Monday, November 16, 2015

Fund Raiser for Heroes Night Out - Kayaking adventures


http://heroesnightout.org/










This is SHOUT OUT to all my fellow Central Texas...  how many of you could or would make the drive to Georgetown Texas to bring your kayak and participate in a fundraiser for Heroes Night Out?

Their web site is:  http://heroesnightout.org/

Heroes Night Out helps Veterans with acclimating with life again by giving them things to do and places to go to enjoy life and have some fun. This is a very simplistic view of the services they provide so go visit their site and watch the video below to see if you can get behind this.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Fishing Pole or Fishing Rod?

When I was a young man, my mentor, "Junior Herron" caught me calling my fishing rod a "Pole".  I got to listen to several minutes of thorough instruction as to the differences between a "rod" and a "pole".  I intend to share those observations with you as well since I feel like many folks do not understand the concepts between the two.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Revelations on the type of rod needed for Texas rivers

We had a great time this last weekend!  Caught many fish and made some wonderful memories.

Even more so I am convinced that I need to build light spinning rods for catching river bass.  My ultra light rod was the best tool for the trip.  I was catching largemouth and smallmouth on the rod using the same small buzzbait.  The ability to fight a fish without the rod letting up on the fish was paramount to me catching fish after fish even in the weeds.

This appeared to be a 15.75in 1.75lb Guad with
very faint markings on the back. Gave me a huge fight!
So why do fisherman say you need a heavier rod to fight largemouth in weeds?  I always thought that this was because you could muscle the fish through the weeds without losing the fish.  What I found though is that this is not always the case.  The fact is, I was much more likely to have the fish throw the lure than I was to have the fish hook me on a weed.  Of all the many fish I caught over the weekend, I only lost a fish to weeds twice - one was obvious, the other wasn't so obvious.  The ultra light rod performed so well that I hardly picked up my other rods unless I wanted to fish a larger lure (Check out my GeeksFishToo blog).

My goal now is to work harder on getting a rod setup that will perform similarly to my ultra light in a longer rod.  The ultra light is only 5'9" and it's very flexible.  By going to a longer rod, I could go up a step in stiffness without sacrificing the ability to keep pressure on a fish.

Why am I going this route?  Ask a fly fisherman.  The way a fly rod works is what I'm looking for in a spinning rod. The ability of a fly rod to keep tension on a fish is how they keep from losing a hard fighting fish. This brings me to the type of fish you find in Texas rivers:  Hard fighting fish.  Particularly the Guadeloupe bass.  I call these fish "Texas Hot Water Trout" because they fight all the way to the boat and then some. Since they prefer smaller lures, you need a rod that can keep tension when the bass does a double-helix-back-flip. And yes, I had one do something insanely similar this trip. 

Most of the bass you'll find in Texas rivers generally fight very hard.  And I found that when using my super flexible ultra light rod that I didn't lose one of those super hard fighters.  The only fish I lost were largmouth bass which were less picky about where they went when fighting you.  Apparently Guadeloupe and smallmouth were more likely to head to open areas where largemouth would head for the bottom.

The problem with the smaller rod is that the reel I had was too light for the fish I was catching.  I completely tore up the drag on my Pfluger President reel. I had to lock it down to keep the drag from sliding.  This of course is risky when you have the possibility of catching a bass bigger than when the rod can take. So the solution to the problem is a longer rod that will handle a slightly bigger reel so the drag wont disintegrate. 

The Concept:
I've got a 9ft rod blank that I have a microwave guide set for but I need to put a different handle on it. It would seem that a conventional handle is too limiting in options so I am going to do a Tennessee handle with slip rings.  This is what my current ultra light has on it and I like it quite well.  The only change is that I intend to install a handle that is 16in long.  This has a two-fold purpose: 1. To provide built-in buoyancy to keep the rod a-float when dropped overboard. 2. To allow the possibility of using the rod as a fly rod. 

