Yellowcat results

I had a couple guys in last night for a yellowcat trip. They asked me what to expect. I said 50 hooks with good perch expect 6-8 fish. I had 7 . However we had no good size. Most of our fish were 4-8 lbs. Excellent eaters tho. Most bit before midnight with no moon, and when the moon did come out it all but shut off.  Yellowcat fishing will get better as this moon goes down. Rod and rell or trot line for channels is really good right now. Grassshoppers are mature and the fish know it. If you want some freezer fillers call me for catfish now.


Bob

Whats hot right now

People always aske me what is good right now. Mother nature can change what is good within a day. The current river flow will make bass fishing tough for the average angler. I would only reccomend a bass fishing trip to very seasoned anglers that can pitch flip and cast to a bowl on cover.  If you want fun and meat, I would reccomend a night time yellowcat trip or channel cat trip.  Grass hoppers are mature and the channels will be on them hard. Moon is on its way down and yellowcat will start feeding hard again. I will be on yellows this weekend and will report back.  I did fish the two days before the Strawberry moon that we just past and it was horrible. I got skunked on night one and had three on night two. Biggest weighed 23 lbs. Moon, weather, and water level play a huge factor in what these fish do and when they do it. Catfish are what will be hot for a few weeks, but it is a nightime thing


Bob

6/23/13 River update

The river remains stained and bass fishing is slow.  We just passed the Strawberry moon last night. As it fades the catfishing will pick up. A dark moon is the best time to yellowcat fish. So watch it and give me a call.  The river will remain at this flow until those handful of rice farmers in Garwood are done with their last crop. When they are done, the river will drop 6 inches and clear up fast barring any substantial rain.  The grass is out of control. I was out today for 4 hours and never saw another boat.  I pulled the grates off my jet foot just to get around, and it works really good.  I got another eally good close up pic of a wood owl. Posting it now on my gallery.  If you want to bass fish, they are starting to school on lake Bastrop and I have been killing them on spoons.

Bob

River vs Lake

Mother nature controls what I can do and when I can do it. The river right now is tough. Its off colored and not rock bottom low. Too make it worse the grass is as bad as I have ever seen it. With that said, as it drops in late summer big numbers will be caught, but I need the drop. The drop in water will clear the river and make these fish chase baits.

Lake Bastrop---- I dont normally take clients to the lake as I am set up for the river. However, if you want to catch fish you have to change your plans sometimes. I know this lake like I know the river. Our lake fish are starting to school. Schooling fish are the most fun and enjoyable experience you can imagine.  At their peak these fish look like pirhannas on the surface. They are very close to that point.  Dont miss out.


Today I had a young man from Colorado who is leaving for Afghanistan in two days. He will stay for 9 months. He is a part of military intelligence and is taking a group of interrogators over there. I have the upmost respect for all our military, and after spending 6 hours with this home grown Colorado  native but Texas AGGIE fishing and talking, I feel like this country is in just a little bit better place with this one man going over there. He has no fear. His direction is good and he made me feel proud to be an American, simply because I got to see first hand what kind of person he is.  SUPPORT OUR MILITARY.  They are why we get to hunt and fish and live a free life. Most of the rest of the world does not.


Bob

River, Lake and Woods

Had a trip on Lake Bastrop Saturday. Good numbers were caught, and my client was a ton of fun to fish with.

The Colorado river in Bastrop remains off colored which makes the bass fishing tougher and slower. The grass has absolutely exploded. It is matted to the surface for a quarter mile at Steiner ranch. I had to take the grates off my jet foot just to get around the river.

The grasshoppers are almost mature, and I am sure the channel cat are already gorging themselves. If you want to fill the freezer, call and book a channel cat or yellowcat trip

I am working on leasing another large tract of land on the river for bow season. I was on this tract years ago and it is loaded with deer and hogs. I'll update the progress of that tract as we get closer to bow season.

For you pig hunters, I have several options. I have guys with dogs that will bay the pigs and you can go in and stick em with a knife. No guns allowed with dogs. We end up with more dead dogs than pigs.  I also have several tracts that I bait and shoot them under a red light. I also have a couple feeders that pigs can be taken off of. I do need some notice on pig hunts.

