FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
Knockin Tail Lures by My Coast Outdoors
After a trip to Academy to pick up a fire extinguisher and spare plug I am finally done minus mounting the radials when they get here. So time to actually fish instead of thinking about it. I decided to wait until Monday as the traffic will definitely be down, and with the week to fish I will get plenty of it. And hopefully the motor will end up with the 10 hours to break it in, it has 6 so a couple of days should do it. It will be a little Deja vu as my first real boat was a 14′ with a 20hp and this is a 15′ with a 25 4stroke. There has been a lot of boats in that time but this looks like it might be my favorite. Can you say simple?
Weather
52/75. Partly cloudy. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.
Lake Level
Current 98.32 Full Pool 98.28. (Now that I am back will track it until leaving.)
Bite Times
Major 1:51 to 3:51 pm. Minor 8:01 to 9:01 am.
Day 1 – Monday
It might have been tough today but at least this girl stayed buttoned.
The water is as high as I have seen it all the time I have been fishing Coleto. It is really off color over most of the lake. They got the forecast spot on and the east wind did not help much. I was fishing at daylight and to make a long story short I did not even have a bite until until 12:15. From then on I put 6 in the boat, lost one like the big one above, and had another break my line.
Throwing the book at them did not help and when I finaly stetted down and stuck with the 1/4 swim jig with Rage Craw and got a bite here and there. The first couple of bites were weak, just grabbing the craw and of course tearing a leg off. The one that broke my like was on the bluegill color and so with the water color so bad went with more of a sexy shad color. Both colors worked the same, it just took me while to get on it and tomorrow should be a better day.
The other 6 were this size and smaller.
Most of the day I was in about 4 foot of water throwing as far as I could on those more slopping banks with scattered brush. Tomorrow will ad a pegged sinko style worm for pitching to any real outside bushes. Not sure if they have all spawned or if it is about to happen this moon. It will be very interesting to see how tomorrow goes sticking with the swim jig all day. With the color like it should be able to get by with a little heavier line and avoid both breaking them off and losing them because I cannot control them when they jump. Not a bad start to the last spring on Coleto and there should be a few more big fish in my future.
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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.
For all your wading needs.
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Day 2
Weather
57/79. More clouds than sun. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Lake Level
Current 98.30 Full Pool 98.28. (Now that I am back will track it until leaving.)
Bite Times
Major 2:42 to 4:42 pm. Minor 8:33 to 9:33 am.
Better on numbers but this is the biggest I managed today.
The Boss was off and ordered a fish fry so time to man up. Way more stressful than tournament fishing. And I managed to pull it out. The one above and a 15″ was plenty. As far as the fishing the numbers were way up, I lost count at 13 but no size.
The weather and my wanting to quit at 1:00 combined to keep me back at the house when I probably should have been fishing. The shad color swing jib with some chartreuse combined with a Rage Craw upside down so the color was facing down was the bait of choice. Am reeling it at a medium speed, maybe 2 – 3ft deep on a steady retrieve. Most are coming very close to the bank and give me a flat shallow point with stick ups and it is game on. I fished a variety of places today, big flats, creek, coves and a little main lake with the cove being the better place. There were a few swings and misses so who knows, I might have missed a big one.
On the bright side I managed to catch 2 on spinnerbait. As the water clears and the shad spawn happens it is about to get good. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it. Only a half hour to go on the break-in and the motor will be cleared to run. I have been religious about varying throttle and running up and down, both in speed and on the water, which was getting old. Looks like it will run over 20mph which is fine. Many of the lakes I will be fishing it would take about 2 minutes to get to the other end.
Tomorrow it will be up early and gone all day. It seems the afternoon bite is just a little better for the bigger fish, and the water should warm quite a bit tomorrow before the ftont and rains come. The big bite is out there, and it is going to happen if I spend enough time. Maybe a chartreuse square bill? So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
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