With a handle that allows unusual placement of guides, this should allow me to put either a fly reel or spinning reel on the rod.  And with the microwave guide system, it will keep a very small profile on the blank meaning less interference for the heavier fly line.  I'm afraid that the blank itself may not be flexible enough for a fly rod, but the concept would be sound over all and by building it this way, it will give me a way to try out the concept.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.  I'm going to attempt to order the handle tomorrow. I've got everything else ready to go.

Until then...

Tight Lines Y'all!

Mike
HCFR



Friday, September 11, 2015

Reminder and latest news - Mason Texas here we come!

Just a note to remind the readers of this site that I am now posting fishing related articles on GeeksFishToo.com. If you are missing those more fishing-centric articles, then head over there to find them.

Additionally,  HCFR is going Mason, TX this weekend to the Dos Rios RV campground.  If you're in the area look for our white truck in the campground. The signs will be on the truck.

Stop and talk with us!  We'd love to hear you!

For more info on the trip, head over to GeeksFishToo.  I'll be posting something over there shortly.

Tight Lines Y'all!

Mike
HCFR

Monday, September 7, 2015

Finally... it happened

Yes, just a quick post to say that we finally got 3 rods done and delivered to Highlander Outfitters in Burnet Texas.  We finished up two casting rods and an ultralight spinning rod.

I realized too late that I didn't have too many pictures of the rods.  But I did find this one of me when I was working on the ultralight spinning rod.  I was showing the flexibility of the rod.

Well, hopefully the rods will sell and we'll have plenty to rods to take pictures of later.  The important thing is that we do have rods on the shelf and they are for sale!

If you're in central Texas, stop by Highlander Outfitters in Burnet Texas to see the selection!

Thanks for all the support!

Tight Lines Y'all!

Mike
HCFR

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Rod building links and a lesson on reel seats

Thought I'd drop this on here today.

Have seen some video's lately of the rod building process.  The first here is an interesting video from Cousins Tackle. I found the part showing the building of the blank very interesting.  I have not been to a rod building factory, but would absolutely love to.  Maybe one day St. Croix will have me come up there for a visit.  After all, I've been building and using their rods off and on for over 25 years!

I also found another video about a so called "Renowned" rod builder and was appalled at the process he used to install his reel seat!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

PowerPro Super8Slick - Not so slick!

I have no idea what PowerPro was thinking....

This last spring I saw this great new product at Academy and thought I'd try it.  The package said it was smoother than other types of braid and would cast further.  Since it was braid, I assumed it would last longer too!

Super8Slick it is called.  Made by PowerPro.  It sort of lived up to it's name in that it was very smooth casting.  That is... when it wasn't giving me bird's nests.... ON A SPINNING REEL.

Click here to continue reading »

Monday, August 17, 2015

How to Rebuild Your Fishing Rod Page is UP

I have added a separate blog just for how to rebuild your fishing rod!

It's just a start but over the next few weeks I intend to add a ton of information on what I've learned through the years.  Some of it comes from my original mentor from back in the 80's.

Click the tab above or go to: http://texasrodbuilder.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and Tight Line Y'all!

Mike
HCFR

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Life in the fast lane and Guadeloupe Bass

Sometimes the hustle and bustle of life really gets in the way of things you really want to do. For instance, I have over 10 hours of video I need to edit down to a 10-15 minute video for your enjoyment.  However, I have a problem... I want to go somewhere every weekend yet I don't have enough time each weekend or during the week to edit video.  Sigh....

The fact is, the main reason we go fishing is to get away from the business of life.  Catching fish is a really nice plus.  And we're learning all we can about catching fish - and we do catch fish.  However, the areas we go to are often different from the environments you might encounter on the lakes and rivers of other areas in Central Texas or anywhere else for that matter.

Geeks Fish Too is now up and running!

As I mentioned several posts ago, I have been working on splitting Hill Country Fishing Rods from the fishing adventures.  Well, I finally had some time to get this done and here you go!

I'm still working on a good logo and could use some help.  I think I've got something to work with from my collection of fish pictures I've taken.  Here's one I've started with and hope to make something of.