Bob

PS  Look in my gallery. Just posted a pic of a mammoth crawfish that I trapped in the river

River and water level

I had the chance to sit down with an LCRA board director yesterday and get some questions answered. I dont think the general public is aware of how dire the situation is on Lake Travis and Lake Buchannon. Both those lakes are at a combined  38% capacity. It would take multiple tropical systems to fill them up. Both those lakes are the main water storage for all of central Texas. 


LCRA did shut the water off for the Blue Sucker at the  end of May. However, I noticed the river did not go down to what I consider low flow. River remained about 6 inches above low flow. I asked this LCRA director what was causing the river to stay up just a bit.  There are a handful of rice farmers in the Garwood area that have water rights that pre date LCRA's existence by one day. By law LCRA has to give that handful of rice farmers their water, and that is the small influx of water we see in the river. As the rice farming season ends LCRA will shut it off and the river in Bastrop will be as low as it can get.


River is clearing a bit everyday and the bass fishing will get better and better as it does clear.  The hole fishing will be tough until the river hits rock bottom low in August or September.


Bob

Hole fishing from today

I took several buddies out today to hole fish under rocks.  It was slow. First big rock we got on had a fish under it. One of my buddies touched him but the fish spooked and we lost out.  About three rock beds later, I went in too fast and spooked  another one. We didnt find anything else the rest of the day. LCRA was supposed to shut the water off, and I think they did, but the river has not gotten to rock bottom low yet. My guess is that the ridiculous amount of grass in the river has created enough volume to keep the water level up about 6 inches above the low flow line. This is not what I want too see. I need low water conditions. Low water makes the hole fishing easier and keeps the fish  off the bank holes . It also makes the bass fishing awesome.


Bob

Noodling Colorado river style

I dont get many takers for grabbing fish. In fact most of my freinds are scared to try it. Some people think that noodling is bad for the fish, because they believe noodlers take too many fish out of the ecosystem. That is far from the truth. Its much easier to catch numbers on a line than with your hand. I do have a couple guys from Houston coming in late June to try it. Today I am taking a couple freinds out to feel in the rocks and see what we can grab. Our fish usually hole up under the bank, but because the river is low, I expect to find them under rocks. Rocks are much safer to feel under than the bank. The bank has beavers, snakes,eels, and man size crawfish. Rocks dont tend to draw those critters in as much and is a safer way to noodle. Will report back tonight hopefully with some good pics.

Bob

River results from today

The river around Bastrop remains stained. Fishing is slow at best. Had two 14 year old boys with me this afternoon that had very good casting, pitching and flipping skills. Spent 6 hours on water with them and had about 20, of which I had 14. River needs some more time to clear up.  The buzzbait bite did pick up with the cloud cover.  I have never seen the amount of grass that we have in this river now. The river is impasssible in places with grass matted to the surface. It will definately fish different this summer.  For anyone wanting a good trip I would wait a few days and watch my blog for updates


Bob

River update

My computer went down Tuesday morning and I just got it back. Headed out on river with two clients this afternoon. Water is trying to clear but still off a bit. Grass has exploded and water level is very low. I expect a productive afternoon, and I will report back this evening

Bob

Monday nighter results

Wow!!!!   What a little change in direction does.  Me and some buddies got together and revamped the rules and format. We now weigh a 3 fish limit. Big bass has to be an over or the pot rolls over. We had 21 boats show up tonight. We havnt had that all year. Fishing was tough. I didnt do worth a damn, but my usual partner and another freind of mine won the tourney with 3 good fat keepers that weighed 4.01 lbs.  No over was caught.  Next Monday should be even better.  



