FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Home of the Bang O Lure.

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Shoedog likes his hunting and a buddy of his has a lease with lots of hogs.  He hunted it a couple of times before and finally killed a nice hog.

Shoedog with his first hog, and it is a good one.

Way to go dude.  How about making a bunch of barbeque for Canada?  Just a thought.  They also fished a pond on the lease and Shoedog said they loved that Whopper Plopper.

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And it is always good to hear from Austin Aaron.

Doug,

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a report to pass along.  I’ve had a hard time getting out on the water lately.  All your fish pics finally broke me so I snuck away for a morning in the kayak this weekend in POC.  It was a great day on the water – 20+ reds and a mixed bag of other fish.  I was fishing alone so nothing but a dead fish pic to send along.  Thanks for being part of the inspiration to make me get up at 2:30AM to drive down from Austin to hit the water at first light.

I also forgot to tell you about some bowfishing I did down on Coleto last month.  Took over 20 gar and 25 tilipia in a couple hours.  Shot that bow until I couldn’t shoot anymore!  The tilapia were so thick that I managed to skewer a couple doubles.  I attached a pic of one of the larger gar (50″ – I’m 6’4″ for perspective). The big ones put up a respectable fight.

Aaron

Wow, that is what I call a good string of fish, or supper!  And something you said about getting up at 2:30 to drive down here to fish struck me.  It is often that simple, how bad do you want it?  It is so easy to make excuses, ask me, I can fish whenever I want, and it still happens.  As I always say put on your big boy pants and get it done.

And good job on the bowfishing.  There are more tilapia than I have ever seen this year.  They have been up for 2 months now, and they are still out there shallow.  Every spring I tell folks, if you are a bow hunter come to Coleto.  And plus, they are actually good to eat.  So thanks for the report and keeping in touch.  Will be looking forward to a report from the river where you caught all those nice bass last year.

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I bumped into Frank, the director of the Victoria Academy, and as always he had a couple of fresh fishing reports to share.  He has been fishing the bay and the surf.  He reports the croaker bite is on and they limited the other day by 8:30 on reds and trout in the surf.  He is a big offshore fisherman and showed me a marlin caught out of POC last week that was in the 750lb. range.  Apparently there is a big temp break offshore and there have been several marlin caught lately. Our warm winter may account for the early croaker and offshore bite.  I love spring.

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By time you read this the Shoedog and I will be thrashing away on Fayette County.  It has been closed for several weeks and finally re-opened this weekend.  I have not been there for quite a while and am really looking forward to fishing.   We have always had great luck there as it fishes perfect for our style, which is using that jerkbait.  Anytime you have fish positioned in that 10″ range a jerkbait can be deadly, and there are always lots of fish at that depth on Fayette.  I will get to that report in the next day or two.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

Weather

86/71   Cloudy with gusty winds in a.m. South  20-30   20% chance stray shower

Tides

Low   1:36 AM     0.0  (Talk about a flat tide.)
High  12:56 PM     1.0

Solunar Times

• Best     1:30A – 3:30A
•              2:00P – 4:00P
• Good   7:45A – 9:45A

WIND

It always amazes me how the weatherman can be so right when he projects high winds, and today he was right on as it blew at least 20, and sometimes up to 30.  It was windy.  So why when he projects light winds is he so often wrong?  Just wondering.  Of course I wanted to be on the coast today but that was completely out of the question, as it might be for several days to come.

It was blowing pretty good when I got up and it had rained.  So I took my time, enjoyed breakfast with the Boss and finally made it to the lake around 9.  It looks like it is still dropping slowly, the water temp was 80 degrees plus, and the wind was howling.  Perfect.  So the first place was a cove with at least fishable wind.

This one blasted it in a bush.

With the wind spinnerbait was first up and this one just creamed it next to a bush.  I fished most of the cove and missed another in a bush so it was time to re-fish it was the senko.  Now I am not big on re-fishing an area but there were so few choices due to the high wind, and both bites came right out of a bush, so plastic made sense.

This one swam with it.

I pitched at the green bushes with the most leaves on them, which is were they seem to be.  Going back over them I caught 3 additional bass before moving.  Next it was a main lake bank with a light breeze,  (That is a joke.)  and I boated another one out of an isolated green bush that was furthest from the bank.

This one thumped it.

It was tough enough out there that there were lots of banks that were not fishable.  One of those fish where you can and not where you want.  Kind of reminded me of when I was fishing tournaments in the old days and we went bad weather or not.  I was basically altenating between spinnerbait, senko, and topwater.  The first 2 that hit the topwater as I walked the dog knocked it a foot in the air but did not hook up.

I decided to try a real windy bank with the spinnerbait.  Actually I covered a long way as the wind just blew me down the bank like a leaf.  I made a cast when and where I could, and just tried not to fall out of the boat.  I caught 3, 2 that were small, and the one below.

This one stopped it like running into a brick wall.

Before I called it a day I went to the south side of the main lake near the dam which was a little protected.  I caught another one on spinnerbait, missed one on topwater, then finally boated a good one on top.

Sorry about the no shirt thing, just wanted to show you my 5 best, not a bad limit considering.

