Ray Roberts 12-18-10

Took the Hughes crew out this morning for blues.  Started out fishing a drop off  from 38 to 72 ft of water.  We caught most of the fish on the shallower part of the drop, but they moved deeper as the morning progressed.  MG had the hot corner of the boat to start the day.

 Then the guys got in on the action.

Water temp was 50-52 and most of the fish were caught between 50 and 72ft of water.  They kept 15 good fish under 10 pounds, released around a dozen in the teens and a 20 pounder.

On the way in we decided to try for some sand bass and ended up catching about 90 in an hour.  Many of them were good magnum sized fish.  We all had on different styles of slabs and chartruese flies from Flies-by-Night.  We caught the fish in 40-44ft of water betwen 2 and 3 in the afternoon.  It was a blast guys, looking forward to the next trip.

Since the fish are deep this time of year you must burp the fish if you are going to release them to live another day.  This is especially true when we are chasing the big blues.  Typically, we have used a piece of 1/2 pvc for this, but last weekend I had to burp some smaller fish because my clients did not want to keep more fish than for dinner.  If a piece of pvc was put down a 4 pound fish the fish would be damaged and bleed.  The purpose of doing this is to relieve their air bladder that becomes bloated and enlarged when brought from deep water.  If they are not burped the fish cannot go down and will eventually die.  So...I looked around the garage and found some hard plastic tubing about the diameter of a pinky finger.  I tried it today on all sizes of fish and it worked great.  I just cut a 2 foot piece.

Ray Roberts 12-11-10

Today I had first guests Steve and family out for blue catfishing.  We decided to head out at 6am because the wind was suppose to chance from the south to north and blow in the 30's by mid morning.  As soon as we got to our first spot to graph the area bam strong north wind.  Oh well, we were already out there and the crew was willing to make the best of the day.  They wanted to catch some eaters and also chase a trophy, so we threw out some jugs to start the day.  Then we anchored up on an area I marked some good fish on a drop off from 34 to 58 ft of water.  About 5 minutes after getting all the poles out the back pole goes down and Steve reels down on it.  He boats a personal best 10 pounder....however that fish managed to run up and tangle 3 rods, so we had tangled line everywhere.  We threw a different pole out off the drop where the 10 came from and down it goes again...and again...and again.  This was not helping get the other rods untangled catching these fish, but it was fun :)  The bite was quick for about 45 minutes and then just stopped.  We decided to check the jugs since we were getting some good rollers as the wind picked up.  I think we only had one jug that didn't have a good fish on it.  I had put the jugs out on a gradual point starting at 15 ft and ending in 42ft.  As we moved up the slope to shallower water the fish were getting smaller and then wham in 28 ft of water we had a 29 pound blue on.  The guys got a kick out of seeing that fish.  We put it in the live well to get energy back and then she was released for another day.  It took a team effort to pull the jugs and fish in with the wind. 
After picking up the jugs, we fished about 6 different areas marking great fish, but the bite just got lighter and lighter as the day wore on.  At the end we were catching fish that we didn't even know where on there.  We'd go to leave and have a few fish on.  The guys were troopers catching a mess of fish in adverse conditions today.  We all had a great time with good conversation.  The guys learned how to tie knots, different rigs, graph reading, baiting hooks, patterns etc.  Look forward to the next trip guys.  Thanks  I'll post the pics when they send them to me.  It was too difficult to use more than one camera today in the wind.

Most of the fish were caught in 44-68ft of water.  Very different from 2 weeks ago when they were in 2-15 ft of water.  This cold front has moved the bait out in the deeper water.

Galveston 12-3-10

Todd and I went to Galveston for the annual PE convention and decided to try out luck fishing off a pier.  Neither one of us have ever fished from the shore in saltwater, but thought we'd give it a try.  We bought some frozen shrimp from Academy(mistatke), but it would just crumble off the hook.  A guy next to us told me where a place down the row sold shrimp for fishing so I went and bought a few pounds.  Instantly, after throwing in the fresh shrimp it was fish on.  We had a good relaxing time fishing for a couple hours then it was time to get cleaned up for a nice seafood dinner.  We probably caught around 40 fish.

