Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

With all the rain lately, there is a LOT of fresh water flowing into Copano. I took Friday morning off and paddled 11 miles, surveying a lot of spots and looking for salty water and fish. The river is obviously not suitable right now for sight casting, and some of the lake systems close by are pouring runoff at an impressive rate. I tasted the water in some of the lakes just to see how salty they were. It might as well have been dirty tap water. Thankfully I knew one large system might be left relatively untouched by the floods, and it was still holding redfish and pretty clear water. Friday at daylight the winds died and fish were spooky, but eventually I managed a limit of fish - though most were lower slot. I was just happy to have a few cooperative fish that presented visual clues and allowed me to cast.






On Saturday morning I returned with more breeze, but I worked the shoreline as daylight came on, with a few fish playing along. Things got quiet so I went back to some smaller lakes closer to the bay. Reds were quietly working the shores, and I picked up a second good keeper. After a while I noticed the storms building South of me and headed toward the truck. As I turned the last corner a group of reds were working hard down the shoreline leaving wakes that were probably visible from space. They were making it easy and I capitalized. One cast gave me the largest fish of the day and completed my limit.






Monday morning I paddled across the bay in darkness enjoying the starry sky. I knew the wind was due to shift out of the North, but it was still from the Southeast. I set up to run the usual shoreline I start with, and I found a couple of lower slot fish working quietly. One measured 23 and went into the box, but the other was small and couldn't quite eat the hook when biting the lure. Towards the top of the lake I found a visible fish coming out of a little drain. His back was out of the water and his tail was wagging as he pushed back toward me. A well placed cast put the lure just ahead. When I began to crawl it back, the fish jerked to a stop for half a second as he turned to face the lure. A slow advance brought on a hard attack and we were hooked up. At the very top of that lake it gets shallow, but the tide levels were high and I was able to scoot around without dragging the bottom. I was working towards a few fish blowing up baits on the grass edge, and I was moving very slowly. I have learned when getting close, when you think you are moving slowly enough not to be noticed, slow down some more and keep watching - sometimes magic happens. As I saw a blow-up 30 yards ahead, I kept watching the shore beside me. And a back showed up. It was only a 4-inch sliver of scales, leaving no wake and moving very slowly, but it was a red. It looked from that angle like a lower slot fish, but I'm not that choosy. I put the bait on the grass a foot ahead of the fish and eased it back into the water. A violent strike followed, along with lots of noise that spooked the other fish. When I got the fish to the kayak it was 27.5" and a great way to finish off a holiday limit. It was just after 8:15, so I did more miles to look for fish in some new areas. One new lake had a long drain way at the back leading much farther up into the grassy swamp, and the drain had a couple of big bull reds watching for food to be swept past. I only saw them when I got within 6' and they saw me too. They left in a hurry but it was nice to see big fish in a new location I can visit again later.

[awesum]

Super!

You sure missed a good chance this morning

[ziacatcher]

Awesome job as always, Glenn.