Fish Catching Travel

Fish Catching Travel

Monday

Fall is finally giving us just a taste of things to come.  A few cooler nights and some good rain, when combined with the shortening days, mean the good fishing is here.  I have been on vacation, and have only wet a line once this month.  And when I got back we had a couple of days of rain and thunderstorms that kept me off the water.  But it is back to normal around here at Fish Catching Travel, and a full fishing schedule starts now.  So you can expect to see a steady stream of reports as I fish till I drop.  Fall and winter fishing is my favorite for big fish of all varieties so it is time to get the stuff organized, fix a few things on the boats, and get after it.

My brother Jeff, alias Shoedog, has worked almost every day for the last 5 months, his business keeps him way to busy.   When he texted me and wanted to fish a couple of days at Baffin I was packed before I responded.  So plans were made, and Monday morning we left Victoria to be at the Bird Island ramp at daylight.

Now my experience at Baffin is one 6 hour trip 2 winters ago.  It was foggy when we took off and if it weren’t for the map I would not have had even the slightest idea where to start.  With that little knowledge in hand we headed down the Laguna Madre to fish the King Ranch shoreline.  There was a light north wind that allowed for a nice drift so we started down the bank.  Without a clue we worked in and out, from 1 foot of water to 5 and back again.  The drift was perfect and we never started the engine for almost 6 hours.

Shoedog started with his usual, the Rapala Skitterwalk.  He throws that thing any and everywhere, and would probably drop it down an ice fishing hole before he tried anything else.  I started with the KVD Strike King topwater and for the first hour we had a few blow ups and a few follows, but they were just not eating it.  I gave up on it pretty quickly and switched to paddle tail plastics in the 4″ size on a 1/8 jig head.  For the rest of the day I alternated between colors and noticed no real difference.  As long as it was a paddle tail it worked.  Shoedog threw the box at them, everything from Tsunami plastics, popping cork, Bass Assassins, all the while relentlessly throwing his topwater.

The biggest of 2 keeper reds I caught on Monday.

We learned the following, 3 foot was the magic depth.  As we worked in and out, letting the wind move us perfectly south along the shoreline well past King Ranch, we found that when we were in 3 foot we caught fish.  Nothing much shallower, nothing particularly deeper.  A lot of that seemed to be that the bait was there.  I think the cool night had them out of the shallows, and we did nothing really shallow.   Stay in 3 feet and catch fish, stray much from that and they just were not there.  That is one of the real advantages of having a depth finder on the trolling motor, we were able to really see exactly how deep it was and ease along accordingly.  The other thing that seemed important was more of a mixed bottom.  Open potholes with hard bottom mixed with grass was clearly better than solid grass.

The only keeper Shoedog managed on Monday.

Before day one was over I managed to put 8 keeper trout and 2 keeper reds in the boat.  Shoedog was clearly out of practice after his long layoff and only put one keeper red in the box.  He did have one fairly big trout on, and unfortunately that one made an escape.  It was a tough day for him, but that didn’t stop him from keeping after the topwater, he just could not get it going. The important thing for me was I did not vary from 4″ paddle tail baits.  Color did not matter as I threw the mutiple colors at them.

The size run of the 8 keeper trout we put in the boat Monday.

I am not sure how far down we drifted, but you can image how far we covered using the wind and the trolling motor in 6 hours.  As we were up at 4 we called it a day early.  With fish to clean and the motel to find, we headed back to the ramp fishing a couple of places on the way, and other than putting a few small ones over the side not much happened.  The next, and last fish I caught Monday, says it all about our day.  When you think about Baffin you think about big trout.  Then this happened.

The smallest trout I have ever caught, about the size of the plastic.  This is not what you go to the Baffin Bay area for.  That’s what I get for throwing something other than a paddle tail Monday.

So not the results we were hoping for in our first real trip to that area.  Of course we were fishing blind.  But I am not complaining.  We had 8 trout and 3 reds in the box, and probably caught around 30 fish, just not that big trout we hoped to catch.  And we covered many miles hoping to find some real trout to set up a wade the next day, but just did not find that bunch we wanted to fish the next day.  So with that in mind we cleaned fish, found the motel, and ate a great seafood dinner at Doc’s.  It was early to bed with visions of big trout in our heads for day 2.

Tuesday

We were at the ramp and off to the King Ranch shoreline at daylight to start where we had our best luck Monday.  It was cracking daylight, and fairly calm, so out came the topwaters.  It was a new day and they cooperated.  Lots of blowups and misses, we still managed to catch 10 or more small trout and one keeper red.

Shoedog with a nice red morning 2.

Jeff was throwing a light green top and silver sided Skitterwalk.  I threw the Strike King KVD for a while, then reverted to throwing multiple different topwaters.  I tried big ones, small ones, shrimp poppers, you name it and they all ended up in a pile on the dash.  Nothing worked better than the Skitterwalk and the bone colored KVD.  When it slowed down I went back to the paddle tail but for some reason it was not happening.  Finally about 10 we decided to make a move.  We headed down the Laguna to around marker 150 where there is a set of islands with a couple of floating houses and headed in to the west bank.  We drifted out and worked in, and though we still managed a few more trout and reds, there was just not any size.  So it was time for another move.

