I fished a half-day morning trip today with Tom C. of Salado, and Justin M. of Atlanta who is dating Tom’s daughter and took the opportunity to come to town to meet her family.

Tom’s smallmouth and Justin’s hybrid were two of just a few larger fish we took today. Fishing has been very productive, but with a lot of small fish in the take this past week or so.

Tom and I hit it off right away as he, too, is a West Point grad, Class of 1965 (yeah, he’s got me beat by 26 years) so we had a lot in common having gone through that shared experience and all that happens once one leaves that “home for boys on the Hudson”.

Today, the fish did as the wind did. When we had wind, they hit, and when it went slack, they shut down.

We enjoyed a good 2+ hour slab bite from 7:25 to 9:30, taking exactly 70 fish from Areas 473 and 214 over that period of time. These fish were a mix of white bass (some keepers, most short) and short hybrid. Smallish fish have been the name of the game lately. Neither Tom nor Justin had ever “slabbed” before so, despite the smallish trend on the fish, they got a good education on the details of working a slab for both slow fish and active fish via jigging and smoking, respectively.

We were but 10 minutes into the trip and catching fish steadily when it happened … Tom unhooked a short hybrid and accidentally poked the point of the hook on his lure into his left pinky finger. We’ll, to keep his doctor and arteries happy, Tom makes a habit of taking asprin. Long story short … due to his blood being pretty thin, he bloodied up his hand, his pants, the seat he was sitting on, the deck he was standing on, the hand towel I gave him, and a few dozen other things! Justin and I couldn’t that that go by unnoticed, so we gave him grief about being a Viet Nam vet, Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol infantryman, Ranger School instructor, and Silver Star recipient, and losing more blood on a fair weather fishing trip then on the fields of battle!!

Around 9:30 the little bit of WSW wind we had completely stopped and the surface got nearly glassy. We had a consensus that we’d roll the dice and forgo additional small fish to hunt a few larger ones. Long story short, we looked all over with sonar and even dropped the slab a few placed, but came up empty.

Around 11:45, a puff of wind started out of the NE. I took a look around Area 181 and saw a few suspended fish. I introduced the fellows to the concept and practice of downrigging and we got some baits down among the suspended fish. Tom kicked things off with a just-keeper smallmouth that fell for a Swimmin’ Image, and then Justin popped a nice hybrid (one of only 2 keeper hybrid) on a Pet Spoon shortly afterward. As we moved about, I noted a school of fish on the 35 foot break just NNW of Area 181 getting active enough to perk up at the presence of the downrigger ball going overhead, so I buoyed them.

We went back over these fish and smoked them for 10 more fish including a keeper hybrid for Tom. This action coincided with a steadiness in the NE breeze’s velocity at ~4-5 now. We fished these fish until they quit, which conveniently coincided with the arrival of “the girls” to head over to the Dead Fish Grill for lunch, so, we called it a day at that point with 82 fish boated.

TALLY = 82 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp: 48F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~74.8F

Wind: Winds were light from the WSW at around 5 until ~9:30. They then went slack for ~ 2 hours and then a light NE breeze kicked in.

Skies: Skies were bright and clear the entire morning.