I'm hoping to select the fish and put text into the side of it.  We'll see.

So what happens to Hill Country Fishing Rods?   The site is going to continue as a site relating to fishing rods only.  It started out that way and now is time to go back to that.  The sites will continue to cross reference each other and in fact, I hope to include each site as a tab on the other site(s).  Yes, you read that correctly- Sites.  I'm hoping to branch out to other specifics.  For instance, there will be blogs dedicated just the process of building fishing rods, a site related to my adventures in guide fishing on the Llano and San Saba rivers (more to come on that!).

This post will go to both sites but as of the next post cycle, I will be splitting the context of the sites completely.  Again, the other site(s) will be just a click away as I will have them linked at the top.

Any suggestions on how to make this happen is always welcome!

Finally, Hill Country Fishing Rods finally is getting customers.  We have 3 rods going to stores as soon as we get the label issue resolved and I have a rod order in progress.  Of course there will be pictures coming on that as I start that process.

Thanks for all the views as of late!  I'm beginning to feel like there's someone regularly reading my articles and I greatly appreciate it!  Remember, I'm trying to make a living at this, so don't forget to view sponsor pages as you are able.  They are a pain, I know this, but a necessary evil that keeps me bringing more content to you.  Yes, adsense is just another stepping stone that we got going recently and we are already starting to see the pennies pile up.  :)

Thanks again!

Mike
HCFR

Monday, August 3, 2015

YouTube videos and new KayakCat.blogspot.com

Howdy folks!  Just wanted to drop a note... keep an eye on our YouTube Channel now.  We are starting to post more there as we start collecting video.  We ran the video camera yesterday when we went fishing at Chandler park in Georgetown and got some interesting video of us heading to the water. I'm going to be working on that soon.

A real treat for you: Red Nose Yacht Club

So we had a real blast fishing the Llano river last weekend, and I'm still working on getting video put
together of all the fish we caught on camera.  But I did get this clip done that I think you'll like.  It's a funny video of a group of  helpful rednecks that were at one of the too-shallow rapids that we went through...

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

A taste of the real thing

We had a great time this last weekend.  The day started out a little later than expected but the best fishing was during the middle of day. Caught more fish than we could count and took lots of video.

I will be piecing the video together this week as there is 5 hours to go through. Hopefully there is
enough good video to give a taste of what we experienced. There is a nice piece with a bunch of rednecks who were a little too happy. Quite funny actually. :-)

Photos coming soon as well.

Tight lines y'all!

Mike
HCFR

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Fishing the Llano river at Robinson Park in Llano Texas

We have a bit of a treat for you this time around.  I wish I could say it was catching a lot of fish with good shots of fish splashing out of the water, but alas, we had trouble finding the fishing.  They were there, but not for long.  We even stayed until after 11pm looking for the monster bass.

The story begins about 5 minutes from the house...

You're late. Why are you late by the way?

Yes,  I am late.  We are going on a major camping trip next weekend and we've already been going
crazy to get stuff ready.  We are taking the RV out to Mason to Dos Rios RV Park right on the Llano river.

Additionally....  **NEWS FLASH**  We ordered an action camera yesterday.  A GoPro look-a-like that should be here in time for our trip.  I hope to document most of the trip down the river!

YES!  Finally real video for y'all!

But I do have a post almost ready to put up from our trip last weekend.  Hopefully I'll get it done this evening.

Tight lines y'all!
-Mike

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

San Gabriel River Expedition


Where: San Gabriel River east of Georgetown
Access point:  Highway 29 at the low water crossing downstream from the 29 bridge.
ETA: 7:30AM
Water Temperature at 7:45am: 78F
Max Water Temperature:  83F
Water Temperature at 7:30pm: 81F
Water clarity:  Slightly stained to nearly clear (above the falls)

                                                                                                          We were ready to hit the water by 7:45am.  We were simply going to go up river for about a mile or so to the falls and stop there like we had usually done for the past 2 years.  But shortly  after we got in the water, three other kayak fishermen passed us and disappeared up and over the falls. So we decided we had to go see what it was that was causing fishermen to skip a mile of decent fishing area and hike up the river.


