Scott Gaspard's Bass Angler's Journal

Is this the end, or just a new beginning?

2007-02-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I sold my bass boat, and put some money down on a new bay boat. This chapter of my fishing career has come to an end. I hope you will continue to follow along with my adventures, recorded on my new blog site at http://matagordabay.blogspot.com, where I will write about bay fishing and wildlife along the Texas coast, and include lots of pictures. Thank you!

Scott

Sunrise On The Cape

2006-12-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

My wife and I bought a little house on the waterfront, near Matagorda Bay. We have been going just about every weekend, and I never get tired of the view. I always get up at the crack of dawn, because there's something about drinking a hot cup of coffee while the sun comes up over the bay. It always starts my day off right.

We have recently done some minor remodeling of the house, to improve the view and the sea breeze that blows through the house. We have a big, comfortable chair with a great view of the bay, that my wife and I take turns occupying. Our dog has even gotten in on the action; so much so that she has her own side of the cushion (we flip it over for her to keep the fuzz down to a minimum).

Of course, the sunsets are beautiful too. After the sun goes down, the stars are spectacular. You can see dock-lights from houses like ours way off in the distance, but its not enough to block out the stars. I have seen more shooting stars during the past few months, than I have seen in my entire life.

I haven't even begun to talk about the fishing. We have been eating well, and I have had to come up with creative recipes for flounder, red-fish, and sea trout. Last weekend I cooked a large sheepshead I caught off of the pier. It was surprisingly exceptional table fare.

I think this house has been a very good investment in the quality of our life. When people find out about the three hour drive to get to the bay house, they often question our sanity. My reply is that instead of watching t.v. for three hours, I listen to the radio. After three hours, I get to enjoy the bay for three days. You can't get that from HBO!

Its been a while -- I know

2006-11-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't been keeping up with my blog lately, and for that I apologize. To be honest, after buying a house on the bay, I have been doing much more salt water fishing than bass fishing. So, the format needs to change, maybe even the title, if I am going to keep up with it.

I'm thinking about picking this up again, and actively blogging my experiences on the bay. I will try to figure out a new title, then link this blog to that one and start fresh. I actually have a few stories to tell already, so check back every once in a while to see if it is up and running. Thanks for your patience. Until then, happy fishing.

Best Regards,

Scott Gaspard

Hackberry -- Again

2006-08-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Bill, Will, and Chris went fishing at Calcasieu -- and did alright for a change! From what I hear, they were catching larger than average trout, in the 25-inch range. I also heard a story about a 70lb black drum, and a big redfish that broke the line. The fall season will be heating up soon - I plan on catching my share of these soon enough.

Will's got a big one -- looks like a big gaftop!

A very nice trout

Time to wake up!

They actually caught some this time.

Long Hot Summer

2006-08-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Its been a long, hot summer. The fishing has been really tough. I have been out a few times recently, but haven't had much success. Its difficult keeping a fishing blog interesting, when you don't have anything to talk about.

Fortunately, this past weekend I tried something new that worked. My friend Jim and I actually managed to boat about 15 fish. Mostly small Spotted and Guadalupe bass, but there were a couple of nice Largemouth in the mix.

I thought that if we got to the lake early, we might catch a few before the sun came up. I had assumed the bight (if we found one at all) would taper off quick as the temperature started to rise. Our plan was to fish for black bass early, then start looking for schooling whites after the morning bite ended. We figured out a pattern that worked, so we managed to fish for black bass until about 11:00am, with pretty decent success.

Early, they were hitting crank baits. I threw a 1/2 oz Luck Craft in a shad pattern, while Jim through his chrome and black rattletrap. The spotted bass were using the rocks to work their way up to the shallows. Wherever there was a line of rock within two feet of the surface, we were getting strikes. At one point, I caught four in a row, including a nice three pound largemouth.

As the sun came up, we switched to Carolina Rigged worms in about twenty feet of water. I was marking fish between fifteen and twenty feet next to an underwater plateau. I positioned the boat on top of the hump, and cast out into the deep water, working the worm up the slope toward the boat.

Before this weekend, I have never really tried Carolina Rigging with much success. I find it difficult to detect a bite behind such a heavy weight. I must have had the magic touch this time around, because I managed to catch several this way. I even had a very decent size four to five pound bass on the line, that wiggled free just as I got it up to the boat. Jim was quick to remind me that we only count fish that actually make it into the boat. Of course, I pulled the same rule on him earlier in the day when he lost a decent bass before landing it. Instant karma's gonna gitcha, right?

Windy Day on Lake Belton

2006-07-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

The fishing was tough on Lake Belton, yesterday. The lake is about 4 feet below full, and the water is very clear. The temperature was about 84 degrees at the surface. The sunny sides, combined with the sheer bluff walls around this lake made the fish go deep. I was marking fish on my sonar at about 30 - 35 feet. I must have made 300 casts, and did not get a bite. I tried everything I could to get down to the fish, including some deep diving crankbaits, Carolina rigged worms and jigs. We fished the rocky southern shoreline of the Cow Creek arm, then crossed the lake to fish the trees. We worked our way from the main body of the lake back toward Fort Hood. Jim managed to catch a small bass on a deep diving metal billed chrome blue crankbait amongst the trees. Soon after, he snagged a deep branch of a tree and lost the lure.

Small Bass

We tried fishing the northern half of the lake, including a couple of promising looking coves, but no luck.

Lake Belton

Belton is a very picturesque lake, but it seems to be more condusive to striper fishing than anything. I discovered a very pretty waterfall on Belton, that I captured on video.

It is quite a long-haul to get to Belton from my house, so I may not be back for a while.

Monterey California

2006-07-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

As it is for very many people, Monterey California is one my favorite places in the world. I have been fortunate enough to vacation here many times over the years. Its one of the few places I can think of that doesn't seem to change much between visits.

Point Lobos

As a teenager, when my parents would take the family to Pebble Beach on vacation, I liked to go fishing down at Stillwater Cove. My brother and I would build a campfire, and use surf rods to fish for rockfish. We would use squid or blood-worms for bait. The fishing was usually pretty slow, but occasionally you caught a nice fish.

I caught a very nice Ling Cod once. I did not know what it was, and I almost threw it back because the inside of its mouth was bright blue. I'm glad I kept it, because it tasted great.

View of Pescadero Point from Point Lobos

Once I went poke-pole fishing for Monkeyface Prickleback Eel at low tide off of Carmel Beach. The technique was to use a cane pole with a heavy gauge wire wrapped around the tip, and protruding about 2 feet with a small loop on the end. You tie a hook onto the loop and bait it with a freshly smashed mussel. Wearing waders, you would walk around in about knee-deep water, looking for large rocks with submerged holes under them. The eels would hide in the holes, so when you poked the bait down into the hole, you sometimes caught one. My brother hooked one that broke his cane pole! It was a huge California Moray Eel. Prickleback Eels are surprisingly good to eat.

Crystal Beach

Another time, my brother and I went fishing off of the 7th hole at Pebble Beach. This is that famous golf hole where the green is at the end of a peninsula, below the horizon from where you tee off. You have to launch the ball out into the clear blue yonder and hope it lands on the green. Fortunately for me, the balls often landed in the water, so low tide was a gold-mine. Believe me, golfers who play Pebble Beach don't use range balls. I would go out at low tide, and collect loads of golf balls. I would sort them, then sell them back home in Houston for $.50 or $.75 each, depending upon the quality. It put cash in my pocket that was otherwise hard to come by as a teen.

We went fishing at low tide, but before we knew it the tide had started come up behind us, leaving us stranded on the rocks. The Pacific Ocean is mighty cold, and there are things like Great White Sharks and Killer Wales to think about. The waves can be pretty brutal, even in 'Stillwater Cove'. There was no getting around it though, the tide was coming up quick and the sun was going down, so we had to make a swim for it. My parent's house was a couple of miles from the beach. Although we made it to shore without much incident, by the time we got back to the house I was so cold that I could not feel my feet! Have you ever gotten into a tub of water when you are chilled to the bone? Even room temperature water feels like it is about two thousand degrees!

On one trip, I bought a two-man rubber boat. My brother and I had the bright idea to paddle out to the island at Stillwater Cove, and see if we could find some Abalone. We got about halfway to the island, when I jumped in the water to get used to the cold. I had my wetsuit, goggles, and flippers on. I put my head down into the water to clear my mask, and looked down to see a long vine of sea-weed going down until it dissapeared in the murky depths. It was really deep. I had only imagined that it was about ten feet deep, but it must have been a hundred! I was quickly beginning to get freaked out, when my brother tapped the side of the boat and said that he thought he saw a shadow. Thats all it took to cause me to give up on the abalone plan. I was beach-side in minutes after that!

Surf at Spanish Bay

Another time, I went fishing with my step father and younger brother on one of those party boats. The depth drops to about 1000 feet right off the coast of Monterey. The captain would drive around looking for fish, then everyone would drop their line to the bottom, and reel up whatever number of cranks the captain would tell us. Dropping at a rate of about two feet per second, it takes about 500 seconds to reach the bottom. You can imagine how long it takes to reel back up. We would have four hooks on the line, spaced about one foot apart. There would be a piece of yellow and red yarn on the hook for bait (apparently fish get really stupid once you get past 500 feet). You would jig up and down until the line got heavy, reel up, and usually have two or more fish on the line. After reeling up 1000 feet of line, you would be pretty tired. The problem is that if you slow down, your fish would get robbed by sharks or seals. Also, after reeling up from that depth, the fishes stomachs would be protruding from their mouths, and their eyes would be bugged out. Often times the fish would come off of the hooks and bob around in the water waiting for something to eat them.

My step-dad spent too much time in the galley on the way out to the fishing waters, and my brother was running around the boat looking at things in the water. I learned early on to sit on the outside edge of the boat and watch the horizon. Needless to say, by the time I was fishing, they were chumming. It was up to me to catch the limit for all of us, so I put eight hooks on my line. Well, I was pulling up four to six fish at a time! I have to admit, it was pretty exciting. My adrenaline was pumped up, so I didn't notice that I was wearing out my arms. By the end of the trip, I couldn't move my arms. I had pulled every muscle in both fore-arms, and it hurt for a week! I have since given up party-boat fishing, which I equate to commercial fishing. There is no sport in it. If I want to get meat, I will go down to the local HEB. The grocery store in my neighborhood has a nice sea-food selection, and it is all fresh. I prefer to fish for sport, and I usually catch and release. Of course, if I get into some keeper sized Speckled trout I will bring home dinner.

Tidal Pool at Spanish Bay

The last time I went to Monterey, I brought my wife. We stayed at the Inn at Spanish Bay, which is a pretty ritzy place. Unfortunately, my wife was very intimidated by the whole experience. She is Latina, and she had never been exposed to the level of wealth that is common place around this area of Monterey. She passed some snob of a woman in the hall that asked her for some towels or something, so she sulked in the room for the rest of the time. On the other hand, I have no problem being myself in front of snobs. I find it quite humorous at times. On this trip, I wanted to go fishing. I went on a charter boat by myself, and returned with my limit of fish, smelling like the underside of Cannery Row! The bellman thought it was very funny, and you should have seen the appalling looks I was getting. Ha, ha!

View of Carmel from Point Lobos

The last few times we have visited my mom (who is lucky enough to live in Carmel Valley), we have rented convertables. It has become a tradition of sorts. I think it really adds to the experience, and it is not much more expensive than renting a mid-size car. We have done and seen all of the tourest attractions, so I am planning to do more hiking and picture taking next time we go. I enjoy the scenery and wildlife more than anything, and fishing can be a hassle when you don't have any of your gear. If I go fishing in California again, it will probably be for tuna off of Baja. I think I will leave the Monterey fish alone, at least until I can afford to live there and own a boat.

Fish With Human Teeth

2006-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Strange fish with nasty teeth caught near Lubbock, Texas

I'm guessing someone let a pet pacu go in the local pond, and it grew up. This one looks like a heavy smoker. Here's the story quoted from Local6.com

Fisherman Scott Curry reeled in the 20-pound fish on Buffalo Springs Lake and immediately noticed the catch had human-like teeth.

A game warden photographed the fish and is attempting to identify it.

General Manager of Buffalo Springs Lake Greg Thornton told KLBK13-TV in Texas that he has never seen anything like the fish in the 36 years he has lived near the lake.

A search for what the fish may be suggested that it may be a pacu, which is found in South America.

Curry said he believes he saw another similar fish while on the lake.

A Texas television station reported that lake officials will give $100 to anyone catching a similar fish.

Port Lavaca

2006-07-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

My wife an I drove down to the coast this weekend. We had heard that the Port Lavaca area was a diamond in the rough, so we wanted to check it out. Our primary objective was to scope out some property in the area, but I did bring my fishing poles (of course). We met our friends, who brought their kids along too. The plan was to check out the property, then the gals would go for a long drive while the guys went fishing.

What? No Ammo?

Highway 87 Fishing Pier

Fishing appears to be the primary recreation in the area, evident by the many piers and bait shops. To our surprise, the area was not choked with tourists and fishermen, like in Aransas Pass. We did do a little afternoon fishing, when the tide started flowing. We paid five bucks each to fish from the pier at Indianola Fishing Marina. Although we did not catch much, the bait was cheap and there was easy access to shade and cold beer. There was a glut of pogies in the water, and some small aggressive fish that would steal your bait. I caught a small White Grunt, that had really sharp teeth.

White Grunt

Down the road from the hotel is the causeway bridge between Port Lavaca and Port Comfort. After not catching much at the Indianola pier, we tried to fish at the city park which is on the Port Lavaca side of the bridge. We did not catch anything here, and we ultimately called it quits for the day.

The city park had a bird walk, which was a semi-circular pier that was erected over a grass marsh (or estuary). There were various bird species in the marshes, with placards placed along the pier explaining things. There were also a billion or so mosquitoes (I suppose they could have been birds; they were certainly large enough).

Bird Walk - Mosquito Run

There is an old washed out road with a pier on the Port Comfort side of the causeway bridge. I took note of this as I passed over the bridge on my way to Palacios. I planned to catch some bait with my cast net, and try this spot out in the morning.

Early the next morning, I found a spot where a small bridge passed over a bayou with a public boat ramp. I threw my cast net a few times, and captured some pogies and finger-mullet. There was a small alligator (about 4 feet long) in the water, that swam around just out of reach. We tried fishing here for about 20 minutes, but after not getting any bites, we made our way across the causeway bridge to fish the spot I had picked out the day before. The water was very clear, and the tide was low. There were redfish chasing finger-mullet in the shallows. I was successful in landing a small redfish, that put up a formidable fight. I saw the redfish chasing bait, so I threw a silver spoon ahead of the fish and lured it to strike. The fish was not large, but it was not too small either.

Fishing from the bank can be difficult, so catching that one allowed me to finish my trip on a positive note.

Causeway Bridge

As I explored the area, I noticed lots of intriguing spots that I could reach if I had a boat. One of these days I will probably trade my bass boat in for a bay boat. I think a bay boat would be more flexible. I could use it for fresh water or salt water fishing. I really liked the area, and see why it is considered by some to be a diamond in the rough.

Alligator Attacks Dog in Port Lavaca

2006-07-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going down to Port Lavaca this weekend, to look a vacation house, and to do a little wade fishing. My wife was doing some research about the area, and came across this story. Apparently a 4 foot alligator tried to eat the family pet. Thankfully it was rescued in time, and is presumably doing well. I'm not so sure about wade fishing now. Maybe I will bring my boat...

Pogies For Bait

2006-07-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

Pogies (or Menhaden) are a type of shad that spend their lives between brackish water river estuaries and nearshore bays. They are grey-silver in color with a green tinted back and yellow tinted fins. They have a black spot behind the gill cover, and may or may not have a row of smaller spots along the lateral line (depending upon the species). They can grow five inches in their first year, and can grow up to twelve inches during their five to six year lifespan.

Illustrations By: Duane Raver

Pogies are not good table fare, but make excellent bait. They are very oily, so active feeding of prey, such as redfish or speckled trout, can often be identified by a slick on the water (especially if the slick is below a bunch of gulls picking at the water). It is difficult to keep pogies alive for very long in a livewell -- it is best to use a round cornered livewell with lots of fresh circulating sea water. This keeps the pogies swimming and not sloshing around too much, like you would see in a square tank.

They are easy enough to catch with a cast net, so don't bother buying them at a bait shop. They wont survive long in captivity anyways (click here for instructions on throwing a cast net). Look for shimmering at the water surface to locate schools of pogies. Trout or redfish are probably not far behind.

When using live pogies for bait, I find that it is best to use a 4/0 circular hook, and hook the pogies through both lips if you want the bait to swim down, such as when fishing under a bobber at the surface, or through the tail if you want the fish to swim up, such as when fishing on the bottom. Dead pogies can be cut or ground up and used for chum; their oily flesh makes a great attractant. Hook young pogies about two feet below a popping cork, with a split shot in between. Cast out and pop the cork periodically. This is a great way to catch trout and redfish. The same technique can be used with live finger-mullet, croakers, or shrimp.

Sometimes in fall, you will see millions of large pogies in the water, especially at the mouths of rivers. There is no use in using live pogies for bait at this time, because there is nothing that distinguishes your bait from the other million shad in the water. Use a freshly killed shad at this time, and fish off of the bottom. The big redfish that follow the schools around are lazy, they wait for dead or dying shad to sink down to them. Use a 1oz egg sinker above a swivel and 2 foot leader with a circular hook. Hook the dead shad through the eye sockets, then cast out and let the bait drift along the bottom with the current on an outgoing tide. I have caught huge redfish this way (see red bull), and nice black-tip sharks. You will also catch some large nasty catfish, but that is a hazard of this game.