We were headed to Baffin and trying to decide where we were missing the mark, and we decided it was structure.  As we passed mile marker 160 we noticed some spoil islands on the right.  By now it was noon, the wind was light, and it was just plain hot.  We dropped the trolling motor down and I started with a popping cork and plastic shrimp and  Shoedog kept throwing his topwater.  We kept in the channel throwing to the tops of the spoils and working the drop.  It was not long before Jeff had one just smoke it.

Now that is more like it.

Conditions were perfect.  The tide was slowly falling, and what little wind there was was blowing over the top of the spoil piles into the channel.  From that point on the bite was on.  I lost a really big fish on the popping cork, and Shoedog really got it going.

Another good one eats the Skitterwalk.

From that point for the next couple of hours we used the trolling motor and moved down the inter-coastal tossing our topwater to the tops of the piles and working it back over the inter-coastal drop fairly fast in a walk the dog pattern.  The best places were the points and cuts in the piles.  We caught small and good trout regularly, and one thing was clear, the good ones wanted it and blasted it.  There was no question when that happened.  In fact I had one of the best blow ups in my long years of fishing, a titanic blast, to bad it was a big lady fish.

My best one on a topwater.  It made 20″, but was not in the class Shoedog was catching.

We notice that when we would catch some smaller ones there were usually several there.  When the better ones hit that would be it for that point or cut.  Or so we thought.

One of Jeff’s biggest trout.  At 23″+ it was one solid fish.

While most of the better ones were solitary, when this one got close to the boat you should have seen the one with it, a real monster.  It was trying to get the topwater out of the other’s mouth and stayed with her all the way into the net.  And on that note we called it a day.  The spoil piles between 160 and 171 definitely had some really nice trout on them, and we finally got into a few fish that we hoped for when we started our trip.

With Jeff having a 5 hour trip home we called it a day around 2.  Just before we got ready to head back to the ramp a big tug pushing a double barge went by us and made it about a half mile when he ran aground.  It was something.  We heard the barge begin to grind and we looked over as it slammed into the spoil area and the tug actually went on the spoil and smashed into the barges tilting sideways.  He finally was able to twist and turn and back to get off, and then continued on his way.  It was a crazy scene and I am sure it was a close call for the skipper.

So for our first trip to a new area I am ok with the outcome.  We wanted to catch some of those better trout, and we finally got it done.  We wanted to learn about the area, and this was a good baseline for future trips.  As those of you who fish it regularly know, the Laguna Madre is a great place, and a fabulous fishing hole.  I can only imagine what you lucky guys catch who fish it often.  What a place.  So I am hooked.  I can’t wait for this winter and some serious wading, I can only imagine how it must be when that 30″  smokes a topwater on a misty foggy morning.  Like Falcon, Key West, and Belize, the Baffin area is where dreams are made and I can’t wait to get back.  Who knows, it may be next week.

So keep stopping in.  There is lots of fish to catch and places to fish.  I get the same thrill catching a fish I got when I was 5 years old catching bluegill in farm ponds.  It never gets old.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

Finally back from our trip.  We got back a couple of days ago and of course the first day was just a matter of getting all the things done and organized from being gone for 18 days.  Of course I was still on Greece time and woke up yesterday at 4 a.m. so figured I would hit Coleto for a little while.  One note:  As this is a fishing web site I will just be posting for those of you who come to read about fishing.  I do have tons of pictures and videos from our trip and if you are interested in seeing them they will be posted on the travel section of the site.

I got to the lake at 6:45 and it had just stopped drizzling.  To bad, I was hoping the cloud cover would stay, but of course it did not.  First it was a small cut in a deep bank up lake where I have been catching them.  I started with the Senko style bait and did not have a bite for awhile when I finally lifted up and thought there was one on there.  I pulled, he pulled, and of course I missed him.  Funny how not fishing for a few weeks affects your timing.  By time I set the hook he was gone.  I stayed with it a while in that area but had no more bites.

There were a few pops near the bank so I went for my prop bait, but could not find it.  It was sitting on the front seat when I left the house, and unfortunately it must have blown out.  To bad, I have had that thing for probably 20 years and did not have another.  So out came the topwater minnow Bang-O-Lure.  I missed the first one then caught a small one.  With no more bites there I moved to a big grass bed.  With the lake still falling a little, and me up lake, it is actually out in the middle of the lake.

I caught another one on top, but was just not getting the bites.  I also threw the Senko around isolated grass without success, so decided to give the buzzbait a go.  The next one over the side was this one.

Unfortunately this was the biggest one I caught, and he barely sucked it under.

I spent the rest of the morning hunting and pecking and only was able to put one in the boat here and there.  3 came on buzzbait, 2 on topwater, and one of the Senko.  I definitely did not establish any kind of pattern, but when you are blind tired it is hard to get going.  At 11 I called it a morning.  It was just nice to fish some, to get back in the groove.

We are supposed to get a bunch of rain in the next couple of days, and it is raining as I write this.  The boat is still hooked on the truck, but it may be Sunday before the rain lets up.  In fact we are supposed to get 2 – 4 inches, and if it keeps me off the water a day or two it is well worth it.

 It looks like it may be Baffin for a couple of days Monday and Tuesday, and I am really looking forward to that. There was an awesome report with some really big trout a couple of weeks ago on 2Cool and it has me excited about heading down there.  But who knows, my brother wants to do some fishing and the weather will dictate where.  And the Shark-A-thon is just around the corner and should be a blast.