I did miss another real nice one on top when I looked away, stopped reeling, and turned the trolling motor.  I did not even see or hear it as it took it off the top and swam right to me and I just could not get the hook in her.  Today would have been a real topwater day if the wind had blown about half of what it did.  Though 5 or 6 came in a couple of coves, the main lake banks produced the big bites.  I really do think if a person walked a bone color topwater, and picked the right bank, a good string could be caught.  I had 5 bites on top and 3 of them were good fish.  It seemed like they were biting better when I quit about 2:30.

Considering the conditions the fishing was ok.  And since I was not able to get on places I wanted to it really wasn’t a total failure taking into account how hard the wind was blowing.  I finally got tired of fighting it and called it a day.  Maybe I am not as mad at them as I used to be.  There was one trailer at the ramp when I went out and 1 when I quit.  Not many folks were willing to fight the high winds, it is just Monday and I usually am more than ready to fish no matter what the conditions.   For a short trip in rough weather it was a success, sure beat sitting at the house and whining.

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I told you I was lucky enough to meet Colby Sorrells, a longtime writer for the Gulf Coast Fisherman.  He was kind enough to show me, and give me a couple, of the trailers he uses on the back of his topwater.  It is a great idea and makes adding the trailer a whole lot easier than my tying on the  feather.

It does not take much to achieve the desired results.

Doug,
Glad to meet you at POC. Feel free to use the flashtails (and information) however you want. I detailed them in the Jan 2010 Gulf Coast Fisherman(didn’t realize it had been that long ago!) I’ll send you a photo with the package of Fas-Snaps if you will send me an email. Texas coastal anglers have been using some kind of tail on their lures since the 1930s. Several lure companies made lures that included a little pigtail made of thin wire to hang a bucktail on. Dan Blanton in California uses a flashtail on several of his flies including his Whistler and he has detailed how they work for him. I just took a little bit of everyone’s ideas and made it easier by using the Fas-Snap which makes it very easy and quick to add a flashtail or remove one. You can certainly tie some up using feathers if they work better for you. I like the plastic(mylar) material because I think it looks very similar to the way piggy perch tails or shrimp eyes and tails look to fish. When gigging flounder at night I always noticed how piggy perch tails and shrimp eyes and tails really shine when the flood lights just barely hit them. I believe fish see fluorescent colors better than we do and I often check both lure and tying materials with a UV light. Amazing what shows up. Best to you and hope to see you again. Colby

Wow.  I can not thank you enough for sharing that with us.  I have already added the couple I got from you to my favorite topwaters and I can not wait to get back to the Gulf this week.  One thing that hit me immediately with your method is that the mylar has lots of flash and it is not necessary to add bulk, which really does affect the action of the topwater.  So I will be tying those as soon as I get to a real fly shop and pick up the mylar and the Fas-Snaps.  And for you folks out there, watch for his writings in the Gulf Coast Fisherman.  And Colby, feel free to add your .02 anytime you feel the urge.

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After big days in your life like marriage, kids, graduations, there is one day that hardcore fishermen do not want to admit is one of the top in their lives:  When they finally get to buy the boat.  You know the one I am talking about, you have looked at them longingly, researched, shopped, and then finally did it, you took the plunge.  Well my good buddy Clyde and his lovely wife Maria finally bought a Lund.  For you Southern guys a Lund is to aluminum boats as Ranger is to bass boats or Majek is to saltwater boats.

Congratulations.  Can’t wait to see it up close in Canada.  It just needs a little pike slime on it and it will be perfect!

Nothing like getting the real deal.  A boat that will actually last a lifetime.  Able to handle big water and solid as a rock, they are the best aluminum boats on the water.  Kind of like owning the Lexus of boats.  My only piece of advice besides do the maintenance exactly like they tell you is to take advantage of that new boat love affair and  put a couple of baits away occasionally.  I know that is a novel concept.  So congratulations again, you guy deserve it.

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That is all for today.  I have some things to get done today so I am freed up the next couple.  One of the things will be spending that free $1o card from Academy.  It never seems to be just $10, but every dollar helps.  And I will start seriously working on the Canada list, it is about 3 weeks from taking off.  I love the anticipation.  Of course the fishing this week will be weather dependent, but there will be some fishing.  I have a good kayak report to pass on and another thing or two that I will get to later today.   So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

Weather

61/88  Sunny 0% rain  ENE  5 – 10

Tides

High   9:15 AM     0.9
Low  11:51 PM     0.1

Solunar Time

• Best Times   10:53A – 12:53P  (The bite time today, and I am really beginning to see a
•                        11:22P – 1:22A       correlation between the tide and the bite at the lake.)
• Good Time   4:38A – 6:38A

I am fishing now.  For the third day in a row, and it looks like I am going catfishing at the river tomorrow.  It is a fishing extravaganza.  After wading all day Shoedog and I decided to do a short day on Coleto.  My whole goal was to catch a fish on a Whopper Plopper.  Designed by Larry Dahlberg, who I consider the best all around fisherman in the world, it is a buzz/plopping torpedo that should be killer in Canada.  So after throwing it about an hour I finally boated one, then another.  If you like visual strikes it is another tool to add to the arsenal.