Friday, July 10, 2015

Getting ready to go fishing!

Looks like we'll be heading to the San Gabriel at Highway 29 in the morning!

Come join us!  We'll be paddling to the falls about a mile upstream.  We'd be happy to meet up with y'all and and enjoy the great outdoors.

ETA to river:  7:00AM CDT

Remember, the early worm gets the bass!

Here's a clip of what happened here earlier...  I got in a bit of a hurry to get the truck loaded before dark...


See you on the river!

Tight Lines,

Mike
HCFR

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Fishing the Llano River: White's Crossing to James River Crossing

We finally did it.  We took some friends and made the trip from White's Crossing down to James River Crossing.  It was a lot of fun and included some things that we hadn't done before.  Some of the rapids were a bit more than I was used to but fairly uneventful for most of us.

The day started off at 7AM waiting for our friends at the Dollar General in Liberty Hill.  They were coming from Cedar Park and were going to meet up with us so we could continue on together to Mason since they didn't know where we were going.



We got to White's Crossing near Mason around 9:30am and dropped the ladies off with the kayaks and the "stuff" while we went to drop off one of the trucks at the James River Crossing parking area. This is normally a 45 minute round trip but add to that a stop at the store on the way to pick up more supplies, we finally got back around 11:00am and in the river by 11:15am.

Llano River Fishing blog site and GeeksFishToo.com

Since we have started fishing the Llano river regularly, we have noticed an increase in hits on the blog site.  It would seem that it is time to split the blog up a bit and relegate this site to just Hill Country Fishing Rods news.  This news will come slower than some of the other information and occasionally will share with the fishing adventures.  But it would appear that we need to post our fishing adventures separately.

That said, we are announcing two new sites coming soon:

LlanoRiverFishing.com
and,
GeeksFishToo.com

Monday, June 29, 2015

Lake Bastrop - North Shore

On Saturday the weather was a little sketchy.  Rain was forecasted to be at our normal stomping grounds so we decided to try something further away that we hadn't been before.  Lake Bastrop was finally the place of choice.

We arrived around 2pm with the intention of fishing all afternoon into the evening and trying to catch that evening bass. We'd read the TPWD page for fishing Lake Bastrop and knew that it would be a warm lake and that fishing during the day might be unproductive. But we decided to take the chance and see how hot "hot" is...  we weren't prepared for that level of warm water. I forgot to grab the fish finder but the water felt like it was 90 degrees for sure.  Almost too warm to be comfortable... made me want to look for Peacock Bass.  hah

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Llano river bass during flood conditions

Call me green.  Or just call me overly careful.  But I really don't like it when it's storming up river while you're sitting on a kayak fishing the same river.

We started out the day late because we knew we'd be staying late and 10-11 hours on the water is hard to defend from a safe sun-to-skin ratio.  But by 11am when we left homesite in Liberty Hill, it was starting to rain.  By the time we got to Bertram it was *pouring*.  Me being the weather nut I am, was not worried since I had seen that Mason was pretty much out of range for the majority of the rain.  However, I was still slightly nervous since I really have a phobia of getting caught on a river when a flash flood comes through.

Monday, June 15, 2015

A good day on the Llano

In my last post I said we were going to Mason again to fish the Llano, however, as we drove, we saw storms building out that way.  So we stopped by our favorite lake on the Llano: The upper lake in the city of Llano.

Me paddling backwards to try to stay off the bank while fishing.
When we got there it was very breezy and the temptation was to stay in the calmer water on south side of the lake.  But after 15 minutes of fishing, I realized that the fish weren't going to be there because of the limited bait fish population.  I was not seeing any bait fish jumping when they saw my spinner bait coming. This is one way I tell where to fish.  No bait fish means no big fish. I have a little saying I tell my wife: Bait fish mean big fish and big fish bite!    Yeah, its lame... she usually smiles and agrees.  :-P

So, I switched course and barreled for the other side of the lake.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Fishing high water - Pain in the neck!