Last but not least for you hunters and animal lovers click on the link below.  It is from a trail cam in South Texas.  Just scroll down when you get there, I promise you will like it.

http://www.tackleandrods.com/lake/flash.htm

So back to the real world.  Real fall is right around the corner and with it the good fishing that comes with it.  Plus with kids in school, folks hunting, the water will be a lot less crowded.  So keep stopping in, we are back in the saddle.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

                                            Fish Catching Travel

Crete 9/10/13

Fish Catching Travel

Sorry I have not posted in a couple of days.  Will try to catch up later today or tomorrow.  Before we head to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world I wanted to post a few pictures from Cappadocia.  Slept in a cave, ballooned across Cappadocia, went to the underground city, and had a wonderful day with our guide Mehmet.  I am not that much for tours but he was wonderful.  So there  you go.  I will post all the information on him and the places we saw later.

What a way to watch the sunrise!

The Underground City.

This was so cool.  I think there was 20 levels.  There was a stable, cooking, dining, and a multitude of other rooms that went I do not know how far in the ground.  We are in a passage, and they got smaller and smaller, and we were only in the 5th level.  They were built by the earliest Christians, and the stone was to block the passage when their enemies came.  What little I am telling you does not do the history of this area justice.  If you are not familiar with Cappadocia, Google it, so cool.

                                                              Next to our hotel.

The entrance to our room and the balcony – way cool.

Our room – talk about making your wife a happy camper, try this hotel.

There is so much more to come, but it is hard to tell it all.  As soon as we get back I will tell the whole story.  It is the story of the world.  Byzantines, Arabs, Romans, Mongolians, Islam, Christianity, and a whole lot more.  The history was overwhelming.

Crete

Tired and worn out we finally made it to Crete.  Only posting the pics above does not do any justice, but I will fill it all in when I get back, there is way to much to see.

Chania is a fishing city in Crete and we are staying on the waterfront.  There are many traditional Greek fisherman here, and they catch octopus, swordfish, tuna (which resemble a Cuberra Snapper), Dorado (which look to me like a striper), and anchovy.  And our room overlooks the port, way cool.  In fact in the morning I will be up early to see the catch.  The Greeks are the original fisherman and sailors and the heritage runs deep.  Of course I love that.

From the balcony – it gets no better than this for a fisherman.

Last night it was marinated anchovy, grilled octopus, and swordfish.  One word of advice, when the owner of the taverna tells you what to eat, do it!

Today we hit the beach.  The Aegean Sea is so blue and clear, and we spent a lazy afternoon, nice after a week of the tourist thing.

A shot of the beach, which stretched for a mile.

I took this when we were leaving.  It clearly does not do it justice but I am to tired to find a better one.  Tomorrow it is off to drive the old island road along the cliffs of Crete.  It should be a blast.  And of course along the way we will stop at small Greek places and share coffee or maybe an Oozo.  So keep stopping in and I will do what I can to download more pictures, I only have a couple of hundred to go through.  So thanks for reading my stuff, even if it is not about fishing.  When I get back I will do a complete travelogue on the trip.

Good Luck and Tight Lines.

9/14/13

The best laid plans.  Of course I planned to blog more on our trip but we have been going from dawn to late at night every day.  It is our final day on Crete before returning to Istanbul for a couple of days then home.

We have been to Greece before and always wanted to come back and it has lived up to our every expectation.  I can say this without equivocation, the Greek people are wonderful.  They are friendly, passionate, and gracious.

To give you a couple of examples:  The great tavern down the street keeps giving us extra food to try, free drinks and dessert.  At the Palace at Knossos the ticket taker inquired where we were from, and gave us half price entry.  The list has gone on and on.  Try having that happen in a US restaurant.

And I saw something that really reminded me of where we are when a guy in a small Ferrari parked on a corner, not a parking spot, the actual sidewalk.  He got out and went in to a coffee shop and then here comes the Greek police.  They put on their siren, parked, and got out with the ticket book.  As they did the guy comes running out of the coffee shop and both he and the cop start yelling.  It was awesome.  But here the yelling is not a real argument, it is a discussion.  Then the guy gets in his car and moves and the cops leave.  Everyone was happy with the outcome.

I comment on this because they were able to work it out, with no hard feelings.  Everyone expressed themselves and it was done.  Try dealing with a US police officer like that – you are going to be cuffed and stuffed, seriously manhandled, and who knows what else.  It may have seemed like a confrontation, but it was just how things were done here.  The officer’s restraint is something our officers could learn.  So off of my soapbox and on to the good stuff.

The view from our balcony as day breaks.

This is a fishing port.  Many of the small boats you see here ply the open ocean.  Small single cylinder diesels are common, and outboards in the 50hp and below are used on boats that are often 16 to 20 feet long.  Deep water is less and a mile offshore and there they catch swordfish, octopus, tuna, and dorado.  There are lots of anchovy and sardines in the mix, and having eaten them all I can say one thing, it is in the preparation.

The old couple that comes every morning.  They were using a rod and reel and a hand line to catch really tiny fish, a staple in their diet.

Baiting his handline with oranges?

Out it goes.  See the small orange piece?