My first, but not my last, on the Whopper Plopper.

Shoedog started with a topwater and I alternated between a buzzbait and the Whopper Plopper.  The first couple of places struck out and he finally had a really good one flush his topwater on a mainlake bank, but failed to get the hook in him.  So it was time to head up lake and see if it was any better.

At the ramp that morning we met Nick (who reads the blog) and his son Nick from the Houston area who were down to fish.  As we were headed up lake when we saw them and stopped and chatted.  They had caught several on worm but we were determined to catch them our way, at least until I got one on the Whopper Plopper.  We fished miles of bank up lake until I finally caught a couple on it, but we just could not get them going “our way”.

Finally game on pitching.  And no picture of the biggest one, I will not put you through me with my shirt off!

It was time to start pitching.  We fished both a senko style plastics and a lizard, both in the watermelon red.  Using braid with a 20lb fluoro leader we were just pitching it to heavy cover.  I think I caught the first one within about 2 minutes, and for the next couple of hours we caught them fairly consistently.

Love that hand to hand combat.

One thing that was fairly evident, they were right on the bank and the majority of them came on the initial or second drop.  We never did catch a “big” one, but it was a little hard to determine as I broke 2 off setting the hook and Shoedog broke 1.  There is a fine line in having the drag set tight enough to allow just a small amount of slippage to drag them out of heavy cover, and not to heavy so that the line breaks.  And one thing to remember about fluoro is to keep an eye on your leader as once it gets a nick it does start to break down, especially when jerking them out of cover.  When you are sticking some of them 5 feet from the boat it is real hand to hand combat.  You know you are setting the hook hard when you throw one over the boat!  This is not a light tackle technique.

It was getting hot.

I am not sure how many we caught in a couple of hours, but it was in the 15 plus range.  The pattern was real evident, long banks with little points and cuts, with almost all the fish coming on the upstream side of small points.  And usually when you caught one there was another one close.  We decided the one more bank thing, and it turned into 2, but the bite was definitely dying out.  So with the sun absolutely pounding down on us we called it a day.

Though we ended up catching some it is clearly time to pitch before the lake falls to far and they pull off out of the cover.  I am still not seeing any real deep grass starting to grow yet but with the lake clearing fast there just might be hope.  So if you want to rip some lips get out the heavy stuff and go to pitching!

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My lovely wife says I may be the absolute worst catfisherman in the world.  Over the years I have had my moments, but generally my luck is not that good.  My buddy Jeffish had heard a couple of good reports on catfish being caught from the river in Riverside park so we loaded up the stuff and headed to the park.  We fished, and fished, and fished some more.  And boy did we suck at it.  The only thing that added some excitement to the day was the qualifying for the Texas Water Safari was being held so we saw lots of folks coming by.

I am not kidding, I suck at catfishing!

We ended up catching 2 small catfish and one freshwater drum.  Other than that it was just a nice day to sit in the shade and enjoy the weather.  Though it did not go all that well, to put it mildly, I will be back.  Takes me back to my childhood of riding my bike to whatever river was close and catching catfish and carp.

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I attributed the great Coleto fishing report from Joe to the wrong Joe.  Who woulda thunk there might be 2 Joes that love fishing?

That must be another Joe. This is the Joe from San Antonio. Currently in Chicago for a week, rippin some lips at some retention ponds around the in-laws and cousins houses. Caught a couple of 4lbs ers in them. But i’m the guy that replies once in awhile also. I guess i’ll go by Joe Bass from now on !!!!!

Yes, you are the Joe who I thought sent the report.  My bad.  So other Joe – thanks for the report and keep them coming.  To the real Joe – You are now Joe Bass.  We love those nicknames around here.  Thanks for clearing that up.

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Today I get to take care of all those things I have ignored the last 4 days.  Tackle to organize, boat and truck to clean.  The love bugs have been terrible the last week and they are stuck all over the truck and it is a good idea to get them off as soon as possible.  So before it gets to hot it is time to get off my rear end and get to work.  But I can sure say I am thankful that I can still fish 4 days in a row, and want to go right now.  I am about to review weather and tides for the week and with the Boss still on her rotation it is off we go again.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

Weather

55/83  Wind SW  6 – 10  clear  0% chance of rain

Tides

High   7:59 AM     0.9
Low  11:05 PM     0.2

(Note: Weird occurrence today – The tide slacked some and then about 4 it started running out of the blue.  And as you will read we caught some.)

Solunar Times

• Best Times   9:58A – 11:58A  (Good bite at Old Coast Guard Station.)
•                        10:27P – 12:27A
•  Good Time   3:44A – 5:44A

 We had good weather with the tide going the right way, out after an early high.  The tide was way up when we got there at daylight and unlike yesterday there were several trucks at the ramp.  I forgot to tell you yesterday I got the first parking space at Froggie’s, at 7, amazing for this time of year.  Today there were quite a few more fishermen and more coming for their long weekend.

First up was the Barroom shoreline.  There was a little ripple and we both headed to the grass to catch a few reds on top.  I do not even think I made it to the bank before Shoedog caught a nice one on top.