Camping on Millwood Lake

2006-07-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

Our campsite was under the trees along the shoreline of a shallow cove, at the south west corner of Millwood Lake. There was plenty of shade, and a nice view of the water. Several species of water foul walked among the lilly pads, and the brown water reflected the pines, oaks, dogwoods and cypress trees that enclosed the cove.

This is what the area of the lake around the campsite looks like in the daytime. Its more of a swamp than a lake.

There were mocking birds, crows, and the occasional woodpecker flying from tree to tree within the camp, as the geese picked through the grass in a few sunny spots along the forest floor. The bird song was occasionally interrupted by passing logging trucks, as they made their way across the dam hauling timber to one of many mills in the area.

This is a nice shot of the trees reflected on the water. Millwood is a very beautiful lake.

Today a pleasant cool breeze filtered through the trees. You could catch a glimpse of a boat or two as they made their way out to the main body of the lake. Most of the holiday campers were gone, leaving only a few isolated campsites occupied. The ground was trying to dry off from the down-pours we had yesterday. The cool dry breeze was helping things along. The birds were enjoying the change in weather, and they seemed unafraid of me, or my dog. I guess they could sense the contentment everyone was feeling this morning.

Did I mention that Millwood was a beautiful lake?

Yesterday, because of the rain, we decided to go on a road trip. I remembered there being some clear running trout streams, somewhere in Arkansas. We set out in search of one. I traveled north from Millwood Lake toward the Ouachita Mountains. It was a very beautiful journey, and I did not mind getting stuck behind logging trucks, because it gave me a chance to enjoy the scenery. The clouds and rain were backing up against the hills, so we did drive through a few isolated heavy downpours. We worked our way up the steps of the foot hills, and found the Caddo River. I could see from a bridge that the water was clear, so we found a nearby park with access to the river. You could see small trout and other fish in the water. It was a very picturesque scene, so I snapped a couple of photos, and let my dog walk in the shallow water.

Caddo River

We decided to try to make it to Washita before we turned around. Ouachita Mountains are not mountains by California standards, but it was nice to have some variance of topology for a change. We found a park with a nice view of Lake Ouachita, and had a picnic lunch. Lake Ouachita seemed like the kind of lake I am used to in Central Texas. It appeared to be much deeper than Millwood Lake, with a rocky shoreline and clear water. Millwood is more like what you would expect to find in Louisiana, with brown shallow water, and cypress stumps. We enjoyed our lunch, and headed back to the camp.

Lake Ouachita

It was a long day of driving, but I'm glad we went because from the look of the campsite when we returned, it had been raining all day long. We rented a small pop-up camper, and I brought some movies to play on my laptop in case we got stuck in the rain, but even though a pop-up camper is better than a tent, it still gets pretty cramped with two people and a dog.

I attempted to do some fishing during the trip, but I was not successful in catching anything. Millwood Lake does not offer much shoreline access. Much of the shoreline is bordered by thick weeds and deep mud. There is a large population of alligators, so one must be circumspect when walking the shoreline. Although there are well maintained trails that offer picturesque views of the lake, there are only a few access points where you might try to cast a lure. Needless to say, a boat is a necessity on this lake. As I was pulling a pop-up camper, I had to leave my boat behind.

This is typical shoreline on Millwood. You can see why you need a boat. Check out the beaver lodge in the background.

Although the local marina offered boat rentals, they were underpowered flat-bottom aluminum boats. The 9hp motor was loud and there was no trolling motor, so you could not sneak up on any fishy spots without scaring away all the wildlife in the area. The boats were much better suited for catfishing than bass fishing, so I only attempted this once. I was able to get some nice photos of the lake from the boat, so it was not a total loss. Plus, I was able to spend some time with my dad, which was very enjoyable. He developed a recipe for catfish doughbait that works very well. He actually caught a few small catfish, while I fished for bass. The doughbait he developed has some very good properties. It does not stink, it is easy to work with, keeps well, and it stays on the hook cast after cast. My wife suggested that he try to market it to women, because of the stink-free factor.

This looks like a bass hangout, doesn't it?

There is lots of wildlife around Millwood Lake. I saw many species of woodland birds, and water fowl. There were lots of deer, although they stayed well clear of campers. I saw a family of nutrias (giant water rats), snakes, alligators, and even a beaver.

Here is a picture of a beaver lodge. If you look closely, you might see the beaver that lives here.

One evening, I attempted to fish for catfish on the river below the dam. There was a small park with a dock. I aimed my truck headlights toward the dock, set up a couple of lines with my dad's catfish doughbait, and cast out to see what I could catch. As the sun sank down, the alligators started waking up. I counted five large alligators in the water, each between 10 and 12 feet long! As the sun dropped below the horizon, I could see their glowing eyes getting closer and closer. One of them must have been below the dock, because as I walked from one end to the other, there was a large splash below my feet that made me jump out of my skin! I did not want to become alligator dinner, and I was not getting any bites, so I decided to call it quits for the night. I tried to get a photo of the alligators, but it was too dark so I could only see glowing eyes against a black background.

The orange dot in this picture is the reflection of my trucks headlights in the eyes of a big alligator

I had seen all of the signs saying "Don't feed the alligators", but after actually seeing them, I was considerably more alert.

Here's a fishy looking spot. I bet a big 'ol alligator has the same impression.

Imagine the sound of cicadas and bullfrogs. Now imagine a sneaky alligator slowly swimming up to get a closer look...

I decided that continuing to fish would only frustrate me, so I opted to enjoy the rest of my camping trip for what it was. I soaked in the scenery and the wildlife. I read a book by the campfire. I captured some more pictures, including one of a brilliant sunset.

A very pretty sunset reflected on the water. A fish jumped just as I took this picture.

It was a very nice camping trip, which I would highly recommend to anyone traveling through south west Arkansas. Millwood State Park is very well maintained. Its only about 30 miles from Texarkana. The public bathrooms were exceptionally clean, and the staff was very friendly. If you have a boat with a trolling motor, try to bring it with you. Also, bring a good pair of hiking shoes, some mosquito repellent, and a good flashlight. Don't forget your fishing license!

Lake O' The Pines Catfish Eats Dog

2006-07-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted an article about pictures of a giant alligator on Lake Conroe with a deer in his mouth, that turned out to be a hoax. It sure garnered a lot of attention, though. For those of you who enjoyed that story, here's another that is sure to get you going. My dad sent me this article, about a giant catfish that ate a German shepherd on Lake O' The Pines, which is about 20 miles north of Longview, Texas. The original source is unknown.

Jenny Carter was walking her German Shepherd by a lake near her Texas home when she says a monster catfish jumped out of the water and swallowed the dog!

The incident was just the latest in a series of sighting of a notorious giant catfish cruising the dark waters of Lake O' the Pines near Longview.

But it was the first report of any fatalities.

Jenny, 26, says she had let her 85-pound dog, (Yogi weighs about 75 lbs. more or less), Sarge, run freely along the lake as she does every night when she suddenly realized that something was terribly wrong.

"Sarge let out a bark like I never heard before," she sobs. "It really scared me, I ran over as fast as I could and I saw him struggling with this monster in the lake.

"It was so big, I didn't know what it was. I never saw anything like it in my life. I was screaming real loud and running to help Sarge. But there was nothing I could do. I saw the fish swallow his head and I went crazy. I guess I was hysterical and in shock."

Two other witnesses verified Jenny's gruesome tale - and now authorities say they are on the lookout for the catfish, now turned killer Prior to the incident involving her dog, there had been wild speculation about the mysterious fish whom some have likened to the Lock Ness Monster in Scotland.

There had been several sightings of the huge catfish estimated to be 15 feet long and weighing 1,000 pounds. Although officials from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had officially denied the existence of the monster, sportsmen from as far away as Japan had expressed interest in trying to catch the fearsome fish.

"It's worth a least $1 million to the person who can catch it." says a gaming expert. "But it will take extraordinary equipment to reel it in.

"We have reports that some fishermen had the killer catfish on line, but let it get away.

"This fish is very, very powerful. He even straightened out a 20-0 shark hook - and that's not easy to do.

Here's a picture of a 646 pound Mekong catfish that was caught in northern Thailand.

According to National Geographic, this is supposed to be the largest freshwater fish ever caught. I think that this catfish could easily swallow a large dog. If there is something nearly twice the size of this swimming around Lake O' The Pines, he's got to be eating something!

Millwood Lake

2006-06-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Millwood Lake is a U.S. Army Corps of Engeers recreation area in southwest Arkansas. It is considered one of the Nation's premier bass fishing lakes. Millwood Lake is located on the Little River upstream from its confluence with the Red River about seven miles east of Ashdown, Arkansas. The lake is stocked with over 2 Million Florida Largemouth Bass, and almost entirely consists of flooded timber. Bass up to 14 1/2 pounds have been caught, and 10 pounders are not uncommon.

I have reserved a camping spot on Millwood Lake for the 4th of July week. I fully intend to catch one of those giant bass. You can be sure that I will tell you all about it.

Finding Nemo in Aransas Pass

2006-06-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Jim called me on Friday at about 11:00am. Apparently, he was so ready to go fishing, that he couldn't get any work done. We had intended to leave early Saturday morning, but Jim wanted to leave early. I said, "What time do you want to leave?". He said, "How about 1:00?". It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Jim's house from mine, so he pretty much meant "How about right now". I was planning to take my time after work, to get my boat ready and my stuff together. I have to admit that I wasn't getting much work done either, so I told him that I would make a couple of calls to see if I could leave early, and if I could break away we would try to leave by 2:00. We decided to try to get a motel, but I packed my tent and a couple of cots, just in case we could not get a room. So, I wrapped things up, got everything packed, then hit the road.

We arrived at Aransas Pass at about 5:30. It took three and one half hours, and a full tank of gas. We thought we were lost a couple of times, but we still made pretty good time. Since there was another 3 hours of daylight left, we decided to do a little fishing, then look for a motel when we were done.

The boat ramp I had found on the Internet was easy to find, and there was lots of room. It was a four lane ramp, and there was plenty of dock space so launching was easy. We were on the water in about five minutes.

I had researched the area on the Internet, and programmed my GPS unit with what looked like might be a couple of good fishing holes. I was a little uneasy about navigating the bay; there are lots of underwater ubstructions, and the water depth can go from twelve feet to six inches very quickly. Luckily, there was what appeared to be an experienced boater in front of us, so I followed him into the flats.

The GPS is a great tool, because it draws a line that tells you where you have been. I figured that as long as I did not hit anything on the way into the flats, I could just follow my trail back out. So, this is exactly what I did.

There are channels cut through the flats that are marked with white poles, but since the poles on the right and left of the channel are the same, it is sometimes difficult to tell if you are looking down the middle of the channel, or off to one side. After a while, I got the hang of it, so there were no major mishaps. I did manage to run up on a sand bar once, but I saw it before I hit it, so I was able to shut down the motor and slow the boat down before my motor skeg hit the bottom. I saw a few other boaters that hit sand bars and reefs at full throttle, and from the looks on the captain's faces they did not get away so lucky.

A bass boat has certain disadvantages in these waters. The obvious ones being the low freeboard makes any kind of wave action difficult to handle. The not so obvious disadvantage is that because you are seated and close to the water, it is difficult to see obstructions in the water until it is almost too late to react. Because of this, I used just enough throttle to stay on plane, but did not get into a hurry.

My fishing plan was to work the deeper area just past hog Island. My thoughts were that at low tide, the fish would be hanging out in the deeper holes next to the flats. As the tide would come in, the fish should try to ambush any bait that was moving from deeper water back into the flats. When we arrived at about 6:00pm, the tide was at its lowest. I eased the boat back into this hole, past some very shallow grassy sandbars. I cast a red and gold weedless spoon toward the incoming tide, and worked it back to the boat with the tide. I was trying to mimic a bait fish, and apparently it worked because on about the fifth cast, I caught a very nice keeper sized Speckled trout. I thought that this was a very good sign, but it turned out to be the only keeper we caught that day.

Catch of the day

At about 7:30, the tide started coming back in a big hurry. I moved the boat back out into the main channel, because we could see some Redfish tailing in the grassy areas adjacent to a small island on one side of the channel. I tried to use my drift sock, but it is much better in the wind than in the current. There was not much wind, so the drift sock moved at about the same speed as the boat, so it did nothing to slow us down. We made many casts into the shallows, and even went back a couple of times to work the area again. I caught a small Redfish, and Jim and I both had larger ones on the line that let go before we got them up to the boat. My line kept getting fouled because the spoon I was using was spinning, causing my line to get twisted. Eventually, I made a cast that snapped my line, and caused me to lose my favorite spoon. It was beginning to get dark, and I did not feel comfortable navigating these relatively unknown waters after dark, so we headed back to the dock.

After loading the boat back onto the trailer, I filleted the trout I kept so that it would be easier to carry. I managed to find a water hose and a bar of soap, so I cleaned off as much of the fishy smell I could before I got into the truck. The first stop we made was Walmart, to stock up on fishing spoons. Unfortunately, they only had the standard brass and chrome versions, so I could not replace my lost spoon.

Finally, we got something to eat, and started looking for a motel. After finding about five motels with no vacancies, I was beginning to worry that we would have to pitch the tent after all. It was hot and muggy, so I was not looking forward to this. Luckily, a friendly front-desk attendant at the Best Western made a phone call, and I managed to get the last room in town. The room was not very nice, but it beat the heck out of sleeping in a tent. I was thankful to have a shower and a bed, even though I dared not sleep under the covers.

We set the alarm for 5:00am on Saturday morning. Jim snored all night, but when the alarm went off he claimed that he did not sleep a wink. I kind of laughed, because it was I who did not sleep a wink. I was still somewhat rested, and now that I was at least partially familiar with the water, I was ready to do some fishing. We cleared out in a hurry, and headed toward the dock. As soon as we left the hotel, you could see a line of about 100 trailored boats, waiting to launch at a nearby boat ramp! There appeared to be some kind of tournament, and I hoped that all of the boat ramps were not this backed up.

We stopped at about three bait stores along the way to our launch point, and all of them were completely sold out by about 5:00am! You have to start early if you want to get live bait around here! The preferred bait are croakers, but there was some shrimp left, so we picked up a pint. Jim found a bait store that had a few croakers left, so we got what we could. I prefer to fish with artificial lures, but if the fishing is tough, it is good to have a backup plan.

The water was a few feet deeper in the morning, because the tide was at its peak. The water clarity was very good, and the wind was very light. It looked like it was going to be a very good day.

The first spot we tried was a large open area beyond a line of grass beds that were adjacent to the main channel. There was a small cut through between the channel and this area that we idled through. We spent about 30 minutes here, made many casts, but did not catch any fish. We decided to go back up the channel to see what other fisherman were doing.

We followed a boat past hog Island, and headed toward the Old Causeway, which is a series of small islands left over from an old washed out bridge. When we motored up to the spot, you could see the trout everywhere! There was jumbo shrimp jumping out of the water, and the trout were having a feast in the shallows. I parked the boat in a good spot, and we tried just about everything to catch one.

Nothing worked. Eventually, I put on a popping bobber and a shrimp, and cast past the drop off to the deeper water. I almost instantly caught a small sheepshead. The trout were really working in the shallows, and we saw a few redfish as well.

This prompted us to pole our way further into the shallows, which was a mistake. My bass boat did not pole very well, and all we managed to do was to get ourselves stuck. Jim had to get out and pull on the bowline as I pushed with the pole. After wasting about 20 minutes trying to get back into the deep water, we were both exhausted. So I moved the boat about 20 yards off the deep water break, and anchored down.

I cast my popping bobber toward the break, using a shrimp for bait. I started catching small trout. Jim wasn't catching anything, but he was trying. I caught a small redfish on a spoon, but most of the action was from the live bait.

There was lots of traffic in the channel, including a couple of larger shrimp boats, so when I got the opportunity I moved the boat around to the backside of the island, where another channel cut from the main channel into the flats. I anchored here, and started catching fish once every 15-20 minutes.

Eventually, I felt bad that Jim wasn't having any luck. Jim did not have a popping bobber, and I only had one. Since I knew there were fish here, I decided to use artificial and let Jim use the bobber. The water was very green and clear, and the sky was very sunny, so I used a chartreuse salt-water assassin on a jig head. Although Jim started catching fish at last, I actually caught several on that jig, including a couple of nice keepers. I rigged my other rod with a small weight, and a croaker. I cast out and used my rod holder to tight-line the croaker off the bottom. After a while, I caught a very nice trout on the croaker! Jim caught a few trout, and a small needlefish.

What the heck is that?

By about noon, we were running out of water, and it was getting extremely hot. We decided to go back to the dock, and take a break. I cleaned the fish that I had caught before we headed back out, so we could put the fillets on ice in the cooler. I was afraid that keeping those fish in my live-well all day was not very humane, and I did not want to risk killing the fish and spoiling the meat. The livewell in my boat is not very efficient (which is a big reason why I usually catch and release).

After lunch, we headed back to the same spot. This is when I miss-judged the entrance to the side channel, and ran up on that sand bar. After we anchored down, we saw two others hit the same sand bar. Someone should plant a pole there, because it is easy to miss.

We did not catch any fish here for the next couple of hours, and the wind started picking up. I saw a couple of small thunder-heads on the horizon, and it was unclear whether they were approaching or receding, so we headed back toward the ramp. We fished a couple of cuts along the way, but nothing worth keeping. I decided to head east along the ICW on the south side of the flats. I was looking for a couple of good cuts from the flats out into the channel. The fishing was slow, but I did find a spot where there was a couple of large fish in the area, apparent by occasional splashing, and a few large wakes chasing bait in the shallows. I put on a red weedless spoon, and tried to cast ahead of these larger fish. Eventually I got one to grab my lure, and it was huge! I think it was one of those wall-mount sized trout, because it bent my rod all the way over. I got a couple of good splashes out of it, and managed to get it about three fourths of the way back to the boat before it threw the lure. Damn! That one would have made a great picture, and who knows? It might have been an entry in the CCA Star Tournament. Oh well. That would have ended the day on a very positive note. The wind was really howling now, so we decided to call it quits, and headed back home.