We watched him for a while and he did not catch anything, and you could see why.  He would chum with the peels and you could see small what looked like snappers come.  They were about a pound and he would slowly pull in the peel near the surface and they would pick at it.  He had the peel wrapped with several small hooks and would try to hook them as they nipped at it.  A tough way to get one.  I saw him every morning and can only assume his daily meal depended on it.  This is a fishing society so of course I loved it.

One of the great things about Greece is it is easily driven.  It takes a little to get the signage down, but other than that it is an adventure.  The main streets are like ours, but the rest of the cities and towns have the ancient streets.  They are wide enough for a horse, but everyone seems to make it work,  You meet people head on, and just pull over, slide around, and just basically figure it out.  At home folks would kill each other before it is over.  And people just park every which way including stopping in the street, double parking, and just doing whatever they feel like it.

What is called the main road is 2 or 4 lane with speeds from 40km in town to sometimes 100km on the 4 lane.  They have a big shoulder with a white line, and most folks drive with 2 wheels on the line so you can let someone pass.  Of course you have to be careful for people who stop on the shoulder, which apparently men do quite often if they need to urinate.  Hilarious!  And we have learned another interesting thing, the double white line means pass as fast as you can on a curve, hill, or anywhere else you feel like it.  I guess that is why people drive with wheels on the outside line, so you can move over when a Mercedes doing a 100 passes 5 cars on an uphill blind turn.  Our bartender explained that to us:  The police stop a Greek man and told him “Your wheels went over the white lines!”  The Greek man responded: “What?  I destroyed it?”  So that is driving in Greece, signs, speeds, and rules, are merely suggestions.  But it works for them and once you get the hang of it is no problem.

The mountains are another thing.  I shot some great video of one of our travels to a beach, and it was amazing.  The road was the old one and went over huge mountains to the coast.  Until I post the video when I get back my telling does not do it justice.  So high, so curvy and so narrow.  We took the scenic route and it took an hour and a half to go 30km, around 20 miles.  On the way back we took a better road but there was a detour.  It was probably about 6 or 8 miles and was a cart path, and I am not kidding.  In the high mountains, no shoulder, no guard rails, nothing.  One slip and you were off the side and falling thousands of feet.  Curvier than any road in any mountains in the US, it was an ancient trail.  And the you would meet a car and it was frightening cool.  One of those adventures I would love to repeat but would surely think twice about.

One of the great joys, stopping at the small tavernas.

This was on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.  The woman who owned it was wonderful, and like most of the owners hails you from the road.  Everything she serves is grown there, nothing from the city.  Homemade yogurt, fresh picked grapes, and her homemade crepes.  She called it toast, very similar to a tortilla, only lighter and so good.  Hot off the grill, covered in honey from the mountain bees it was pure heaven.  She was great and it was one of my favorite stops.

A view around every corner.

Elafonissi – The Pink Beach.  One of the finest beaches in the world.

A classic Creatin meal.  Eaten at alley side in the old village.  Can you say cool?

Eat, eat, and more eating.  The food is great and we have been trying different places and foods daily.  From the best, to the humble, it is all good.  And to finish off the night is the mandatory Raki.  Made from grapes after the wine is made, it is really a type of schnapps.  Very tasty it is a staple of the Greeks.

Raki – Here is to you and the horse you road in on!

There is so much more to tell.  A trip of a lifetime, we have really burned the candle at both ends to get in as much as possible.  We went to the Palace of Knossis yesterday.  First occupied in 7000BC, built and destroyed countless times over the centuries, it gives life to Greek history.  Rich in conflict, art, and the sea, Greece is a wonderful place.  As soon as I get back I will fill it in in more detail, right after I go fishing a couple of days, but now it is time to hit the beach one last time.  Sorry about the spelling and editing but it is time to hit the road.  Then a world famous supper of fish soup to close out the trip.  A wonderful trip only made better by the time I got to spend with the woman of my dreams.  Life is good.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

One thing that makes Turkey so interesting is the fact that while somewhere around 95% of the country is Muslim, it is a secular country.  When the last Sultans of the Ottoman Empire sided with the Germans in WWI the country was torn apart as most of Europe was.  What followed was an invasion by the Greeks, French, and Italians.

Their war for independence followed, and in the 1920’s the country was established as a secular country ruled by civil law.  While the Sultans had imposed Islam as the state religion for over 500 years, Turkey is now a  democratic country.  When you combine that with the history, which is to overwhelming to describe here, you have one of the most intriguing countries on earth.

Istanbul is now a modern city of 15 million people.  What makes it so interesting is that the history runs thousands of years.  We toured the standard tourist stuff yesterday including the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, little Hagia Sofia, and the Topkapi Palace among others.  I wanted to give you a quick taste so we can head out the door and start another day of walking.

The Hippodrome

The site of chariot races during the Roman times and Islamic gatherings during the period of the Sultans, it has some interesting stuff.  Every culture attempted to leave it’s own mark.

Solid granite, this is a third of it, it was brought from Egypt centuries ago I believe when Istanbul was the capital of the Roman Empire.  This thing was huge.

What makes this so interesting is the fact that it was brought back from a war with the Persians in ancient times and is made of metal. 

I believe it was from a battle between the Romans and the Persians, and was made by melting the weapons of the dead Persians.  Notice how far it is in the ground?  That is how much soil has accumulated over the centuries since it was brought here.

