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.

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)

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

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.

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.