Ray Roberts 11-27-10

Decided to take Larry and John today to do some scouting for new areas on Ray Roberts.  It took way to long to catch bait this morning in an area of the lake I had never been to, but after about 80 throws we had enough to fish.  One was a 17inch gizzard....more on that later.
Marked a few fish on a deep channel and got set up.  Threw most of the poles out in the channel and a few up on the flat.  A few minutes later John got the first blue of the day on the shallow flat.  Rebaited threw it out and bam Larry got this one of the shallow flat.  Baited up and down it goes again.  We decided to move out in the shallow flat, but after moving we didn't get another bite in the area.
We decided to try another area where two creeks join with a shallow flat nearby.....nada.
Decided to go with the shallow bite and fish a windblown point with the creek nearby.  I decided to put the head of that 17 inch Gizzard on a pole and throw it off the end of the point just as it tapers off before heading into the creek.  John and Larry asked what in the world we were fishing for that could eat a bait that size.  We sat there for about 10 minutes and the pole with the head on it goes down.  Larry reels down on it and has a 17 pounder work him over.  Judging by the bait size and fight of that fish I would have thought it to be at least a 30 pounder.  Larry was all smiles.  We decided to call it a day and get home to our families.   Had a great time guys and found a few more areas to fish.  Good times!

Ray Roberts 11-22-10

Took James and his father to Ray Roberts this morning.  Last time James went on a trip with me it was an electrifying experience and we had to run for cover.  Luckily, this time we had clear skies and a 10-15mph wind.  The water temp was around 58 today and the sand bass were biting light with many gill slaps.  They didn't want it deadsticked, but also didn't want it moving much.  More of a slow up and down making the slab spiral instead of flutter.  The birds helped a little early, but they quickly gave it up and took a rest.  The bite was consistent, but not on fire this morning.  If I remember correctly, James caught 6 fish snagged in the back.  We decided anyone can hook them in the mouth, but it takes great skill to snag them in the back. 

 James and his father also wanted to catch a few blues for the fun of it.

We had a blast this morning and I look forward to having these two again.

Ray Roberts 11-13-10

Todd and I went to Ray Roberts this morning to try some new techniques and locations for blues.  Got to the lake to find the area we were going to fish had some serious white caps and rollers.  So, we decided to stay out of the wind a little and fish areas I was more familiar with.  First spot, we marked good fish, but after 20 minutes no takers.  Decided to get out in the wind and look at some other areas.  Next stop was covered with bait and active fish around.  The screen had bait balls getting busted with sand bass and catfish suspended around it picking of shad getting busted up by the sand bass.  We put out rods for cats and tossed some slabs for sand bass.  Caught about a dozen of each in quick fashion and left to check other areas. 
Arrived at our next area to graph and found same scenario with bait, sand bass, and blues so we fished for both catching both.  Largest blue was still only 11 pounds, so we moved out to 60+ feet of water and caught a good blue, but then nothing.  The birds started working a hundred yards from us, so we headed over to catch some sand bass and that we did.  The wind even changed direction from the NW to the SW and that didn't stop the action.  Tim Wike from ReelinRayRoberts showed up with clients and they looked like they were having a blast too.

Total we probably had in the 80 range for sand bass and around 40 catfish for the day.  A beautiful day on Lake Ray Roberts!

Ray Roberts 11-6-10

Took Frank and Johnny to Ray Roberts this afternoon on  mixed white bass/catfish trip.  With this recent cold front the water temp was down to 64.6 and the fish were working humps/drop offs and points from 18-35ft.  Some birds would point you in the right direction, but were not a consistent helper today.  Electronics were the key.  I can't say enough about the game change experience of having and learning how to use side image.  Today the white bass wanted the slab on a much slower raise and drop.  Some bites felt like a little tick on the line and some others hammered it.  All fish were caught on Ol'Uglies and yarn flies.  Johnny tried his new white and gold slab, I had on white and silver and Frank had on white and chartruese.  All produced well. 
After catching a good mess of whites and about an hour left we decided to try for some blue cats.  Frank had never fished for them and was eager to see a pull down.  We started out drifting a ridge with one old green shirt, a large stick, and a tree caught.  Not really what we were after, so we headed to a point they have been good on the past couple Novembers to graph it and see what was there.  On a drop from 12 to 20 ft I spotted a pack of 4 catfish.  We anchored up above them and tossed the baits back towards them.  It wasn't 5 minutes and the back pole went down.  Frank was busy casting out catching whites and didn't see it, so I reeled down on it and handed him the pole.  A solid in the box.  This continued and Frank managed to put four fish between 6 and 9 pounds in the box and one teenager to be released for another day.  With the sun setting on a beautiful fall day and great fishing we decided to head in and clean our catch.