OK, so trying to fish in high water is just unpleasant.  Last weekend we went fishing where the James River joins the Llano river near Mason.  The water was high and the current was relatively strong.   The Llano was still muddy over a week from the last rain but the James River was relatively clear.

Confluence of the James River and the Llano river.  Where Sarah was sitting was in the Llano, where I was sitting it was in the James River.  One was muddy and the other not.  You can see a line between our kayaks where the current changed.


The main problem was that the fish had about 6 times as much area as they usually had.  This meant the fish were very spread out.  In spite of that, we still caught a couple fish - one being a white bass of all things.  Needless to say, it was a tad frustrating.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Life as we know it

Some of you may have heard or seen hints at the change in our lives lately.  For about 10 months now, my wife and I have lived in a 5th wheel RV full time.  We rented out the house and have been staying nearby on a RV pad near my parents.

Proud new owners before we lost 10% for driving it off the lot!
Sarcastic picture comments aside, we are thrilled with our RV.  Even after almost a year, we are still enjoying it and we haven't even taken it anywhere!  Yes, we have been stuck in place due to various circumstances that keep us from spending GAS.  Yes, that truck is NOT a diesel and I'm sure you're aware that diesel trucks get better fuel mileage per gallon.  That beast there gets about 6-8 under tow. Yes, pulling it around means filling the tank *A LOT*.

So, we haven't gone anywhere yet.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Responsible fishing during and after a drought

Many of us anglers in Central Texas are bemoaning the fact that all of our rivers and lakes are flooded and muddy right now.  While you may be tempted to complain, remember that without rain we wouldn't have fish to catch.

Not long ago, well... maybe 3 years ago, my wife and I hiked up the North Fork of the San Gabriel from county road 202.  Yes, I said "up".  Try that now... and have fun with that.  At the time, it was at the peak of the drought and all I managed to catch was a small, very hungry catfish.  The pools were so low that I presume most of the adult bass were dead from starvation or had been eaten by coons. It was a sad state of affairs.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Buzz Baits

This is from a review I did for the Booyah Buzz bait that I did on Amazon recently (with some modifications). It adds some detail to how to do what I did in the last article.  ENJOY!


The Booyah Buzz bait is an excellent lure.  I use them all the time and catch many large fish on them. The extra interference blade makes good noise at fairly slow speeds.

In my experience the buzz bait is often misunderstood so I am writing this review to help others learn how to use it.

NOTE:  This is a top water bait.  While allowing this bait to settle for 1 second during retrieve, it should be fished on top of the water. If you want to fish something comparable below the surface, use a spinner bait.

Where to fish:
- Around and over structure.
- Over or near weed beds.
- Places I've fished in Central Texas:  
--- Lake Waco in standing timber.
--- Stillhouse Hollow Lake in standing timber
--- Llano River at Llano and Mason
--- Colorado River (Lakes, river, etc)
--- San Gabriel river at Hwy 29 crossing.

When to fish buzz baits:
- Any time the water is relatively smooth though this is not a hard and fast rule - the water has to be calm enough for the buzz bait to be louder than the surrounding water.
- Any time the fish are active.
- Spring to early summer.
- Late summer to late fall.
- During summer at night and - 15 minutes before dawn to 30 minutes after and same for sunset.
- Whenever bait fish are active.
- When water temperature is as close to 70 as possible (active bait fish is more important than temperature!).

