Post by glitchmo on Apr 22, 2020 12:57:12 GMT -6
So I went to an, uh, undisclosed location to the west of Dallas to try for some striper.
I caught a lot of good fish there last year, and I heard that it was fishing well again. Unfortunately there was a pretty stiff wind directly out of the direction you need to cast (towards the dam) and I didn't feel like fighting it all day so I brought the spinning gear instead. I ended up fishing a float and jig for the whole day, which I suppose is basically just a giant indicator nymphing setup. I eventually found that by casting directly into the main current then letting that drift me into the big pool I could get a fish on pretty much every cast. They were all small white bass (8") or slightly bigger stripers (10-14"), but it was nonstop action. By the time I retired my first jig it had been pretty well ruined (middle jig below), but it was still catching fish.
There were and are bigger fish in there, and I was hoping that as it got towards dark they might get more active. So I switched to a bigger lead and bigger plastic. And, after about 10 casts I finally had a decent fish on. Unfortunately, after about a fifteen yard run the line went light and I reeled in nothing but a bent out hook (bottom jig above). After expounding upon my frustration using some salty language, I tried another jig, but nothing was doing and it was getting past sunset so I headed out.
Frustration aside, it was a good day and it was nice for both my fiancee and I to get outside for a while. The near bank was fairly crowded, but most folks don't wade across there, so both the middle section and the far bank were pretty open and social distancing compatible.
Anyways, after I got back, I thought about fixing the bucktail. It's basically a clouser minnow, so how hard can it be? Turns out, not very. I did the first couple with 210 thread, then I saw that most of the bucktail makers online use 20-30lb braided line (ie. like 400 GSP thread) to do this. So I loaded up an empty spool with some power pro I had sitting around and tried that. It turns out both work, and tying bucktails is pretty easy!
I caught a lot of good fish there last year, and I heard that it was fishing well again. Unfortunately there was a pretty stiff wind directly out of the direction you need to cast (towards the dam) and I didn't feel like fighting it all day so I brought the spinning gear instead. I ended up fishing a float and jig for the whole day, which I suppose is basically just a giant indicator nymphing setup. I eventually found that by casting directly into the main current then letting that drift me into the big pool I could get a fish on pretty much every cast. They were all small white bass (8") or slightly bigger stripers (10-14"), but it was nonstop action. By the time I retired my first jig it had been pretty well ruined (middle jig below), but it was still catching fish.
There were and are bigger fish in there, and I was hoping that as it got towards dark they might get more active. So I switched to a bigger lead and bigger plastic. And, after about 10 casts I finally had a decent fish on. Unfortunately, after about a fifteen yard run the line went light and I reeled in nothing but a bent out hook (bottom jig above). After expounding upon my frustration using some salty language, I tried another jig, but nothing was doing and it was getting past sunset so I headed out.
Frustration aside, it was a good day and it was nice for both my fiancee and I to get outside for a while. The near bank was fairly crowded, but most folks don't wade across there, so both the middle section and the far bank were pretty open and social distancing compatible.
Anyways, after I got back, I thought about fixing the bucktail. It's basically a clouser minnow, so how hard can it be? Turns out, not very. I did the first couple with 210 thread, then I saw that most of the bucktail makers online use 20-30lb braided line (ie. like 400 GSP thread) to do this. So I loaded up an empty spool with some power pro I had sitting around and tried that. It turns out both work, and tying bucktails is pretty easy!
