That’s what The Boss was telling me on the way to the lake and on the way back….
I got up early this morning. I was wishing we were fishing! I went down and got the paper, cool, clear and relatively calm.. fishing weather. But, it was not happening. I had dropped the boat off at Charlie’s Outboard Repair in Alvarado yesterday about noon. I had to get that voltage problem checked out.. I didn’t like going to the lake and not knowing the status of the battery or the alternator or whatever. We had our chores lined out for today.. more yard work, etc.
The Boss came out about 7:15 a.m. and said “Why aren’t we fishing”.. I reminded her.. “Boat.”
But, as I was sitting outside with the dogs this morning about 8:30, I got a call from Keith over at Charlie’s. He had good news. They had put the computer on the boat and the problem was the gauge, not the battery, and not the $700 alternator. Terrific news. We went right over and picked it up.
That’s Charlie’s son, Keith. He fixed us right up for a nominal fee. We couldn’t have been happier with the service and turnaround.
We headed to the house and re-loaded our gear in the boat. We were on the lake by about 11 a.m. The air temperature was still in the forties when we hit the water. The water temp was still 55° just as it had been on Saturday. The weather-guessers called it partly cloudy today, but I would describe it as more sunny than cloudy. The winds were probably 8 to 10 mph for the most part, but occasionally there was a gust that might have been 15 or so. The lake level is about the same at 524.48 as it has been. It is still 8 1/2 feet low. The water remains slightly stained to clear depending upon where you fish. The ramp at McCown remains in good shape… not nearly as crowded as it was Saturday.. only one other rig on the ramp today.
Because the wind was from the east (when the fish bite the least), we first tried the west side of the Katy Bridge rip-rap… nothing, nadda.. no bites. Then we headed over to Cedron Creek… I think it is one of The Boss’s favorite locations. It wasn’t long before I am hearing that familiar “Hold the boat! I’m getting a bite!” It was a bit windy on the point, but I did my best to hold the boat til she set the hook… and then the fight was on… Lots of jumping and splashing around by the fish.. Lots of yelling “Get the net!” by The Boss while she worked the fish behind the boat from one side to the other while I was trying to dig the net out, while trying to stay on the trolling motor and keep us off the rocky point….
Finally…
This fat old mama.. a 5.66 was safely in the boat… The Boss was a happy camper again.
Then, not long after, another “I’m getting a bite” from The Boss…
The wind picked up a bit… we ate lunch in a little cove out of the wind… then The Boss had another tap-tap and set the hook, but it ran under the boat and came unbuttoned… She wasn’t too happy with that.
We tried another location or two, but the wind was just getting over whelming… so we headed back to the ramp.. 2 p.m. We had 3 hours on the lake. The Boss had 3 bites and boated two fish that weight about 7 to 7 1/2 total… a good day for her. Me, I am not complaining.. I was very happy to get the boat back today… much better to be fishing than clearing brush along a fence row. I will figure out how to get the gauge replaced…
At the ramp we found three fellas cleaning fish. They were the folks in the other rig. They were running jugs in the river channel. They had 30 or so catfish, the largest was around 5 pounds…. They said that the catfish were really biting.. and that the cows were feeding!
I met you on aquilla a few months ago. Talked about sand bass .a school came up after I pulled off, but I didn’t hear your horn.
Really enjoy your blog. I have a place at lakeside village, and I rely on your column in deciding when to head to the lake on a weekday.
I checked lake whitney online guide today and saw the article above. There was no longer a link to fishing reports. Is that their error or has your blog moved. I’d like to keep following it.
Thanks for any input.
Jim Hurst
JAMES M. HURST
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW
2401 Garden Park Court, Suite A , Arlington, Tx. 76013
TELEPHONE (817) 265-9000
FAX (817) 460-8366
E-MAIL jim@hurstut.com
Jim, yep I remember meeting you on Aquilla….
I did some re-arranging on the blog site… Each post usually contains a story about a fishing trip to the lake. In each trip to the lake, I try to give a “fishing report” which includes the weather conditions, the ramp condition and the lake level information and how the fishing went. Occasionally, I do a story about something else.. like the bluegrass story. But, 99% of the time, the story is going to be about the trip to the lake and the “fishing report”.. that will tell what we caught, what we caught them on, and if we visited with anyone else who relates what they have caught. So, to get the latest report, all you have to do is scroll down on the main page, the home page and you will find the latest info in the each post.. they are all dated and in order of the posts… Even the lastest report about The Cows are feeding had a fishing report in it as well as the story about Charlies Outboard.
But, what I was trying to do was clean up some pages that don’t get used much.. My Bronco page did not get much traffic, and I thought the fishing reports would be OK because they are just by far the majority of the posts… I don’t know if I can add it back now, but I will look at it.. I think I deleted the category for the “fishing reports” from the posts.
All that being said, I found I could add the fishing reports back…. shoulda checked first…
You know that story… woulda, coulda, shoulda…happens a lot on fishing trips.
Dilla, I’ve been going to Charlie’s for 30+ years, they’re good people. Nice to be able to take your problems to someone and know that they will treat you right. They’ve sure been good to me over the years and many of my friends. Just tell them Bond is still bragging on them when you see them the next time.