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

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.

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.

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.

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.