Hagia Sofia – The Blue Mosque

I do not know where to start, just say this things is old and beautiful.  Still a functioning mosque, it allows visitors between prayer.

It has 6 spires.  In the ancient language gold and six were similar, the Sultan wanted a gold spire, the architect heard 6, so there you go.  Apparently he lived to breath another day.

The Way In.  No shoes allowed, women must cover their heads.

21,000 Hand Painted Tiles.

Topkapi Palace

After they ran the last Sultan off in the 20’s they confiscated much of the wealth.  This place basically had 3 courtyards and 70,000 square feet.

You were not allowed to film in the various museums inside.  Suffice to say we saw jewels galore, including a 76 carat diamond, swords as old as 1000 BC, beautiful clothes and armor, including a bow and quiver with arrows from 1300.  The Sultans would have the 4 wives allowed by law, but kept a couple of hundred girlfiends in the Harem.

Just a small part of the Palace.  This place was enormous.

The Grand Bazaar.

Over 4,000 Shops, it a maze and you could be easily lost.  Crazy!

Corridors leading off to God knows where.  The answer in this place is a polite NO!

Taksim Square and Istiklal Street.

This is the area that is considered the New Istanbul.  It is where you find the artists, students, professional folks, and the “unwashed rabble”.  (Just kidding – it is where the kids hang out.)  It is the area where the trouble was a few months ago.  It has a vibrant night life.  We took a taxi, the traffic is something else, and then walked back to the hotel.  Another real experience.  There is a trolley running down the middle of the street but it gets so crowded with folks that it often has to stop running.

Istiklal Street.

This is the small fish I told you they were catching off the bridge.  I called them bait, but these little suckers were good.

One of the many ancient buildings at night as we walked back to the hotel.  What was it?  I do not have a clue, it is just old.

And that is just a small part of the day.  I have hundreds of pictures and videos to go through but this gives you a flavor for Istanbul.  With over 14 million people Istanbul is to big to even describe.  We have another day here before we head to Cappadocia, and we will see how it goes.  I know it is one great experience.  So keep stopping in and I will keep posting as we go.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

What a city.  After an all night flight we were on the streets by 7:00.  I can not describe how awesome this international city is.   There are folks from all over the world, and what little we were able to do today was just amazing.  So I am about to collapse, tired and well fed.  So here is installment number 1.  I will let them speak for themselves, and fill you in later.  Keep stopping in…what an adventure.

Get your rod and bait and go to fishin!  Fishing knows no borders or religion.  It was awesome to see Moslem women in full dress fishing away. 

What ever they were catching we call bait in Texas.

Fishing on top and eating them on bottom.  The Galata Bridge, so cool.

Your choice at table side.

We have eaten fish in a lot of places in this world, but none was any better anywhere than this.  And for what we got cheap by any standard.

                                   A large Mosque as we leave the bridge.

Here it is, 5:30 am and I am wide awake.  And then one of the coolest things, the daylight call to mosque as daylight breaks.  I will be sure to video that in the morning.  The world is a big place and I am so thankful I have been able to witness a small part of it.  The view from the rooftop terrace of out hotel at daylight.

                               The same Mosque as day breaks over Istanbul.

All of this only a 5 minute walk from the hotel.  So down to the lobby for a fabulous spread and  a full day of doing that tourist thing.  I always whine about spending money to travel, but once there it is worth every penny.  My lovely wife knows how to pick them.  Catch you later.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

I was headed to Indianola this morning but when I got close I realized it was not quite daylight, so I kept on going to POC.  I figured with the holiday it would be crowded, but with an early start I hoped the parking at Froggie’s would be ok.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the ramp about 6:45 and there was only 7 trucks in the lot.  That will not be the case starting tomorrow.

So off to Big Bayou to throw some topwater.  I have heard reports that the topwater fishing has been good in the morning until the sun gets up, and it was exactly like that.  The tide was way up, and the water was still moving some, when I got to the first bank.  I missed one until I got to the end of it, and where the drain separated 2 islands there was bait everywhere.  It was there I caught my first trout.  Though small at least it was a trout.  I started working the drains and if there was bait, there were fish.

From then until  about 11:00 they hit that topwater pretty good.  Now I use the term loosely because they did hit it, and I put 7 reds and trout in the boat, but I missed at least 4 times that many.  I mean they were knocking it up in the air, following it with big wakes, swirling behind it, you name it and they hit it that way at least once.

This was the best, and first, of the 4 reds I caught on topwater this morning.

Now do not get me wrong, I missed my share.  I probably lost at least as many as I caught.  Some got the jump on me, a couple of good fish pulled off, and of course several hit it when I was looking for the next cast.  One real big ass red even smashed it right at the boat, but I think he saw me at the last second and turned off, either way it was a good one.

This trout was the first trout I caught and was important for a couple of reasons, not all good.

I almost always take a picture of the first fish in case there is not another, but the real reason I took the picture is I wanted you to see the topwater.  It was a black and chrome Skitterwalk.  It is important because during the morning I threw pink Skitterwalk, a smaller chrome Top Gun, a KVD topwater, and a smaller Zara Spook.  They clearly wanted this bait.  In fact, while they hit the others, this is the only one that I was able to put a fish in the boat with.  One of those times when they wanted exactly what they wanted.