Great way to start a beautiful morning.

So he headed one way and I went the other.  I caught a small one on the Knocker B, and then missed one.  I grabbed the spinning rod in the holder on my back, reeled the plastic buy him and he bit.  Though they were small, I caught 4 and was moving down the bank when I saw something I have never seen in Barroom.

Maybe the thrashing of 4 in a row got his attention?

I don’t know if the thrashing attracted him, or he was just headed down the bank, but no matter what here came a 7 foot gator. I have great respect for them, quite a bit more when I am in the water with them.  I have seen the occasional gator in the salt, just not one that close to POC.  So I eased back toward the boat and tried the trout deeper.  I caught a couple of small ones, then the best of the day.

This one is about an hour away from being the guest of honor at dinner.

By then, around 9, the wind was blowing 10 right on the bank and we could not get bit on top or much with plastic.  I think we caught 7, and kept 2 trout, before it was time to hit the old Coast Guard Station.  It was right around a good fishing time, and they bit.  To bad they were all small.

We waded out near the point to about waist deep, and Shoedog figured out they wanted it fairly fast.  Just tossing it as far as we could, we just jerked it and then reeled a little, then jerked it.  We stayed there about 2 hours and caught the snot out of them, over 25 easy, and only one made the grade.  While they were small, we were catching fish and did not leave until they eased up.

From there it was the flat by the Army Hole.  I like the potholes there and Shoedog likes the cut.  I headed out and he headed in.  I lost a red and caught another small one on top.  As I worked my way to the cut he hollered and right after we got there the water just started running out of the cut.  He caught a dozen or so on top and plastics, including a keeper flounder.  I put a couple of more keeper trout on the stringer on paddle tail with the 1/32 oz jig head.  Working it directly across current and hoping it down the drop was the ticket.  Matching that plastic with the 8lb fluorocarbon catches fish.  And on a light spinning rod you can throw it a mile.

Shoedog with a few.

For the day we kept 7 nice trout and 1 flounder.  Not bad, we had to work through a few, but if that is what it takes I will suffer through it.  In fact, working through 40 – 50 to catch supper is just dandy.  Can’t wait to get back out and do it again.  Looks like there will be some rain and clouds this week and I hope to catch the right day, cloudy, drizzling, and with light wind will do just fine.

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I got a great report from Joe.  Hadn’t heard from him in a while, but this is a great report on Coleto.

So I was out there Sunday the 1st. After reading your reports I have been itching to get down there.
Arrived about 630 and was on the water by 7. I went straight to the same cove I was at last time where we caught them deep. The morning started off slow. I threw spinner baits, square bill, traps, and plastics with little success. By 9 I had 2 small ones.
About 1030 everything picked up. I started fishing the original bank lines with a Strike King 3XD crank. It was hit or miss. Pull into a spot and fan cast the deeper water. When you found them there was usually a few with it. I only fished 3 areas and never went past the big S headed up lake. I ended the day at 2. I had caught 17 in all and lost a few. My biggest was about 4 – 4 1/2 and I had 7 that were between 14-16″. Not too shabby but definitely not my best day out there.

Thanks for that detailed report.  Kind of reminds me of when we would occasionally get a big rise at the perfect wrong time on Norfork and the fish never really came with it.  But nice job of adapting and then refining, and 17 works anytime.  I appreciate your reports, feel free to comment anytime.

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I have another report that I will get to tomorrow.  The weather is finally straightened up, heck it is almost summer out there.  And there is a little more information coming from Colby on the trailer for your topwaters and I will try to get to that tomorrow.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

(What a brain fart!.  I wrote this, his day one on Bull Shoals, and then did not post it.  I am about to tell you all about our day at POC yesterday and will get that up later tonight.  It is hell getting old.)

Bull Shoals Saturday April 30- Smallmouth Galore! 

We were looking forward to today’s fishing as the weather was going to be mostly cloudy and just the right amount of wind. Chances of rain in the morn and thunderstorms in the late afternoon. 

We put in at Bull Shoals Boat Dock, where Redfishlaw, our old pal Max and I first went when we first came to Arkansas 41 years ago!  Today we wanted to be close to several good lake arms and main lake coves and stay close enough if bad weather came in.

We started just across the dock cove on a rocky point and had a couple bites and then we headed to an area where Clyde thought the fish may be schooling on the surface at some point in the morning. 

We planned on using white Zoom Super Flukes that one of the locals had told Clyde was the hot bait- he even gave him a bag to start with- sweet! We started catching fish right off. 

I wanted to continue to experiment with new baits and I had picked up a Larry Dahlberg River to Sea Whopper-Plopper to use in Canada in June. I tied it on and the fun began. 

I was hoping that you could fish this bait a little slower than it took to keep it working, but it is a nice bait and I am sure I will be using it a lot in the future. I also have a larger size for big pike and musky. I hope to use the smaller one later this week for some specks and reds, too. 

Then they started schooling in the cove we were in- not in a big way, but enough to have some fun. We started out with a double on big Bull Shoals white bass on top water spooks. 