Now that I have experienced navigating shallow bay waters, I'm not so timid about taking my boat. I'm planning another trip to San Luis Pass in the fall, but I imagine I will make at least one more trip to the coast before then. Until then, I will leave you with this picture of Jim, and his big fish of the day.

Jim's Nemo is really hard to find!

Aransas Pass

2006-06-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm almost ready; just a few final things to do. I'll be leaving at about 3:00am tomorrow, heading toward Aransas Pass to try and catch some redfish. I'll pick up Jim at around 3:30, then we should arrive at about 6:00. I'm taking my boat -- I'll admit that I am a little nervous. This will be my first time taking my bass boat to the coast. We are going to fish Estes Flats. I plan to take the boat around the flats to Hogg Island hole, and maybe California hole. Since the tide will be peaking at about the time we get there, we will be fishing a falling tide all day long. This is not ideal, but my plan is to get my boat up into one of those holes where a creek channel empties from the flats. I'm guessing that the redfish will be coming off of the flats, and waiting in the deeper holes for the bait to swim out with the tide. We might try to pole around the grass flats early, then work our way back out to the deeper water.

I have my video camera, and digital camera ready -- I hope I have some good pictures to post when we get back.

I cleaned out my boat in preparation, removing anything that is unnecessary to try to lighten things up so we draft as little water as possible. I converted my anchor box into a fish box by installing a drain that goes into my bilge, and insulating all around where the plastic anchor box sits. Its not perfect, but it should hold ice for several hours. I also organized my rod box, and installed some brackets that will help keep my stuff from rolling around and spooking the fish.

I've been studying a satellite image of the area we will be fishing, and coordinating that with my GPS and Hot-Spots map. I have a good plan of attack, that I think will pay off well.

Jim bought us a push-pole, so I plan to kill the motor and trim it up as we get close to the fishing spots, then use the push-pole to get us the rest of the way in. Instead of using the anchor, I will use the push-pole, by pushing it down into the mud, then tying off the boat to the pole. I think this will be less damaging to the sensitive grassy bottoms than dragging an anchor across.

I also signed up for a CCA Membership, and enrolled in the Star Tournament. Who knows, maybe I will catch a tagged redfish, and drive away with a new truck and boat!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuna Time

2006-06-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here's some great pictures of my nephew, Justin. These were taken last weekend off the coast of San Diego. Justin went fishing with his dad and grandpa on the Bright and Morning Star, which is a 100-foot Sportfisher charterboat, that holds 34 passengers plus crew. The boat has sleeping quarters, so it goes out for days at a time in search of Albacore, Yellowtail, Baja, Bluefin, and Benitos. I believe they fish off the coasts of Isla Guadalupe and Isla Cedros, in Mexican waters.

Justin is turning into a terrific fisherman!

Justin has picked his spot on the boat, and is ready to catch a fish!

A very good start!

Look at the bow in his rod!

Another nice one!

Here we go again!

Wow! What a fish!

The Bright and Morning Star

Trinity River Catfish

2006-06-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

My wife reminded me of a story I once told her about a trip I made to the Trinity River when I was a teen. My friend Andy's parents had a small cabin, waterfront to an oxbow lake south of Lake Livingston along the river. There was a pot-belly stove, but no air conditioning. There was a little pier, and they had a small john-boat with a 12 horsepower motor. We would get up early, and drive the boat down to the river. We would go up the river for a couple of hours, set a trot-line across a fishy looking spot, then drift downstream back to where we started, fishing along the way. We would make it back by lunch-time, then head back after lunch, and do it all again. By the time we would get back to the trot-line, there would usually be several fish on the line.

This one time, we made it up to the trot-line to find it sagging deeply in the middle. I thought we had a snag, so I started working my way down the line from the outside to the middle, pulling off small catfish along the way.

Like a fool, I was standing up in the john-boat, with two hands on the line. This was not a very large john-boat, so it was not very stable. As I stood over what I thought was a snag, I pulled up with both hands to see if I could get it un-snagged. As I looked down into the water, and pulled the line up to the surface, I saw these two huge eyeballs come up from the deep. It was a giant catfish! This scared the u-know-what out of me, and I dropped the line. This was too much action and reaction for the little boat to handle, so I fell in. Right on top of that huge catfish! Now I know that Jesus walked on water, because I am positive I did at that moment! I was back in the boat in less than half a second.

We did not lose the fish -- it was a 45 pound blue catfish. I know blue cats get much bigger than 45 pounds, but that was the biggest fish I had ever caught. With the exception of a few large sharks, it is still the largest fish I have caught to this date.

Little Rock

2006-06-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

I spent the afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas today. The plain ride there was over some interesting terrain. I saw lots of natural lakes from the air, and several reservoirs, with lots of trees. I remember fishing in South West Arkansas once, as a kid. I seem to recall catching a really big bass on a Zebco 33. The reel fell apart as I brought in the fish, but I still managed to get it in the boat. I was only about 12 years old. The guide didn't seem to happy that I caught that huge bass. The more I fish, the more I realize how elusive the really big bass seem to be. The largest I've landed in three years has been about six and a half pounds.

I also remember catching a bunch of rainbow trout on the Little Red River in Arkansas. That was a great experience, too. I remember we used a salmon egg on a small hook, and floated it above the bottom by one foot. We were on a fast moving, shallow but wide stream in a river boat. I found a large old-timer knife on the stream bed in excellent condition, that I kept for years. I would like to fish there again -- maybe I'll plan a camping trip, someday.

Estes Flats

2006-06-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've decided to take my boat to the coast. This will be a first for me; I have never driven my boat on anything but inland lakes. I bought a fishing hot-spots map, and I've been impressed with the level of detail. I'm planning out my trip, including how to navigate the grassy areas around Estes Flats, which is near Aransas Pass. I admit that I am a little bit nervous about taking my bass boat into salt water, but I have been assured by a local guide that there are lots of people who navigate these waters in a bass boat. I'm going to strip down my boat to essential gear. I won't be bringing any bass related stuff. I'm going to convert my anchor box into a fish box -- I'll fill it with ice in case we catch any keepers. I'll bring my drift sock, and my dansforth anchor. Maybe I'll try to make a push-pole out of PVC, for the really shallow areas.

Slow day on LBJ

2006-06-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

I found out Friday that my boss will be coming to town during the 4th of July week. He recently bought a new bass boat, and I have been bragging about all of the fish I have been catching lately. He hasn't done so well in the first few times he has taken out his boat, so I offered to show him around Lake LBJ, and practically guaranteed we would catch fish. When he called me to ask if we could go fishing on July 6, I decided that it would be a good idea to do some scouting in advance of the trip. So, Jim and I went fishing on LBJ again this Saturday.

Actually, we had intended to go fishing anyways. Initially, our plan was to try Buchanan. I plugged in my battery charger on Thursday to get ready for our trip. When I plugged my charger in, there was a red light flashing on my accessory battery bank. I soon figured out that my batteries were not holding a charge. I checked, and the batteries were almost dry! I left it unplugged for the night, planning to get some distilled water on Friday, to top them off.

After work on Friday, I bought some distilled water and topped off the batteries. I had to remove them from my boat to do this; there is not much room to work in the back of my boat. Actually, only one battery needed topping off, but I had to remove both batteries to check. I used my volt meter, which registered 2.5 volts on battery and 3.5 volts on the other. Not good. I re-installed the batteries, and connected my charger. The red light stopped flashing, so I took this as a positive sign. I left them to charge all night.

On Saturday morning, I checked and the batteries were still not fully charged -- at least according to the indicator lights on top of my charger. I checked the voltages, and each battery reported 12.8 volts. I was concerned that they would not last long on the lake, but the wind wasn't blowing, so I figured that if I took it easy on the trolling motor, we could make it through the day.

We got to the boat ramp at about 6:00am. The parking lot was already full, so it was apparent that there was a fishing tournament going on. With the blue sky, no wind, and a fishing tournament, it was shaping up to be a tough day.

We fished all of my regular honey holes, and even ventured up to the north end of the lake. We only managed to catch five small bass. The ones we did catch were away from shore in ten feet or more water. I think that with a little more patience, a carolina rigged worm or grub worked across the sand bars next to deep water might do a little better. I will try that next week. Maybe a few long casts would find the fish. I could then mark the spot on my GPS map, and approach the spot from the deep side, and anchor down to work the area more thoroughly.

I saw a feature on some of the GPS systems, which allows you to follow your trail, and mark your range from a waypoint. The fishing guide on my trip to Freeport was using this feature to keep us over an offshore pile of rocks. In open water, there is nothing to keep your bearings on, so the GPS really helps. I think my Lowrance 332c will do this, so it may come in handy.

I think the problem was that there was too much fry in the water. I kept seeing small dead shad on the surface. There were schools of white bass working these areas; I'm sure all of the bass species were gorging themselves. The shad were shiny and silver colored. With the clear sky and the full moon, I bet they were eating all night long. Now that I think about it, the bass we caught had disteneded bellies. I'll bet they were full of small shad.

I don't like to fish with live bait if I can avoid it. Its not that I'm squeemish about live bait -- its just that I prefer the challenge of using artificial lures. I simply find it much more convenient. Using live bait means my hands will likely be slimy, my clothes will be fishy, and I have to do more work when I clean out the boat. I try to catch and release as a general practice; it strikes me as wrong to kill bait if I don't intend to kill the fish that I'm after. I should bring my casting net though. I could catch a net full of shad, then let them go just to see what they look like. I might find a lure in my tackle box that can approximate their shape and color.

I have a couple of small spoons that are about the same shape and size as the shad I saw on the surface. They have small treble hooks, so they tend to catch small white bass. I like catching large white bass, but they do have sharp spines, and the ridge up like a porcupine when they are excited, so they can be difficult to handle. I usually end up with a sore finger or two by the end of the day. I consider chasing white bass a diversion from my primary prey, which is the Largemouth Bass.

That being said, its good to know that white bass are in the area. It means that there is forage, and there are likely black bass close by. I bet there were some big 'ole lunker bass down deep beneath those schools of shad, leasurely feasting away. Catching them is the hard part.

After fishing the South end of the lake for most of the morning, at about 10:30am, we decided to look for tournament fishermen, to see where they were fishing. As we were motoring up to the north side of the lake, I passed a big slick, with a large school of stripers feeding at the surface. Unfortunately, I did not see this in time to slow the boat down without spooking the fish. I quickly tied on a big 1oz chrome and blue rattletrap. I can cast it a mile, and it sinks quickly enough to get down to where stripers like to feed. The water was very because of the wakes from passing boats. I wasn't getting any strikes, and there was lots of boat traffic, so after about 10 minutes, we decided to move on.

Why is it that jet skiiers feel so safe on the water? They make the stupidest moves, rarely if ever travel in a straight line, and the noise from their engines keeps them from hearing horn blasts from other boats on the water. Those jet skiis are way too fast. I had one pass my boat at over 50 mph! He was weaving and doing little stunts without looking, and was heading straight into my path. He was approaching from my port side. The rules say yeild to starboard, otherwise stay on a straight course at present speed. Of course when the rules break down, its time to take action. I blasted him about nine times with my horn, which is plenty loud, but he did not acknowledge. He probably had water-proof earphones on. I had to stop my boat to avoid a collision. He finally noticed me, and gave me this little look. I think they should be outlawed all-together. I know they are fun, but they lend themselves to stupid behavior, and are typically piloted by teenagers who think they are invincible. My house is only a couple of miles from Lake Travis. We see the life-flight helicopter heading toward the lake at least a couple of times per month.

We fished a couple of coves on the North side of the lake, but caught nothing. After a couple of hours, we headed back toward the launch point. I had been wanting to fish the jettie that goes from the power plant to the main body of the lake. The water drops off quickly on the Eastern side of the jetties to about 35 feet deep. We drifted the entire length of the Eastern side of the jetties, but caught nothing. So, that was that. I'm going to have to go back a couple of times this month, to figure out where the fish are.

Good Knots and Lessons Learned

2006-06-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is nothing new, but I was just thinking about what lessons I have learned since I purchased my boat.

First and foremost, you have to look at buying a boat in terms of total cost of ownership. The purchase price is just the beginning. The good news is that if you take care of your boat, the ongoing expenses come down quite a bit after the first couple of years, but you will probably double your boat payment in extra stuff before that.

Learning to operate the boat wasn't always fun. Believe me, the first couple of times I had to launch or retrieve my boat at a busy ramp was daunting, to say the least. Especially when I was by myself. It reminded me of learning to play golf (which I have since given up permanently). All you really have to do is line-up, step-up, take a smooth swing and hit the ball. But after a day with a golf-pro, you are thinking about so many variables, there is no wonder you end up slicing the ball. The same is true for retrieving a boat. There are so many questions going through your head -- Is there room at the dock? Am I going to have to beach the boat? The wind is blowing 20mph, how do I get between those two boats at the dock without having an accident, especially when some jerk just threw a two-foot wake past the boat ramp? Luckily, with a little practice, these things become second nature. Someone gave me a simple piece of advice once, which in retrospect seems completely obvious -- head into the wind or current. This makes perfect sense, because since you steer the boat from the rear, you need some sort of wind or water flowing past the steerage in order to control the boat.

After operating a boat for a while, you learn to be prepared -- to anticipate problems, and take steps to avoid them. Getting out of the way of a drunk water-skier is a no-brainer. Its the little things that will get you in trouble. On one of my first fishing/camping trips with my new boat, I took my wife and dog with me on the lake. I learned a couple of important lessons on this day.

First lesson - make sure you walk the dog before you put it on the boat. Trust me, dealing with dog-poop on a boat becomes a whole new experience. My poor wife bore the brunt of that attack -- I noticed my dog (which is a 60lb German Shepherd) was looking quite uncomfortable. I thought it was just a little scared of being on the boat. At one point her uncomfortable look turned into a look of panic, so I stopped the boat just in time for her to have an explosion. Right on my wife's lap! At least she didn't soil the carpet. Good girl! My wife was in shock. She had to jump in the water to clean off! Afterwards, my dog looked much more content, but my wife was the one looking uncomfortable.

Second lesson - expect the unexpected. We were on Lake Buchanan, which is a pretty large lake, with decent size swells on the water. I was using my trolling motor to navigate around some rocky bluffs, while casting a crankbait against the shoreline. My wife was reading a book, and my dog was keenly eyeing my lure every time I cast it out. The sound of the rattling lure, and the whine of my reel as I made each cast eventually was more than my dog could stand. She was wearing her collar, and her short-leash so that I could control her if necessary (or so I thought). I made a long cast, and she decided that she would fetch the lure! So she leaped into the water to catch the lure! We were in a pretty deep part of the lake, with a moderate wind blowing -- not the kind of place you want to give up control of the boat, even for a minute. After calling her back to the boat, and hauling her on board, we had drifted dangerously close to the rocky shoreline. I went to start up my motor, to get us to a safe distance, when I noticed that my motor would not start! I looked down to try and figure out what was going on, when I noticed my kill-switch lanyard was gone! When my dog jumped overboard, the leash had snagged on the kill switch lanyard, and pulled it in after her! Of course, it sank straight to the bottom of the lake. Luckily, I had a pair of lockable pliers in my tackle box, so I pulled out the kill switch, and locked my pliers onto it so that I could start the motor. Just in time, too -- it was definitely getting too close for comfort. Needless to say, we went straight back to camp, and I made a little trip to the marina store. I bought two kill switch lanyards, and a few key-floats. I attached a key-float to each lanyard, and my boat keys, and put the extra lanyard under my seat. When I told the marina attendant what had happened, she looked at me like I was an idiot. She said, "You should wrap the lanyard around the throttle control when you are not driving, and clip it back onto itself". This seems obvious now, but at the time it was quite a revelation. I don't think I'm an idiot; I was just a little green at that time.

There are some accessories that come in handy. I spent some time rigging my boat out for night fishing. I installed a series of red LED lights up under my gunwale, with a switch on my console. At night, when I flip the switch, the front and rear decks are flooded with red light. The red light does not interfere with your night-vision, and there is plenty of light to tie on a lure. I installed the lights close to the deck, so that from a distance it would not confuse other boaters. The red and green night running lights on the bow of a boat, combined with a white light at the stern, are designed to let other boaters know whether you are coming or going. I also installed a white map-light under my console, so that I could get a better look at something if necessary. I installed two marine DC power adapters (cigarette lighter style), one for the starboard side, and one for the port side. I have a couple of submersible lamps that I can plug in, and drop overboard for serious night-fishing. This works extremely well.

Another great accessory is a keel-guard. This was somewhat expensive, but I saved money by installing it myself. It was not easy to install, and sealing it was not pleasant. But I have been very pleased with the results. It has opened up a whole new realm of opportunities, because it makes it very easy to beach the boat. This helps tremendously when launching my boat alone at a ramp that has no dock. I have also brought my wife and dog out to picnic on an island in the middle of the lake. The keel guard, plus a good trick another boater taught me, made that possible. The trick involves a long rode, and a few good knots.

Before I tell you the trick, I need to explain the knots. It's helpful to know a few good knots. However, it does you no good unless you can quickly tie the right knot when necessary. I taught myself while watching TV by tying knots over and over again on a scrap piece of rope. Eventually, I got to where I could tie a few useful knots with my hands tied behind my back -- just kidding, that would be something though, wouldn't it! I can tie them quickly without looking, and this has helped me on numerous occasions. I wont tell you how to tie them -- a Google search turned up over 2.5 Million web pages that will show you. If you found my page, you can probably figure it out pretty quick. One good resource is Knot Knowledge, which has easy to understand instructions and illustrations. Another good resources is the US Powerboating Course. I will describe the knots, and what they might be useful for. You can figure out which knot to use, and look up the details yourself.

