Fish Catching Travel

                                                      Fish Catching Travel

After spending a couple of long days at POC I finally can sit down and catch up on the fishing news.  Day 1 I fished with my friend Chris, our primary goal was to potentially catch some big bait for the shark fishing tournament next week.  Day 2 I was lucky enough to be able to share the day with Todd from Austin.  Let me tell you what a difference a day makes.  As I have only been here for 5 years I am still learning every time I hit the Gulf.

Day 1

When Chris and I left the ramp about 7:30 it was cloudy and windy with a chance of rain.  Well both happened all day.  We first headed to the Pass area and started looking for some jacks.  On our way we noticed birds working but as we were looking for big shark bait, we kept on going.  But in the time I have spent fishing the coast I have never seen the birds working like they were in so many places.  And that was everywhere.  We saw them working all day from the Pass to Big Bayou, and everywhere in between.  I guess the front had everybody on the chew.

We saw lots of action like this all day.

We started looking for jacks.  As usual the birds were over more lady fish than anything else.  And during the day we caught a bunch of those, some were pretty big and in the cooler they went for shark bait.

Chris did catch a nice bait jack on topwater right in the pass.  We did not stay there long as the wind was blowing from the north into the pass and with the tide coming in the swells were big.

We kept hunting and pecking where we saw birds or surface action.  We did throw a little plastics for trout, and though we caught a few, they were small.  As we headed back to use bait shrimp for some sheepsheads in the ICW we saw another bunch of birds, so we headed that way.  And then we saw another group of fish working on the south side of Barroom.  We let them come to us and they were some of those really big jacks.  Now I was using a low profile small reel, which turned out to be problem.  When they came up right by the boat I just flipped the Skitter Walk and reeled it.  I was hooked up immediately with one of those giant jacks that prowl the Texas Coast.

Now why the small reel was important.  With 15lb. test it does not hold all that much, and the second that fish ate that topwater he was off to the races.  I hollered at Chris that it’s going to spoil me, start the boat.  That fish already had about 75% of my line when Chris started the boat.  As soon as he got moving he jumped up to pull the trolling motor out and the boat of course started to turn in a circle.  I helplessly watched as my line peeled off, got to the last wrap and popped.  Bummer, but funny.  There went $15 worth of line and bait.   I have not been spooled in a long time and I am always amazed at how powerful a really big forked tail fish can be.  That whole episode took about 30 seconds at most.

So we watched for more, but as usual they were fast moving and we did not see them resurface.  Next we headed into the ICW to use dead shrimp and see if we could catch some sheepshead.  That did not work out, but boy was the snapper fishing good.  One I caught was big for those guys, and before we ran out of the shrimp we put about 8 in the cooler.  We called it a day so we would have time for a little dove hunting.  So with one jack and a pile of big lady fish, our bait gathering trip was fairly successful.  And add a nice snapper supper, it was all good.

As a side note we left POC about 2:30 and headed over to Chris’s duck lease to check on some pumps and do a little dove hunting.  He started a pump at the lease and then we headed to a cut cornfield to shoot a couple of doves.  A couple turned out to be right as we only killed 3.  There were not tons of them flying, but it was not the bird’s fault only 3 hit the ground.  That’s dove hunting.  When we got done hunting we checked the lease where we left the boat and some of the other members were working on a pump.  We stopped and hung out a while to help.  By time we left it was dark, and with the drive back to Victoria, it would be a late night and early morning.  The doves are tonite’s appatizers to go along with the snapper dinner.  Should be delicious.

Day 2 

Todd was down from Austin wanting to fish together so we met at the dock at daylight.  It was the first time I saw his new-to-him boat.  He bought a refurbished Shallow Sport, the re-fit was done by the factory, and it was in great shape.  With a quality graph, 36 volt trolling motor, and a jammin’ stereo, it was a fishing machine.