Mine was the ever present bone jr super spook and I think Clyde’s was a jr also in a darker color. I never got to see it because a second later he says “I just want one of the big commode flushes” and no more than he said it than a huge fish just swallowed it about 15 feet from the boat. It was like a big jack at Port O’Connor in the salt! It lasted about 1.5 seconds and broke his line. He had mentioned a while before that he was using line that may be a bit light….details…. Probably a big striper, but we will never know. An awesome bite though. 

We were catching a lot of smallies and not any largemouth, I mean not any. It took us all morning before Clyde figured out, we think anyway, that they must be on the beds spawning, because they were nowhere to be found. 

Clyde had to run back to town and do a couple patient evaluations, so I took off across the lake to the Sister Creeks area. I hadn’t fished there in decades and just picked an area and fished it for over three hours until he got back from town. I was getting a lot of bites from small fish- those green sunfish are pesky. It was just cast up to the bank, twitch it 3 or 4 times until it got to the edge of the rock ledge or a drop and whack, they were there. Again, not a lot of size today, but lots of fish. 

Clyde got back about 3:30 and we headed to another area to see what we could find. 

We stayed close as the clouds were building to the south, so we found a big cove with a couple docks we could use for shelter if we had to. And we did!

You can see the hail in this shot. It rained, blew  hailed and rained, hailed and blew some more. For over an hour. It partially  pulled the dock we were on off its moorings. 

We got to fish another hour after the storm and kept catching them all evening. For the day we had well over 50 smallmouth and maybe 2 or 3 very small largemouth. Throw in some good whites and we had a good day. 

I did see one 5 pound plus largemouth way in the back of one cove, but she just swam on by my bait, further making me think they are on the beds somewhere. We probably should have gone hunting, but we were having to much fun with the brownies. 

Tomorrow we will hit it hard again-stay tuned for more. 

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Nice report, we will be looking forward to your report on Day 3.  Nothing like 50 smallmouth and some topwater action.  Guess I  need to throw that Whooper Plopper on Coleto,  Who knows, maybe get a chance Friday.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

Bull Shoals Sunday May 1

(It is late and I am never going to get the saltwater report up tonight but we had a pretty fun day, and caught lots of fish.  Promise to get that up tomorrow after I get home from fishing.)

The last day of our Arkansas trip started out completely different from the first two. High skies and cooler temps- something that usually means tough fishing on upland reservoirs. We started out on the bank where we had fish come up the day before and we got out even earlier in the morning. 

It was very calm and clear and despite the rains on Saturday, most of the waters were clear and we could see the flukes easily making for some cool bites. We were getting a lot of small fish and a ton of green sunfish bites. Not too many fish came up, but Clyde  did catch one small largemouth that was chasing bait. 

We moved across lake too some of the areas in Sister Creek from the day before. Clyde was on them with the fluke. He switched from the Zoom super fluke to a Bass Assassin that had gold flake. He said it was a color Redfishlaw used to use when he was a fellow Arkie. It worked! I kept getting lots of small bites and sunfish and he was catching very nice bass. You can see the fluke in this pic. 

A nice Brownie. 

The bigger ones were really rolling up and eating it, there was no missing the good ones. He had me down 4 good fish to none so I thought I would switch it up a bit and go top water and see what was up. I had several blow ups on my super spook jr and nothing on the Whopper Plopper. I kept at it and had quite a bite- only the second time ever that I have caught 2 fish on one lure at the same time. Too bad it was 2 sunfish! 

I guess they were hungry.

As it got later in the day, the top water bite improved. Clyde turned the boat on a gravel point sticking out on a long straight bank and gave me a shot with the Spook and boy did it pay off! 3 twitches and this big girl exploded on it. I have to put it in my top ten bites on top water. Was,our biggest bass of the trip. 

A really nice smallmouth.

We hit one last bank and Clyde had on a Rapala Skitterwalk in a sorta bluegill color. He caught this nice largemouth, the only keeper sizes one in over two days fishing. Strange. Again, we figure they must have been on the beds somewhere. Probably should have looked for them, I guess. 

The lone largemouth.

At the end of the day, I figure the top 5 fish Clyde had would have placed him pretty well in the previous weeks a Elite series tournament on Bull Shoals and Lake Norfork- at least compared to a lot of big time pros that weren’t even catching 5 keepers.

All in all we had a great day. Not as many fish, but better size. With my kicker fish, we would have done ok in any tournament that day. Of course, if we were in a contest, we wouldn’t have caught any fish! Ain’t that the truth.

I almost stayed another day. It is hard to leave the area it is so beautiful and there are fish of so many species in all the lakes and rivers. Thanks again to Clyde and Maria for the incredible hospitality. Come on down to Texas soon and we can have some fun here too. I will leave with one more pic of a couple of the nice brownies Clyde was on. He can do some catch in’. 