Another reason this fish was important was the camera battery died right after I took this picture, so there were no more pictures today.  You would think a guy who blogs would have his camera stuff up to snuff, but oh well, stuff happens.  And lastly, that plug no longer exists, at least on the end of my rod.  For the last month Big Bayou has had some jacks schooling and today was no exception.   Normally I do not mess with them, to dang much work.  But in this case I am fishing the Shark-a-thon on North Padre in October and Jacks make good bait.

So about 10:30 I see them tearing it up close to the boat, not the first bunch I saw today, so I headed over with the trolling motor and cut them off.  Now they looked small, so I heaved the above lucky bait out and of course a real giant smashed it.  It was one of those 20+ pounders we have on the Texas coast, and the fight was on.  So in spite of knowing better, I am hooked up to a bruiser, you know how they are, it is 95 degrees, the wind is not blowing, and I have it on my trout topwater rod with 10lb. line.  You can guess what comes next.  I babied it for as long as I could, following it around, sweating like a pig, when finally the line parts.  So, sorry Chris, we could have used that one for bait in October.  After a long hot fight I lose an $8 bait, that will teach me.

At this point the tide seemed to be slack to slightly falling so I headed into Barroom and chased bait schools.  Until about 11:15 they continued to hit the topwater, unfortunately I did not get the hook in many, some their fault, some mine.  So I switched to plastics and caught a couple of small ones, and one nice one.  I threw the popping cork some, and did catch a couple of more trout, but of course had to do battle with a big Gafftop.  That is one problem in the warmer months with a popping cork, Gafftops love it, so I put it down.

Finally about 12:30 I called it a day.  It was flat out calm and hotter than all get out.  But the morning was sure worth it.  I know that wherever I saw bait, I got them to hit the topwater, and there was bait everywhere.  Right now if you have a favorite place, and there is bait, throw that topwater first thing.  It seemed I got the same amount of bites from both reds and trout, it did not seem matter.  The key was bait, and you could see rafts of mullet, it was simply a matter of following them.

My best guess is around 11 or 12 came over the side today, I know there was 4 reds, and the rest were trout.  Of the reds 2 measured, of the trout, maybe 4, but I was not keeping any today so who knows.  All in all not a bad morning.  Since I do not fish the holiday weekends, something I am lucky enough to not have to do, I am actually jealous of you that will be on the coast for the long weekend.  If that is what I found without burning even a gallon of gas, I can only imagine how good it would be in some other places.  To bad I did not bring the wading stuff today, it probably would have been the way to go.  So if you are out this weekend give it a try.

I want to say a little about the holiday weekend.  The forums are always full of folks talking about incidents following a busy weekend.  People cutting them off, buzzing waders, and moving in on them when they are catching fish, among others.  So folks please be nice.  Give folks some room.  Have your boat ready to back in the water when you pull up to the ramp, it is not time to unhook the tie downs, get out the rods, or buy some bait when you are backed up to the ramp and others are waiting.  If you are leaving the dock at or before daylight turn on your running lights, if they don’s work, wait until daylight.  If you meet someone who is coming at you and they do not have a clue as to the rules of the road, be the bigger guy and yield to them.  And last, be sure you have your safety stuff together, fishing license, life jackets, the whole deal.  The Coast Guard, Game and Fish, the cops, you name it will be patrolling this weekend.  It only takes a minute to check stuff over, and it is sure cheaper than a ticket.  The holidays are supposed to be fun, don’t let it ruin your weekend.

So what’s next?  I am not sure, I may even sneak out this weekend early, this morning got my blood running.  When they are hitting topwater like that it is to good to pass up, so I might even violate my no fishing on the holiday weekend rule.  Be safe this weekend and have a great time with family and friends.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

One thing that fishing does, it never ceases to amaze me.  I head to Coleto this morning, rain was in the forecast, so I stuck close to home.  The fishing for good fish has been on the last couple of weeks.  It has simply been a matter of point hopping with a watermelon red flake worm and catching them when they bite.  Oh that it was that easy today.

When I got to the lake this morning the sky was threatening and I could hear far off thunder.  I stayed close to the ramp and started on some points.  After several points without a bite it looked like it was clearing some so I headed up lake to my most consistent point where I have boated several nice ones lately.  It was a bust, and I mean not a bite.

As I was fishing it I could hear some fish busting occasionally behind me on a long shallow grass bed.  So with nothing to lose I eased over there and started throwing the topwater.  That would be the topwater I could not get a bite on yesterday.  My first bite almost ripped the rod out of my hand.

Not a bad fish, to bad it was the last nice one I caught this morning.

As I eased down the bank I would catch one every once in a while.  I ended up catching 4 there, and missed a couple.  That bank is really long and flat with a lot of grass near the bank.  The boat was in 3 foot of water and the fish were shallower than that.  So before I left up lake I wanted to fish another good point but here came the rain.

I put on the rain jacket and made a run for the bridge.  It was really coming down and for the next half hour I sat under the bridge and drank coffee waiting for it to let up.  When it did I started fishing grassy banks all the way to the dam.  One here and there came over the side, buy they were small.  I also stopped at a couple of points where I have caught a couple, but without success.