One of the most useful every day knots is a bowline. A bowline knot is easy to tie, and more importantly, it is easy to untie. It is a loop knot that doesn't cinch up, and it can be tied mostly with one hand. It is easy to tie around another object, such as a bow ring, or a drift sock. I have read that it should not be used under heavy load, and that you should leave a tag end that is about twelve times the diameter of the rope. If you are paranoid, consider tying a figure eight knot on the tag end, to keep it from slipping out. I have a small boat (17' Skeeter), and I have used it as part of a system to secure my boat to land without problems. The method I will describe to you takes most of the strain off of the line anyways; it is used primarily to stabilize the boat. Incidentally, a line tied to the bow of a boat is called a 'bow line'. Do not confuse this with a 'bowline knot', which is a type of knot that makes a loop.

Before I go any further, I need to tell you that I am not a certified boat captain, so if you are concerned about the safety of this method, or anything else I might tell you, I defer to the nearest authority. My knowledge comes mostly from experience, and I am learning new things all the time.

Another couple of knots I use in this method are the 'In Line Figure 8 Loop', (a loop that can be tied in line with a rope, even when the tag ends are not free), and the Tautline Hitch (also called a 'Rolling Hitch', it is a knot that can be fastened back onto the standing end of a rope, with easy adjustment, and locking ability).

The first time I used this trick, it was to secure my boat for over-night camping. I was camping at Black Rock Park on Lake Buchanan. I managed to get a decent camp-site, close to the water. I wanted to beach the boat where I could have easy access to it, that way I could take the boat at my leisure, without having to launch and retrieve the boat. Lake Buchanan has a rough sand made up of decomposed granite. Its interesting that they call it Black Rock Park, when the rock is mostly red granite. The sand is fairly abrasive, but it lends well to beaching. I was having trouble securing the boat -- I was worried about an approaching thundershower, so I wanted to make sure I didn't anchor the stern down in such a way as to flood the boat.

This other camper, who had also beached his boat was watching me with some amusement, as I struggled to secure my boat. Finally, he offered me some advice. There was a sandbar about 50 feet off the shoreline. He told me to run up to the sandbar at idle speed with the motor trimmed up, then turn off the motor before the keel runs aground. Once aground, he told me to trim down my motor, so that the skeg would dig into the sand. After this, I tied a bowline knot at one end of a 100' rode, securing it to the bow ring of my boat. I walked the line around an upright tree on the shore. I tied an in line figure 8 loop about halfway between the boat and the tree, on the standing end of the line, with the loop facing toward shore. I ran the tag end through the loop, then walked back toward shore to take out the slack in the line. This acted as a pulley, allowing me to double my pulling force on the front of the boat. I pulled the line as tight as I could go to swing the bow of my boat around, in line with the rope. Finally, I secured the tag end to the standing end using a taughtline hitch. This kept a good tension on the line, so it kept the boat from swinging out in the wind, and working its way free. It worked so well in fact, that I had to chase off some children who were using the tight bow line as a swing set.

The bow line was used primarily to keep the bow of the boat from swinging around in the wind. The keel of the boat rested on the sand. The motor skeg held the stern of the boat in place. This worked exceptionally well, even though we had quite a deluge from that passing summer storm.

The water facing camp-sites at Black Rock park face toward the South. Ideally, you would want to beach the boat facing South, because most Summer storms come up from the South East. Its better to have waves hitting the bow of your boat rather than the stern. I did get a small amount of water in my bilge, but I think it was mostly from the rain, because I did not see any waves breaking over the transom.

I have since used derivatives of this method on several occasions. If you are trying to beach on a desert island, with no trees, you could run the line through a mushroom or dansforth anchor, then bury the anchor in about two feet of sand. If you feel the anchor slipping when you cinch up the line, bury it more deeply.

Another useful knot is the Butterfly Knot, which creates a loop that can be tied without access to the ends of the rope. The loop stands straight out from the line, and is useful for making a lean-to out of a tarp and two trees. If you have a long enough rope, you can tie a butterfly knot that aligns with each grommet in the tarp. You create a frame by staking out the bottom corners of a square that extends at a 45 degree angle from the ground to the tree trunk. Secure the ends of the rope to the two trees, 45 degrees up from the corners of the rope square. Now, use bungy cords to attach the tarp grommets to the butterfly knot loops you created. I have used this to keep firewood dry in a rainstorm, and it works well. The bungy cords absorb the shock from the wind, and the water runs off the tarp well away from the wood.

that's enough from me for now. If you have any stories about using knots in interesting ways, please post a comment.

Huge Gator Lurks in Lake Conroe - debunked!

2006-06-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Look at the size of this alligator! It has a whole deer in its mouth. These pictures were taken by a KTBS helicopter flying over the west end of Lake Conroe! Lake Conroe is in Conroe, Texas which is about 45 miles north of Houston along IH-45.

Wanna go fishing?

BTW, I did a quick Internet search, and found out this is a hoax -- it had me going, though! Here's a link to the real story!

Hackberry Hustle part deux

2006-05-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

I left straight from work to go to Houston, last Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to get out of Austin before evening rush-hour. My bags and my gear was packed in the truck, and ready to go. I had to drive the entire distance in business clothes, but visions of a great weekend ahead drove my heel.

I made it to Houston in record time (I did not speed, officer -- honest!). Actually I left at about 3:15, and arrived in the Woodlands at about 6:00. Two hours and forty-five minutes -- not too shabby. Somehow, the rush hour traffic in Magnolia was very light for a change. I thought I was on a lucky streak! (Little was I to know about how the weekend would shape up).

I arrived at Will's house to find him in the garage, sorting out his gear. I unloaded my bags, and went inside.

Will had about 8 huge AC plugs (big balsa plugs, jointed in the middle). They looked like something you would tow behind a boat to catch a Marlin! I figured that if we ran into a big school of red-fish feeding at the surface like last time, it might actually work. I helped Will pick out a few - trying to match a mullet on a clear and cloudy day, so that he could be prepared for either condition.

I brought some jig-heads, and a few packages of Saltwater Assassins, in various colors. I also brought some extra line; fluorocarbon for use as leader material. This would prove to be useful for other purposes as well.

We cleaned and oiled the reels, checked the line, and got all of our stuff together so that we could pack up and go in the morning.

The next morning, Will was upset to find out that a few more people bailed out of the trip. This put us in a bind, because we had already reserved 4 boats, with the latest round of dropouts, it meant that two boats would only have two people -- this makes the cost per person go up considerably.

We finally left the house at about 11:30, and went to pick up Ronnie. Afterward, we went straight to Woofies (the local tavern) to meet up with Bill and Kendall. Kendall and I would leave our vehicles under the security camera in the parking lot at Woofies, and we would take Bill's suburban land-yacht.

We were happy to find that it was Bikini-Day at Woofies, and Christine (one of the bar tenders) was looking hot. Will had some fun with the video camera, while we had a few beers, and waited for Bill. Bill was supposed to show up at 12:30, but he was late as usual. He arrived at about 1:15, ate a burger, and had a beer. By this time, we had been drinking for about two hours, so I'm glad Bill was driving.

Finally, we loaded everything up into Bills truck, and hit the road. Bill had a great shortcut (we all remember last year's shortcut, which ended us up in Jasper, Texas. Not the kind of place you want to get lost in, but that's another story...). We would drive North to Conroe, then take highway 105 to Beaumont to avoid Houston all-together. Of course, as soon as we got onto IH45, the traffic was at a stand-still.

Once we got to Conroe, and off of IH45, the traffic lightened up dramatically. To Bill's credit, we made record time. It only took a couple of hours to get to Hackberry, even after stopping about a half-dozen times for Ronnie to do his business.

We stopped off at a dock where there were some shrimp boats. Will bought a few pounds of shrimp, and some crab-claws for the gumbo. Will was wearing these goofy bright red sunglasses that he found at Ronnie's house. I caught a few funny looks from the locals at the dock, as they sized up Will wearing those sunglasses.

As we approached Hackberry, you could see lots of damaged buildings, and blue-tarps covering damaged roofs. We had all seen the news footage from Hackberry after Hurricane Rita blew through. All of us expected closed roads, and total devastation. Interestingly, the damage was sparse. One house would be almost destroyed, while the house next door looked untouched. Freddy would later tell me that there were lots of tornadoes spawned off by the hurricane; he climbed the levy next to the camp to survey the damage after the storm, and he said that you could see clear paths of destruction where tornadoes ripped through the area.

To our surprise, the roads were mostly clear. There were noticeably fewer trees, and piles of debris, but Hackberry was by no means a ghost town. When we pulled up to the camp, the scenery had definitely changed from last year. Freddy's house was gone; replaced by three FEMA trailers. The lodge was gone, but replaced by a new lodge that was finished being installed that very morning. There was a crew of people busy at work putting grass down around the new lodge.

This is the view from the fishing dock to the boat ramp. Its pretty quiet in the afternoon, but is bustling as soon as the sun starts coming up in the morning.

The boat dock looked like it was in good shape, and all of the boats were intact. So the basic elements were all there.

Freddy and his staff were there to greet us. They were all talking excitedly about the fish they were catching. All of them said that the fishing had been great since the hurricane, so we were all excited about what the morning would bring.

We unloaded our gear, and each of us claimed a bunk. We met up with the other members of the party as they arrived. We all settled in, talking, and waiting for the Gumbo to finish. Monica and her helpers were hard at work in the kitchen.

Here is Kendall, Ronnie, Me, and Will (from left to right). We are pumped up, and ready to catch some fish!

The new lodge was very comfortable. There was lots of room for everyone. The patio was too small (you should see 11 guys standing on a three foot by twenty foot patio deck). I'm pretty sure they are going to build a larger one; I was happy we had a lodge to stay in at all.

By the time dinner was ready, everyone was hungry. The gumbo was delicious! I mean it was perfect. There was potato salad to go with it, and an awesome crab dip as an appetizer. Will brought some tabasco peppers from his garden. He chopped some up, and put it in one container of crab dip. It really kicked it up a notch, so to speak -- but it actually tasted great. There was chocolate cake for desert, but not much room, because everyone had gone back for second helpings of seafood gumbo.

This is Monica and I, on the front porch of the new lodge. Monica is the best darned Cajun cook that I have ever known. She makes the best seafood gumbo I have ever had. Really. The absolute best.

After dinner, we all sat around the dock shooting the bull. I brought a couple of lawn chairs with me, which proved to be handy. They were by far the most comfortable chairs on the dock. Some of us cast a line around the dock, but gave up after about the fourth or fifth time getting hung up. There was lots of debris in the water. I dragged up a nasty old mop, and a rubber glove. Will caught a beer can. I lost about one hundred feet of line, and a favorite lure. At some point, one by one, we all slipped off to bed.

After the aftermath of Rita, there was lots of debris in the water around the dock. I caught a glove (there was no hand in it -- I checked), and an old mop. Will caught a beer can (there was no beer in it -- he checked).

I guess I stayed up later than most, because when I went to bed, Kindall was in my spot, snoring away. Kindall is a notorious snorer. He literally shakes the walls when he snores. The only empty bunk was the next one over. Luckily, Bill had the forethought to bring some extra ear-plugs. They provided about a 50% reduction in the decibel level, so eventually with the help of a pillow over my head, I was able to get to sleep. I couldn't help getting a few seconds of Kindall snoring on my video camera, before I went to sleep.

At about 5:00 in the morning, I awoke to the sound of people getting ready to go fishing. Kindall was snoring louder than ever, so I got a few more seconds of footage before I got up. After about 30 minutes, someone realized that the clock on the stove was an hour behind, so it was actually about 4:30 in the morning! Oh, well. We were already up, so there was no sense in going back to sleep. I poured myself a cup of strong coffee to shake of the cob-webs. They had some Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits, and some honey-buns. I had one of each, then went outside.

It was still dark outside, and the mosquitoes were beginning to feed. I could see a truck at the boat ramp on the other side of the bayou that was backing his trailer down into the water. This later turned out to be Phillip, one of the fishing guides. Along with the other guides, Phillip drove his boat up to the dock. Max, who was my guide, was using one of Freddie's boats, which was in the lift.

Will was busy filling the cooler up with beer. I checked to see if there was any water, and of course there wasn't, so I went off in search of some. I found about a dozen water bottles, so I put them in the cooler along with the beer.

Ronnie was supposed to be on the boat with Will and I, but with the number of people who didn't show up, Kindall would have been stuck by himself on a boat. Ronnie opted to go with Kindall, so the price went up for all of us. We had all of our gear on-board, and were ready to go. The boat was still up on straps in the boat lift, and Will had already popped his first top. He offered me one, but I said, "Let's wait until we get out over the water, OK?" Max, our guide said, "Well technically, you are over the water..." I decided that I would drink water instead.

So, we were off. The air felt nice, the temperature was fine. The problem was that the previous extra high tide, along with a South West wind that blew all night, had the lake muddy brown. This is not good for fishing. The plan was to go in search of birds, which tend to follow schools of fish picking up the left overs. After locating about five different groups of birds that were 'picking', casting all around them and coming up empty, we began to realize that there were no fish under these birds. The birds were chasing shrimp, but the fish were somewhere else.

By mid-morning, we had driven all around the Southern part of the lake, and only managed to catch a couple of small fish. It was shaping up to be a long day. At some point, Max (our guide) decided to try something different. The tide was peaking, and getting close to changing directions. This would draw clean water back into the lake, and start clearing out the muddy water. Max figured that if we could get as far upstream as possible, we might find some good water. We took a gamble, and drove 30 minutes to the north west side of the lake, on the way to 'Black Lake'.

We had to go under this draw bridge. After driving the boat about 30 minutes to get to this spot, the guide was worried that we wouldn't fit under it. He forgot that he wasn't driving his own boat! Captain Freddie's boat (that we were on) has a high windscreen, and a handrail that goes over it. We actually cleared the bridge by about 6 inches!

When we were about two minutes away, the guide started looking worried. When I asked him what was the problem, he said that he had forgotten that he was driving Freddie's boat, which has a high windscreen and handrail around the center console. Max was afraid that there would not be enough clearance under the drawbridge.

Right before the drawbridge was a dock with some shrimp boats. Will needed more ice for his beer, so we made a stop. The guide made a fancy maneuver with the boat, that had me quite impressed. There was two shrimp boats moored to the dock, with about 40 feet of clearance between them. The front boat was idling its engine, so it was pushing a pretty strong current behind the boat. On top of this, the wind was blowing and the tide was shifting. Max nosed the front of the boat in close to the dock just behind the front boat, then used reverse to draw the rear of the boat in to the dock, pretty as you please. Great job parallel parking the boat!

After we picked up some ice, we continued down the bayou to pass under the bridge. Luckily, we cleared the bridge by about six inches! We anchored at a bend in the bayou, hoping to catch fish as they moved from Black Lake back into the main lake.

Unfortunately, all we caught was catfish. Salt water catfish taste terrible, and they are covered with nasty spunky goo. This is where the guides make there money -- taking nasty catfish off the hook. Believe me, it doesn't take more than a few of these before the guide is ready to move on. So, move on we did. Before we left the area, a couple of fisherman passed by on the way out to the main lake. They said the fishing in Black Lake was no good -- nothing was biting. So, we decided to fish a grassy bank that we passed for flounder.

Here is a real fishy looking spot. We were trying for Flounder, but ended up catching a few small 'Rat-Reds'.

I caught a couple of "Rat-Reds", or baby red-fish by casting my lure past a grassy point. They are small, but fun to catch and release. Will caught a small croaker, but no flounder. By this time, the tide started flowing back out, so we left the area in search of better water.

We ended up at an area called 'The Washout', which is where the ICW and the Western shore of Lake Calcasieu meet. The guide caught a couple of nice trout in this area, but I think it was luck more than skill. There just weren't that many fish feeding.

The last spot we checked was an area called 'Old Jetties', which is a line of rocks that break the surface over open water. Someone caught a 40lb black drum here earlier in the day, but all we managed to catch was a few large catfish.

So we called it a day, and went in.

When everyone got back to the dock I got my camera out to take some pictures. I got a good picture of Phillip with a net full of red-fish. One group did pretty good, and got into a school of keeper size reds.

Most everyone else came up light; the fishing was really bad. Oh, well -- maybe tomorrow, right?

Everyone decided to donate their first-days catch to the fish fry, for dinner. Even though the fishing was tough, there was plenty of food to go around. We probably could have fed the entire neighborhood!

Phill fried the fish and hush-puppies outside, in a wok filled with peanut-oil. This is a great method of frying fish. He's got this aluminum wind-shield that wraps partially around the burner, to keep the flame concentrated. You can fry a lot of fish this way, very quickly.

Phillip was frying the fish that were caught on the first day. Since Hurricane Rita, Captain Freddy and the rest of his staff were living in FEMA trailers, so they only had small refrigerators. They did not have any fish to fry. Anticipating a big day of fishing, we decided to have Gumbo on our first night, and have a fish fry with our first day's catch. The fishing was really slow on the first day, so Will was worried that we would not have enough fish to feed everyone in the camp. After everyone pitched in their fish, we had enough food to feed the entire neighborhood!

to be continued...

Kendall and I fished together on the second day. Here is Kendall trying to catch a trout.

There were lots of ship-wrecks, including these two that drifted out of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), and ended up on land. What a flood!

This is a Liquefied Natural Gas tanker that passed by the camp on the ICW, named Methane Princess. On the front of the bridge, there is a huge NO SMOKING sign, painted in bright red, for good reason! This ship was on its way back out to the gulf. You can tell that it is mostly empty, because it is riding very high in the water.

Here is the purple-martin house that stands in front of the lodge. There are 24 apartments in it, and every one had two or three chicks. The momma and poppa birds were working hard keeping all of those hungry little mouths fed.

