Houston County Lake Post Mortem

It was a pretty tough day for many folks. The numbers of fish caught were even worse in some ways than the fish caught at Lake Bastrop. Some of the top guys didn't catch any fish worth noting while others who won prizes didn't catch anything last time.  

The day started off pretty cold. But everyone's spirits were pretty high. Somewhere along the way someone ran over a water main for the campground and water started running right in front of the booth where we signed in.  Other than that, the day was pretty jovial. Everyone was standing around talking fishing stories or getting their gear ready.

Ryan then called for the captains meeting and we all listened to warnings about not using social media while on the water and to look out for stumps.  They were apparently supposed to be pretty hard on fin and paddle drives.  Then we all did the hawg trough salute and we were off the to boats to wait for the all clear.

All clear!!  (Courtesy of FishKats.com)

It took a while since there were some stragglers who were having issues getting in the water.  But after a 10 minute wait we were off and the day was started.

I headed off straight for the foggiest part of the lake.  My idea was if there was more fog, the water must be warmer there and so the cold air blowing over the water would create fog.

It was a nice idea, but no bueno. I tried nearly everything in my tackle box.  Nothing seemed to work.  So I finally pulled out my X-Rap Clown Shad and gave it a try.  I was fishing it through areas where there were stumps and got caught up a couple times.  But in the end it paid off and I caught a nice 20in bass.  It was nice to catch a good sized fish.  I even had a very small thought that I might have a big bass if no one else caught anything over 20in.  It wasn't too far off though since the big bass was under 23in.

I kept fishing throughout the rest of the day but the only thing I caught was a Striped Bass.  Again, I caught it on the X-Rap Clown Shad. I guess I could keep using that lure!

The day ended on a slightly windy note but not near as windy as Bastrop was.  However, it felts colder.  I couldn't bear to be without a coat so I opted to stay warm this time.

The winner of the event was Matt Moccia with a total of 99.50 inches of fish!  Was unbelievable but with as cold as it was, I wasn't too surprised. He was able to pre-fish the lake and knew that the water coming out of the creek was warmer than the lake water.  This meant that the fish were congregating there.  Figures!

Ryan Herzog won the charity raffle even though he didn't catch a legal fish that day.  While I don't mean to gloat, but rather show that fishing is a tricky sport, it felt good having caught a fish when the guy who won at Bastrop didn't even place this event.  The fishing was especially tough if you weren't in that sweet spot.  Even the people who got several fish had small turn outs.

That's the way it went!  I learned a couple things from this event.

1. I had made a decision the day before the event that I wouldn't go to the creek because I felt I could start fishing sooner.  I should have sprung for it and made the trek - it was over 1.5 miles.

2. Just because you win an event doesn't mean you'll make any better decisions than any one else. If you can't pre-fish, you're pretty much taking a chance that you'll get nothing.

So on that note, I've already pre-fished Lake Fayette and I'm hoping I make the right choice on where to fish.  It's supposed to be 80 degrees that day.  So the fish may not be in the normal places.  We shall see!

And nope!  You aren't getting any more info out of me than that. I have a plan and I intend to go with it.  That's all anyone can hope for.  :)

Tight lines y'all!

Mike
Geeks Fish Too