Monday, October 17, 2011

Lake Fork 10/15/2011

This trip all started with a month out in planning and almost didn't happen for myself. I've been planning on meeting up with KayakBassTx and Shaun from the forum for a little fishing on Lake Fork. My work schedule almost didn't allow me to make it but with a last minute change in plans I was able to make a quick trip out of it and get some fishing in on Saturday. We were all a little worried about how bad the boat traffic was going to be with the Berkley Big Bass Tournament out there the same weekend with 700 people entered.





After arriving to the cabin on Friday night with high anticipation I was a little amped up when I got there. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night and woke up at 3am to get myself prepared for a 12 hour day on the water because I threw just about everything I owned into the truck when I left the house. By the time I was finished getting everything ready it was time for the other guys to wake up for our outing.



We hit the water about an hour before sunrise with out much success and worked a stump flat for about a 500 yards with out a bite. I decided to hit some deeper water right as the sun started to rise and flipped my creature bait to a group of trees. I flipped my bait as tight as I could next to the tree and as it started to fall I never felt my bait hit the bottom. I instantly set the hook and the results of that perfectly placed cast took my first slay ride of the day. After a quick fight I got a look at the bass and thought to myself what a fish. I started to yell at the guys that I had a good fish on and they came over to investigate what all of the commotion was about. At that time I was able to land fish number one that weighed 7.5lbs.







After a quick photo session and weighing her we got back to business. After a couple of hours of hard fishing I was able to hook up calling my shot! I looked at KayakBassTX and said to him that I'm going to catch one off this tree. On my second cast to the lay down I hooked up with number two of the morning, a 21 1/4 inch bass.






Fishing for the most part was pretty slow for all of us but we did catch several others but not quite making the 20" mark. After fishing hard throughout the day TKB (Bobby) noticed the time and he needed to head back to the ramp due to the long drive back to Houston. As he fished his way back, we thought we would keep him some company and fish with him down thought were we started the morning. I pulled up to another good looking lay down and flipped the creature bait in the gut of it I was able to hook up with another fish. I never felt the bite this time and all I saw was slack in the line. As I slammed back the fish jumped about three feet out of the water on the other side of the lay down and had to fight this fish for a few minutes to get it unwrapped from the tree. This fish measured at 20 1/2 inches and was able to upgrade of my fish for the Kayak Bass Fishing team challenge.









As Shaun and I started our way back out to the main section of the lake we were fishing, our good friend Gutcheck showed up. We fished our hearts out that afternoon without much success. I was able to catch a few top water fish in the evening and GC was able to put a few in his kayak with his magic jig. Ol' Shaun on the other hand was having a tough day on the water and was finally able to put a few in the boat with his Carolina rig/ power worm combo.






Thanks guys for a great weekend.







Wish I was able to join them on Sunday but had to get back to make it to church and spend the day with my family.






Until next time...tight lines and great fishing!!!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Grapevine 10/2/11





Well I got off to an early start on Saturday morning to find a little chill to the air. By the time I was unloaded and got on the water at 6:30am the water temps have fallen to 72* and my fishing partner was still thirty minutes way. I decided to work a couple of points with a Texas Rig worm and was able to catch four fish right off the bat ranging from 14 to 18 1/2 inches by the time Shaun was able to hit the water.









After we met up and started fishing for a while the fishing has started to shut down as soon as the power boaters started hitting the water. I looked up only to find Shaun had disappeared and started to paddle to look for him. When I pulled around a point I noticed him walking back with some tools to start working on his rudder. While he was working on his boat I was able to stretch my legs and take a few shots of my kayak.








After we got everything back to normal and a quick bite to eat we hit the water hard. As we fished our way to the new spot a few miles up the lake we unfortunately couldn't find any bait fish which in turn we didn't find any fish. We decided it was time to hit up the main lake points and then if all else falls we would see if the fish have started their migration to the backs of the creeks/ coves. As we started back to hit the first point on the list a bass boat speeds past us and beats us to it. I paddled around and started fishing a rock pile not 50 yards past them, Shaun started to fish the points on the other side of me. I managed to pull three bass up to 14" off the rocks and Shaun left empty handed.


As the morning turned to afternoon we paddled a couple of miles over to Twin Coves area of the lake. I started out in the timber and Shaun went the other direction to the boat docks. After an hour of fishing the timber I hooked up with a nice bass on my football jig and started working my way to the back of the arm. I lost sight of Shaun and later found out he was able to pick up three smaller fish on a wacky rig drop shot. We made it all the way to the back of the cove in just a foot of water and started catching a few fish. I think we pulled 5 fish between the two of us with a 3lber coming unbuttoned for Shaun. When that pattern slowed down it was time to hit the main lake points again.

As we pulled out to the main lake we noticed that the bank fishermen were out in full force. After paddling a couple of miles back to the point and rock pile that we fished earlier in the day, I decided to started fishing the Rattle Snake again while Shaun worked the point to my right with his Carolina rig/ power worm. After fishing for only about ten minutes I was able to put four small bass in the boat while Shaun worked over the point. Within a minute or two I noticed that Shaun had a good fish pulling on the end of his line and pulled out a 20" bass to top off the day. We stayed on that spot for the next hour with only a couple of small fish to speak of.

Great day on the water but it was a long one. After spending 13 hours straight on the kayak, we were ready to call it a day.