Overnight we had our first real cold front of the fall.  Yesterday morning when I fished with Chris it was blowing and raining, the day’s high was 74, and that was at 4 in the morning.  It dropped all day, and when Todd and I left the ramp the wind was blowing out of the north and it was cool.  Before the day was out we fished from Barroom to the J Hook.  From Grass Island to Mule Slough, and lots of places in between.  And unlike yesterday there was not a bird working anywhere, the front’s effects were immediately evident.

As we fished we threw plastics, popping cork, and topwater.  I threw the topwater to much today, they were not in the mood.  We caught a small trout here and there, but until Todd caught this black drum, the cooler was empty.

Amazing how hard these thing fight.  Hard to clean, they are still good to eat.

We did a lot of drifting looking for some trout, and though we would catch one every once in a while it was slow, and they were small.  Around 2 we returned to the dock and picked up his friend Paul from Louisiana who was going to fish with him the next couple of days.

From then on they started to bite a little better as the evening wore on, the wind finally laid, and it was actually a beautiful day.  We decided to head back to Big Bayou and see if the reds were moving .  They were, but we had a hard time getting them to bite.  As a side note, we added 4 keeper trout in there on plastics and popping cork.  I stayed with the spinnerbait and finally caught a good one.

Funny how a nice big red can turn a so-so day into a good day.

This red came out of some grass and wolfed that Redfish Magic.  Where is this guy on tournament day?  This fish was exactly 27 and 7/8th inches long.  As perfect a slot fish as you could find.  We finished off the day with 6 or 7 keepers, not to bad as far as I am concerned, considering the cold front.

It was nice to spend the day with Todd, meet his friend Paul, and get to fish out of his new-to-him boat.  After years of being in charge, running the boat, the trolling motor, and often the whole show, I am finally learning to let others take the lead.  We can all take a little away from that lesson.  Fishing is not always about catching them, it is more than that.  In this case it was a little bit of catching with a whole lot of fun with friends.  A great way to spend the day.

A beautiful end to a good day.

It would have been hard to have any 2 days be more different.  Day 1 the front is coming and everything was on the move.  Day 2 they took a break for most of the day after the big front, and then slowly bit better as the day wore on.  Each day was different, and the fish reacted completely different and predictably.  Hopefully as time goes on I will get a little better at dealing with post cold front trout.  With winter coming on I should get plenty of opportunity to work on that.

So thanks for stopping in.  I have not made a decision what is next on the fishing calendar.  I just know there will be a next and I will report it to you as soon as I can.  Keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

My brother Jeff, alias Shoe Dog, was able to sneak away from work Monday so we decided to meet at Fayette County.  We were on the water at 7:30 as several other boats began to hit the ramp.  As we always have a good trip there we were anticipating a good day.  It was my personal favorite weather for bass fishing, wet and windy.

The wind was blowing so we started in the middle of a big cove throwing jerk bait.  In the first 30 minutes I put 5 in the boat, all on the Strike King jerk bait in a blue/shad.  They were in about 3 foot of water and whacking it pretty good.  To bad that did not last.

We kept working along grass beds but they were not having a jerk bait, when they went off it they were done.  So on the next bank, which had some wind on it, I threw a 1/4 ounce crawdad jig with a Rage Craw trailer.               

A nice one on the jig and Rage Craw.

As the day progressed we just were not catching them all that well.  In fact almost all the fish we caught were really shallow, some in 2 foot.  We just could not quite figure it out, but if there was some of that green grass, you could get a bite.

    Jeff caught this one jerking a shallow running Shad Rap.

During the day we threw topwater, crankbait, jerk bait, spinnerbait, jigs and God knows what else.  It would be a couple of bites and then nothing for a while.  One thing though, when they hit that jig and Rage Craw they were eating it.  If you could shake it on top of some grass and then pop it off they would really smack it.  Jeff lost the big fish of the day on the jig and Craw.  And for me it was the most consistent.

Not sure what he caught this one on. 

I wish I could share some great tale of woe, or fill you in on some great secret, but that was not today.  It is funny when what you think will be killer just does not work out that way.  We have had some fabulous days on Fayette, so I guess it was time to get put in our place.

Another Fayette fatty.  Of the 20 – 25 we caught today about half were like this.

It really tells you how spoiled one can get on a lake that has really good fishing.  When catching over 20 fish, and having a shot at a big one, is slow, it tells you how good that lake can be.  I am sure if we had another day we could have narrowed it down even more.  It just got slower and slower as the day wore on and finally about 4:00 Jeff said he was done.

Now one way you can tell how the fishing is going is by the number of trailers in the lot.  There is another thing you can learn, when you get back to the ramp at 4:00, which I think is way early, and you are the only trailer left, the fishing is slow.  At least I like to tell my self that so I have an excuse for how many fish I did not catch.

So it was not a 50 fish day, but even when it is tough Fayette consistently produces fish.  I hope to get back there at least once before Christmas.  Tomorrow is a get my stuff together day, and then it is back to the Gulf Wednesday and Thursday.  As long as the wind does not blow it should be a good couple of days.  So keep stopping in, I really do appreciate it, and I will keep reporting it like it was.

Good Luck and Tight Lines 

Fish Catching Travel

It is pouring outside, a great thing for us here in South Texas so I am stuck in the house.  We are still a foot down in rainfall this year, and by the looks of it we may actually get a big bump.  With a trip to Fayette planned for the morning hopefully it will be out of here by then.  But until then keep on coming down, we need it.

I did want to share a few more pictures from our recent trip to Gulf Shores.  Even though I did not get to fish, the opportunities that the area presented were numerous.  I saw some nice pictures of redfish and a few big trout in the stores, which just made it worse for me. Having to stay down in the condo with bait and fish working the beach without a breath of wind drove me crazy.

There were lots of rays riding the waves after Tropical Storm Karen petered out.

View of the bay from the back of the condo, it all looked fishable.

The view from our condo of the beach.  Dead calm, fish working, and I was laid up with my back.

My wife’s Aunt Dot, the artist, and her son David.  They live in Birmingham and we always look forward to seeing them.

So the trip had little to offer me in the fishing department, except longingly looking out from the condo.  But Gulf Shores is the kind of place we love to visit.  It is all about the water, fishing, and seafood.  We had a good time seeing her family, and at about 10 hours from here not that killer a drive.

Topwater

Other than that little bit of information the only other thing on my fishing mind is the topwater bite at the coast.  I was real happy with Friday’s trip.  (below)  Since it started a couple of weeks ago it has been very consistent.  And one side benefit is that the bigger fish are wanting it now.  Most of my fish have come on the Skitter Walk, but I have caught some on the Strike King KVD.  Chrome has seemed to be the color, but bone and blue have had their moments.  Usually in the fall they seem to like a little smaller topwater, but that is not the case right now.  A big bait is catching bigger trout right now.  Maybe the number of bites may be less, but the quality more than makes up for it.

In the morning it is off to an early start on Fayette.  I hope to shoot a little video tomorrow.  I really have learned how hard it is to get big fish on video when you only have an hour of battery.  You just have to put it on and hope for the best.  But I have noticed the good ones come right after the battery kicks the bucket, one of life’s little annoyances.

With a couple of days at he Gulf this week, along with Fayette, I should have lots to report.  So keep stopping in, I appreciate each and every one of you who do.  Thanks.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

Of course I woke up an hour before I planned to, but the fishing clock was on fast forward.  It was the anticipation of throwing some topwater that got me up early, and it ended up working out just fine.

Initially I was headed to Indianola, but I was so far down the road I had plenty of time to get to Froggie’s by sunup so I kept on going.  The wind was blowing some when I got there, but the water color looked just right.  So off to Big Bayou I went and out came the Skitter Walk, the same one I caught on last time, and it wasn’t long before I caught my first keeper.

                                                A great day to be fishing.

The first bite of the morning.  Wanted you to see the Skitter Walk we have been catching them on.

It became real apparent real fast that the pattern was anywhere there was a point or a drain with wind and water flowing around it.  And when you would get to where the wind and current hit the calm spot, there was the trout.

A good one, she smoked it.

From that point on I was using it aggressively in the walk the dog motion and it seemed they wanted it moving right along.  When you would hit the perfect current/calm combo it was just a matter of throwing it to the bank and working it out.  From about 7:15 until they quit hitting it around 11, it was fairly consistent.

This was the average for the topwater, she just made the picture cut because she smacked it at the boat.  Cool bite.

I ended up fishing from Big Bayou to the old Coast Guard station.  Find a drain with falling tide and catch one or two.  I did try to re-fish some of the places but it was definitely catch some and then move on.  I did miss several more nice fish, caught some small ones, and lost a big red before they started to just boil it less and less.

So I switched to plastics, a 4″ paddle tail in Electric Chicken on a 1/16oz. jig head.  They wanted it jerked right along and I got several big bites, to bad I managed to lose 2 good trout and had one big ass red break me off.

This guy thumped it and was the best for the day.

After the trout slowed down around noon I decided to throw some Strike King Redfish Magic.  The wind had picked up so I hit some grass banks, both flat and channel hoping to whack a good one.  I had already caught a couple of small ones, lost a big one on topwater and had another real nice one break my line.

I took a picture of the first one I caught on the Redfish Magic, to bad it was the biggest.

Over the next few banks I put 3 reds in the boat, but they were all small.  Then a good shower came and I called it a day.  It turned out to be a good morning.  I am not sure how many keeper trout I put in the boat, but it was close to a limit.  The nice thing was they kept hitting the topwater until later in the morning.  I think if the wind had been down some it might have been a better bite even later in the morning.  But who is complaining.  The topwater bite is on and should hold nice and steady for the next couple of months, give or take the first really cold front of the year.

I will be fishing with Todd on Thursday and I can not wait.  The wade fishing should be good and with them on topwater I am looking forward to it.  Monday it is off to Fayette County for some bass fishing.  I will probably try to fit a morning trip to Indianola in on Wednesday.  When it is like this, it is time to keep after them.  Throw your favorite topwater next time you head to the coast, you may be surprised.

So thanks for stopping in.  I appreciate each and every one of you who reads my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

                                           Fish Catching Travel

Since I posted last, the morning after I hurt my back getting the boat off the trailer, I have been near some awesome water, and have not wet a line.  We were meeting her parents and some family in Gulf Shores Alabama and I was hoping to get in a little fishing.  To bad I was down on my back.  If I am to laid up to fish you know it was rough.  Thank goodness it is getting better and so in the morning it is off to the Gulf for some fishing.

When we left Saturday it was looking like Tropical Storm Karen would hit the coast by time we got there.  Well it didn’t, but it sure looked like it might get ugly.

My sister-in-law took this as the storm approached.  She is a pro, check out her site below.

Karen really never amounted to much other than a little rain Sunday afternoon.  When it broke up it was amazing at the beach.  The sea was flat, birds and bait everywhere with the occasional big splash.  To bad I only saw it from the balcony of the condo.  But my back just was not having it.  I do know it looked good and so did the lagoon and intercoastal.  I will definitely be back there to fish some time.

My friend Clyde up in Arkansas sent me these couple of good fish the other day.  His note said he hadn’t been out in a while, but it sure looks like he made up for it.  The fishing on Bull Shoals and Norfork has been great the last couple of years and there sure are some nice fish being caught.  Hope I make it up there this spring.

That’s what I am talking about.

Looking at this picture brings back lots of fond memories of fish I just don’t catch here.  If you are not familiar with them, the one in his right hand is a Kentucky and the one in his left hand is a smallmouth.  Both of these are really nice ones and that smallmouth is a real good one.  The fall bite is on in the mountains of Arkansas and they will have some real good fishing through January, especially if it does not get to cold.

I also got a call from a friend and they are headed to Sportsmans Resort on the White River next weekend and they wanted me to go.  To bad  I have the Shark-A- Thon the next week or I would.  There is nothing like a fall White River float while you load the boat with rainbows and browns.  It is one of the great fishing destinations in the world.  If you ever wanted to try and catch a big striper, bass, walleye, crappie and 3 or 4 different trout species in one trip, and do it all within a couple of miles of each other, the Twin Lakes Area of North Arkansas is the place.

So tomorrow I am hitting the water.  With the good topwater fishing going on it has been driving me crazy sitting on the couch.  Hopefully the fish will be jumping in the boat.  Sorry of the lack of reports but I intend to remedy that starting tomorrow.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

My photographer sister-in-law’s site.  Thanks for the photo Barb.

http://www.barbgrabill.com/#

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

As you all know I have a serious fishing addiction.  And living in Victoria provides an addict like me with the best of both worlds.  With the Gulf only an hour away, and Coleto Creek only a half hour, I am sometimes torn as to where to head to.  Tough life wouldn’t you say?  In fact, I often get comments from my readers that I am living a dream and some of them are living vicariously through me.  They are right as I am so fortunate to be in that position.  Good luck and a wonderful wife have led me here and I realize how lucky I am.

So I finally decided to hit Coleto today.  I think with the fishing so good in both places I may start fishing every other one, every other time.  Since I have caught several big bass on Coleto lately, and fished Keller last time, it was a simple decision, throw a buzzbait.

Let me offer a little information on fall buzzbait fishing on Coleto.  First, it is not an every cast kind of thing.  It is a matter of covering lots of water and making lots of casts.  It seems every day that they are in a different place.  Second, that place has grass, period.  Sometimes they are near grass on the bank, sometimes they are on the isolated patches off the bank in big grass patches, or in grass off the deeper points.  You just have to keep throwing it, covering lots of water.  Last, it catches big fish.  Now at times it can be slow, and you are not going to get a ton of bites, but with some perseverance you can get that big bite.  It just depends on how hard you want to work.

Today was no different than I just said.  I fished grass in lots of places and caught one here and there all morning.  Most of them tended to just pull it under.  About 10:30 I caught a nice one I got on video, but on reviewing it you could not see to much so I decided not to use it.  About 10 minutes after the battery died, and I put the video camera away, of course I got the big bite.

She was one heavy fish and I can only imagine what she would have weighed in the spring.   She absolutely killed it.

This fish, like the other good ones I have caught lately, have been a reaction strike.  Reel it by the right clump and they smoke it.  But as I have said, it takes a lot of clumps to get the big bite.  But it is fall and as we finally get the cooler weather around the corner the fishing on Coleto will only get better.

Now buzzbait is by no means the only answer, it is just my favorite way to catch them.  I am sure they can be caught on your favorite bait, you just have to work that grass.  The advantage of the buzzbait is you can cover so much ground.  By the same token, I keep moving and I am sure I bypass other fish in the same area.  I think next trip I will wait until I smoke a good one, then throw a jig or some plastics in that same area.  I have not thrown the Strike King Swim Jig lately and it may just be the ticket swimming it around the grass.

I did catch a couple on plastics and 3 on topwater.  As they begin their fall feed the topwater fishing should really get going.  I know hunting season is here, as is football and all the other things that make fall so nice.  But if you get a chance to go, go.  And the next day we have with a light rain and overcast after a cold front you can be sure I will be on Coleto trying to catch that really big fish.  There is no better time than that.

On a completely different subject I did a really stupid thing this morning.  I usually back the boat in the water until I see the back end float, then hop on the trailer and push the boat off as I hop in.  So this morning I do it the same way I always do but after the little push the boat does not slide off so I give it a big push, and hurt my back, and I mean good.  To bad I did not unhook the safety chain on the bow eye.  But I was at the lake so I hobbled back to the boat after parking the truck and crawled in the boat and went.  No use wasting a perfectly good trip to the lake.   But it sure was hell getting out of the truck at the house and putting the boat to bed.  Nice one Doug.

Next it will be either the Powderhorn or Port O’Connor, I’ll probably decide which when I head out.  Nothing like making up your mind on the way, you just never know.  I do know one thing, the last couple of trips to the Gulf the topwater fishing has been good.   We have caught them all the way up till mid afternoon so if you head that way do not give up on it to early.  Whether buzzbaiting or topwater nothing beats our fall fishing.  So keep on stopping in and I will keep telling you what I know.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

It seems like I have not been to Keller Bay in quite some time.  So with the weather looking ok it was off to Keller.  We had some rain at the house, and on the way there were big thunderheads all around Keller, but even though they passed all around, it stayed perfect.

I decided to start on the point at the mouth of the bay.  With light winds I threw a topwater, but without success other than a few blowups, most of which looked like small trout.  So then it was the bank on the right leading in for reds.  The water color was terrible, and when combined with high tide, that bank usually is not productive, and that was the case this morning.  It only took about half of that bank before I realized it was not happening.  So it was time for a move.

I cranked up and headed for the back end.  There is a duck blind that sits in the bay on a small flat where I have caught them on top in the past.  I motored past it towards the 2 duck blinds on the bank and stopped in less than 2 foot of water.  The wind was light and the drift was perfect so I let the boat drift out towards the duck blind and kept with the topwater.

I had a couple of blow ups on a bone colored topwater but they did not hook up.  So I switched to a chrome Skitterwalk and started catching them.

One of the 4 trout I caught there.  While I had lots of bites they were small ones.

While I was drifting I was reminded of one of my favorite fall happenings, the gathering of the reds.  During the hour or so I spent there I saw 3 or 4 big schools of reds.  It seemed like every time they went past the boat I had just made a long cast and could not get the topwater back in time.  Then I got a good cast at one bunch, and he smoked it.

                                                 No giant, but he was willing.

When this guy came to the boat there was several of his brothers following it.  I ended up making 3 drifts out from the shallow water along the flat around the boat dock before I decided to move.  But the reds were there for sure, but I had other places I wanted to try so I headed to the north high bank along the big pasture.

That bank has some good deep grass on the far end towards the ramp.  I started with a paddle tail and put a couple of small trout in the boat, but they were not what I was looking for.  Then the tide started to slowly fall and the bite picked up.

The trout on that bank were a lot better than the ones in the back, or it may simply been a matter of the tide starting to move.

For some reason historically fishing that bank it has always been a pretty good popping cork bank.  So with that in mind I put on a 1/16 jig head about a foot and a half below the cork.  My favorite bait for that is the Strike King Rage Shrimp in white with a chartreuse tail.  And always use the scent that comes with it, it works.  And one thing I like about the Rage Shrimp is you can catch tons of fish on it before it comes apart.  In fact I have had the same one on for the last 5 or 6 times I have fished the Gulf.  Be sure if you use it to break apart the little legs so it vibrates.

On the first pass down that bank I caught 4 or 5 keepers and missed several more.  The way that bank lays it has a flat that goes out from the bank and then it drops off from about 2 into 4 feet real quick.  The fish position themselves on that small drop as the water falls off the flat on a falling tide.  And that is where they were.

And like always there was a particular way they wanted it popped.  Today they wanted small quicker pops, and after 4 or 5 pops I would stop it and they would pull it under.  When you are fishing it like that be sure to take up the slack immediately so you do not have to much slack so you can get an effective hook set.

Every once in while I would alternate with the paddle tail, but the trout were not seeming to want it the same as they did the popping cork.  But I did have a nice red smack it, and they are such a good time on a light rod and 8lb test.

Love those Keller Bay reds!

It was about 1 when I put this guy in the boat.  So I tossed him back to fight another day, reached down and hit the trolling motor, and nothing.  No power, nothing.  The one I have on the skiff is a Motor Guide and since I bought it less than 2 years ago I have had tons of problems with it.  I knew exactly what it was, and the day was over.  To bad as the fish had really started biting, and I needed it to keep the boat in the perfect position to make the casts to the little drop where they were staging eating bait falling off the flat.

So it was an early end to a pretty good morning.  Around 10 trout and a couple of reds will do.  It would have been a great day as I had not even gotten to my 2 favorite redfish banks in Keller and the better trout were just starting to bite.  With the high tide falling, Keller has a couple of banks that are usually covered up with reds, and with my eternal fisherman optimism I am sure I would have whacked them.  I do know that the Keller Bay reds are really starting to school up, some quiet drifting in the back with a light wind and good polarized sunglasses could result in some awesome sight fishing.

So off to work on the trolling motor.  One thing about fishing 3 days a week, it is hard on equipment.  There is more maintenance to be done on boats and equipment, it just comes with the territory.  Plus, if I want to go tomorrow, which I do, it is time to get off my butt and fix that trolling motor.

I appreciate all of you who come here and I am amazed that the website just topped 75,000 visits this year.  Not bad since we only had 69 the first month just over 2 years ago.  Who would have thunk it!  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

Fish Catching Travel

When I got up this morning it was cloudy and looked a little sketchy.  The weather forecast called for showers through the morning, especially on the coast.  So with that outlook I decided to head to the lake, though the plan was for Keller Bay.  The forecast later in the week looks great so it will be off to Keller on Wednesday.

I did not get to the lake until 9, nothing like a late start when I should have been out there at daylight, but you live with what you have.  I started off down lake and fished my way to the power plant.  I basically threw the book at them and had a total of 6 bites.  No where seemed to be the spot.  The first fish came on the watermelon red Senko style bait, but that was the only bite I got on plastics.

So I moved to some shallower grass flats and managed 1 on a buzzbait.

Not all that big, but when it is slow I will take him anytime.

With fall right around the corner it is time to find those fish on those big grass flats but this morning they just were not there.  I hit several points all the way to the creek near the power plant, throwing the Senko and buzzbait but slow is giving it a break.

At this point the wind quit and the sun came out.  It was completely flat so out came the topwater minnow.  I put 2 in the boat, both small, right across from the plant intake on that channel bank.  I also missed a couple more, but it seemed like they just were not biting.  So next I did something that reminded me of the old days when I would crank up the Champion and run 15 miles to try another place.  So I turned around and ran all the way up the other arm.

After a 30 minute ride I kept throwing the Senko and just could not seem to find the right bank.  The clouds returned for just a minute around 2 so it was back to the big grass flats.  I am keeping the boat in the deepest water on the outside edge and buzzing that bait over the tops of isolated heavy grass patches.  And it began to work.  So right in the middle of the day, barely a breath of wind, the fish began to bite.  Over the next hour and a half I put 9 more bass in the boat on buzzbait out of the grass patches.  They simply turned on.

This is why I throw the buzzbait in the fall.  This girl came out of an isolated patch on the end of a point and hit me with about 3 foot of line out.

Now are there other ways to catch fish on Coleto?  Of course there is.  In fact there may be a better way to catch them on those big grass flats.  With the water so clear right now a fluke may be a great choice, or even pitching a jig to them.  But no matter what you throw, the fish are in that grass.  It may take fishing several of them, and some seem to be completely bare, but when you finally get on one that has fish on it they are catchable.

We are still dealing with a lake that has fallen and seems to be even down a little from last week.  But fall is right around the corner.  The weather report says we may not even hit 80 degrees Sunday, and possibly even drop into the 50’s.  That should really begin to turn them on.  So I will be waiting and watching for the perfect set of conditions, a good cold front followed by a cloudy misty day.  If I had to pick one day to fish in the fall, that would be it.  We are almost there.

So all in all not a bad day.  I put 1 in the boat on plastic, 2 on topwater minnow, and I think 11 on buzzbait.  I was feeling like I made a mistake not going to the Gulf when I only had 4 at noon and it had cleared.  Then the bite was on, as usual you just have to keep doing what you know will work, and sometimes it actually does.  And according the weather tonight it was raining in Port Lavaca and on the coast so it worked out fine.

I told you last post it was time to fish, and catching that big fish today just bears it out.  Fall is one of the great big fish times and I intend to take full advantage of it.  And with a shark tournament coming up at the end of the month, and Falcon in the middle of November, there should be some great stories to tell.  So keep stopping in and I will keep telling what I know.  Thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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