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Thanks to Shoedog for his report and to the rest of you keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

Weather

84/56   Clear  Wind NNE 5 – 10 0% chance of rain

Tides

W    4     High   6:31 AM     0.8   6:42 AM
4      Low  10:54 AM     0.6
4     High   1:17 PM     0.7
4      Low  10:25 PM     0.3

Solunar Times

• Best Times     9:08A – 11:08A
•                              9:35P – 11:35P
• Good Time         2:54A – 4:54A

When I got to the ramp at 7:00 the tide was super high, almost over the top of the fingers at Froggie’s.  I want to say this before I forget it, the tide and the bites were right on the money today.  Of course the problem was once it went down, using that term lightly, it came right back up and stayed up until I quit at 2:30.  The bite was right on the solunar Best Times and on the falling tide .  The water color is just about perfect, and the wind stayed out of the NNE at 10 or so, leaving the Barroom shoreline with a slight riffle, perfect.

Anchored in 2 foot of water it was a long way from the grass.  I probably made a bad choice in the beginning, not either committing to the grass and reds, or moving out and chasing trout.  It was topwater of course, and maybe one took a pass at it the first hour, I think I was between them if that makes sense.  I could see the reds moving around shallow so I headed to knee deep water and started catching fish.

This is the reason I love this wading belt.

Initially several followed and boiled it, but they were just not in full eating mode.  And so the next one that boiled it I just reached back, grabbed my spinning rod, and swam a piece of plastic right over the boil and hooked up.  Another couple this size committed hari kari and then I finally caught a good one.

A little better.

They were right up in the grass in water knee deep or shallower.  I was simply throwing that Knocker B right in the grass and then walking the dog fairly fast and the one above and a couple more smashed it.

This was a great bite!

The one above came out of less than a foot of water in a small slot in the flooded grass.  So after catching 6 or so and not having even a follow from a trout, it was time to move out to deeper water.  There is an edge where the grass and shell fall off into 5 foot plus down that whole shoreline, so I threw the Knocker B over that break.  I was standing in about 2 1/2 feet of water tossing it a mile.  If I had to guess I caught one small one and had 4 or 5 nice ones take a pass at it.  The problem was I let the sun get to high and was late moving out.  So I picked up a chicken on a chain plastic with the 1/32 jig head and fished the drop.

I needed a few more like this one.

Really I needed a few more like this to hook up, somehow I managed to lose 3 or 4  this size on the plastic.  They would come to the top and wallow, guess I did not get a good hook set.  Of course the little ones, which I caught 4 or 5, ate it, of course.  A couple of them hit it so hard they immediately took off, including one that was about 10 feet from where my line was.  Guess I am a little out of practice.

With the water just sitting there and getting a bite every half hour it was time to quit.  The tide tomorrow is a lot better and with the Shoedog coming tonight we will hit it a lot harder tomorrow.  Not a great morning, but I caught a few and it was nice not having to fight the wind.

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I met one of my readers at the ramp when I got back today.  Funny, I have read his stuff also.  Colby has been writing for the Gulf Coast Fisherman for years.  So I am honored that he takes the time to read this drivel.  You know I love it when folks introduce themselves and today was a pleasant surprise.  He showed me a little trick and as soon as I hear from him I will pass it on.

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That is about it for today.  I am tired and need to go put stuff away and organize for tomorrow.  I want to get up at 4:30 like I want another hole in my head, but we will be in the water right at sunrise.  Between the 2 of us somebody usually puts the hurt on them so like all fishermen, tomorrow the day.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Fresh or saltwater the Knocker B catches fish.

Weather

78/53  Partly Cloudy  0% chance rain  NNE 10 – 20 mph

Tides

3     High   3:38 AM     0.7
3      Low   9:28 AM     0.6                                                                                                                  3     High   2:40 PM     0.7
3      Low   9:55 PM     0.5

Solunar Times

Best Times          8:19 A – 10:19A

                             8:46P – 10:46P

Good Time          2:06A – 4:06A

Coleto Creek

I got to the lake about 9:00 and fished until 2:30.  Heading to the Gulf tomorrow I wanted to get home in time to change gear and get ready for an early day.

It was real apparent that the lake is starting to clear.  It still has some color but you can see your bait in the water so it is a big improvement.  In fact I went way up lake today just to see the color and it is clearing everywhere, which is a good thing.  The water temp was around 78 degrees most places.  Of course the wind was spot on with the forecast, blowing about 15 out of the NE when I started, and keeping steady in that range the whole time I was out.

It really was a grind it out day.  I threw buzzbait, spinnerbait, topwater, and pitched the watermelon red lizard.  It was slow at first until settling on the lizard and I finally put 4 in the boat in a cove off a deep bank.

Around a dozen like this on assorted baits.

With the water as high as it is there is lots of stuff on the edge of the lake.  The best banks were clearly deeper water with heavy cover.  So it was simply a matter of pitching that lizard into slots and holes, hopping it a couple of times and if no bite just do it again.  It was a little tough with the wind, but that is definitely where the fish are.

A half a dozen pitching the lizard.

After hitting several down lake coves and seeing the water clearing I decided to head way up lake and see what it was like.  It is actually clearing farther up, and I put several in the boat.  A couple came on buzzbait and I missed one on a spinnerbait.  So with the wind I kept after it with the spinnerbait, catching a couple of small ones.

Next I fished a long main lake bank with grass and occasional points and I finally got a good bite.  Reeling the spinnerbait right below the surface by a bush on a point nothing came for it, I looked up for my next cast and it just stopped.