By time I quit at 1:30 I had not had a bite on a worm.  That does not seem possible with how many nice ones I have caught in the last couple of weeks.  Of the 7 fish I caught this morning all came on topwater.  As I said, fishing never ceases to amaze me.  I think if I had to do it all over again I should have fished a floating minnow.  There are fish chasing shad all over the lake, and a minnow type bait twitched might be the ticket right now.  I guess I was due to be at the right point at the wrong time today, because the bass were sure not there when I was.  Just when you think you have them cornered.

But oh well, no complaints.  We got some good rain at the lake, it needed it as it is dropping fast.  From the looks of things we also got a pretty good shower at the house, and we definitely need that.  So time to give the bass a rest.  The reports from the Gulf seem to be improving and after I get a couple of things done tomorrow, it will be off to POC maybe on Thursday.  Just have to see which way and how hard the wind blows.

Today makes exactly one week before we leave for Istanbul.  Once there we are headed to Cappadocia Turkey for a couple of days.  I had never heard of it until I saw something about it online.  It looks like one of the coolest places on the face of the earth and from what I read everyone who goes there is amazed.   We are staying in a cave, which should be awesome.  If you want to see a couple of pictures the link is below.  Way cool.

Then after that it is off to the Greek island of Crete.  We have been to Greece before and it is a great country and the islands are cool.  So it is time to get excited.

But before we head out there is still some fish to be caught.  So keep stopping in.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-900-17-s&va=cappadocia+turkey

Fish Catching Travel

Sorry I have not posted in a few days, but I spent some time with my lovely wife, and waited for this weather change.  The change came slowly to Victoria, but we finally had a little rain last night.  When I got up this morning it was dry, but by time I pulled out at daylight and headed to the lake it was misting.

A nice mist or light rain, wind not to bad, how could you not catch some fish on topwater?  Well today they were not having it.  In fact, I did not have a bite on a topwater.  I stayed with it for about an hour, including in the place I caught the nice ones last week, but no luck.  So finally I went back to the watermelon red flake worm,  The one I have had the most success on actually looks like a Senko.  I am still fishing it with a 1/4 slip sinker Texas style, and it is still working.

Again the points in the 10 foot range seem to be the ticket.  I put a couple of small ones in the boat at the first point then moved to another as I headed up lake.  I stopped at one and when I was reeling it in a good one grabbed it, I set the hook and broke my line.  Not so hard to do when they hit it right beside the boat and you only have about 4 feet of line out.  Then a couple of casts later I put this one in the boat.

The last couple of good ones I have boated have been on the skinny side, not so much with this girl.  This was one solid fish, and it made the day.

I know you can not see the color of the worm that well, but it is a watermelon red flake.  For the last couple of weeks it has really been the ticket.  So after this girl I put another one in the boat, and that was it for that point.

The rest of the morning, I quit at 1:30, I put one in the boat here and there, just like it has been.  My total for the morning was 9, of which 3 were ok.  I did talk to a guy at the ramp who I see out there a lot and he is catching on a watermelon jig.  That seems to be the color right now.  One thing that is still consistent is, if you feel something set the hook.  I never felt the one above hit it, she just started moving away.  So it you lift up and feel something stop for a split second and see if it is alive, it may just be one like this.

Throughout the morning I continued to throw the topwater some without success.  I try to find new ways to catch them so I can tell you about it, but it has just been to inconsistent.  The fishing report on TV said there were fish being caught on a spinnerbait, so I gave that a try.  Now I did not just fall off the spinnerbait wagon, I learned from some of the best in the country in the 70’s, and I fish it often, but it just ain’t happening.  I did manage to put one in the boat on the first point I threw it on, and then nothing.  One of those deals where you pick it up, catch one in the first couple of casts, and then can not buy a bite.  If there are spinnerbait fish being caught I sure do not know how.

So it is still a matter of grinding it out on Coleto.  There are some good fish to be caught, it is just a matter of staying with it.  With the one I broke off combined with the 9 caught and probably 3 or 4 misses, it seems to work out to a couple of bites or so an hour,  Hardly fast fishing but when you can boat one like the one above every trip it is worth the effort.

When I got ready to quit the wife called and asked if I was getting wet.  Funny as I did not even have my rain coat on the last couple of hours.  She said it just poured at the house, finally.  We have missed the rain the last couple of days and it is so nice to see things wet, and it is still raining as I write this.  We sure need it and if we are lucky maybe we will get a couple of more days of it.

So with the forecast for more rain the next couple of days I will stay on Coleto.  The fishing is worth it, and it is hard to get to excited about driving an hour to the Gulf and then getting rained out.  Though it won’t be long as the Gulf reports are getting better and better.  So thanks for reading my stuff, I appreciate each and every one of you who stops in.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

Rain, it is a thing of beauty!  We had some in the forecast and it is actually happening as I write this.  It also ran me off the lake at 11:00, far earlier than I wanted, but no problem, we need the rain so badly.  And with the rain in the forecast I was hoping for a good morning bass fishing, and definitely was not wanting to drive to the Gulf and get rained out, and it turned out to be the right choice.

First was a long grassy point leading into a deep channel bend, the kind of place I have been catching them.  Of course I did not get a bite.  So on to another point, and nothing there.  It has been like that, you can never tell when they will be on those points, and some days if they will ever show.

So about 8:30 I moved to a real grassy point near a cove mouth, there is no real deep water close, but it has been where I have caught a few on buzzbait.  I kept with the worm, but again no success.  Over the last couple of weeks there have been bass busting bait off many of the points so it was time for a change.  So out came the Devil’s Horse.  And old bait, it is a double prop, and is good with a little chop and to call them out of a little deeper water.