Colors and methods:
- White, Yellow, Chartreuse during the day, Black at night or around sunset (think silhouette).
- Cast and *steady* retrieve with lure just barely on surface making a blurping/squeaking noise.
----Not so slow that you can't hear it or see a splash.
----Not so fast that it sounds like a motorboat.
----Make it "talk" to you.
- Be prepared to cast 20-30 times between fish but if you cast 50 times at good spots without catching anything, try a different color or another lure entirely.
- Sometimes it's every 3rd cast but those days are usually only once or twice a year (if you fish once a week.)
- If you know the fish are biting and you've seen a fish jump, don't stop trying a particular structure till you've cast a good 20 times from different angles.
- Use a kayak to sneak up on fish - this is like hunting! The fish can see and hear you way more than you think!
- From a boat: cast the bait so it lands almost on shore (within 6 inches!) and then make every effort to instantly get the blades moving at the same pace for at least the first 20ft from shore.  If you are in a kayak, keep it going all the way to the boat.  Cast in areas where there is underwater structure or between weed beds.  A log in the middle of the river or standing timber in a lake is *prime* territory.
- From Shore:  Cast out 30-40ft and bring your bait in guiding it through weeds, etc so that it takes a path that brings as close to shore as possible before you pull it out. Look for underwater brush or weeds to cast over.  Cast past them if possible and pull lure at a steady pace as close to the structure/weeds as possible.
- Remember: the warmer or colder the water is from 70 degrees, the less likely the fish will bite so you *MUST* get the lure right in front of them.
--- If the temperature is right fish will come from long distances to get your buzz bait.
--- When the temp is off, a buzz bait will often elicit a response when other baits do not.
--- Likewise, the buzz bait can scare fish if they are completely not in the mood or if you land the lure on top of their head. This is why it is imperative to land the lure as close to shore as possible if there is no obvious structure (or keep it going to shore)

What to expect from the fish:
- It's rare to have a fish "slurp" a buzzbait.
- The reaction is often violent and "setting the hook" isn't necessary.
- Often have fish literally blow the bait out of the water and not get hooked.
--- Remember this if you kayak fish and it blows it out of the water right next to your boat. I will not be responsible for your loss of tackle because you fell overboard!  :-)
- Drawback is that there is only one hook so keep your line tight while fighting the fish!
- Use trailing hooks to increase your odds of hooking a fish and keeping it hooked.

My experience is that Boohyah buzz baits are some of the best. These with the extra interference blade make the noise nearly perfect.  Have caught many large bass on this buzzbait.

There are other brands like those from Strike King that are decent too. Most recently used is "Strike King Premier Plus Buzzbait - The Double Take" which has two blades (see my Amazon review on it).  Other than this, I don't think anyone else has a buzzbait that makes more noise that this Booyah buzzbait.  The Strike King miniature buzz baits are real nice for those times when the big baits are too big. Have caught way more bass on the small ones than the big ones.

In retrospect, I recommend the 3/8's ounce vs. the 1/2 ounce.  At 6-7 inches long, the 1/2 oz seems too big to me.  Maybe I'll catch something on them but I haven't yet (used one trip).  Go with the 3/8's.  Have caught several large bass on them this spring (4lb +).

Tight lines,

VanVortex  (HCFR)

Monday, March 2, 2015

Low pressure and fishing

Stopped into Highlander Outfitters in Burnet, TX the other day and talked to Stacy. Besides having just started a very nice new store in Burnet, he was very informative regarding some of the tricks he has to catch fish in all kinds of weather.  If you have a chance, stop in and see Stacy.  He is a walking fishing knowledge base on the best way to catch fish.

One of the subjects that came up was the misconception that fishing on a warm calm sunny day in January is a good way to catch fish.  It actually fanned my ego when he said you might as well stay home since I *have* caught fish on those days.  However, to his point, I decided to prove his theory that the best time to fish during the winter is at the end of the good weather just as the low pressure comes in.

So recently I had a chance to head out to go fishing when the weather was less than perfect.  It was at the end of a warm spell just before a cold front came in.  It was threatening to rain yet my wife and I were crazy to go try the theory.  Well, I must say, the theory is no longer a theory.  I believe now.  It's a fact.  <grin>

5lbs 21.25in  Caught on the San Gabriel east of Georgetown, TX.
The picture here is a little fuzzy because my phone was in a waterproof sport bag.  However, I think you can see that besides the big cheesy grin, this fish is just plain huge.   Weighed in at 5lb and 21.25in long.  Made for a monster battle on a med-light spinning rod.  You can see my hog trough at the bottom of the pic if you have any doubts about trick photography.