These are shrimping barges. They drop their nets when the tide is moving, and passively catch shrimp as they swim by. According to the guides, the shrimping industry on Lake Calcasieu is close to an all-time high. The lake is chock-full of shrimp!

This is what we woke up to on the second day of fishing. The wind was howling out of due-south, at about 20 mph! This put a damper on our fishing luck, big time.

Here is a picture of the 'Night-Hawk', which makes night-fishing runs for trout. The Night-Hawk rode out the storm, thanks to some fancy line work by the fishing guides. They had it tied to the dock, so that it would ride up and down with the storm surge. Although the rest of the camp was wiped out, the Nigh-Hawk was completely undamaged. I believe Captain Freddy slept here for a while after the storm passed.

Gearing up for Hackberry

2006-05-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

I took down my redfish rod today, and started getting ready for my next trip. I cleaned and oiled my Shimano Calais reel, and spooled on some fresh line. I'm torn between bringing my Quantum 7:1 bait-cast reel, my old Ambassador bait-cast, or my Shimano spin-cast. They all have their pluses and minuses.

The Quantum is really geared too fast for this type of fishing. Although I can cast a mile with it. If I hook a big redfish, its going to be tough to reel it in. And, I only have one true redfish rod -- my only other bait-cast rod that might work is my Carolina rigging rod, but its really too heavy. I think I will leave my Quantum behind, because its going to wear me out one way or another.

I used to think of the Shakespeare Ambassador as a decent reel. Although, since I bought my Shimano Calais its spent most of its time on the shelf. It holds a lot of line, but the bulky roundness of the reel wears my hands out by the end of the day. Also, the reel handle is a little small for my taste, and it certainly isn't a smoothly geared real, at least by Calais standards. And, once again my rod choice is somewhat limited.

Lastly, I could bring my Shimano spin-cast reel. I much prefer a bait-cast over a spin cast, but I do have a nice Fenwick 7' medium weight rod, that has a similar action to my redfish rod. Its not quite as long, but it is as long as my other bait cast rods, and not so heavy. Its got plenty of 'give' in the tip, which keeps me from jerking the bait out of the fishes mouth when I revert to bass fishing tactics (as I always do), and try to set the hook. I think I have made up my mind. I will bring the spin-cast combo. I'll clean it, oil it, and spool on some fresh line tonight.

I have a couple of packages of salt-water assassins, and some jig hooks to bring. I'm going to go through my tackle box, to see if there is anything else I might try out, too. I think I will keep it as simple as possible; there's no use fumbling around with too much tackle when you have 4 people on board. I'll bring some shorts with lots of pockets, so I can keep most of my gear on my person, for easy access.

I'll be leaving on Wednesday right after work, or right after lunch -- whatever I can get away with. I'll drive down to Houston, and stay at my brother's house. We will leave in the morning on Thursday, and make it to Hackberry by Thursday mid-afternoon. This will put us there early enough to claim the best bunks.

I checked my video camera today, and made sure my batteries were charged, and I had plenty of blank cassettes. I'm going to try to capture as much as possible on film, so that I can have some good footage for my blog.

My next post should be a great story, so stay tuned.

Grilled Snapper On the 'Half-Shell'

2006-05-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

I grilled up a couple of Red Snapper filets this evening. They tasted great. I'm glad I brought my vacuum-sealer on my last fishing trip (see Holy Mackerel!). I had sealed up two filets (both sides of one fish) in each of four bags. I put them in the freezer when I got home from my trip. Tonight I thawed out one package. When I opened the package, I noticed that there was no fishy smell at all. I had to scale the fish, though -- which was a little upsetting. I paid a guy at the dock twenty bucks to clean our fish; I assumed he had scaled them first. Next time I will make sure. He prepared them 'On the half-shell', in other words with the skin on. After scaling the fish, I put the filets on ice until I was ready to cook.

My grill has three three burners, and three grates. I wrapped foil around two of the grates, with the shiny side facing in. I heated up the grill, keeping the flame on medium low under the two foiled grates, and on high under the third grate. I brushed olive oil onto the foil, and let the grill heat up nice and hot.

Meanwhile, I cut in half some small red potatoes - enough for two people. I put them in the microwave for three minutes. This is a trick I have figured out through trial and error. By microwaving potatoes, you are essentially steaming them. Three minutes is enough to cook them through, so that they are soft on the inside. I had a big cast-iron skillet with some bacon fat, that I heated up nice and hot. After the potatoes finished in the microwave, I put them into the hot skillet. The bacon grease crisps up the outside of the potatoes, but the insides are soft from the microwave. It takes about 15 minutes to finish the potatoes, to where they are browned up nicely. So I put the potatoes in the pan, and attended to the fish.

I pat each filet dry with a paper towel, then brushed on some olive oil, on each side of the filet. I sprinkled lemon-pepper and kosher salt on each side of each filet. By now, the grill was good and hot. I placed each filet on the foil, skin side down, then closed the lid.

Back in the kitchen, I sliced a lemon and a lime very thin. I gave the potatoes a flip and a stir, then set back for about 8 minutes. I checked on the fish -- they were cooking up nicely. I squeezed a little lime juice on each, making sure not too squeeze too much and risk flaming up and catching the foil on fire. When foil burns, it puts out an acrid smoke that can ruin your meal. I flipped each filet, so that the skin side was up, then closed the lid.

I went back to the kitchen, and gave the potatoes a stir. You don't want them to cook too long on one side, because they might burn. After about 4 more minutes, the potatoes looked done. I put some paper towels in a glass dish, then spooned the potatoes into the dish, to soak up any extra bacon grease. This is the best time to season the potatoes. As Emeril Lugosi says, 'their vulnerable' at this stage. When you salt and pepper them in this state, they become 'happy'. I cut a couple of sprigs of rosemary from the garden, and blotted the potatoes. Fresh rosemary has such a pungent aroma, that there is no need to cut it up. Blotting the potatoes is enough to get a subtle flavor of rosemary, without becoming over-powering. Bam!

By this time, the fish had been cooking a total of 16 minutes. I used a wide spatula to get the fish off the grill - the olive oil kept the fish from sticking to the foil. I put the fish into a glass pan, then covered them with the lemon and lime slices.

I let the fish rest for a couple of minutes under the lemon and lime, then removed the slices before I served it with the potatoes. The fish was cooked to perfection. It was flaky and moist, and had a wonderful flavor. I think it would have tasted great with some chilled chardonnay. Next time I will add some greens to the mix, and find a nice bottle of wine.

Bon Appetit!

Video Clips from San Luis Pass

2006-05-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Holy Mackerel!

Here's Jim, fishing for breakfast.

This is what we caught.

Here we are at the dock after a long day of fishing.

News from Lake Bridgeport

2006-05-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

I recieved some news from my friends at North Side Marina on Lake Bridgeport. They have opened a new store, added some additional cabins, and expanded their boat slip and boat rental business. Check out my recent article, Bridgeport Bonanza, to read about what a great time I had fishing on Lake Bridgeport. Here is the full text of their latest press release:

PRESS RELEASE

May 17, 2006

For immediate release:
North Side Marina and Resort announces the opening of its new Ship’s Store, new lakefront log and cedar cabin rentals, expanded boat slips and boat rentals. Located on the north end of Lake Bridgeport in the Blockers Camp, the Marina also features a 24 hour pay at the pump gas dock.

North Side Marina and Resort is the only place on Lake Bridgeport offering combination cabin and boat rentals for people who want to get away from it all and experience Lake Bridgeport. For those with their own boat, you may also keep your boat at the Marina during your cabin rental.

The Marina gives visitors the opportunity to boat, fish, paddle boat, and relax all in one place. All of the cabins feature a particular theme: The Lonestar sports a Texas theme, the Lakeview is a lake theme with an all glass front overlooking the lake, the Angler has a fishing theme with a large wooden deck and the Captain’s Quarters sports a boating theme. All cabins have access to one of several deck and patio areas. It’s not uncommon to find a group enjoying the view while grilling one of the Colorado steaks now available from the Ship’s Store.

According to Marina owner, Jay Graver, “The response to the Marina has been overwhelming; we are expanding our boat rentals, boat slips and cabin availability to accommodate the large number of requests we are receiving.”

North Side has also become a dealer for the Park Model cabins which are also installed as rental cabins at North Side. The cabins are perfect for a weekend getaway, a hunting lease or a guest cottage at your ranch or lake house. There are several interior and lake front lots close to the Marina that are for sale by private owners. These cabins would be a perfect fit for some of the available lots.

The North Side website has become very popular and includes photo albums of Lake Bridgeport and all of the cabins.

Jay and co-owners/operators Jeanne and Alan Kennedy want to thank the community for their support over the last few months while the Ship’s store was being rebuilt. The original store was destroyed in a fire the early part of March. The fire was caused by workers who were expanding the original store. A temporary store has been in operation since the fire.

The Marina’s Ship’s Store is open for business 10am-7pm, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays and 11am-6pm Monday through Thursday. Cabin and boat rental requests can be made via the website or by calling the Marina directly.

Marina address: 180 Private Road 1735 Chico, TX
Marina phone: 940-644-5475
Marina website: www.northsidemarina.net

For further information or inquiries, contact Jeanne Kennedy at 940-644-5475.

Comments Enabled

2006-05-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

I just realized yesterday that my comments area was broken -- no wonder I haven't been getting any! This is now mostly fixed; if you would like to leave a comment, please do.

Holy Mackerel!

2006-05-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

I packed my gear on Thursday night, knowing that I don't think clearly when I wake up at 4:30 in the morning. My plan was to leave early to beat the traffic, and to try to get some fishing in on Friday. I left the house at 5:00, but I ended up returning home after 15 minutes because I realized that I had forgotten my fishing license! I'm glad I remembered before I got too far down the road. I was supposed to pick up my friend Jim at 5:30, but when he called to complain about my being late, he realized that he forgot to pack his license too. So it all worked out. We left Jim's house by 6:00, and were on the road to San Luis Pass.

We arrived at the beach house by 10:00am, so we made pretty good time.
The house looked good -- the last time I was here, I had to evacuate because of hurricane Rita. The owner of Lands Innd at Texas Beach House Rentals told me that there was a 13 foot storm surge that washed out the foundation, and the stairs to the deck. The deck and stairs had been repaired, and the foundation was replaced.

We unloaded all of our gear, had a bite of lunch, then headed out to fish the shallows on the Galveston side of San Louis Pass. The toll bridge had been repaired since my last visit as well. It was $2 each way. I took my 4-wheel drive Toyota truck, which handled the sandy road from the bridge to the beach with ease. There were a lot of people fishing the shallows. We found a cut-through that brought us to a relatively empty spot. There were some wade-fishers about 200 yards off shore. I tied on a jig head with a salt-water assassin, then waded out into the water. I found a spot about 100 yards from the shore where the water was deeper, and a slight current was running through. There were noticeably more mullet in the deeper water, so I made a few casts. On about the 10th cast, something swiped my bait and cut my line. I later learned that it was probably a Spanish Mackerel. Someone told me that they were catching them recently. They had sharp teeth, and would likely cut your line if you didn't use a wire leader.

Foolishly, I didn't bring a spare lure, so I turned to start walking back to the truck. As I did so, I noticed that a truck and van pulled up directly beside my truck. I had left my truck unlocked, and I had an expensive rod and reel in the back of the truck. This looked like the perfect opportunity to snatch my gear, so I high-tailed it back to the truck. I was only being paranoid, because the guys in the truck and van were getting ready to go fishing, too.

Jim and I decided that the fishing was pretty slow, and we decided to drive around to where the bridge met the water. There was a great shady spot under the bridge, so I parked the truck. Jim had this little lure that looked a lot like a mullet, so I suggested that he try it out. I kept the same jig on my line, and we waded out under the bridge. I know the currents can be bad under the bridge at San Luis Pass, but it was pretty calm at this time of the day. After about an hour, Jim hooked and landed a nice Spanish mackerel. I did not catch anything.

A friendly local fellow who was giving up for the day gave me the rest of his live shrimp. I tied on a popping bobber about 2 feet above a small steel leader, where I hooked a shrimp through the tail. Everyone has a preferred method of hooking a shrimp. Some like to hook it just behind the heart, but I prefer to hook them through the point at the end of the tail. I find that the shrimp stays on the hook longer, lives longer, and has more action in the water. Despite my efforts, I got only one bite, but did not catch any fish.

Eventually we got the call that Alan had arrived at the beach
house. Alan was the third member of our party, who had arrived from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We decided to call it a day, and headed back across the bridge to the beach house. As we drove across the bridge, we saw a guy holding up what looked like a 40 pound Jack Crevalle on a boat below the bridge. It was huge! The boats were fishing the channel that was just outside of our casting reach from our position under the bridge. At this moment I was truly regretting that I did not bring my boat!

When we got back to the house, Alan was lounging on the deck with a beer in his hand. This was my first chance to meet Alan, and we all hit it off right away. Alan had some funny stories about Louisiana. By the time we had a few beers, Joey showed up. Joey is a friend of mine from work, and he had driven in from Austin. The whole party was assembled, and we were pumped up to catch the big ones!

I fired up the grill, and cooked some fajitas on the deck. We stayed up a little later than we should have, but the fishing guide told me that we would leave out at 7:30 in the morning. We all got a somewhat restless sleep, anticipating big action in the morning.

On Saturday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast (I find that microwave Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits don't taste very good, but they fill you up enough without giving you an upset stomach), and headed out to the dock.

We departed from Bridge Bait, which is underneath the causeway bridge from Freeport to Surfside. I was familiar with the place, because it was the same spot I launched from on my Redfish trip in September.

Captain Michael Jennings from Cowboy Charters was there to meet us at the dock. The boat was gassed up and ready to go, so without much delay we were on our way. The boat was a 29 foot Pro-Cat, with a 10 foot beam. It was a center-console boat, with lots of room to fish. There was two 200-HP Yamaha motors, so we had lots of power to work with. The boat ride was smooth and stable, until we got out past the jetties.

The wind was blowing out of the South West at about 10-15 mph, with 20 mph gusts. The seas were 2 feet and 'snotty', which is a nautical term taught to me by Captain Mike. 'Snotty' means that the waves are sloppy and not consistent, so the boat had a definite pitch and roll. I find that as long as you keep your knees flexed, keep your eyes on the horizon, try to find some shade, and drink plenty of water you wont get sea-sick. Unfortunately, Alan did not follow this advice, so by the time we got to the 35 mile mark, he was chumming.

Poor Alan did not get any better for the rest of the day, but he held on like a trooper. When you are 35 miles from shore, you don't have much choice!

Along the way out to sea, as we passed some mats of floating
sea-grass, Captain Mike circled around slowly looking for Ling. Another name for Ling is Cobia. Cobia like to hang out in the shade under mats of grass, and they are very curious. If you circle around and peer into the water, you might see one looking back at you.

We met up with two other boats about 35 miles out. Capt. Mike said that we were looking for a pile of rocks on hard bottom. The water was definitely a different color than when we left the shore. The water color steadily changed the further we got out, going from brown to green, and finally to blue. You could see well into the water, but where we were it was 120 feet deep. Capt. Mike baited a ribbon fish on a drift-line, and let it drag out behind the boat as he baited the other lines with cut fish about 1 foot below a 1 oz egg sinker. Before any of the weighted lines hit the water, I had fish on! It was a nice keeper-size King Mackerel, and it put up a terrific fight.

After the first fish, we landed a few small red snappers, and one more decent King, but the fishing was rather slow. Joey hooked a small sharpnose shark that put up a nice fight.

According to the captain, there is a sparse line of rock piles that extends out about 10 miles from where we were fishing. On the radio, we heard that another party was catching 30-40 pound wahoo at the other end of the line. I wanted to go out further, but Alan was still really sick, so we decided to fish our way back toward land.

We stopped over the wrecked remains of a oil rig that had broken loose a few years ago, and fallen over. The rig had been towed away, but there was still a considerable amount of cover left behind. We dropped our weighted baits to where the sonar was marking fish, and instantly started catching large red snappers. We fished this way for the next couple of hours. As we drifted south of the wreck, the fish got smaller. After releasing about 10 fish in a row, the captain brought us back to the up-current side of the wreck, and we started catching large ones again.

We saw a Green Sea Turtle, which I understand is quite rare. In fact, they are on the endangered species list. I was busy with a large fish on the line, so I didn't give it much more than a glance. From what I could see, it was very beautiful. Eventually, we bagged the limit of snappers, and headed back to the dock.

Upon reaching the dock, I collected the money and paid the captain. The trip was $750 plus gas, and we used 80 gallons! So, it came out to about $990 plus tip. Split 4 ways, it was about $275 each. Not bad, for a great day of fishing. The weather was great, and the captain was very personable and helpful. I highly recommend Cowboy Charters -- we will most likely use them again in the fall.

Back at the beach house, I fired up the grill. Jim heated up the fry-daddy. When we caught the mackerel, I was tempted to release it, but the captain said that it tastes good grilled. After following his advice, I had to say that mackerel tastes awful. It smells about as good as it tastes. I will never keep a mackerel again. The snappers were delicious, though. We cubed them, lightly battered, and lightly fried. Ordinarily, I would grill or broil a snapper, but we were exhausted from the fishing trip, and took the path of least resistance. After dinner, we divided up the catch, and used a seal-o-meal to keep the fish fresh. I have several nice filets in my freezer; but I'm afraid they wont be there for long!

We tried to watch a basketball game, but all of us had crashed out by 10:00pm.

On Sunday morning, everyone slept a little bit late. We were all too sore to go fishing, so we cleaned up the beach house, packed up our stuff, and headed home. All-in-all, it was a great trip. We are already planning the next one, which will probably take place in late October when the big fish are more common.

It's Almost Hackberry Time Again

2006-05-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's almost been a year since I fished Lake Calcasieu. Well, I'm going again! It looks like this is turning into an anual event. My brother and I, plus all of his bar-buddies have filled the camp at Hackberry Cajun Guide Service; we will be the first group of fisherman since Hurricane Rita ruined my last planned trip in September, and wiped out the entire camp. I wasn't sure they were going to make it, but I'm really glad they did. I'm looking forward to some good Cajun cooking, and some great Cajun fishing. I promise I will take lots of pictures, and tell you all about it.

30 Miles Out

2006-05-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

I can't wait until Friday! I've rented a house in San Luis Pass, and my buddies and I are going fishing offshore. I hope the weather cooperates. I told the guide from Reel Threel Charters that we wanted to catch big fish that put up a big fight. I'm hoping we go for tuna, or wahoo, or something like that. The guide said we would go about 30 miles offshore, leaving out of Freeport. I've never done this kind of fishing before, so I'm sure I will have lots to blog about. We've got the house until Monday, so we plan on fishing for redfish and trout as well. I'll let you know how it goes.

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

2006-05-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

I caught this one right before sunrise this morning, on Lake LBJ. Its good to start the day off right. The sky was overcast, there was a light breeze out of the South-East -- almost perfect conditions. I say 'almost', because with all of the storms passing through this weekend, the lake looked like watered-down chocolate milk. I started out in the same place as I have for the last two trips. I used the same Lucky Craft lipless crankbait - the one I modified by painting a small black dot just behind the gills. I caught 8 bass within the first 30 minutes.

Interestingly, this spot was not as soupy as the rest of the lake. It wasn't exactly clear either, but as they say, "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King." I think the bass were hanging out deep on the backside of the rocky point, then slamming shad as they passed overhead. I was using my Quantum Burner 7:1 reel, and ripping the lure through the water. My strategy was to give them as much noise, flash, and vibration as possible. I guess the strategy worked.

Once I fished this area out, I proceeded up the shoreline where there were some lay-down logs. I pitched a chartreuse willow-leaf spinner, and slow rolled across the tops of the logs. I got one swipe, and caught one bass.

As I rounded the next point, the water was thrashing with white bass (sandies). There was hundreds of them. I literally caught a fish on every cast, and wore out 3 of the six hooks that was on my lure. I was still catching fish with two broken treble hooks! These were all small, but they were fun to catch.

As the sun came up over the horizon, the bite tapered off quickly. I tried to fish the weed beds with a soft plastic jerkbait, but the water was so cloudy that I could not locate the outside weed-line. I tried to fish a frog, but drew no strikes. I went back out to the main lake, and tried a few other spots that have panned out during my last couple of trips. I caught one or two here and there, but nothing spectacular. By 10:00, I had caught 15 black bass. Two of them were decent size, but most of them were on the small side.

I decided to check out a couple of places I had spotted on my map. These spots were either side of Beaver Island. I caught one small bass on a soft-plastic jerkbait, but that was it. I stayed up late last night working on a program for my blog, so I was worn out by 11:00 AM. Even though the wind was beginning to shift out of the North-East, which may have been the change needed to trigger more aggressive action, I decided to call it a day, and go home. At least now, I know a couple of new areas to avoid.

On A Mission

2006-05-06T14:34:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking about where I would fish this weekend. The weather this week is a repeat of last week. I'm tempted to see if last weekend's fish patterns hold up. I think I will go to LBJ again tomorrow, to test that theory out. This time I will go alone, so I can be a little more adventurous. I've been studying the lake map, and I have noticed a few spots that look tempting. This time I will bring my digital camera, and see if I can get some more photos for my blog.

My guess is the lake will be turbid, with lots of debris. If I'm lucky, the sky will be overcast, and there will be a light South-East breeze. This time I'm going to start out fishing topwater near the weed-beds. Then I'll work my way out to the points. I'll try fishing crankbaits in the late morning, then switch to a Carolina-rigged worm over deeper water as the shadows get short.

Last weekend I picked up some offshore structure with my sonar. I think I will check that out, too.

I know I have been fishing LBJ a lot lately. I find that it is a good proving ground for my theories, because the relatively constant water level takes out a significant variable, and lets me concentrate on lure choice and presentation.

Tune back in tomorrow night. If all goes well, I should have another story, and some new photos to show off.

Another Fine Day on LBJ

2006-04-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while you have to let your friends fish too. Today was one of those days. I find that when your friends come along, its best to stick to the tried and true fishing spots. Its also best not to go into the backs of coves. Not because there's no fish in the backs of coves, but because there are lots of stumps and logs. Although stumps and logs can hold lots of fish, your buddy's inexperience will likely mean that he will get hung up more than once. That was the story today.

Earlier this week I bought a couple of new fishing poles. Believe it or not, I actually found a couple that were worth while at Cabelas. I did spend a little money, but got two rods -- a 6'6" St. Croix crankbait rod, and a two-piece 7' Fenwick spinning rod, for the price of one G-Loomis. I put my Shimano Calais reel on the St. Croix, then moved my Quantum Burner reel to my All-Star Top-Water Special. The All-Star Top-Water special works very well as a crankbait rod, because it is medium power, with moderate action.

The St. Croix is also medium power, moderate action, but it is considerably more ergonomic, lighter, and exceptionally responsive. I love this new rod. Like the Shimano Calais reel, it is well balanced, and fits nicely in the hand. There is plenty of casting power, and with fluorocarbon line you can feel every bump and contour of the bottom. It is also very forgiving when a fish strikes. I landed a few fish today that I'm not sure I would have using a different rod and reel combination.

I put my Shimano spinning reel on the Fenwick rod. This rod is very fine, although I'm not so sure about the reel. It may be that I have grown much more comfortable with a baitcast reel, and I find spinning reels to be cumbersome. There is always a delay between when the bait hits the water, and you can flip the bail, and stop the line from spooling out. When you are in shallow water, or fishing over the tops of weeds this delay can put salad on your hook, and make you waste an otherwise perfect cast. Perhaps there are some more responsive spinning reels out there, but I haven't found one yet. One of the things I like about this 7' light-weight rig is that it is easy to flip with.

Today we started out fishing the same places I was catching fish last week. The only difference was that last week the sky was overcast, and the wind was blowing briskly. Today, it was clear blue, warm, with only the slightest breeze. The water was also very murky with lots of floatsom and debris because of the heavy rains that came down two days ago. Last week the water was super clean and clear.

The fishing action was not as good. In the morning there was a fairly decent bite, but as the sun came up, the bite tapered off quickly. Although we caught around 30 fish total by noon, the majority of the fish were caught before 10:30 am. Early, we were catching fish by casting shad-painted lipless crankbaits to shoreline cover. The fish were noticeably further away from the shoreline than last time; my guess is that the warmer water and the turbid conditions had the bass roaming further from cover in the morning.

The blue sky and hot sun had the fish going deep by mid-day. I anticipated this, so I had switched to a deep-running crankbait and managed to pick up about 5 or 6 decent bass between 10:30 and noon by casting to about 12-15 feet deep along a granite shoal. There were a lot of juvenile bass in the mix, which has been common this spring. I hope it means that last year's spawn was successful, and there is a huge crop of new bass in the lake.

Another surprising pattern that emerged today, was that there was quite a few 2-3 pound bass on the grass beds. I used a chartreuse willow-leaf spinner bait to catch a three pounder at the intersection of two grass lines where there happened to be a lay-down log. Who could ask for a more fishy place than that? I switched to a pearl-white soft plastic jerkbait rigged with the hook run through then buried back, so that it was weedless. I would spot bass patrolling the grass, cast just ahead of them, give a couple of twitches, trigger a strike. I caught three additional fish between 2 and 3 pounds this way. This kind of fishing is very exciting; kind of like spotting for redfish. I counted about 50 carp on the grass beds, and there was some carp spawning going on at the back of the cove. These are kind of like little teasers, because from 75 yards, it hard to distinguish a carp from a big ole' bass. I even had one follow my lure, which was kind of weird. I guess it was just curious.

At about high-noon, I caught an interesting bass by casting a small hard suspending jerk bait (Luck Craft Pointer) to a shady spot at the back of a boat dock. I thought it was a rock bass, but it did not match the pictures I turned up on the Internet. This one was a little more than one pound, and I found it to be very beautiful. It was dark emerald green -- almost black, with a blueish belly. It looks exactly the same as the fish I caught on Lake Bridgeport, that I called a rock bass in a previous blog. Now, I'm not sure what it is. I wish I had a picture. I need to get a cheep digital camera for the boat, for times like these. Interestingly, the one I caught on Lake Bridgeport was hiding in a shady area beside a large rock at the shoreline. The one I caught on LBJ was in a similar shady area beside a jet-ski dock, right at the shoreline. Most of the bass I caught today, I caught well away from the shoreline. I know it is not a largemouth, because it had a smaller mouth that was positioned in front of the eyes. The teeth were almost black, and there was no clearly defined markings on the sides. The fins were all very dark green. Its going to drive me crazy until I can figure out what it is.

All and all it was another successful Spring day on Lake LBJ. I've been seriously considering buying some water-front property on LBJ. The lots I have found are not cheap, but there are only a few lots left, so it is a scarce resource. This means that it will more than likely be a good investment. I just need to raise some more cash to make that big down payment.

Until next week, happy fishing!

Lordy, Lordy -- I caught forty!

2006-04-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

There was a big bass tournament on LBJ this morning. I wasn't participating, but I had to compete none the less. I got to the boat ramp before the sun came up, but the parking lot was already full! I just knew that all of my fishing holes would be over-run with would-be bass masters. I decided to resort to 'Plan B'. Over the past couple of years, I have mapped out LBJ fairly well. There are a few spots that I keep in my back pocket; these are the ones where I have caught fish before, but rarely see anyone else fishing.

Honey-Hump is one of these. Its a great spot, and of all of the times I have fished it, tournament or not, there is no one else in sight. This morning was no different. As I motored up the lake, I noticed fishing boats working all of my prime spots on the eastern shoreline. I tucked into my secret cove, hoping to catch the morning bite. I saw fish working the mouth of the cove, so I tried my traditional morning lure selection. First I tied a small popper on one rod, a small spinner on another, and a frog on my third rod.

I have found that three rods is about all I can manage on my small boat. I can still switch quickly between these three rods, and I'm not fumbling around trying to keep things organized on deck. I would like to trade one of my rods in for a new one. Its a 7' All-Star that Skeeter gave me for my birthday after I bought my boat. The rod is neat, because it has my name on it -- 'Specially Made for Scott Gaspard' -- which is really B.S. because I can tell they just slapped a decal on the blank with my name on it, then laminated over it. It should say 'Specially labeled for Scott Gaspard'. Anyway, the rod is a fast action and heavy power. It wears me out by the end of the day, and it is way too stiff for crank baiting. You can't argue with free, so I will have to find a good use for it. I would really like a medium action, medium power G. Loomis crankbait rod, but who has the $300-$400 to spend on a fishing rod? Not me. I hope they come with an insurance policy.

So I started out throwing the popper around brush piles. No luck. I switched to the spinner, and I managed to get snagged a couple of times, but no strikes. The frog produced no results. I thoroughly worked all the way to the back of the cove. I saw a couple of snakes and turtles, but no fish.

By this time, the sun was starting to rise, so I switched to a small chrome and black rattletrap (spot). I caught a small bass on the first cast, but did not get another bite until I got all the way back out to the mouth of the cove. I caught another small one as I exited the cove, so before I trolled out over the off-shore hump, I switched to my Lucky Craft lipless crankbait. There is an underwater ridge that runs from the middle of the mouth of the cove to the offshore hump that has been a steady producer for me. I positioned the boat to troll parallel to the ridge, then cast to the shallow area behind the ridge, pulling the lure over the ridge into deeper water. By the time I got to the hump, I had caught 6 more. These were all small bass, one pound or less. I picked up several more on the back side of the hump. These were a little larger, but no keepers yet. I decided that I could fish here all day, and probably catch as many of these small bass as I could stand, but I would rather catch larger fish. I saw another fisherman approaching from the east, so before he could see me on my secret spot, I motored off across the lake in search of bigger bass.

The last time I was on LBJ, I scouted a shallow ridge that extended from a granite shoal on the east side of the main body of the lake. I could see that there was a fisherman entering the other side of the cove; he was pitching around a few boat docks. I knew that I could get to the ridge first, and cut him off. Although I did not catch anything as I fished from the ridge back into the adjacent cove, I did manage to spook off the other fisherman. He was feeling the pressure, because he kept getting his trolling motor hung up in some lay-down trees toward the back of the cove. It was obvious to me that he was in new territory. I showed off a bit deftly casting a small square-billed floating crankbait between the branches, bouncing it off of stumps, and floating it over logs. I caught a couple of tiny bass, but I did not get hung up.

The wind was starting to pick up out of the south east, blowing straight into the cove. The other guy was having a hard time, and I could tell he was getting frustrated because he finally fired up the big motor and took off. I had the cove to myself, so I reversed direction, and headed back out to the ridge at the mouth of the cove. I switched back to my Lucky Craft lipless crankbait. The wind was really howling by this time; probably blowing steady 20 mph, with stronger gusts. It was all I could do to keep from drifting into the bank, but as the waves started breaking against the granite shoreline, I started catching fish. These were considerably larger fish, in the 2-3 pound range. I caught several of these as I worked around the rocky point, and I started to see the pattern emerge. The bass were hanging out near submerged timber, about 25 yards off-shore, and would ambush shad that were caught up in the wind and waves. I started looking for this pattern as I worked the eastern shoreline. This paid off well. I worked several main lake points that fit this profile, and easily caught over 40 bass.

The largest bass I caught was about 4 pounds. I missed several decent bass that were only partially hooked on crankbaits. I attribute this to the stiffness of my rod. I have another rod with lighter action at the tip that was getting hooked up much more frequently. I worked the backs of a couple of coves, but it was a wasted of time and energy because I only caught a few fish, and they were small. I did get a huge perch to chase my lure, but he struck just as I raised the lure out of the water so I did not catch him. I also rescued a great big alligator gar that was caught on an abandoned trot-line. He was about 3 feet long, and he thrashed about as I tried to free him. I managed to get him loose, but not before he scraped his teeth against my fingers, and gave me good rasping for my effort.

I think trot-line fishing sucks. If you are going to set trot lines, the least you could do is check the line from time-to-time, and bring them back in when you are done fishing. Could you imagine the slow starving death you would face if you were stuck on an abandoned trot-line?

By noon the wind was really howling, and I noticed that I was having a difficult time keeping the boat moving forward into the wind. I had my trolling motor maxed out, and the batteries were beginning to drain. I have two deep cycle batteries wired in parallel for my accessories. This is usually enough to get me through an entire weekend on a full charge. I had a full charge when I started this morning. This is the first time I had worn out both batteries in the wind.

So I headed back to the dock. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that my trailer had a flat tire. Luckily, I keep a spare, and I had checked the air pressure before my trip to Lake Bridgeport. Although the dinky little jack they give you with a new car works, it takes a lot more effort than it should. I was soaked with sweat by the time I finished installing the spare. I need to remember to get the tire replaced, and also to get a tow-strap in case of on-the-water emergencies.

I'll probably go out again next weekend, but I think I will try a new lake. I'm not sure what lake that will be, there are not too many within an hours drive that have not already fished.

Bridgeport Bonanza

2006-04-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I rented a cabin on Lake Bridgeport. We got there on Thursday, and returned on Monday. The cabin had a boat slip, so I got to go fishing several times over three and a half days.

We stayed at North Side Marina, which is situated on one of the North West arms of the lake. The marina is in a protected cove with a large no-wake zone, so it was easy to take the boat out using only the trolling motor. Although the wind was fairly strong by bass-fishing standards, the cove was well protected and calm. It was a very pleasant experience, and at only about $80 per night, I will most likely use them again.

The lake was about 12 feet below full, so access was somewhat limited when it came to launching the boat. The marina owner was kind enough to ride with me as I drove around to Wise County Park, which is located on the North East side of the lake. I launched the boat, and the owner drove my truck back to the marina, as I drove the boat across the lake. I thought I had a good idea of where the marina was on the lake, from my lookup on google maps. Unfortunately, the map had it wrong, so I ended up taking the wrong cut from the main lake, and driving my boat around for about an hour looking for the marina!

The lake is mostly undeveloped, because half of the shoreline is within the boundaries of a boy-scout camp. From lakeside, there is not much to differentiate one cove from another, if you are not familiar with the landscape.

Luckily, I found a guy fishing from a boat dock, who gave me directions back to the marina. When I got back to the marina, the owner was getting his boat ready to come out and find me! I think he suspected that I stopped to fish along the way, but I promised him that I had not! I did see several schools of white bass chasing shad, and it got me pretty excited. I have to admit that I did consider stopping to fish, but I did not want anyone to worry. It was mid afternoon on Thursday, and about 100 degrees anyways. I was pretty tired from the 5 hour drive to get there, so I decided to take a small siesta and go back out just before sun-set.

In the evening, as it cooled off, I trolled around the cove, and managed to catch about 15 white-bass (which the locals call 'Sandies') by casting a shad-like crankbait around a secondary point, and between boat docks. I love catching those little whites, because they sure put up a fight! I did catch one small 2 pound largemouth between a couple of docks, but the pattern that was emerging for the white bass was rocky areas that divided wind and water current.

After a restless sleep, I got up early on Friday morning, and set off to explore the rest of the cove. The wind was blowing pretty hard at the mouth of the cove, but I managed to catch 8 more whites, a few of which were pretty decent size. I tried variations on the crank bait I was using, including a lipped version that dives to about 4-5 feet. I noticed that they were hitting the lipped version much more readily. I wasted a lot of time exploring the backs of the coves, but I found that most of the action was near the mouth of the coves where the wind and current were stronger. I went back to the dock at mid-morning, and chatted with one of the locals. He told me that there was a rocky shoal on the north side of the main lake that was normally underwater, but was about 2 feet out of the water since the lake was down. He had heard that they were catching a bunch of whites around that structure, so I decided to check it out in the afternoon.

When I went back out in the afternoon, I had to fight some waves, because the wind was blowing about 20 mph. I saw the island the guy was talking about, so I got up-wind of it, and used my drift-sock to slow down my drift, as I cast around the east side of the island. I caught a fish on every cast, and these were a different class of fish! I was catching a few whites, but mostly hybrid white-bass/stripers (or wipers), that were averaging around 2-3 lbs. I even caught a couple of decent 3 lb black bass, as I repeated this maneuver a few times.

As I was doing this, I noticed a guy with two passengers struggling to start his motor, and he was stranded on the little island. It looked like he drove over some rocks, and knocked out his lower-unit. I knew from the wind that it was quickly becoming a dangerous situation, and the guy wasn't likely to make it back using his trolling motor. I decided to do the right thing, and offered to tow him back to the marina. The fishing was good, so I was definitely torn, but I figured a little karma in my corner wouldn't hurt. The guy seemed grateful of my offer, and I towed him back to the marina. This took about an hour, so I lost some precious fishing time, but when I got back to the fishing hole I caught about 30 fish in the next hour. Those wipers are addictive! I noticed that there were several boaters nearby that were 'working the birds'. The birds were in a frenzy, and I know from experience that this means a large school of stripers or wipers were in the area. I decided that I would try chasing the birds before I went back to the dock. I would position my boat up-wind from the pack, set out my drift-sock and drift through the school while casting a 1/2 oz Lucky Craft lipless crankbait that looks like a shad. All of the other fishermen were jigging slabs while I cast and retrieved. I was catching fish on about every other cast, but I did not see any of them land a fish. These fish were considerably larger than the ones I caught off of the rocky shoal.

I normally catch and release, but the past several times I have gone camping with my wife, she brings the fish-fry, and I get skunked. This time, I had to break the curse, so I kept enough fish for dinner. I called ahead, so my wife prepared the frying pan and the batter, and I cleaned the fish. We fried the fish up immediately after cleaning them -- it doesn't get any fresher than that. That was some good tasting fish. I believe white-bass are the best tasting fresh water fish (besides maybe rainbow trout) that you can find. The meat is white, and tender, and the flavor is slightly sweet. The fish is easy to filet, and the filets are small so they cook up quickly. The filets are perfect size for eating - you can eat them like potato chips. They are also the perfect size for a sandwich; two filets cover a slice of bread perfectly. There were no left-overs, believe me.

Sunday morning, I slept late so I didn't get out on the lake until about 10:00 am. The wind was calm, so I decided to explore the lake more thoroughly. I felt that I had perfected the white-bass and wiper technique, so I went out in search of some large-mouth bass. My GPS showed an island toward the southern part of the lake, called 'Horse Island'. I decided to start there, and see what I could turn up. There was a very lite wind blowing out of the North East. As I worked my way around the island, starting from the North East side (which was rocky, but about 12 feet deep at the shoreline), at first I didn't have any luck. As I rounded the corner to the North side, I started picking up more sandies. When I rounded the corner to the shallower west side of the island, I picked up about 5 more. I caught another 10 on the South side of the island. As I completed my circuit around to the East side, the bite tapered off quickly. Although I did not catch any black bass here, a pattern started to emerge with the whites. They seemed to prefer the shallow, protected side of the island.

There was another island about 100 yards away, so I motored over to see what I could do. On this island, I only caught a couple of white bass, but I managed to hook a huge largemouth, that threw the hook after a brief but intense fight. The fish flashed up to the surface, and I could see from the boat that it had a very prominent black stripe, that was about 1.5 inches wide! I estimated the fish to be around 8-10 lbs! I must have cast back to the same area 50 times, but could not get a follow-up strike. Excited, and dismayed at the same time, I moved on.

The water on the North East side of this island was about 4-5 feet deep, and there were several large submerged rocks about 10 yards off-shore. By the time I had rounded the North East corner, I had caught 4 more decent black bass, all between 3 and 5 lbs! I studied the situation, and figured out the pattern. I then set off to find other areas of the lake that matched the same features.

The next spot I found was the Southern shoreline that was directly South of the islands I just came from. There was a line of submerged large rocks in about 3-4 feet of water, all about 50 yards off shore. I drifted down the line of rocks, casting a lipless crankbait while keeping my rod-tip high to avoid getting snagged. I easily caught 4 more largemouth of about the same size, and one very nice little rock bass that was about 2 lbs. I had never caught a rock-bass before. It was very dark in color, with a blue belly. A very pretty fish, indeed.

I motored over to the South Eastern shore of the main lake, where there was a lot of shoreline rocks. I caught a few sandies here. The water was clear, and I saw several large bass in pairs on the rocks. They looked and acted like they were spawning, because I wiggled everything in my tackle box in front of them, but could not get a bite. It is interesting how bass can behave very differently in different parts of the same lake. The water was between 69 and 71 degrees, and the air was about 100 degrees, so it seemed a little late in the season for spawning behavior - but that is exactly what was going on here.

By this time, It was about 3 in the afternoon, and the Sun was broiling. Even under two coats of SPF-45, I thought I was going to cook alive. I have learned that when fishing stops being fun, its time to call it quits for the day. Actually, by this time in my trip, I had caught well over 100 fish in three days, so I decided that I was done. I headed back to the dock, and chilled out watching the sun-set from my cabin porch. We left early the following morning, to come home.

All-in-all the vacation was a huge success. I am really pumped up for the Spring season, and I can't wait to get back out on my home lakes. Next month, I will be deep-sea fishing near Freeport, and fishing for red-fish and specs at Lake Calcasieu. You can be sure, I will let you know how it goes.

Spring Fling

2006-04-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

I fished LBJ again this past Sunday. The weather was nice - light wind blowing out of the north that shifted to the south east by mid-morning. I was on the lake at daybreak, but I couldn't get a topwater bite. I checked out the backs of coves, and there were no bass on the beds. The water temperature was about 67 - 69 degrees. I noticed a few bass chasing small shad, so I put on my tried and true chrome and black rattle-trap, which is my fish-finder on LBJ. I managed to catch a few small bass, but nothing to brag about. As the sun came up, and the wind shifted the bite picked up. I managed to catch a dozen small bass (all 1lb or less) by 2:00, when I decided to call it quits. I got a few short-strikes on a red sinko worm, but I think they were juvenile bass or perch, because I couldn't get a hook set. I think they were nibbling on the tail, and not inhaling the worm like a larger bass would.

I believe that the big bass are finished spawning, and are resting while the young sexually immature bass are active. I did manage to snag a small shad with my rattle-trap, so I found a lure that 'matched the hatch'. I used a shad-colored Lucky Craft that would dive to about 5-6 feet, and worked across the granite blocks and ridges that were submerged in 2-4 ft of water at the ends of main-lake points. This is how I caught most of the fish. I managed to discover a couple of new fishing spots, and a couple more to avoid -- so it was not a bad day after all. I think the fishing will continue to improve as the weeks go by, especially if we keep having this warm weather.

I will continue to work the shorelines in the mornings, and the secondary points and structure during the heat of the day. I know from my notes taken last year where the fish should be starting in May. You can bet that I will be there too.

Lake Belton Blues

2006-03-29T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm back... I guess I've been away for a while, so I'll try to get you caught up. I decided to try Lake Belton on Sunday. Its a good 60 miles from my house to the boat ramp, so I got up around 3:00am, and got on the road by about 3:45. I launched from Morgan's Point just as the Sun was peeking up over the horizon.

It was pretty darned cold, but I finally got around to buying one of those 'save phase' masks. I have to admit, it makes one look like some kind of evil alien, but it does keep your face warm.

Since I was unfamiliar with the lake, I decided to stay in the rivertine Northern half of the lake. Even at 5:30am, there were lots of fisherman on the water. It was shaping up to be a nice day, so I guess everyone wanted to get an early start.

Judging from the water temperature (about 58 degrees), and knowing that two weeks prior, the water temperature was around 64 degrees, I figured the spawn was still on. I pulled into the first creek I could find, and started out with a top-water chugger. After about 10 or so casts, nothing was happening, so I switched to a red plastic worm. The fishing report said that black bass were excellent on red worms, so I thought I would give it a try.

I had spooled on flouro-carbon line, which I had never tried before, and wanted to see if it was as 'sensitive' as the magazines claimed. I cast around some stumps in the back of the cove, and did get a couple of lite strikes. I couldn't get a hook set, so I switched to top water again, this time a white frog. On about the third cast, I got a solid strike, and hooked a 4 lb. largemouth. It put up a suprising fight before I landed him, then let him go. After a few more casts I got another solid strike, but this time the fish was much bigger. I estimate it was about 8 lbs. I managed to fight the fish up to the boat before he shook loose. I cursed myself out loud for not getting a good hook set! Unfortunately, this was to be the last strike of the day.

I tried several more coves and creeks without any luck. I headed up north toward cow creek, where I could see quite a few stumps in the water. By the time I got there, the wind had picked up to about 25 mph. My little 17 ft boat doesn't handle rough water, and I was a little paranoid about all of the trees whos tops were just below the water line, so I high-tailed it back out of there, and started working the coves on the way back to my launch point.

The fishing pressure was really high. There must have been at least 50 bass boats on the water, and there was someone in every cove. I finally found a beautiful little protected cove with two creeks feeding into it, and a few trees and stumps. My bass radar was going off big-time, so I stopped the motor, and used the trolling motor to quietly work my way toward the back of the cove. Just as I was about to make my first cast, some jack-ass came flying into the cove, and slammed his 20 year-old rusted out trolling motor into the water. The motor was screaching like Granny Clampet. He did a couple of donuts around the cove, fired up his big motor, and hauled ass back out. If I had a shot-gun, I would probably be in jail right now. Obviously, the fish were not biting after that.

I decided that I would call it quits early, and headed back to the ramp. I was off of the water by 11:00am. Pretty sad day, really. Oh well, some days are better than others.

No Fish Today

2006-01-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

The white bass were in a feeding frenzy on Lake Travis last weekend. I took the boat out on Saturday. We left the dock at about 7:30 - just as the Sun was peeking over the horizon. I'm glad I had my jacket, because it was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. My boat can do about 55 mph. I don't know what that equals in terms of wind-chill factor, but my face felt like the way Homer Simpson looks.

The sky was blue, with a few wispy clouds. It started out cold, but warmed up to 80 degrees by noon. The water was clear, and the lake seemed mostly empty of boats, or water for that matter.

I had taken the boat out the day before, and had done some reconnaissance. The lake was so low, I wanted to check out the places where I normally catch fish when the lake is full. My idea was to find out what was holding the fish, so that in the Spring, when the lake is full, I can focus on the spots where I'm most likely to catch fish. On Lake Travis, judging from my prior experience, and from what I learned about the shoreline, I tend to catch more bass where there is a limestone shelf, or some submerged large rocks, or timber. The fish like to hide in the cracks and crevices, waiting for something to ambush as it swims by. Because of this, I look for limestone bluff walls, and usually get lucky casting chartreuse tube jigs right up against the wall, then letting them sink on slack line. If the line jumps, I set the hook. Travis is so clear, especially on a blue-bird day when there hasn't been any rain for a while, the fish seem to really hold tight to the shady spots they can find.

From the dock, we scooted across the main part of the lake, past the U-Float-Um, and up the second creek on the right. I drove around, looking for action. Not finding any, I decided to check out Hurst Harbor. Along the way, I could see some potential spring-time fishing spots that were currently above the water line. We spent 5 minutes hauling ass up the lake, then 30 minutes wasting time in that ridiculously long no wake zone.

I could see fish splashing the surface from about 50 yards out. They were between the docs. There was a lot of action, and some rather large white bass chasing bait. I tried to follow my own advice, and started casting a 1/2 oz chrome & black rattle-trap. I tried to retrieve quickly, while pausing and twitching. This did not get any strikes. I varied my retrieve, trying to get something to hit it at the surface. Nothing.

I remembered the day before, when I saw a fishing guide that was cleaning about 30 nice whites on the dock. I remembered seeing rods with small, green-tailed swim baits, so I tried a swim bait. Not a bite. I tried a weighted swim bait, and oscillated it between the surface and about 4 feet. I tried a shad-colored lipped crank-bait. I tried my Lucky-Craft sinking lipless crankbait -- the one that looks exactly like the real thing -- and I still couldn't get a bite.

I could see the action on my fish-finder, and the fish were breaking the surface all around me. They were eating something! But they weren't going for anything I threw at them. Finally, I gave up in disgust, and switched to fishing for blacks.

The lake was super clear, and super low. The fish must have been 100 feet deep. I could see clearly to 16 feet underwater. I tried my deepest running crankbaits (the ones that wear your arms out after about 3 casts), and thoroughly worked the cover around main lake points. There were nice limestone boulders, caves, cracks & crevices. I did not see any fish, or get any bites.

There were other fishermen on the lake. I wonder if they were catching anything. I fished all morning, and did not get so much as a single bite. I saw one guy hanging out near the southern shore, just west of Emerald Point Marina. He was there almost all day. He was either the most patient guy in the world, or he was catching something. I think I will check that spot out next Saturday.

Later, I was thinking about my fishing day, and I realized that I did not even attempt to use a spoon. Now that I think about it, the activity I was seeing on sonar was mostly between 20 and 40 feet. I think the white bass were hanging out low, then swimming up on minnows as they passed overhead. They would chase a minnow out of the water, which was what we were seeing. I bet if I jigged a small chrome spoon at about 20 feet, I could catch some. I think I'll try that out next Saturday, too.

I'll let you know how it goes.

C&B RTP

2005-12-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

At certain time of the year, the only lure you need is a 1/2 Oz Chrome and Black Rattletrap. In early May, on LBJ this lure is deadly cast against the banks, on points, and even over open water. I have caught catfish, largemouth, whites, stripers, and crappie in the same day using this lure. I like to replace the front hook with a red anodized Gamakatsu treble hook, which simulates a bleeding shad when the lure moves through the water. The only drawback to using this super-sharp hook on the front of your lure, is that the points tend to chip off the chrome paint on the rattletrap. In my opinion, the rattletrap is a cheap lure that works, but doesn't last very long. You can find them at Academy for about $4, so buy about 5 or 6 of them. They get hung up easily, especially when casting banks. So, unless you are really good at maneuvering the boat, and getting your lure unstuck, you will be happy you had some spares. Plus, when your fishing buddy sees all of the fish you are catching, you can bet he's going to want to "borrow" one.

The trick to the rattletrap is learning how to work it. You could just cast and retrieve, and you will catch some fish, but if you want to maximize your luck it takes a little more finesse. I like to use a medium-action 6.5" rod with a flexible tip. Cast past cover, and retrieve quickly but twitch and pause every few seconds. It will take some practice to get to where you can do this without getting the line wrapped around the front treble hook. If you can master the technique, bass can't resist and will slam the lure on the pause. You will tend to catch a lot of smaller fish with this lure, but it works very well.

If you are trolling around, and you see a big school of white bass in a feeding frenzy, cast this lure past the school, and use the same technique. You will catch a fish on every cast. White bass are fun to catch, they fight like crazy, and they taste great, too.

If you go fishing a lot, don't get too attached to this lure -- it works in Spring. Just when I thought that I never needed to buy another lure, it stopped working. I couldn't get a bite. Time to fall back to worm fishing. I have always found that when all else fails, tie on a worm and fish it slow. You will catch a few fish, and they will probably be bigger to boot.

Fair-Weather Fisherman

2005-12-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

I keep hearing about how bass fishing can be good in the Winter time. On more than one occasion I have gotten up early on a Saturday with the full intention of fishing all day, only to open the door to the garage where I keep my boat, feel the inrush of cold air, mutter an unmentionable expletive, then scurry back to the warmth of my bed. I guess I can be a wuss at times. I still can't help beating myself up when I resign myself to watching Loudmouth Bass, and I could have been on the lake freezing my butt off, and probably having a great time! I suppose I could get a late start, and salvage at least part of the day; the problem is that if I don't escape the house by the time my wife wakes up, I end up doing honeydoos all day. I need something to remind me of this when I open up the garage door.

I did manage to make it out a few time last year, when the air temperature was in the 30s and the water temperature was in the 40s. I even managed to catch a couple of fish. Last winter, I caught some white bass jigging a spoon over a 45' deep hump on Lake Buchanan. I haven't figured out how to catch more than one or two when its this cold, so its hard to justify the effort.

As long as you have the right gear, you can handle the cold without being too uncomfortable. I keep some Carhartt insulated coveralls, a pair of neoprene gloves, and a sock cap onboard for those occasions. I wear the coveralls over my clothes, so that I can shed the layers if it starts warming up. My face tends to freeze when I'm motoring around, so I might spring for one of those Save Phase masks this year. Maybe if I dress up like Darth Vadar, I can use the force to catch more fish! At least my head wont be numb, and I wont have snotsicles hanging from my nose by the time I get to the fishing hole. Its difficult to thread the fishing line through the hook eye when your hands are shaking because your teeth are chattering too hard.

I am going to try to get out on the lake, at least once or twice this Winter. My goal is to go pro one day, so I better get used to fishing in all kinds of conditions. I'll keep you posted -- I'm sure there will be a good fish story, even if I don't catch many fish.

Horny Toads

2005-12-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

I started fishing the Zoom Horny Toad soon after it came out, last
year. I've caught more fish on this lure, than anything else in my
tackle box.For the lakes around Central Texas, the yellow and the white seem to get the most hits. It works best fishing the banks, early in the morning, or wherever there is grass, or floating vegetation.

I was fishing LBJ this fall, when I found an island surrounded by a grassy shore. There was lots of vegetation in mats around the island, and a rocky ridge that ran up the north-west side of the island, about 20 feet off-shore, and about 4-6 feet deep. I would cast one of these horny toads rigged weedless up onto the bank, then pull the lure into the water. I would steady retrieve the frog along the top of the water, and pause at a stick in the water, or a floating log, or a patch of weeds. As soon as I would stop the retrieve, I would get a strike every time. The bass were using the ridge to patrol the shoreline, and using the isolated cover as ambush points. The water was very clear and shallow between the ridge and the shoreline. As soon as I would get on top of the ridge, I would get a strike. I must have caught 12 fish within an hour. I must have missed about 12 more! The one problem I have with this lure is that the bass tend to short-strike, and miss the hook. They seem to be more attracted to the action of the frogs legs, than the body of the frog. I've thought about attaching a trailing hook, but this would ruin the weedless qualities of this bait. I would like to see another similar design with the legs attached to the front of the lure. This would get the kicking action closer to the body of the frog, where the hook is at.

I've used this lure successfully on LBJ, Stillhouse Hollow, and Lake Travis. I have not tried it anywhere else, but my guess is that it would work equally well.

Buchanan Boomer

2005-12-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

Buchanan is a big lake. It can swallow you up, if you are not careful. When you are sitting in an 17' bass boat, in the middle of the big part of the lake, and you see clouds like these moving up from the south-east its time to get off the water! Luckily, when I took this picture I was safe on dry land. Needless to say, it wasn't dry for long!

I usually have a good time on Buchanan. Its a great place to camp, and there are some interesting sites if you motor past the top part of the lake, up the Colorado river. There are several sets of waterfalls, and some great swimming holes.

Fishing can be a challenge because the lake is so big, the fish can be difficult to locate. Buchanan is famous for its striper fishing; A friend of mine and I hired a guide to take us out, along with my friends two sons. We spent the first two hours tracking down the fish, then the next 30 minutes bagging the limit! That's 5 fish apiece, with 4 people fishing. 20 fish in 30 minutes, not one of them under 7 lbs!

We used shad for bait. You have to keep the shad in a cylindrical bait-well, because they are easily bruised by bumping into the sides of the containers. When the weather is warm, the shad wont last more than a couple of minutes, unless you keep the water circulating, use oxygenated, and keep your hands out of the tank! You use a short leader, and a 1 oz egg weight (similar to a redfish rig). You hook the shad through the nose; this keeps them alive and kicking (you can actually re-use the shad if you don't catch anything, by putting them back into the bait-well).

The guide motors around until he spots the fish on sonar. The rods are in holders on the down-current side of the boat. You let out enough line to get the bait just above where the fish are feeding. The rocking motion of the boat gives the bait enough action to trigger a strike. This method is quite effective, but its more like commercial fishing than anything. I don't particularly care for this kind of fishing.

Unfortunately, the guide seemed more intent on getting back to the dock, than on showing us a good time. I don't recommend Ken Milam Guide Service. Yes, we caught fish, but the guide had us each rig 3 rods (that's 12 lines in the water, with two kids under 13 years old). This was a real cluster-u-know-what. The stripers were large, and tended to get hung up in all of the lines that were in the water. I spent most of the trip rigging lines for the kids (that's the guides job, right?), and tripping over rods when I would have liked to have been fishing. When one of the lines got tangled up with a fish that was being brought in, and a rod was subsequently pulled into the water, Ken Milam tried to charge me $100 bucks for the crappy used rod and reel! That's in addition to the $450 bucks for the guide service. The rods all had broken tips, and the reels looked like they had been fully depreciated 2 decades ago! I told Ken that it was the guides job to manage the rods and reels, and if he didn't have so many rods out, there would not have been a problem. I told him the lost rod and reel was the cost of doing business. The guy is a real prick, and there are plenty of other guide services on the lake. Next time, I will use Rick's Striper Service. It looks like he runs a first-class operation. I would much rather have a single rod and reel per person, and catch the same amount of fish over two hours, than in 30 minutes.

ok, take a deep breath, and exhale slowly...

Largemouth fishing can be good at certain times of the year. I find it best to use some kind of crank bait, and fish the bluff walls on the south-east corner of the lake. If you are not on the spot when the sun comes up, about 6 other boats will be. It pays to camp out the night before, and get on the lake early to beat the locals.

I have found that I have a better fishing time on Lake LBJ than Buchanan, and its not nearly as much work handling the boat. I do intend to go back to Buchanan a few times this year, particularly because I enjoy camping there, and stripers are very tasty fish.

Stripers are actually sea-going fish that spawn up rivers. When they were accidentally land-locked after the construction of an east-coast dam, scientists thought they would perish. The stripers actually flourished on a diet of rough fish, like shad. Rough fish compete with desirable species for resources in freshwater lakes. Scientists quickly realized the benefit of stocking stripers in man-made impoundments, because they could help control the populations of rough fish, and allow more desirable game fish like largemouth bass to flourish. Stripers can be found in many inland reservoirs for this reason, but they do not occur naturally in any of them. There are no self-maintaining populations of stripers, primarily because they like to spawn in fast-moving waters, typically found miles up river from the main body of a lake. Since most river impoundments are a series of dams, the stripers can not make it far enough upstream to spawn. There are a few lakes where stripers are successfully spawning, but they are few and far between. Lake Texoma is known to have second-generation stripers, but I don't know of any other lakes in Texas that can claim this.

Stripers have a very mild, slightly sweet taste, and firm flesh. They are easy to clean, and produce beautiful fillets. I once tried to blacken striper fillets like a redfish. I found that the taste was excellent, and this is now my favorite way to prepare this very tasty fish.

Hackberry Hustle

2005-12-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

The results of my fishing trip on Lake Calcasieu last May exceeded my already high expectations. I had planned another trip this fall, but unfortunately hurricane Rita put an end to that.

My family has been using Hackberry Cajun Guide Service for several years -- they are the best! They really know how to put you on the fish. After you fish until your about to drop, you get to hang out at the lodge and drink beer while they cook up the best cajun food you have ever had! Trust me, I was born in Louisiana, and I have gumbo running through my veins. I never thought I would say this, but these guys cook better than my grandma! The guides clean all of your fish, and they earn every penny that they make, I guarantee!

Cajun Guide Service
Hackberry, LA 70645
337-762-3512

I saw captain Freddy on TV after the hurricane, and the camp looked like it was wiped out. I almost cried! We talked to Freddy, and he said they might be open again in the Spring. I sure hope so, because I will be one of the first to sign up. We consistently have a terrific time, and I can't say enough good stuff about these folks.

Here's how it works... You arrive on Friday, claim a bunk, and start drinking beer. Soon after the sun goes down, they serve dinner. The first night is fried fish, more than likely caught and cleaned that morning. There is hush-puppies, cole-slaw, banana pudding, you cant stop eating! Its not long after dinner that you fall asleep. You had better set the alarm clock, though because the boats leave the dock at 5 am! Grab some coffee and a quick breakfast, and better do your business because its non-stop fishing until about 2 pm. Then you get to hang out with your friends and drink beer for the rest of the day until they serve the best gumbo that you have ever had! There's also potato salad, and pie for desert. The next day, you do it all again. After fishing on the second day, you pack up and go home. You better bring a jug of cajun coffee, because its a long drive back to Houston after fishing all day!

This last May, we launched extra early on Saturday. As we made our way across the lake, you could see the water boiling with redfish! Capt. Freddy looked like a little kid, he was so excited. He said, "that's 5 acres of redfish!". He cut the engine about 100 yards away, and he put the trolling motor on high to get ahead of the school without spooking the fish. I had on a lemon colored soft-plastic jerkbait (bass assassin) rigged weightless. I cast just ahead of a big redfish, and began twitching the lure. A giant mouth came out of the water, inhaled my lure, and moved off like a tug-boat pushing an oil tanker. The fight was on! It took me about 20 minutes to land the fish. We caught 3 more like that before a weekend warrior ran his boat full-throttle right through the middle of the school! The fish scattered, and that was the end of that! Freddy was pissed! That was just the beginning of a great fishing day, though.

Once the redfish scattered, we motored to the south-eastern shore of Lake Calcasieau, and drifted while casting pogies and shrimp on popping corks. I enjoy fishing artificial more than with bait, so I used a 1/2oz jig-head on a lemon bass assassin. I would cast as far as possible, wait a few seconds for the lure to sink, then pop up on my rod to simulate a fleeing shrimp or pogie. I was catching lots of small speckled trout, and a few keepers. The trick with specs is not to set the hook like when fishing for bass. They have very soft mouths, and you will pull the hook right through their lips! In my experience, the best way to catch one when you feel it bite is to apply steady pressure while you reel in while keeping the rod-tip down. If you let the fish breach the surface, it will easily throw the lure. Especially if you are fishing a jig. The fish shakes from side to side, and the weight slaps around, and pulls the hook right through the fishes lips. If you start feeling strong sudden bites, then pull your jig up to see that half of the plastic is gone, you have probably found some bluefish. Its best to go to the other side of the boat, unless you have a big bag of lures. The bluefish have sharp teeth, and will ruin your lure every time!

The biggest trout were caught along the edge of reefs. They seemed to be using the reef to sneek up on bait, similar to a bass patrolling a ridge. I found that in some places, artificial lures were used exclusively. According to the guides, if the fish are hitting on artificial, they will stop if you start throwing live bait. This was fine by me. I dont like fishing with bobbers, because you cant feel the fish bite. You have to watch the bobber, and this can be very fatiguing. If you want to fish with bait, you put a couple of split-pea weights about a foot above the hook, and a popping bobber about 2 feet above that. You hook the shrimp through the V-shape at the bottom of the tail. This seems to work the best for keeping the bait on the hook. If you are using pogies, hook through the eye sockets. This keeps the bait alive longer than when hooking it through the body. You cast out as far as you can, then give a strong jerk on the line every 20 seconds or so to pop the bobber. The bobber is designed to make a loud popping in the water, which attracts the fish. It sounds like a shrimp popping its tail to escape a predator. The same rules apply when setting the hook. Don't do it! Just apply steady pressure while reeling in, and keeping the rod top low. I find it difficult to get a good cast with a bobber two feet up above the hook. Especially if you have 4 people on the boat, and there are several rods standing up from the center console. For me, its much easier to use a bait-cast reel on a 7 foot stout rod with a flexible tip, 15 lb test line, and artificial bait. I can use an under-hand cast from the side of the boat, get a good cast and avoid getting hung up on someone else's line.

The wind makes a huge difference in the quality and quantity of fish you can catch. As long as the wind was out of the south-east, we were catching fish. As soon as the wind shifted to the south-west, the bite stopped dead. By mid-day, the wind was blowing strong out of the south-west, so we headed back to the camp, but stopped at a couple of small bays on the west side of the ICW (Inter-Coastal Waterway). The ICW has a fairly high berm that blocks the wind somewhat. The good news was that the redfish were working these bays, and were easily located by following schools of pogies around the shallows. You can see the pogies clearly when the sun was out; small schools of a couple hundred would move around in large black-looking balls. When the sun was behind clouds, you could see a shimmer on the surface of the water that would mark the bait. I soon determined that there was one large redfish behind every school. We caught several strong reds before calling it a day, and heading in around 2:00.

All-in-all, it was a very good weekend. I hope they can recover from the hurricane damage, so that I can go back again in the Spring!

Red Bull

2005-12-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Could you imagine standing beside the freeway, and casting out to snag the bumper of a speeding truck as it passes by? That's about the only way I can adequately describe catching this torpedo! Its got lips bigger than Mick Jagger!

I caught this behemoth at the mouth of the Brazos in late September. The water was choked with large shad, weighing as much as a pound. The guide I was with threw his cast net one time, and could barely bring it up, it was so full of shad. He emptied about 5 of them into a bucket; this is what we used for bait.

The guide said that you don't want to use live shad when there is so much live bait in the water -- there is nothing to distinguish your bait from the billion or so other fish in the water. So we used freshly killed shad, hooked through the nose, and cut up the side. We were catching and releasing fish one after the next, while all the other boats looked and wondered what we were doing right, and what they were doing wrong. I was using light tackle -- a 7 foot redfish rod, with a Shimano Calais reel, 15 lb test monofilament line, a short 40 lb test leader, and a 1 ounce egg weight above the leader. I caught a lot more sharks than redfish, including a very nice 20 lb black-tip, which I kept. By lunch-time my arms felt like they would fall off!

When we first departed in the morning, I told the guide that I wanted to catch and release bull redfish. The guide had a plan to do just that. After buying a couple of bags of frozen mullet at the bait shop, the guide took me straight out the ship channel into the gulf, about 1 mile offshore. Keep in mind the boat was a shallow-water skiff with about a 12" freeboard. The water wasn't exactly rough, but 2 foot swells are enough to make you uncomfortable on a shallow water skiff. Once we arrived at the 'spot', the guide started cutting up the mullet, and chumming up the water. He said, 'We won't get a bite for about 30 minutes, and then you wont put your rod down for 3 hours!'. Skeptically, I said 'ok', and proceeded to bait my line and cast out. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, my rod was bent double, the line was singing out, and I was trying hard to wipe the grin off my face and get serious about landing whatever it was that was about to pull me overboard. Soon enough, I got the fish up next to the boat to find out it was a large bull shark. I promptly cut the line and started to re-bait when my other rod started singing out. Within another 30 minutes, I had hooked onto several large sharks. This is a harrowing experience, considering the rolling motion of the small boat, and the giant toothy fish that were trying to pull me in! The birds were working the mullet heads that floated on the water. I heard a large splash, and turned around to see a 10-foot shark jump out of the water and grab a gull! I turned to the guide and said, "maybe we'll have better luck inshore." I'm glad he couldn't see that I was about to pee my pants!

In addition to offshore, and the mouth of the Brazos, we also fished up the Brazos, and in a few locks along the ICW. During the day, I caught lots of sand trout, several speckled trout, a few large nasty catfish, and a very tasty 6 lb flounder. Catfish are the downside of this type of fishing. They excrete this foul, sticky spunk that gets all over your line and hands. Its best to release them with a pair of pliers while hanging over the side of the boat. If you let them flop around the bottom of your boat, you can easily create a very dangerous, slippery situation. Needless to say, you don't want to be worrying about slipping on catfish-crank when you have a fifty-pound shark on the line!

In my opinion there is nothing better than fighting a bull redfish for half an hour, then letting him go! I wish more people would catch and release these giants so that they can make more babies. A redfish tastes like crap once it gets bigger than legal size, anyways. I once used my redfish tag to keep a 42" redfish. I was amazed at the size of the fillets that I got from it. When I attempted to cook it though, I was sorely disappointed. I tried it blackened, fried, baked -- it tasted strong and rubbery no matter how I tried to cook it. The only thing that I could make that tasted halfway decent was a court-bouillon pronounced 'coo-bee-yon', which is a cajun, tomato-based fish stew. Lets face it, you can only eat so much fish stew, and I had over 20 lbs of meat! Let the big ones go! The small ones taste fine, but the beauty of redfish is the fight, not the taste. Think about it -- the reason they came up with blackened redfish (redfish covered with about 10 kinds of pepper and burned in butter), is because the fish alone doesn't taste very good!

Honey Hump

2005-12-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

This is a decent bass I caught on Lake LBJ last summer. I was using a chartreuse yamamoto senko worm in about 15 feet deep near a sandy offshore hump. The wind was blowing about 10 mph out of the southeast, and there was a slight current in the water from the power plant intake nearby. The water was slightly stained. I had caught about 5-6 smaller bass in shallow water around the hump earlier in the morning, but as the sun came up and the bite declined, I decided to move deep and anchor down. I was downwind from the hump, where a underwater ridge intersected with a submerged brush pile. It was about 11:00 am. The water temperature was about 85 degrees, and the air temperature was about 95. I cast deep, and drew the worm about 45 degrees toward the ridge. The bass hit about 10 feet from the boat.

I have had lots of success at this location throughout the seasons, which I dubbed 'honey hump' on my lake map. The hump is about 100 yards offshore from a secondary point. There is a shallow ridge that runs parallel to the shore and bypasses the hump. The bait gets backed up against the hump, and bass patrol the ridge to ambush the bait. I can fairly consistently catch fish here, so I usually stop here on the way out, and on the way back to the dock.

The little camera on my cell-phone doesn't do the fish much justice, but I only had one hand free. This one was about 6 lbs, and looked like he swallowed a baseball!

I regularly fish lakes around Central Texas, including (but not limited to) Travis, Inks, Buchanan, Stillhouse Hollow, Georgetown, Austin, and Bastrop. In my opinion, LBJ is by far the best fishing lake around. The beauty about LBJ is that it is a relatively constant-level lake, with large populations of various fish species. I have caught everything from channel catfish, crappie, largemouth, Guadalupe, spotted bass to white bass and striper. You can't just drop a lure in the water and expect to catch fish, though. There are lots of variations to the lake features, including granite shoals, sandy bottoms, muddy bottoms, grass, stumps, bluffs, and it has river and large lake qualities. If you are willing to burn a little fuel in your boat, you can eventually find the conditions you are looking for. Half of the lake is highly developed, while the other half has no development at all. You can spend half the day fishing stumps, and the other half pitching docks. There's not too many pleasure boaters or jet-skis, but where there are you can find ways to use them to your advantage.

One of the things I like best about LBJ is that it helps me to be a better bass fisherman. I have found that bass set up on strong seasonal patterns, but they are far from predictable. Once you have learned the pattern though, you can easily catch 15-20 fish in a morning. I strictly practice catch-and-release, and I hope that anyone who reads this article and decides to try out LBJ based on my advice does the same.

Once small piece of advice -- (I don't want to reveal all of my tricks) -- keep a 1/2 once chrome and black rattle-trap rigged up on light line. If you see a school of white bass in a feeding frenzy (common in spring time), cast beyond the school and quickly reel in the lure, while pausing and popping every few seconds. Once you get the rhythm, you will catch a fish on every cast. Guaranteed.