up.
I put the boat starting battery on charge during the snap so it was good to go. And then I checked my trolling motor batteries and the cold really sucked some of the juice out. So take a minute before you head to the water and check your batteries, really sucks to get there and have no juice. Just a thought.
Weather
25/61. Mostly sunny skies with a 2% chance of rain. High 61F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Lake Level
Last Tuesday 95.72 msl. Today 95.58 msl. (The slow steady drop continues.)
Bite Time
Major 2:00 pm. Minor 9:58 am.
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I did not fish Christmas day for the first time in years. But it was close as there was no one at the ramp when I got there and only 2 others when I took out. The water temp was 56 at the dock and as low as 43 way up lake. And the color is a B at best in most places. It was 9:00 by time I dropped in and the lake is clearly on the fall right now.
First up was way up lake just to see and it took exactly a minute to see that it would be tough. The water temp was 48 as soon as you made the big left above the bridge and it went downhill from there. I went ahead and fished 3 places that normally hold fish no matter the time of year, and not a bite on plastics or swim jig. Then to be sure the white bass were not there I made one pass trolling the crankbait and it was evident the shad were gone. But hey, an over 15 degree temp drop combined with a steady decline in water level it was not surprising. So I headed all the way back down to the lower end and went to jerkbait.
This one thumped it.
It was around noon when I caught the first small one, and ended up catching 3 smalls on main lake channel banks. Fishing the medium diving suspending jerkbait by jerking a couple of times and then stopping for a second or two was the way they wanted it. Pretty much a jerk, jerk, stop, jerk, being sure to not move it right after stopping it. You want it to just hang there and let their little frozen brains compute what they are seeing.
The bite was on for exactly one hour, then I could not buy a bite.
Of course jerkbait was a logical choice today following this cold front. And if this weather stayed cold it would be the bait of choice. When fishing it in this type of weather it is easy to fish it too fast. To fast when it is cold and you are out of luck. But all that aside with the forecast the lake should warm quickly and so should the fish.
The best area turned out to be a channel bank in the plant arm. The water in there is in the mid 50’s and the water was clearer. On one stretch 3 jumped on, and then when I re-fished the area the best 4 jumped on. I could barely feel most of them, but a couple of the better ones thumped it on a slack line. And as happens using the jerkbait I felt a couple when I went to jerk it, and those often just do not stay on. One of those little indicators that you are fishing to fast. And most hit about 5 – 10 foot off the bank.
In Arkansas we had real winter, the water temp would drop, and at times the lakes even got ice. I caught tons of fish on jerkbaits, some of our best strings of the year were really early pre-spawn. But the ticket was 40 – 50 degree water. And with it so clear we often had them jump it way off the bank and even right beside the boat. It was cool to see them on the locater in 20 foot of water and they would come for it. Patience is the key in cold water jerkbait fishing. You have to give them time to make the big mistake. And for at least an hour today they did.
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Bad News
And I want to thank Lacy for her comments, and this heads up.
Is this near you’re spot?
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/33f5893
Unfortunately, there has been an oil spill in the Corpus area near Ingleside according to the Coast Guard. It is not near to my general stomping grounds, it is south of here, but of course have fished the area. We can argue all we want on the issue of accidents like this that hurt our bay, but hopefully one thing we can all agree on is they should be financially responsible for all the cleanup, including what appears to be some oil onshore of barrier islands. No matter what it is sad that this has happened, it is the last thing our coast needs.
And she added this comment.
Stay safe out there.
Keep Smiling.
It makes people wonder what you’ve been up to.
Do I look that guilty? Hopefully it is just my happy face with fish in hand but you never know. I don’t tell on myself. Thanks for reading.
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My buddy Clyde sent along this picture of one of the deer he killed in Iowa.
This is a mature Iowa whitetail from the area where we grew up. Hard to get perspective but this is a huge bodied deer who has reached his rack potential. They grow them big up there, corn and beans will do that. I know when we moved and started seeing the deer in Texas the Boss’s first comment: They look about the size of a German Shephard! One of our classmates shot a typical whitetail that at the time was the biggest ever taken by a bowhunter and has shot many in that class since. Google the Collora Buck to see a real one. When you get used to big deer, and this one fit the bill, the rest are just pretenders. Congrats.
If you want to see the kinds of bucks Sam Collora shoots just Google him. He is world class. As a side note when I was young deer were scarce, and then the explosion into some of the finest whitetail hunting in this country. They have the numbers and the size. The Iowa boys who fish the Chandeliers with us and their families harvested over 30 last year. Iowa has the deer.
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And from Winfred.
Don’t pay any attention to the xxxxx’s. (My edit.) The majority of us will look forward to the posts and keep right reading and enjoying.
It means a lot to me when I hear that. From the inception until this moment it has been a journey without a destination or an ending. I will always be a multi-species guy. For the time being I will soldier on as long as these old fingers can hold a rod and type. Thanks so much it always humbles me to get a nice compliment.
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Merry Christmas! Long time reader and rare commenter. I kinda live vicariously through your blog. Thank you for the storytelling and adventures. I absolutely love Colorado and New Mexico and wish I could spend my summers there, maybe one day. I enjoy your blog so if you keep writing I’ll keep reading. Happy New Year and tight lines.
San Antonio reader.
Thanks for your kind words. We finally got “old enough” to get to spend more time there and then in a couple of years make the move. I will keep on posting it just may be a little different but we shall see. Again, appreciate you reading this, it is what keeps me going.
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Hope the report is not to disjointed but there is so much to say about effective jerkbait fishing. Since I have been here it has not really been cold enough most years for it to be a go to so I was looking forward to throwing it today. Tomorrow I have some stuff to do, I thought when you were retired that you did not have anything to do. But as soon as I get that cleared up it will be back on the water. Looking at the weather this week there is a couple of days that look really promising. Hope your holidays are going well just be careful the next week or so until the comotion dies down. And keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
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Off Topic – All Respect
On the way back from Austin I listened to the remarks from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and was so impressed I tuned into his speech to the congress. A former comedian he was elected as president of Ukraine not long before the war started. He has turned out to be a beast. We spent untold billions attempting to “fix” Mideast countries and the minute we left they collapsed, ran, and surrendered. They were not willing to fight for their own freedom and we sure do not need to pour any more money into Mideast countries. But in his case the people of Ukraine fight on against the Russians against massive odds. They deserve our respect, and we must stand against this war and Russia. In this case, the final outcome could/and will affect the future of the whole of the European continent.
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