The craziest and coolest thing about this fish is that while we were fishing we saw this fish jump near some tree structure and knew there was a good sized fish around.  I had seen a couple other fish come clean out of the water as well and knew there was some top-water action going on. 

This had me tying on my large sized 1/2oz buzz bait from Booyah and started casting. It was the first time trying a buzz bait since last fall when the fish stopped hitting the surface. I remembered that Stacy had told me that if he knew there were fish around a particular cover that he would cast over and over until he was sure they weren't biting - up to 20 or more times. This was exactly the case for this monster - I cast about 7 times around that structure and was starting to lose faith in Stacy when I almost lost my rod. Took several minutes to land her since I was using my spinning rod which is a custom built medium light fast action rod. Didn't have quite the backbone needed to drag her in, but the fact of the matter is that she was in pretty good shape after it all and recovered quickly.

This fish marked a new period for me in that I had never caught a spring bass of any size before and so had never caught a bass of any spectacular weight.  I had caught a 22in bass on Inks lake once during the summer but it only weighed in at 2lbs.  I realize now that the same bass caught in the spring could have easily weighed 6lbs.  But this trip wasn't to be my only success on Stacy's advice...

On Saturday the 21st, my wife and I went out fishing on a whim because we knew that a cold front was coming in that morning and a low pressure was supposed to be heading in.  There was some uncertainty on how cold the front would be but the morning turned out to be very nice for fishing.  We went to a small lake on the N. Fork San Gabriel river that we know in Georgetown that has been our quick spot when we have the itch to get out there.  This day was another good day for fishing - at least until the front went through.  We caught several fish that morning while it was cloudy and windy.

About 4lbs at 19.75in Caught in an unnamed lake in Georgetown, TX.
This fish was a little shorter at just less than 21in, it weighed in at right around 4lbs.  Which if I hadn't caught the 5lber the week before it would have been my record as well.

And the cool part?  I caught it on the buzz bait as well and the best part is that I was casting less than 20ft because we were drifting close to shore... and the fish grabbed the lure just as I was to pull it out of the water.

Just goes to show that when you are kayak fishing that if you are doing everything right you are not as obvious to the fish as you might think.  We caught two other fish that day and where one was landed in seconds after hooking because it grabbed it right as we were lifting the bait out.

And to prove Stacy's point, as soon as the front went through it became sunny and wind nearly died.  It was very calm and lovely and the fish weren't biting at all.  We worked that beautiful weather for about 2 hours and gave it up.  5 fish when it was cloudy and blustery and zero fish while lovely and calm.

So lesson learned from my new friend Stacy - forget the calm sunny days in January when it comes to black bass.  You're wasting your time.  Better to get out there when the wind is blowing and the rain is spitting.  Check the weather and make sure there is a low pressure sitting on top of you and then head for the lake.

You'll be much happier with your results.

Tight lines!

Mike
HCFR

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Stinks Lake or Inks Lake?

Went out to Inks lake yesterday.  Was pretty much a flop.  Got several small 12in bass but that's it. Almost zero activity until very late evening.   The weather was beautiful with temps around 80 degrees and water temp climbing from 55 to 61 degrees through the day (so close!).

We started out at the Devil's Hole end of the state park and got two small bass in that area right after we got in.  But then it died. Nothing for hours.  So we moved to the other end of the state park and fished back in the coves but it was even deader.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Missed two whole years??

Wow,  Apparently I was distracted last two years.  I skipped blogging for two entire years.  How sad...  That's what happens when your work life gets in the way of what you like to do.

Well, I'm back in the saddle again.  Been unable to build rods for the past year due to many life changes that have come and gone, but it looks like that's about to change.