A little more like it!  This one stopped a spinnerbait.

This fish is a great example of why you never give up on the spinnerbait until it is at the boat, especially in clear water.  I just got lucky because when she hit, it was a full on bite, and the bait just stopped.  While I am no big braid guy, I do use it on spinnerbait as it has little stretch and when one hits it moving fast they usually hook up.

The last place I fished had the wind just pounding on it.  With lots of good cover it was surprising that I did not get a bite.  So to get ready for tomorrow I called it a day.

The water color is just awesome.  I was worried that we were not going to clear this year but if it keeps clearing, and we do not get a major rain, it should get good before the summer doldrums kick in.  If you are a pitcher or flipper it is going to be right down your alley.  Add light winds to help with boat control with a little cloud cover and a big string is not out of the realm of possibility right now.

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So I gassed up the boat and truck, traded out tackle, bagged some ice, and I should be ready to go in the morning.  I also got the camera gear out, I forgot it this morning and had to take these pictures with my cell, so I kept them to a minimum today.  The plan is to also film a little tomorrow early.  Who knows, maybe I can get a couple of nice trout on top to make a video.  I have kind of gotten away from making videos, but it is time to start that up again.

It will be off early tomorrow to POC.  Not sure where yet, but if the wind forecast is correct there will be nowhere you can’t fish.  Guess that leaves me with no excuse.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Check out the KnockerB.  If you like a one knocker you will like this as much as the trout do!

I am back and was hoping to fish today but the wind continues to conspire against me.  Not only is it blowing 20 straight out of the north they just posted a gale warning for the upper coast.  But all is not lost.  The wind is projected to blow 9 mph on Wednesday and 6 on Thursday so the only choice will be whether I am willing to get up real early and head to Baffin for a couple of days or pound POC.  But no matter what it will be 2 days of wading and topwater.

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And here is the reason I spent the last 4 days on the road.

Mia.  They grow up fast – Don’t miss it.

We had a great time with the family and while we were up there we saw the Shoedog on his way to Arkansas, and here is his day 1 report.

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Bull Shoals First Evening Friday, April 29 

I got to Mountain Home, Arkansas a little later than I planned on Friday and we didn’t get on the water until about 5:30. There had been rain and we had a very heavy sky. Low clouds and a bit of mist, but not bad at all.

We headed to Howard Cove, an area not to far to get to so we had time to fish before dark. 

Before I left, I added a Corky to my tackle box. I had been thinking that with the bass up shallow here I might be able to transfer something I learned on the salt to freshwater. Well, we hadn’t had 5 casts and hooked this nice brownie on the Corky. Sweet!

Thinking out of the box results in some great fish!

We kept on in the area and Clyde caught a couple nice ones on his chrome dome hair jig that he likes. 

Bull Shoals produces some big smallmouth.

It was getting pretty dark and I put on my Super Spook Jr. And went to walking the dog. Right at dark a big girl smacked it good. It was a thing of beauty, my favorite kind of bite.

A nice finish to the short evening.

We ended up with 5 or 6 bass, not a bad start to a weekends fishing. Stay tuned for the next couple days reports from big bad Bull Shoal. 

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Nice job boys!  I can’t wait to hear how the next 2 days went.  When the smallmouth are on on Bull Shoals it is a thing of beauty.  To bad I couldn’t be there to school you perch jerkers.  Thanks for the report and keep them coming.  And Clyde – Only 4 weeks to Canada!  Can’t wait until we get to Bear Bay and put 200 of these suckers in the boat.  Yahoo!

Today I am taking care of all the things that need doing so that starting tomorrow I can fish.  The Boss is starting a 10 day stretch in the ER so I am free as a bird.  The wind is supposed to blow a little tomorrow, so it will be the lake, then comes the magic window of 2 days of light wind.  To bad those trout are going to have to pay for this stretch of weather, and I intend to jump over the side and spend 2 days thrashing them with that new Knocker B the Shoedog got me at Gander Mountain.  That thing is not only beautiful but comes with the tail feathers.  Gets me all worked up thinking about it.  So keep stopping in and thanks for sticking with me.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Check out the KnockerB.  If you like a one knocker you will like this as much as the trout do!

(The Shoedog walked about 50 feet to file this report.)

 Well, since I can’t fish in Fayette and I am not sure of the water conditions at Somerville ( I know it has come up a bunch), I am just gonna fish in the backyard. No fuel costs and a fully stocked fridge for break time snacks, too.
I share a small, nice pond with a couple neighbors and it has been coming back slowly after it went completely dry in the great drought of a few years back. We restocked it and it has started to show some nice progress.

Nice to walk 50 feet and put them in the boat.

For a while, I was not having much luck, even though I knew there were fish there, but lately, it has become what it used to be. I can go out and catch some nice fish just about any time i want- a real nice deal. And, one of the main reasons we bought this home.

Sorry to keep hounding about those feathers on the topwater but they work.

So, today I started out with a Super Spook Jr. in bone with the feathered back hook. I caught 3 decent fish and one small one. Then I decided to go back to the big tackle box- I mean garage- and tie on a frog- good idea, it turns out. I caught 8 or 9 and several were nice fatties. Their color was awesome with the clear water and the weed cover- nice and black. Good fish. Nice fish. Pretty fish. As my wife says when making fun of us fisherman!