I missed the first one, then put this one in the boat.

This one blew up all over it, cool bite.  Notice how the chrome is off that bait, I have had that thing for lots of years and just forget to throw it.  It is a great bait for bass busting shad.

So I kept after it a while and managed to put 2 more small ones in the boat, and did miss a couple of strikes.  Then I had another good bite and put this one in the boat.

This was a little better fish.  I really have to work on that stupid look on my face thing.

At this point there was some far off thunder so I just stayed close to the ramp area and kept throwing the topwater.  I think I had one more bite, but did not put another fish in the boat on it.  What did I learn today?  First, if you see them working, toss a topwater.  Second, it seems like the worm on the point thing works better later in the morning so a good use of fishing time would be to throw a topwater until about 9 and then switch to the worm.  Third, they are still on the points, and that is where every bite I had today came from.  Last, there may be a reason they are on some places so heavy and then nothing the next day, they are moving with the shad schools.  And as much popping as I am seeing here and there, seems logical.

A short day, but a fun one.  It has been a struggle some days with the heat and wind, but today was great.  Cool this morning, little wind early, then a nice steady rain.  I almost stayed longer, but the President of Team Nancy is off today so it is time for some tom foolery.  With the forecast still rain for a few days we will see when I get back on the water.  So keep stopping in, and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

This was one of those days when I get to wondering what really makes for a successful day on the water?  Is it the number of fish, maybe a big one, or it could be where you are fishing.  So by a “good day” on the water standard I guess I sort of had a good day.

The weather report was a little better for today, and the high tide was going to be around 11:00 a.m.  So with hope in my heart I headed to Indianola.  I intended to fish the Powderhorn and then Keller, depending on the wind.

I noticed along the beach that the water was off colored, no big surprise, but the 5 – 10 out of the northeast seemed to be 15 mph plus out of the east.  So with the tide moving in I headed about halfway back in the Powderhorn on the North bank.  The water was high, a nice thing to see after my last couple of trips, and the wind was not to bad.

I started tossing a Strike King Redfish Magic, my go to bait when the water is up in the grass.  Even though it was off colored, it looked a lot worse in my sunglasses, it cleared to at least fishable as the tide kept rising.  It was an hour before I had my fist bite, and it was when the tide was really moving.

A nice slot redfish.

I am such a fan of throwing the Redfish Magic.  It really is one of those baits that if there are some reds in the area, you can usually make them bite.  This one, along with the other 5 I caught today, were right on the edge of the grass, most of them hitting the spinnerbait within a foot of the bank.  I did not catch one off from the bank today, but did have a big fish of some sort boil it at boatside when I went to lift my spinnerbait out. That I did not see what kind of fish it was gives you an idea of the water color.    I did catch this one, but he made the pictures for a totally different reason.

Mouthful of Redfish Magic.

The reason this guy is here is because sometimes you hook a fish that just plain fights, and this guy was a champ.  Not big, in fact a couple inches short of a keeper, but that did not stop him.  He grabbed it the minute it hit the water and into a big grass patch he went.  He ripped it up, thrashed and carried on, and then made a break for it, right into a duck blind.  I whipped over there with the trolling motor and was finally able to ease him back out.  If they all fought like this guy you couldn’t land a 25 lber.

There was one small downer today, while reeling the spinnerbait on a muddy high bank I thought I had oysters on the bait when it started moving sideways.  I set the hook and instead of the red run, it was a slow thumping.  Big flounder, and I mean heavy.  He came straight out and pulled off right at the boat.  To bad, he missed out being the guest of honor at a fish fry.

So for a short day not to bad.  Caught 6 with one good one, missed 2, lost 2, and lost a big flounder.  Being on the water today without a pounding wind, and at a temperature I could live with, was great.  The reds were definitely scattered today, but with fall coming they will be bunching soon.  According to Bink Grimes’ article today there are some redfish starting to bunch in the back lakes.  With this low humidity making for cooler temps, and now a good chance of rain, things are looking up.

I did not trout fish today.  The bay was off colored, so I just stuck with the reds.  It wasn’t fast by any means, but one just often enough to fish until 2.  What makes a good day?  In this case the simple fact I was fishing in better weather and tide was enough.  But it did not hurt to catch a few.  And as far as losing that big flounder, it felt as big as any I ever put in the boat,  and it would not have hurt my feelings if it had had a better ending.   But it never would have happened if I wasn’t fishing, so no great loss.

Tomorrow morning it is back to Coleto, I just can not resist.  We have a chance for some clouds, and maybe even rain tomorrow, and it could be a good day to bass fish.  Out at daylight in the morning throwing the watermelon red worms on flat grassy points,  shouldn’t take long to see if that pattern is still working.

I did want to say one more thing.  Almost every single bass you see on this website, and the majority of the coastal fish, get a little CPR.  Catch-Photo-Release.  I only keep fish that will be eaten soon.  Over the years I have had fish in the freezer way to long, and it is something I just do not let happen now.   This is not a back handed stab at folks who keep their limit, as long as  we all are following the law there should be no criticism.  Before you keep your next fish though please be sure you have eaten the ones in the freezer.  Be nice to the fish, catch and release works. Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines