Some nice trout caught by Chris from the POC area.
As I sit here at my computer I am mulling over just how crazy this outdoor stuff can be. I mean just how crazy is it that I have to be at my friend Chris’s house at 2:30 a.m.? Now I will be there, but I know one thing for sure, I am not quite as mad at those ducks as he is.
He did send me these pics from a hunt last week out of POC. They killed a few ducks, but the fishing ended up being the highlight of the day. Now I am sworn to secrecy concerning the where, but I will tell you one thing, it is a common place that is known for fish in the winter. In fact, I caught several good bunches there last winter. Suffice to say the back lakes, and portions thereof, are now in play.
Now I know, I should have been wearing camo paint when I fish! And now I actually know someone who has caught a good string of fish on the Manic Mullet.
And here is the bunch they all caught headed for the fryer.
He did at least tell me he caught them on a light colored Maniac Mullet on top. He said they were using it fast and they were eating it. Nothing like topping off a duck hunt with some great fishing.
So what in the heck is this?
Now here is something weird for your viewing pleasure. This “animal” was caught by a trapper near Glenco, Arkansas. My friend Clyde sent it to me with the following story. But first, what is your guess as to what this incredible animal is?
Notice that his feet are tied with duct tape, he has a stick in his mouth which is duct taped, and his head is controlled with a noose. Why? They kept it alive.
This creature weighed over 90 pounds and no one has been able to identify it yet. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission came and took DNA and blood samples in an effort to identify it. Looks like some kind of “cross” to me. So everyone there is waiting to see what comes of the testing. By whatever, this is one cool looking animal. Bigger than our Chupacabra, this may be one of things that remains a mystery. But Clyde promised to let me know as soon as they hear what it is.
Coleto remains fair, at least according to the fishing report.
Coleto has remained slow for me. Thought I have caught quite a few fish the last 3 trips, they have remained small.
Just wanted you to see the ugly truth.
This size has been fairly plentiful, but the big ones have been few and far between. I have been catching them on spinnerbait, topwater, and crankbait. Nothing has been consistent for me, and I have struggled to put the better ones in the boat.
It did look like the water has either stabilized, or maybe come up a little. The majority of the grass is dead right now, and the lake is a little easier to fish. But most of the fish I have been catching are still coming from either points or isolated patches of grass on shallower banks. But either way, they still seem to want that deep water close by.
But all is not lost, we are only a few weeks from pre-spawn. The saving grace in all this is the Gulf. The inshore fishing is hot right now. I have heard or read lots of great reports. And of course the water is a lot less crowded. So if you get a chance to hit the coast load up and go. There may be no better time.
So thanks for reading my stuff. With a duck hunt in the morning, a trip to Fayette County on Wednesday, and then a couple of days with friends on the Gulf, it is going to be a great week. So stop on in the next few days and I will try to keep up the reports. And I intend to video some of the duck hunt, so we shall see how that goes. Hopefully I will have more success “shooting” ducks on video than I do with the gun. I am such a bad shot.
Things have kind of conspired against me as far as getting out and catching a few fish the last week. I did not plan to fish the weekend, and of course we got a good cool front with high winds that put a damper on things early this week, but I was able to make it to the Gulf yesterday, and the fishing was good.
When I was in the tackle store the other day listening to the chatter, it seemed everyone who fished last weekend on the Gulf had a good bite right before the front. There are fish being caught in the barge canal, on Corkies, in the river, topwater, in apparently most places. So with those good reports off to POC I headed.
The tide was supposed to be dead low at 10:30, and then rise all afternoon. And to go along with it, the wind was going to be around 10 mph. So with that in mind I headed to POC. I put the boat in, and burned about $3 worth of gas to run to the Barroom Bay shoreline. I chose it specifically because the timing would be right, a steady rise all day. For once picking the right bank based on the tide alone worked out.
The bank on the backside of the barge canal in Barroom has a big flat down the whole side, with grass patches on the edge of the drop. When I got there the grass was in about 2′ of water, and the flat was dry. I hoped to hit the rise just right as it flooded the flat.
I stopped about half way down the bank and hopped out. Right off the bat I caught a rat red. That would be the first of well over 15 rats I caught and released on that bank. I basically waded about half of that bank, fishing a while, then moving the boat. As I did not start until after 11:00, I decided that I would make a stand on that bank and not move.
Over the next few hours the fishing was very consistent. I caught all the fish on the D.O.A. C.A.L. in the Electric Chicken. This has been my best saltwater bait for the last few months. It catches everything that swims.
Here is the 3″ electric chicken that I have been catching on for a couple of months now. I did pick up some 5″ in the electric chicken, it is getting time to catch a big trout.
This time of year as the fish slow down, and when combined with the dropping temperatures, I fish this bait on a 1/16th oz. jig head and 10lb. line. It allows the bait to fall a little slower, and also you can work it slower without getting hung up so much. Just hop it off the bottom with a double jerk, and let it fall. Right now I am feeling about half of them hit it, the rest are there when you lift up. That is what makes that hop off the bottom so important. You often hook them without even feeling the bite.
Been a while since I caught a nice heavy flounder like this one, and boy did he taste good last night!
Basically I stayed in water a little over knee deep and fished the outside edge of the grass. Most of the time I fished parallel, working the grass edge. It was one of those days when you just never knew what would hit next. But one thing was real clear, if you miss one, throw it right back in the same spot and you will probably catch one on the next cast. That happened multiple times yesterday. I did throw both Crokie and topwater without success. But since the bite was so consistent, I did not throw them long.
Conservatively I caught well over 25 fishing the grass edge. Of those only 5 ended up on the stinger, but who cares. For me as you know, I love to catch the inshore slam of a keeper redfish, trout, and flounder. Yesterday I even topped that by adding a black drum to the mix.
Here is my inshore slam, not sure what you call it when you add a black drum, but I sure did like catching them. Eating them will be just as fun!
So all in all a good trip. The fish bit all the way until I quit about 4. One thing I have learned right now is that while bank choice is of course the most important thing, you can catch fish anywhere you like to fish. Be it the river, the barge canal, isolated reefs, they all seem to have fish on them right now. So if you get a chance to go, go. Some times we get hung up on going “where they are biting.” Fishing is about figuring them out, so if you do go, don’t put all your stock in reports, do what you do best, where you do it best. The fish are biting on the Gulf, and there is no better time to catch some fish.
So thanks for reading my stuff. It is about 9:30 am and I just can not decide where I am going to go today. The Gulf? Coleto? Oh the choices! So no matter what, I will make a decision in the next hour, and off I will go. I still have an order from the Yankees up north for some crappie for the Christmas fish fry. And since I only have one in the freezer, I better do something about that soon. Oh the pressure!
I was under the weather for a few days so had not hit the water for a couple of days. When I got up this morning I felt good enough to head to Coleto, so off I went. My main goal was to catch a few crappies for a Christmas fish fry my father-in-law in Iowa.
Lots of gators out right now, this guy is big enough to be scary.
First I stopped at the bridge, a well know spot on Coleto with a few brush piles scattered around the pilings. I caught at least 15 small bass on the crappie jig, but no crappie. I worked my way up lake hitting trees in at least 10 feet of water. And it was still a small bass killing. They were on every tree and log I tried. So next time you aren’t catching bass, remember there are lots of them in Coleto. So with small bass on every tree I fished, out came the Rapala shallow running Shad Rap.
For the next 5 hours I caught the snot out of them. What is interesting about that is that a month ago I was catching a much better class of fish. So while the numbers have climbed dramatically, the quality has declined. But it is good to know that the lake is full of small fish. As soon as the weather cools some, and we get closer to the spawn, fishing should be great. In fact, I only caught one keeper the whole time. So no pics, there was nothing to look at – well not really.
Well maybe there was something to look at!
But an interesting thing did happen. After fishing for crappie for an hour first thing and not catching one, I caught a real nice one on the Rapala. That bait will catch anything. So I grab the crappie rod, make a cast, get a bite, and break the rod in half. I think it was the second time I used it. On average I seem to break at least one rod a year setting the hook. Drag maybe a little to light? Cheap rod? Operator error, who knows. Either way I just caught a good crappie, and now I had no extra crappe rod. I do have 5 bass rods in the boat, at least 4 light enough for crappie at the house, and I have no spare with me. Nice work on my part.
As far as where, I caugh fish on every bank I tried. I only threw a buzzbait for a little while, and did add topwater, which I caught several on. So things are actually looking up and the good bite is right around the corner. The gators were out, lots of geese headed over, and a nice flock of turkey on the bank right before dark. And I was also lucky enought to see a buck chasing a couple of does. So the rest of the outdoors knows it is winter, it is time for the weather to act like it. It appears winter will be here Sunday night.
This little guy liked the heat of the rocks on the bridge in late afternoon.
Random Thoughts
I was thumbing through the Bass Pro catalog the other night and notice that there marine service was rated as the “Champion”. Made me laugh. Lets see, the console not connected to the floor and breaking lose, the 50 amp breaker on a trolling motor that requires a 65 amp, wire spliced on the on board charger which causes 2 failures even though it says right in the directions do not splice, especially when it is run in the area of the bilge, the nose hitting the frame on loading, the trailer lights that they just got working when we picked the boat up, you can guess how long that kept working, the 60 day stay for the first basic service, and on and on. Obviously when they took the survey they forgot to call me, but I still love the boat.
Catching Small Ones
As the small ones are biting right now the thought crossed my mind that Coleto would make a great slot lake. At least with the number of fish in Coleto there is no fear we are going to run out anytime soon. Where do you come down? Is catching a lot of fish better than catching a few big ones?
Football
Now I know this is not about football, or any of the other things I rant about occasionally, but I am happy with the Arkansas hire of Bielema as the new Razorback coach. Of course the results are yet to be seen, but this may be a home run. Nothing can be worse than last year. Go Hogs.
And how about that Johnnie Football! I had the good fortune to see him play this year and it took about 2 seconds to see he is the real deal. When you add him to a great coaching hire they are going to be a handful. I wish him good luck Saturday, he earned it.
And what about those Longhorns? According to reports Johnnie Football wanted to go there, but he was not offerred. Whoever was responsble for that call must have been smoking crack that day, a terrible decision, and I love it.
And one final word about football. Will Jerry Jones please fire the GM of the Dallas Cowboys. Oh thats right, he would have to fire himself. Now Jerry is no idiot, you do not get that rich being stupid. But in this case he is delusional. Usually someone who has made that much money realizes the importance of hiring people who know exactly what they are doing in a specific area. Somewhere along the line his pride has gotten the best of him. It is time to bring in a an experienced GM who knows football.
Coleto 12/5/12.
With an order for a crappie fry in Iowa over Christmas I headed back out to Coleto to try to catch a couple. Now I have done exactly zero crappie fishing there. Of course when I was guiding in Arkansas, crappie fishing was a staple of the spring trips. So armed with 2 rods, remember yesterdays fiasco, I began to hit trees and stick ups on the upper end.
Just like yesterday the action was fast and furious….with small bass. I mean those things are everywhere, and they are from about 4″ to 10″. But crappie, now that is another story. I fished for several hours and just did not hit the right spot. I fished shallow, deep, and somewhere in between. Guess I am just going to have to keep working at it.
I did catch a bunch of fish on topwater. A balsa minnow bait about 4″ long seems to be the top choice. And points still seem to be the place to do it. I think I caught 4 or 5 keepers, nothing big, but lots of action. I am just twitching it along on the surface and they are blowing up on it. I did manage to break my line on a big one, rookie mistake with a new rod and reel. The thing I hated about it was those dang Rapalas are about $8.
So while the fishing was not the greatest for good fish the last couple of days, it is really fun if you like fish blowing up on the topwater. And I caught them from the dam to the upper end, with grass and points being the main areas. There are lots of fish shallow. It would be a great time to take a kid fishing, plenty of action.
So thanks for reading my stuff. I promise to write a little more regularly. I can tell you one thing, with the big weather change coming I can promise you I will fish more. So stop in anytime.
As many of you know I occasionally make a video when I am fishing. Well today I decided to just run the camera until the battery ran out and see just exactly how many I could catch. So in 96 minutes of battery life I caught the fish in the following video.
Making small videos gives me a real appreciation of how many of the fishing shows are produced. They have the advantage of hours of tape, I seem to get an hour and a half. So getting the better ones to cooperate on tape is not all that easy. And it sometimes boils down to just when and where I turn it on. So before I get to the specifics, here it is.
At least I changed to the right lure.
The lake continues to fall, summer continues to hang around, and the fishing on Coleto continues to be the same. We are just not in a winter pattern yet. I am still finding my fish on shallow banks with grass clumps. I am trying to stay in about 8 foot no matter where the bank is, and make long casts.
As far as the buzzbait, color has not seemed to matter, but a medium speed has been the ticket. This is the first trip in a while I have not caught a pretty good fish, though I was happy with the last one on the video above.
The fish will hit the topwater, but they are small. I believe that as long as the lake continues to drop and the weather stays hot, the fishing will just be inconsistent. I am sure though that plastics are probably the ticket right now, I just like throwing this other stuff. I still get excited after all these years when I can see them blow up on it.
I have spoke with several folks about the crappie fishing, and in a word it has been inconsistent. One guy caught a nice bunch 2 days ago, and only had one when I talked with him. I spoke with a nice gentleman who I see crappie fishing all the time. He had 23 I believe last week, but said that was the best he had done in a while. Of course his comment was the same as mine, bring on winter.
Winter fishing, even in Texas can be the best time of the year to fish. And that hold true in both power plant lakes and regular lakes. The fish bunch up, and can get in a real pattern in both where they are, and when they eat. So it may seem kind of crazy to be withing for cold weather, but it is almost Christmas.
On another completely different subject. We just bought our tickets for Istanbul, should be one great trip. As we will be also going to a Greek island, who knows, maybe I will get to wet a line somewhere. And I am just making the first arrangements for a return trip to Caye Caulker in Belize. Shoedog and my friend Clyde from Arkansas are going this time and it should be great. Nothing like a bonefish ripping of 75 yards of line in gin clear water 8″ deep. Or maybe there is! How about a 60lb tarpon exploding out of the water in the moonlight? Gets me all shaky just thinking about it. And since I am doing a new fish bucket list this year, guess I will add a permit. I just hope I do not contract the LL Bean disease and start dressing like a fly fishing yuppie.
So thanks for reading my stuff. I will be headed to the the gulf a day or two this week, and maybe add Fayette to this weeks wish list list. So stop in anytime.
One of the great things about writing a blog is that you have the majority of your fishing trips recorded. And that you gives you a great advantage, just go back and look at what you were doing last year. So I decided to review, and last year at this time I was fishing the Lavaca River. Now I had thought about going there the last couple of weeks, but was not sure if it was time as it has not been as cold as it was last year. So I loaded up and headed that way, and one look at the trucks and trailers parked at the ramp let me know the fish were biting.
I headed down river about half way to the bay and started on a bank with good sand bars on it and immediately started catching fish. I probably put 10 or so in the boat on the first bank. Plastics were the bait of the day. And from my notes of last year I threw that purple Gobi imitation, which they liked, and a Chicken on a Chain 3″ plastic paddle tail, both on a 1/16th ounce jig head.
Nothing like winter river fishing. Though I was not keeping fish, I caught a limit over the morning, most in this size range.
The fish were bunched up, and just easing down the river bank, tossing the bait to the bank and hopping it off the bottom back to the boat was the way to go. Most of them seemed to come about 3 foot deep. Some would absolutely smoke it, others were just there when you lifted up. Watching your line really helps and occasionally you would see it jump.
It was pretty clear how bunched up they were. That is not to say you can not catch one here and there, but usually if you caught one, you caught several, and it was well worth working that area over using the trolling motor. As far as the type of bank, the only thing that I noticed was sand seemed to have fish on it, but it was not a given. It was simply a matter of drifting down the river and working it off the bottom back to the boat.
I did head up river, and though I caught a few, they were not the average size those down river were. Also, I did not put a red or a flounder in the boat, though I talked to a couple of guys who have been catching some nice flounder there. So all in all a good day. It should remain pretty stable for a while, as long as the weather does, and we do not get a gully washer that floods the river with fresh water.
One word of caution. There have been several break ins at the ramp. Be sure to lock your car and hide anything worth anything. No sense in tempting the maggots.
A short video of the plastics.
So I will be headed back to the river in the next day or two. And for those of you who will email me telling me not to talk about the river, I am sorry. My purpose here has always been to inform readers, and maybe even help them catch a few more fish. I get emails all the time from people who do not want me writing about “their” spot. Well folks if I do not write about anywhere that is someone’s “spot”, I would have nothing to write about. When I asked my readers about whether they wanted me to not be so specific, it was hands down no. People want to learn The water is more crowded, and the use of GPS and maps have expanded everyone’s range. So as fisherman we have to evolve, and learning to catch fish and deal with the pressure is just part of modern fishing.
Who would have thought that when I guided my first clients out of a 17′ cigar bass boat with a 70 hp on it that people would have 24′ cats with a 300 on it. Or that the cool flasher unit I had would be replaced by 3D plotting graphs? And I remember when a put my hands on my first Fenwick graphite rod, and now look at the stuff we have today. The world is changing, and we fisherman have to change with it.
I would personally like to thank everyone who reads my stuff. Thanks. And I would also like to thank the following websites who are kind enough to let me post a link so that you can read the whole report. Several sites have basically accused me of trying to somehow steal people from them when I post a link to a report, which is flat out ridiculous and could not be any further from the truth. I am not selling anything, nor am I competing with any site. My goal is to try to help you catch more fish. So if you have not been to any of these sites please go, they are the best. They want you to catch more fish.
After having such a good time fishing with Brian who I met at the ramp, we decided to hit the lake again. He was armed with new baits and another rod, I of course had the 50 pounds of crap I always carry. It was foggy so we decided to fish our way up lake as the fog lifted.
We started on the bank just past the dam, and I don’t think we caught one there. We kept heading up, fishing the points at the mouths of any cove that had some water. Buzzbait was our first choice and over the next couple of hours as we worked up the lake we probably put maybe 8 in the boat, and only one of those was a good one.
About 10:00 we were up lake fishing a flat with grass patches out to about 10 foot deep. Brian finally had one just suck it under, he started reeling, it jumped and was gone. It was a real decent fish. He thought it was hung in the grass, and then it jumped. To bad, it was the biggest bass he ever had on, at least that he had seen.
I tried to stay near points with grass and some depth. It looks like the lake is continuing to fall, and it sure has not helped the fishing. Then about 12:00 I had one absolutely blow up on it right next to the boat. Nothing like a good one with only about 8 feet of line out. I will say one thing, this fish was not the big head small body variety, she was heavy.
This girl was one solid fish and she got a little CPR.
So basically we threw a buzzbait most of the day. I caught 4 or 5 on topwater, including a couple of nice ones. Brian threw plastics come without any success. I alternated between the buzzbait and the topwater minnow, but when it came down to it the buzzbait was the ticket. Lots of chucking and winding, but worth the work if you love big bass blowing up on things.
The further down lake we fished the less we caught. I am not sure why it is so slow at the lower end. Guess I am throwing the right thing at the wrong time, or the wrong thing at the right place but at the wrong time, you get the point. And both of the good fish today came off banks where we were sitting in 5 or 6 feet and could not reach the bank, not that I wanted to, the good fish are off the bank in isolated grass. You just have to stay with it, and put that good one in the boat when she finally hits.
And with the cool nights and warm afternoon comes the gators. We saw the guy below, and another almost as big, in basically the same place on Monday. They love those calm warm banks after a cool night.
It got nice and warm, and this guy was taking a snooze until we got close for pics, and off he went. Pretty cool. I love these things for some crazy reason.
So thanks for reading my stuff. It is off to my parents for 4 days, so no fishing for the next week or so. But then back at it. As Brian is going to be around for awhile he was more than happy to head to the bay next week.
Have a great thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am.
One of the New Year’s resolutions I made was to fish with at least 5 people I have not fished with before. I have easily passed that. And after I got that done I started thinking about just asking some random person if they wanted to go fishing. Well last week when I was taking out at Coleto I saw a guy at the ramp who was fishing off the pier. We chatted and he told me he was camping there for the month. He had been fishing from the bank with a green Zoom Fluke and was catching fish most times he fished. So I asked him if he wanted to go sometime, and yesterday we got to fish the day away.
Brian Westfall is a former resident of Victoria who is currently living in Arizona. He is back in the area to see family. He arrived at the ramp at daylight, right on time which I love, and in a couple of minutes we were off. We started up lake and of course I started with a buzzbait. Though we had a couple of hits and caught 4 it was slow. The lake was still dropping, and the night had been cool, and there was little activity. Like I said in my last Coleto report, in the fall I look for those calm banks with sun on them. They are usually the most productive in the afternoon. As it was slow I decided to just hit some places from one end to the other, and to return late afternoon up lake.
Both Brian and I caught one here or there. I caught this one just past the bridge on the Strike King Anaconda. Basically just swimming it with a 1/8th ounce slip sinker pegged to the head of the wom.
No giant, but I love the average size you catch on the swimming the Anaconda.
We basically hunted and pecked catching one here and there on fluke, buzzbait, and worm. There are still best related to the points, and I believe as long as the water keeps dropping, they will want easy access to deep water. Falling like that just seems to make them nervous.
I think we caught about a dozen when mid afternoon we headed back up lake. Once we got there the shad were flipping on the calmer warm banks. Brian threw his fluke and I went to a balsa topwater minnow. For the rest of the afternoon until dark they bit better and better.
I guess the reason I am smiling so big here is I was real glad to catch this guy. About 2 casts before this I had one a whole lot bigger than this one break my line, boy I hate that.
As light began to fade they really started biting and we boated a bunch. Brian may have set the record for the smallest bass I have ever seen caught on a fluke, they were about the same size. We finished on a point up lake and I missed a good one. The next cast I had one really eat it, and he broke me off. Then I got lucky and got the one above a couple of casts later.
They definitely wanted that minnow bait twitched under about 2″, a gentle twitch, and then they were grabbing it below the surface. You had to watch real close. And since the hooks on that bait are so small, you have to be real careful fighting them so they do not pull off. But you pay the price like I did when you don’t put enough pressure on the that they can get around something and break you off. Additionally, I am using the topwater on 15lb. test, it allows for a more subtle presentation and does not detract from the action. And the baits I am using right now are just 4″, a good shad match. And finally on that, this is the exact same bait I used so successfully from January until April. It was killer and I hope this is a sign of things to come.
So what a fun day. Brain is great company, and we shot the bull all day. He likes to fish and it was nice to have someone in the boat who is so interested in learning. When I made a suggestion about using a bait, he immediately did it, and he caught more fish as the day went on. We never did whack a big one, but maybe tomorrow. One of the great things about fishing, there is always tomorrow and one more cast.
Some random photos.
Here is a couple of pictures Clyde sent me off our Falcon trip, and a little somthing for the freezer.
Todd, alias tmart, was down at POC for the weekend and I was lucky enough to get to fish with him. Since his first trip there last year, he has managed to get down here almost once a month and is really getting the hang of it. We waded the first time when I fished with him last year and he has stuck with it.
We started on the flat running on the back side of the barge canal. We drifted around the little point and managed to put a couple of keeper trout in the boat. We caught 5 or 6 there and tmart had several blow ups on a topwater. One of the ones he caught was approaching his personal best trout. Several of them hit it while it was resting on top, and that happened several times during the day. The wind was just blowing out of the north east and was making it just a little to rough and they were missing it. I threw the Rage Shrimp in the white/chartreuse on a popping cork, which I stayed with most of the day.
Then we hit the first grass bank on the left going in to Big Bayou and caught several more trout, and I caught this flounder, again on the Rage Shrimp. And I do not want to belittle the point, but I used the same one all day. It continues to amaze me that you can catch fish on it, and unless you catch the mother load, it will last all day. The last one I had Clyde caught all of his fish on last week and it looked like brand new. The only reason it isn’t still on is that a lady fish bit it off.
Not a bad flounder. I have always considered it a success when I put a Texas slam on ice. And why we did not take a couple of more pictures I do not know. Yes I do, neither of us would stop fishing long enough to take some.
We then headed to the back side of Grass Island to fish the flat and reef. Though the bottom is soft there, it is not to bad for wading. I started off catching a trout on plastic on my first cast there, and since it was somewhat protected by the wind, off course I picked up a topwater.
I had 3 or 4 hits on it, but did not put a hook in any of them. Who knows, wrong color, to fast, to slow? Whatever it was, I could not get them to eat it. So back to the Rage Shrimp, and that was better as I caught about 6 trout there, 2 of which went in the cooler. I had one that probably made it, and tmart had the same, but they were close enough that they got cut lose. And of course when I put those others in the box we realized we both let a keeper go.
We decided to finish the day where we started on the flat in Barroom. I put a good red in the boat on a Skitter Walk. It was one of those cool topwater bites where he tracks it making the big wake, then his head comes out of the water, and he eats it in a big boil. I love those kind of bites. tmart also had several good reds on, which somehow managed to get away, both on plastics and topwater. He switched to a black/chartreuse head and hooked a good one right away, and it too came off at the boat.
It was getting late and as we finished up we saw a big school of reds working the bank. And as they had been biting the whole evening on that bank, we thought we might be able to put a couple of more in the boat before it was pitch black. Then something happened that was the worst off all the “come on man” moments I have experienced.
You know I preach a be nice to others philosophy on the water. Even when people move in on us, or someone cuts us off, it is just the better to go on than fight it. And I often see guides complaining online about being cut off, and hear stories from others about what happens when you cut off a guide, and then we had just the opposite occur.
As it is getting dark we move towards the red school when I see the lights coming way down the same bank. We put on the front and rear running lights and keep fishing when here they come. It was 2 big air boats, full of hunters, and I can only assume guides as both boats are traveling together. And as they approach us I keep thinking, they are not going to do that are they?
Well folks, unbelievably these knuckleheads, who I assume think they own the bay, go between us and the shore. Now we are about a big cast length from the bank sitting in 2 foot of water and these inconsiderate, self important, I am a big bad dude who owns the bay, run right over our fish. They were not over a cast length from our boat. Of course there was only a big open, empty bay behind us.
This was not a case of someone who does not know the rules, or is unsure where to run, or how the game is played. This was just out and out selfish, with a total disregard for us. I just do not understand how this happens. Is it some inherent, I am more important than you, thinking? You know what I am talking about, I have the fancy boat and folks who are paying me money, and since I make my living here I have some right to the water that the rest of you peons do not enjoy. Or is it just plain what I think it is, you folks are just in my way and since I am the most important person in this world I can do whatever I want, the rest of you be damned? Good grief!
So thanks for letting me vent. It just has been a while since someone who knows better did something that stupid. Suffice to say we put up the rods and called it a day. As far as how many we caught I have no idea. In fact, I know I put 4 trout, a red or two, and a flounder in the box. I am not sure how many tmart added to the mix, and since he volunteered to clean fish and I headed home, I have no clue how many keepers we had. I do know we caught fish everywhere we tried.
I got a text from tmart this morning, who has fished the whole weekend, and he says the reds are just eating it up. He has continued to catch on plastics and topwater. The fall bite is finally here and if you love the bay now is the time to go. Traffic is way down, and the fish are biting.
And it was great to spend the day with tmart. He is a good fisherman and a gentleman. I have enjoyed fishing with him both times, and we will keep it up. So thanks for stopping by and reading my stuff. I am headed to Coleto in the morning, then maybe one more day on the bay Tuesday, before heading out to do the family thanksgiving thing in Arkansas.
One last thing. Did anyone else read the same thing I did about the engine manufacurors starting to void the warrenty on some motors if they are on a jack plate? I wish I had remembered to write it down. So if you have, drop me a note so that I can post it here for folks to read. Thanks.
I got to do a little traveling this week, to bad it was not for fish catching. We had a little emergency that required a trip to Oklahoma City, so we took off Wednesday and returned Sunday night. I was lucky enough to catch a horrible cold which lasted until Monday. But all that aside, I thought I would head to Coleto for a few hours, I still was not feeling good enough for an all day trip.
I got there about 11:30 and quit about 4:30. In that time I ended up catching 7. 2 of those came on a floating minnow, and 5 came on buzzbait. I missed several on the top water as they were coming up underneath it and just rolling on it. And the ones I did catch on buzzbait just pulled it under. The biggest was about 3 pounds, the rest nothing to get excited about.
I guess the cold front hit them a little harder than I thought. Looking over last years reports I was catching them pretty good right now. So what is the problem? The lake is still dropping. Now I do not have a ton of experience there, but this is by far the lowest I have seen it. So that would account for the following: All the fish came on a point. You could get a bite on each point, and that was basically it. Maybe I should have fished plastics on the points.
I met Brian at the ramp who is camping there for the month. He has been catching them from the bank on a greenish fluke style bait. He told me he caught 15 out of one place on it the other evening. And that just goes to my other observation lately, and many other falls, where there are is where they are. Now that may sound stupid, but basically they are still bunched up, and if you find a couple you need to fish them hard. Probably a better plan than covering miles of banks right now.
So hopefully the water will stabilize and the fish will settle down some. We are not the far away from pre-spawn and the better fishing. And one last point about this time of year. Wind is usually our friend, but right now that is not always the case. Remember when you are out this winter that if it has been cold and the sky is high, that some of the best places are on the sunny banks with no wind. The water is often 4 or 5 degress warmer. It seems to attract the baitfish, and you can often see them splashing around on those flat calm banks. So if you are having a tough day this winter remember this pattern. It is one of my favorites this time of year.
Here is a picture of the ducks we killed last week. Since I left my camera in Chris’s truck I did not have them the day I posted. Hopefully I will get to kill a couple more before the season closes.
Now that was a successful hunt!
There were quite a few of these guys. Wanna play tug of war with him over your duck?
So back on the water Friday. My friend tmart from the Austin Bass Fishing website will be down at POC so I will be fishing with him on Friday. Hope to have a good day wading. And Monday I am taking Brian to Coleto. It looks like clouds and a chance of rain for Monday, and I have high hopes for the trip. So keep stopping by, and thanks for reading my stuff.
My brother Jeff, our friend Clyde from Arkansas, and I headed to Falcon for 4 days of fishing. Now the reports we had been reading were not promising by Falcon’s standards. In fact, some of the help I got prior to going from folks at the 2Cool and Austin Bass Fishing sites pretty much confirmed those reports. I would like to thank all of you who gave us a heads up, it helped us in our game plan. So with high hopes we checked in to Beacon Lodge, unloaded our stuff, and were in the water by 9:30 Wednesday.
What else can you say about Falcon. 8lbs. 5ozs.
My first view of Falcon, I have not been there in a while, put the 36 foot drop in perspective. It would definitely be like fishing a whole new lake, and it was. Now instead of giving you a blow by blow, day by day story, lets just get to the point. What on and how did we catch them?
First, we did not ever managed to catch more than 20 fish in one day. It averaged about 15 a day. But our good fish strike percentage was high, 20% of the fish we caught were good ones. Reviewing the notes on the better fish, and those would be the ones from 5 up on the scale, 2 came on a Strike King jig with a Rage Tail Craw in the watermelon red and black, 1 came on a pink fluke, 3 came on a small blue and silver Rapala Husky Jerk (more on that one later), and 6 came on crankbait. The best crankbait was a Strike King XD5 in the Gizzard Shad, but Jeff caught one of his good ones on a Rapala DT20 in a chartreuse color.
The jig fish were on heavy cover, and we just were tossing it in the mess. I think if we had stayed with the jig more we would still have caught good fish just fishing that. The lighter jig was clearly better and the Rage Craw helped it fall nice and slow. With my superior skill I did manage to lose one on the jig, and that does not happen all that often so it was obviously operator error. The crankbait was best used at a medium retrieve with the rod held down at the water’s edge. We caught a few sticking the rod in the water to get that little bit of extra depth. And the good run Jeff had on the jerk bait was with a jerk/jerk/ stop, jerk/stop retrieve. Those fish came in about 1 foot of water in the middle of the day with no wind and high sky, go figure. And we also caught a few on spinnerbait, but they were just fish.
We caught fish in the following places, in School Bus, in the bank just above it on the main lake where there are a series of points, the main lake stretch below School Bus a mile or two down lake where the bank was clear with good rock and gravel, and Pierce’s Cove on the left hand side from the point until about half way back on the left side. But the real jackpot where we took 2 over 6, 1 over 7, and 1 over 8 was the rocky points on the right on the main point at the mouth of the Arroyo Del Tigre.
So before I go on with how, how about a few pictures? As we go along these are close to the order we caught them over the 4 days. Of course we CPR’d everyone of them.
My first bite! Love that Rage Craw.
Shoedog’s first good one on a pink fluke.
Shoedog’s birthday 6’4″ on a crankbait.
Clyde gets with the program. A nice one on the Strike King XD5.
This one was 7’6″ and came on the same XD5 in the Gizzard Shad.
So how did we actually catch them, lets just take it by area. First, the 3 or 4 points above School bus on the main lake always gave up a couple of fish the 2 or 3 times we fished it. In fact, I caught my last good one the last hour of the trip. All of the fish there came on crankbait in 6 to 10 feet of water just cranking from the brush line to the deepest point our crankbait did not hit the bottom. The best place of course were the points, and though we caught fish in that area, only 1 made the good one list.
School Bus itself was an interesting story. It had a lot of traffic the first day, but after that not to bad. obviously deer season affected the pressure, and that week will probably become an annual trip for us. Of our good fish, several came in there. You could catch fish in there, but we never got a real pattern on which bait they preferred. And though we caught fish scattered in most of the front half of the cove, the best bank was the second point on the right. They were in the brush line in about 1 – 3 foot of water related to the wood. That is where I caught my first good one on a jig, where Clyde caught his beautiful one on the same jig, and just down from that point on the right Jeff caught one of his good ones on the pink Fluke. We caught a few on spinnerbait in there, but they were not much, though we did see a guy catch a big one on it.
Let me stop to make a couple of points. First, the best bite for big fish came in the middle of the day. In fact, though we managed a couple of the ones you see early or late, most came in the middle of the day. Second, it was definitely one of those “they were where they were”, and we fished plenty of places that were barren. Third, find some rock associated with a point near the mouth of about anything and there were some fish. And finally, if you caught a good fish it paid to either re-fish the spot, or stay on that place and fish it carefully and slow. Here is what can happen if found the right spot, and then threw the right bait, and had some patience. We just kept looking for rock, and most of the time it held at least one. You just had to stick with it.
Shoedog with fish number one off one place on the blue and silver Rapala Husky Jerk.
And he does it again.
And he finishes off his run on that bank. All these were caught on that jerk bait and weighed a total of 21lbs. 14 ounces on the digital scale. Not a bad three fish average and a heck of string on your birthday weekend. Congratulations!
Next was the area below School Bus on the main lake where the channel marker is closest to the bank where there are a series of points with rock on them. As you run down the main lake you can see the area where there is little standing timber with points and rock. That is the place. Let me say this right now, if the bottom had mud it just was not right. So if you see the ducks milling around an area, forget it. They were on soft bottom and you could save some time by not fishing it. We caught several there and I caught my biggest of the trip, 7’6″ on a XD5. Most of the fish on that crankbait came by cranking it down fast to hit bottom, and then slowing down just enough to tick the bottom. And one tip, be sure to bring a lure retriever. We only lost one crankbait and saved at least 10 with it, it is a valuable tool.
Next was Pierce’s Cove. The fish were on the points on the left going in until about half way back on the left. Clyde lost a big fish on a umbrella rig, the only real bite we had on one. We caught several on spinnerbait, and Jeff caught a 6’4″ on a crankbait. We never had a great run in there, but there were fish, and like all the places we have talked about, there seemed to be a good one in most places, we just never caught the “big one.” Oh well, when catching the size we were catching it is hard to complain.
And the last place we found them was the mouth of the Tiger. It was the afternoon of the third day when we stopped on the point going in on the right. There is a series of small rocky points with great deep water. As we headed down the bank we noticed occasional fish working right on the bank. Jeff pulled out the jerk bait, and of course we gave him some crap, and then he reeled off 3 fish that weighed 21′ 14″, shows what we know. They were right on the bank on the flat rocks right on those points. And to go along with it there were some really big crappie there chasing shad also. We just stayed way off and worked it over good. That afternoon the jerk bait was the way to go.
We refished it the next day and though it was not as hot for big fish, Jeff caught a 6′ 13″ on a crankbait, we did catch a lot more fish. But as it was our last day we started there, and the fishing got better as the day went along. And one word to the idiots in the white Triton that moved right in on us. You guys are clueless. Sitting right on top of those shallow small points not only had you literally right on top of those big fish, which was the reason you only caught one there, you messed us up. So you classless fools, if you see someone on a bank, do not move in on them and f’ it up for both us and you. This was clearly a case of I have a fancy bass boat and therefore I have the right of way in front of you because I am a big bad bass fisherman. We did not say anything, there is no fixing stupid.
Both times we fished it there were fish right on the bank chasing small 2″ shad. Jeff’s choice of the jerk bait was a wise one. And the 3 crappie we caught on it were not that bad either.
Jeff’s 6’13” on a DT20, cranking with his rod stuck in the water. This fish came out of 15 foot plus and was his last good one of the trip.
And the crappie on that bank weren’t bad either. Wanted you to see the size of the jerk bait. That is the same one he caught the 3 that went 21+ on the day before.
I had actually brought 3 spinning rods in case we wanted to crappie fish. And of course where were they? In the room. Here are a few more random pictures to finish off this report.
It really surprised us that Clyde’s best fish of the trip only weighed 5+. This was the best looking fish of the trip, and if she makes it this is the kind that will easily top 10 when she grows up. She came out of 1 foot of water in School Bus on a jig and frog.
Clyde with another good fish. I so wanted him to catch a “big one” but it was not to be. He just had to suffer with a few like this one. And there is that XD5 that worked so well for us.
This was my last bite of the trip. Nothing like starting and ending your trip with a good fish. He also came on the XD5. When I got him out of the net you could just see the very tip of the bill on that crankbait, this one literally ate it and was a great way to finish.
It is hard to really classify our trip. As you can see it really had it moments. There has been alot of chatter on the net on whether Falcon is in decline. Our trip did not really answer that question. The fishing was slow, but the average was great. Though we did not catch a monster, we were happy. Maybe it is not up to Falcon standards, but when you combine a 36 foot drop with heavy pressure it is sure to have an affect. And having guided on highland lakes that had that kind of fluctuations, I can tell you that it messes them up. Until Falcon has stabilized for a long period, combined with some real winter weather, it will be hard to tell. Of course if an area is promoted like Falcon is by those with a vested interest then they should not be surprised if it is affected. Put the best bass fisherman from all over this country on the lake and it is going to hurt. And who knows how many of those double digit fish have been removed to either be mounted, or god forbid, eaten.
But no matter what, Falcon is sure a great fishing hole. And for those of us not hot shot bass fisherman, catching nice fish like those above is a treat. So our results will have no affect on me. I plan on being back down there soon. And one thing we did not do, that I promise I will do before the water comes back up, is waypoint all the rock piles out of the water right now. If you are going to fish Falcon in the future there may never be a better time to mark your map and GPS. And if the water comes back up, you will have a gold mine of spots. Think about it.
So a good trip for Shoedog on his birthday weekend. He really toted the note down there, and he caught as many good ones as Clyde and I together. It was Clyde’s first trip, but it will not be his last.
We stayed at Beacon Lodge. I have made multiple trips to Falcon but had not stayed there. Beacon will be it from now on. If you have read my reports in the past you know I have not said where I stayed, and there is a reason for that. The other “resorts” I have stayed at on Falcon were in a word, dirty. Beacon was clean, the rooms got maid service everyday, and the ramp was great with plenty of parking. They were accommodating, and I would recommend them to anyone compared to those other places that shall remain nameless. It is ok to be old and worn, but there is no excuse for dirty. So if you head down that way check them out. Tell them fishcatchingtravel.com sent you.
So combined with the POC report below you have our 5 day fishing trip with Clyde. A good time was had by all and it will not be Clyde’s last trip to Falcon with us. So whether Falcon is in decline, or just slow, it is still one great lake.