Time for that frog no matter where you live in the country.

All in all, a good mornings fishing. Warming up for a 3rd trip to Arkansas this spring. Why not?

Nice fish from a really small pond.

Now, I want to report on a different situation. The pond in our backyard overflows/empties into a nice, 40 acre lake across the road. We live on one creek/drainage area into the lake and to the west of us is the larger arm of the lake that has a larger creek entering it. Again- a main reason we bought our home here- a nice area with slightly larger lots and no through streets/roads, and the pond and the lake. We have been here 12 years now and have seen the lake flooded, almost cut in half by drought and everything in between.  I have caught MANY nice bass from the lake- including my personal best 8 lb. 12 oz. fish pre-spawn a few years back. It has been a lifetime dream of mine to live in a place like this- I have been lucky.

BUT- last winter, sometime in November or early December, a new development was started to the northwest of our community. It is probably about 100 acres, if I had to guess. I found it Christmas week when I was driving my folks around the area to see all the new homes.  The entire area had been cleared and had no remaining ground cover. I realize that we live in an area of major growth, like much of Texas, and fully expect ongoing development all around us. I was disappointed, but so it goes.

Fast forward a couple weeks. It is January and I have big bass fever! I run down to the lake to put the boat in and see a big, muddy mess. The water was so off color, I almost didn’t fish. Oh well, I thought, the rains we had after Christmas left some silt and I bet it is only on the surface and I can still fish. So I did.  In 2 hours, I had one bump on a spinner bait. I could not see the blades on my bait until I took it out of the water. It was so bad I finally realized why. The ground clearing and the new development were directly upstream of the lake.

I happened on to a fellow a few days later that I know that lives right on the upper end of the lake. We talked about it and he said he had been in contact with some people in regards to the situation. Since then I know that a complaint has been filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and some folks have been working on the situation.   Apparently no proper silt fencing was erected and we have had tremendous amounts of silt and runoff from the development.

I have not heard of a single fish caught in the lake from a number of people that fish it regularly. I took pictures this morning to show the difference in the pond in my back yard and the lake across the road- a startling difference. Very sad.  I don’t know if there is anything to be done. I know some of our homeowners association members have been on it to some degree. There has been talk of a similar situation nearby in the past that went to a lawsuit. Bummer. All around.

If there is one takeaway from this, I would recommend everyone be very aware of what is happening around them. This happened very quickly and will probably take years to reverse or remedy. All I wanna do is go fishing………..in the lake that has always been good to the people that live here…….

Thanks for listening/reading. Hope I can send better news from Arkansas later in the week.

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First off there are a lot of jealous folks, me included, that you can walk out in the backyard and catch some fish.  There is no better place to live for a fisherman.  And to catch them on top out of a pond not much bigger than  a small swimming pool is cool.

Having fished your lake it is really a good fishin’ hole.  Not only does it have some big fish in it, the average is great.  I have really enjoyed fishing there, and it really disturbs me that your water quality is so messed up.  I really do not remember much from law school concerning water law, hell I don’t remember much these days, but it does trigger something and I hope your HOA pursues it.

And speaking of that, the water clarity at Coleto has left something to be desired the last year and a half.  I have often wondered if there is some major construction going on up the Coleto arm that has been keeping it off-color even well after any major rain.  So if any of you Coleto fishermen have any thoughts on that drop me a note.

And good luck to Shoedog’s HOA on resolving this issue.  I wish I was not so skeptical, but if it involves your government protecting and regulating like it should the damage will be done before they get off their ass and really take a look at it.  So you and your bunch need to keep the pressure on, it is the only way to get results.

(Shoedog just got an email from the HOA and the state is going to investigate.  Please surprise me and get to the bottom of it no matter what it is.)

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Bagley Knocker B

Speaking of College Station the Shoedog was in Gander Mountain and he found some of the Bagley topwaters I have been telling you about.  The color I had so much luck on was the Bluegill and he found a couple of other colors.  This one is their shad version.

It comes with a dressing on the tail like I have been raving about, and the color is just plain cool.  And the knocker is loud and deep and they really seem to like it.  So I can’t wait to see him and get this one.  It will be splashing around POC in less than a week.

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I got this question today, to bad I am out of town and not sure of the answer.

Any information on the freshwater in West Matagorda. I heard it was pretty bad. Thanks.

Thanks for the question Jason but I just do not know the answer.  As I am not sure how much rain we have had since I have been gone most of the week I am no help.  But as full as the rivers and creeks were and with new rain it might become an issue anywhere there is a large amount of runoff.  I might be a little more help next week as I intend to hit the bay pretty hard.

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I am having a good time with the grandbabies, they grow up so fast and if you miss it you can never get it back.  So don’t let family get away from you, we only get one.  Other than that the Shoedog and Clyde caught 12 smallmouth in the first hour they fished tonight on Lake Norfork, including a couple of nice ones, there will be a report to follow.  I am really looking forward to throwing that new Bagley on the bay starting Monday.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines