FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
Knockin Tail Lures by My Coast Outdoors
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The last few weeks has been a real pain in my rear end. The double vision thing was awful, and it seemed we had it fixed but things started going haywire again. It has gotten to the point I can only drive with one eye open with the new glasses. The Boss read that that the condition can right itself and maybe it has happened. I am now wearing the old glasses and don’t feel like throwing up. And of course, during that mess I got a real butt kicking flu. Name an unpleasant symptom and I had it. This getting old thing is the pits and definitely not for the weak. The only option is to soldier on, so I decided to make a quick run to the lake this morning, it was tough, both the fishing and the eyeball thing. At least back to the doctor next week to see what has changed and get ready to hit Colorado next week. But for the next few days should be home bound unless something changes. (Don’t mean to whine but it has sucked.)
Weather
68/94. A mix of clouds and sun. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
Lake Level
9 days ago. 96.51 msl. Today 96.23 msl. (The slow steady decline continues. It is about to drop past the end of the piers. It could get ugly soon if we do not get some water.)
Bite Times
Major 7:34 am to 8:34 am. (Right on, too bad it did not last.)
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There was a light breeze as predicted when dropping the boat in at daylight. The water color is clear as a bell down lake and has some real color up lake. The temp ranged from 89 at the ramp to 82 way up lake so it has dropped just a hair. But the real issue, the lake level is dropping fast, and at this particular water level some areas are super shallow. Time to use your head while running, a few stick ups are coming out and some of the points are really getting shallow.
So just be a little careful as it continues down. It is not looking good and could get interesting launching and running so just keep your eyes open. And remember if launching a big trailer, the ramps do actually end with a drop off from the concrete. If you drop off things break, and it is tough to get it back up the edge. There were quite a few incidents with trailer damage our last low water year. Hopefully GBRA will put the stakes at the drop but with them you never know.
Tired of this stuck at a couple of good ones phase. This one was seriously lacking in the grocery department.
That all being said first up was a brush pile, which was in 15′ a couple of weeks ago and is now about 13′ deep. There were fish on it but there was something going on, either they were not that interested or the trick worm was not on their menu. Out of 4 bites not a one stayed buttoned. In fact the only one that I got a good hookset and felt like it was coming was in the wood and just pulled off against something. So at that point after messing the whole thing up time to make a move.
On the other hand this one was a solid. Both smacked the spinnerbait.
Before we go on it is time to talk about wind. The last month wind has been the ticket in most places. The problem has been when it does not blow things gets real tough with the falling water. There is plenty to know and learn about wind, but you don’t have to get all KVD about it. Folks say this and that about it, but that is for the magazine writers and pros trying to sell you something so they can keep fishing while you work. How about this rule, more often than not fish where there is some wind. It is not rocket science and you don’t need $10k in electronics to get the job done. Which leads me to this morning.
With it coming out of the NE there were only a couple of banks that had the good wind so that was where to start. It took all of 5 minutes on the first place to put 5 in the boat, including the 2 above, on spinnerbait. They were right, and I mean right on the bank, which had just a little scattered grass left with some stumps and good deep water nearby. They were super aggressive and smoked it as soon as it righted itself off the bank. That was the good news.
But as usual get them early. From that point on I ran from the dam area to way up lake searching but there were very few places like that. Unfortunately, the few places with good wind were way to shallow as some of the banks are really flattening out. The fish now are deeper, and it takes the breeze and close proximity to deep water to get them up and biting. And a few shad does not hurt anything so keep your eyes out for them flipping, it is always a good thing. Of course I fished some deeper places with wood, but no luck as they had no wind. One small did jump on the plastic at my magic tree but other than that it was hard to even buy a bite.
Since it was slower than dirt and my vision was acting up, I called it a day at 11:00. A good indication of the quality of Coleto fishing is the complete lack of traffic. There were maybe 5 boats or so out today and several were taking out when I did. While the humidity is way down, which is a blessing, the truck said 88 degrees at 11:00. I am going to whine, please cool off and rain some. Our good winter fishing is right around the corner if the weather will cooperate. Until we get out of this pattern I don’t expect any major changes in the fishing in the near future. And if you do fish hope you do better than I have been doing.
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More Sheep Fun
The world is full of coincidence, serendipity, and just plain whacky happenings and here is a perfect example. Just one day after I gave TPWD the business on the blog over the “Super Sheep” my phone pings with a text from TPWD. Trust me TPWD could give a rat’s ass about what I think so I knew it was not personal. But once I read the text it made me laugh out loud. Basically, it said take a chance on the drawing they do every year for a sheep hunt. While I am not going to enter, I probably should. Would it get any weirder than that?
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Yummmmm!
The Boss and I can eat some oysters, and I love my shrimp. So yesterday we scratched a little of that itch.
So freakin’ good!
Whether it is Big Bend, Corpus, or Padre we are on the do it one last time in Texas tour. And obviously fresh sea food is one of those guilty pleasures we will miss. Dockside in Greece, overlooking the ocean in Italy, mahi from rod to plate in Costa Rica, or fresh off the bottom offshore in Peru we have been lucky enough to sample some of the best. But one thing is clear, nowhere does it get any better than Texas fresh off the boat seafood. The oysters are whoopers, the shrimp big and firm, and the visual delight of the platters are up there with the best in the world.
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Got the truck serviced and tomorrow it is wax day. It will be a fairly quick trip to Colorado next week and will be back before the end of the month. And if life works out it will be lots of winter fishing before we head out. Next week it is back to the eye guy to try to get this nonsense straightened out. Not sure when I will be back on the water but there is some animals and mountains in full fall and the pictures will be coming. Plus a little fly fishing now that the pressure is done. Fishing as many places as I have there is one constant, catch the fish there, when they want to be caught, make use of those perfect times, and never give up. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
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Off Topic
Why I love Being a Retired Attorney – You are an Idiot!
Trust me after doing hundreds of felony sentencings I have heard it all. Some folks just cannot resist opening their mouth and inserting both feet, particularly the incredibly stupid. Tina Peters the Colorado dimwit who was convicted of election tampering with county voting equipment and election records in the pursuit of the great election fraud lie is the poster child for clueless. Just try acting contrite, it works. And before you get your panties in a wad this is not about her politics but about her choices.
After the jury convicted her, she proceeded to do the following at sentencing: “In 40 minutes of remarks to the judge, Peters defended her actions, maintained her innocence, disputed the conduct of the trial.”. First, do not defend your actions at sentencing, too late, that is what the trial was for and the jury found your actions to be felonies. Second, once a jury finds you guilty you are then not innocent unless it is overturned on appeal. Last, never dispute how the trial was conducted, which means you are basically telling the judge he is a shithead, which never has a great outcome. Then she administered the coup de grace of stupidity – she had the gall to ask for leniency with no jail time on her conviction for 4 felonies and 3 lessors after trashing the whole process. Of course, then she started crying. So now she is doing 9 years as the judge did not even give her a turn in date as she was immediately taken into custody. Hope she likes the penitentiary. There is no fixing stupid and, in her case, she will have plenty of time to think about it.
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