River is down and clearing fast. If you want a ton of fun book a trip now


Bob

Lake Bastrop Monday nighter

Ok   After loosing the people that agreed to run the Monday nighter on Lake Bastrop , a group of us got together and came up with some ideas to make the Lake Bastrop Monday nighter better for everybody. This is a weekly tourney as there are weekly tourneys on every lake in Texas. We will start this next Monday with a new set of rules. Instead of your best five keepers, we will weigh your best three keepers  or best two and one over. This should stack the weights tight. All fish will be measured by TPWD standards. That is gently pinching the tale with a swipe. If it touches 14 it will not count and you may not replace it with another fish.  No more pinching it so hard to make it touch. No more laying it on the board with no pinch.  Another words you can weigh three fish max. The big bass pot will roll over until an over 21 is caught and wins the pot. Pre fishing is allowed as it is allowed on every weekly tourney on any lake in the state. Thats why we check live wells. Hope to see yall out there.

Bob

River update

The Colorado river at Bastrop has almost dropped down to its low flow. The water is still a bit dirty and will clear within a few days barring no more rain. However, the forecast is not promising for that to happen. Either way, fishing on the river will be good. If it rains again and gets  muddy catfish are on, and if it doesnt rain and  clears up  the bass fishing will be out of sight. So either read my blog for river updates or watch the weather.


Bob

River thoughts

The Colorado river below Austin has been a well kept secret for years. Bastrop has seen a ton of growth in the past 5-8 years. With growth comes people. With more people, we have more boat, kayak,canoe, and tubing traffic on the river. Its great for our community. It brings in people that want to spend money at local businesses, but it also creates another problem, that I am fixing to talk about.. Like any body of water this river has dangers, very subtle dangers that get people in trouble fast. This past memorial day weekend we had 19 canoers camping on an island that did not pay attention to the weather, and when the river rose over night their canoes floated away while they slept.  They had to be rescued.  We also had a couple in a canoe with a child that got sideways and capsized as they hit a log. Our game warden just happenned to be close by and responded and all is well.


Accidents like these will happen more and more as more people get on the river. Our game warden writes more tickets for no life jacket than anything else. Nobody wants to think about their boat flipping or what to do when it happens, but a simple life jacket can mean the difference in driving back home that night  or getting a ride to the morgue that night.  Below are my tips to stay safe on this river

1. Have life jackets for everybody
2. Watch the weather. This river can rise suddenly. Austin water gets to Bastrop in 18-22 hrs.
3.If your unfamiliar with this water take somebody that knows it.
4. Take a phone. Put it in a ziplock
5. Never get sideways in a boat canoe or kayak when in rocks, riffles or tight cuts.
6. Know what your get out point looks like before you get on river
7. If you rent a canoe or kayak or tube, ask the people you are renting as many questions as you can about the trip you are taking.
8. If you are floating, stay away from the bank especially in current.
9.  If you or someone you are  with is in trouble, dont go after them, call for help immediately
10. If you end up out of your boat canoe kayak,dont panic,dont swim into the current, try to stand up. If you cant stand do not freak out, just gently swim down stream and across current until you hit the bank or can stand. Panic drowns a many of people.


Our local game Wardens are very active on the water, but they cant be everywhere all the time

Respect the water you are on and it will give you the trip you wanted. Loose that respect and bad things happen very fast.


Bob

Big fish River Tourney results

River tournament went very well, even with a 3 foot rise in river on the first morning. Downtown Austin caught 4 inches of rain Friday afternoon and evening. River rose and became chocolate mud. Bass fishing was tough, but catfishing was real good.  My bass fishermen found a few fish in the creeks and gravel pits that feed off the river where the water had some clarity. No monster yellows were brought in, but tons of numbers.


Yellowcat   Loyd Nutt Chad Nutt and Doc Borron  17.60 lbs

Channel cat Dusty Frank, Joey Krnavek, and Matt Freytag  9.94 lbs

Perch   Yvettes daughter Taylor had  .33 lb perch

Black bass   Dusty Frank, Joey Krnavek, and Matt Freytag  4.19 lbs

Spotted bass    Dusty Frank, Joey Krnavek and Matt Freytag  1.52 lbs

Gasper    Dusty Frank, Joey Krnavek and Matt Freytag   8.77 lbs


I want to thank everybody that fished. We had fun and caught a ton of fish.


Look for another bass tourney in July


Bob