Maybe I should take up ice fishing

The last time I went fishing in below freezing conditions was early in the morning on a day in February 2003 (same day of the Columbia shuttle re-entry disaster). While I was doing OK catching some white bass that morning, I had problems with the tip top guide accumulating ice and then my monofilament line breaking off on casts as it absorbed a little water and then froze. I have an old fishing buddy who grew up in Minnesota and he mentioned fishing through the ice and I thought that was insane.

The past couple of days we have had record low temperatures due to the same bitter cold weather gripping a large portion of the country. Yesterday we had lows in the teens and barely got above freezing. This morning it was 13F! Needless to say I did not head out to the lake or the river to try and catch popsicle bass. I just hope that this cold weather doesn't cause any fish kills on the coast as in years past during long lasting, real cold weather caused the death of lots of speckled trout.

Anyways, I just dumped out the 2 1/2" to 3" thick solid piece of ice from the metal washing tub that serves as the water bowl for my dogs. Hope it thaws out tomorrow.

Waders required

I've had my kayak loaded in the back of my truck for a couple of days now itching to get some more fishing in. We had a cold front come in on the evening of New Year's eve and I got up late on New Year's day and had a few things to do so I didn't get out. I had a late start this afternoon but thought I would try the San Gabriel river once again.

Last time I was here the water level was high and the current was fast. The level went down just a bit and so did the current so that was good. The thing this time is the water was cold (probably in the 50s) and it was extremely clear like green glass. I haven't seen it this clear in a long time.

As I paddled upstream headed towards a favorite spot about 2 miles upstream, I could see some fish, mostly carp and spotted gar, every once in a while. I could see the bottom in spots that I know where around 6 feet deep.

The rapids were not too bad to get past but the shallower, fast water just upstream was a pain as I had to wade it since I couldn't get my paddle stroke deep enough in the water to make much headway that way.

Just before I got to the section I wanted I came across a deep pool that held several dozen spotted gar with some around 3 feet in length that looked like torpedoes. I've caught them only a couple of times when they have been feeding but I was really after bass this time so I kept going.

Once I arrived at my destination I realized that the river had changed here. It looked as if flooding from rain changed it somewhat. Since it took me about an hour just to get there and the sun was already getting low, I only had a few minutes to actually fish. I had to wade in the cold water since there was brush along the shoreline in my way.

No fish were caught and so I headed back to the low water crossing. Needless to say, the paddle downriver went way faster. I did get out once and misjudged the depth in the clear water as I went from shin deep water and stepped off into a drop-off where the water came up to my waist! Good thing I didn't fall!

I'm grateful that I was able to get out on the water again even if I haven't caught that first fish of the year. I will try again soon.

Last fish of 2009

I've been on vacation for just over a week and a half now. Time seems to have gone by pretty quickly with family visiting through Christmas and right before the new year. The wife said I should get out and do some fishing so I did.

Since I had not fished around my favorite section of Lake Travis in some time, I headed to Arkansas Bend to see how things looked. When I got there I noticed the boat ramp was still closed and even though we are finishing December with a 2" surplus of rain, the lake still looks awfully low. I drove down along the shoreline which is typically several feet underwater and launched my kayak.

The coves I usually fish felt much smaller as I paddled around. I fished a few points, large coves and finger coves for a while with not much luck. I spotted what looked like a carp rooting but then noticed it swimming rapidly into deeper water while still on top and proceeded to follow it.

Normally, if you get close to a carp and it spots you, it will high tail it out of there but this carp must have been sick or injured because I was able to paddle right next to it and it didn't submerge or try to evade me.

I should have known better than to down some coffee before heading off to paddle around and fish as I had to find a suitable beach to land on that had no homes around to relieve myself as I was about to burst! Whew!

After I paddled off again, I saw a splash that gave away the location of a bass and that turned out to be the only fish I was able to catch. It also turned out to be the last fish I caught for 2009. It was a spunky little bass though.

I hope 2010 brings more fishing time and better catches and I hope it does as well for anyone else reading this. Happy New Year!

Pier fishing across South Padre Island

Last week, just before Christmas I went to visit family in deep South Texas. I had a couple of hours to spare so I took my son to the Pirates Landing fishing pier in Port Isabel just before the bridge that spans over to beautiful South Padre Island. We would of course try and do some inshore saltwater fishing.

Driving through Port Isabel we looked at the landmark lighthouse and my son asked me about it. I remember as a kid climbing up the spiraling staircase during a school trip. It is really narrow inside but kind of cool. Some other time we'll come with the rest of the family and take our own tour of it. Today we were going to fish.

The pier has a restaurant and bar next to it and it has the biggest rod and reel I have ever seen there. Interestingly enough, it is a fly rod. Here is a photo of it.

Is that a 200 weight you got there?

It was a bit cold out so of course not many locals were on the pier and we had our choice of where to fish. According to the guys working the counter, sheepshead was the species most likely to be caught.

I haven't seen a sheepshead in quite a while. It is wide bodied fish with silvery white color and large convict black stripes across the body. It's a good fighter and quite tasty.

Sometimes you see them in Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants at the buffet, broiled whole. If you look at the skeleton you can see why they are called a sheephead. Their mouth and teeth look a lot like that of sheep and other grazers. They are mostly mollusk feeders so I expect they use those teeth for scraping off barnacles and such.

In the distance my son noticed a barge along the channel heading towards the bridge. As we were watching it slowly passing through the center of the bridge, I mentioned to him a tragic accident that occurred right there back in 2001. A barge struck a couple of columns late one evening which later caused an 80 foot section of the highest point in the bridge to collapse leading to the deaths of four people that drove off the missing section into the water below. This was just a week after Septemeber 11 when folks were still dealing with that tragedy. When they repaired the two sections of the bridge above, they look to have reinforced it with steel, I supposed to help avoid a similar issue in the future.

We rigged up a Carolina rig and cast it out tipped with shrimp. However after an hour and a half we didn't catch a single fish. It was also dark now and getting colder so we left. I was quite disappointment not to have been able to have my son get into any fish. In the past, we had fished at this same spot and had fish on almost every cast so that is what we were hoping for but it wasn't to be. The sunset was beautiful though.

Maiden voyage on Brushy Creek Lake

Brushy Creek Lake is a small lake located in Cedar Park near the town of Round Rock. Before it was opened to the public by the city of Cedar Park, people used to trespass and fish the lake illegally. There were rumors of big bass in it and when it first opened, I was there with other fisherman and indeed some large bass were caught (but not by me). I did manage to catch some decent bass, crappie, catfish and even carp there but after a while it seemed "fished out" and it got significantly more difficult to catch a bass though folks on occasion still caught some decent bass over 16".

Due to the small size of this lake, lack of any significant current and lack of motorboats, it seemed an ideal place to take my son so he could continue learning how to maneuver and fish from a kayak.

We got there fairly late in the afternoon. We carried our kayaks to the canoe/kayak launch and then paddled out to a particular spot I wanted to stay in that is popular with a lot of folks.

My son worked on figuring out how to position his kayak and set anchor. I fished close by but let him figure things on his own and explore. He found a small island with what looked like bird houses set aside for owls. There was a mayfly hatch and the sunfish were going crazy but we were here for the bass so our hooks were in the 3/0 size.

We hung around for a while, not really catching anything but enjoying the water nevertheless. As the sun was starting to quickly set, we started to paddle back to the launch in order to get home for dinner. On the paddle back you could hear some classical music, Bach's Brandeburg Concerto I believe, coming from the nearby golf course. The water was glassy smooth and the air was cool. A great way to end the day.