2014 – Fishing Reports

10/18/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing and Duck Scouting Trip

One officer and two first time guests (three total participants) had a good time at the 10/18/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing and Duck Scouting Trip on Granger Lake. We didn’t catch any fish but saw several flights of ducks.

8/27/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and one member (two total participants) had a good time at the 8/27/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Decker on a partly cloudy day.  Randy Rowley caught a 19″ bass on a pumkin soft plastic creature bait.  He also had another one on for about four seconds but it came off of the hook.  Randy and Jim McGee both had taps from a couple other bass on the same creature bait and a watermelon red worm.  The bass showed no interest in top waters, crankbaits, and swimbaits.  We saw very little schooling activity.  We went in Jim’s boat.

8/2/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer, one member, and one guest (three total participants) had a good time at the 8/2/14 Self-chartered Bass Catching Trip on Lake Decker on a party cloudy day.  Randy Rowley, Ryan Rowley, and Will Voges were skunked.  We were going to fish Lake Pflugerville, but arrived to find the park closed, as they were preparing to install a fence.  So we hastily went to Decker.  We arrived well past prime fishing time.  Randy had the same bass hit an Excalibur Spittin’ Image dog walker (top water) twice and another one hit a KVD Shadilicious swim bait.   Ryan had a bass hit a jig but neither man was able to connect.  The fishermen were hampered by the fact that Randy’s big motor is down (they were only able to use his trolling motor).

7/26/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer, one guest, and one son (three total participants) had a good time at the 7/26/14 Self-chartered Bass Catching Trip on Lake Decker on a sunny day.  Randy Rowley caught a gar on a Yellow Magic topwater popper and a 13 7/8″ bass on a Rapala Clacking Rap lipless crankbait.  He had about a four pound bass on a River2Sea Biggie Poppa squarebill crankbait that got off at thee boat.  Jeff and David Peterson were skunked.

7/14/14 Chartered Hybrid Bass Catching Trip

Five members and one son (six total participants) participated at the 7/14/14 Chartered Hybrid Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Belton with guide Jay Garrett on a hot, partly cloudy day.  Only three hybrid bass and two nice largemouth bass were caught (five total fish).  A do-over trip will be scheduled.

6/23/14 Chartered Hybrid Bass Catching Trip

Four members and two guests (six total participants) had a good time at the 6/23/14 Chartered Hybrid Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Belton with guide Jay Garrett on a partly cloudy day that was hot (of course).  Eleven hybrid bass and 3 white bass were caught.  A thunderstorm hit the area the day before, giving the fish lockjaw.

6/20/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and one member (two total participants) had a good time at the 6/20/14 Self-chartered Bass Catching Trip on Lake Austin on a overcast day.  Randy Rowley caught a 15 1/4″ bass on a crawdad colored Xcalibur lipless crankbait and Jim McGee caught a 15″ bass on a Heddon Chugger Spook (topwater popper).  Both men had another fish on (on lipless crankbaits) but they got off before they got to the boat.  Randy also had a bass hit his Sammy (a topwater dog walking lure) twice, but he didn’t latch on.  Randy caught fishing line twice that still had lures on it – a swimbait and a spinnerbait.

6/16/14 Chartered Hybrid Bass Catching Trip

One officer, three members, and one guest (five total participants) had a great time at the 6/16/14 Chartered Hybrid Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Belton with guide Jay Garrett on a windy and partly cloudy day that was hot (of course).  A limit of 25 hybrid bass and 3 white bass were caught in  approximately two hours.  Jeff Cates caught the most fish, followed by Chris Rowley.  In fact we had to put them in time out so Jim McGee, Vicky McGee, and Randy Rowley could catch some fish!  :^)  Vicky caught the largest – a 26 incher that weighted approximately eight pounds!  Jay said that it was the largest bass that his clients have caught this year.  Two others over 24″ were caught and many over 20″.

6/7/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer, one member, and one guest (three total participants) had a good time at the 6/7/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Decker on a windy and hot day that started out mostly cloudy and ended up partly cloudy.  Randy Rowley caught three 15″ bass.  Dustin Rhodes caught a 15 1/2″ bass and a 13″ bass and around a 15″ hybrid bass.  All bass were caught on crankbaits.  Randy also had a couple blowups on a Sammy topwater, but missed them both.  Bass were schooling in the hot water discharge (gorging on shad) and were reluctant to hit imitators.  Randy had the misfortune of hooking himself in his right index finger.  He lipped his first bass and was trying to get the lure out with a pair of pliers. The fish shook it’s head hard and Randy lost his grip (both hands).  One treble hook went into his finger and the other into his thumb.  The bass was dangling from Randy’s hand, still shaking his head (yes, it hurt).  Randy was able to get the hook out of his thumb, but not his finger.  It was resolved in a minor ER seven hours later.

5/26/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip.

One officer, one guest, and one son (three total participants) had a good time at the 5/26/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Fayette on a rainy and overcast day that was occasionally windy.  Randy Rowley snagged a 23″ 4lb. Channel cat.  He then caught a 16 1/4″ bass on the next cast with a square billed crankbait and caught a 15 1/8″ bass later on an Xcalibur Foxy Shad lipless crankbait, all at the dam.  Jeff Peterson caught a 15″ bass on a tilapia colored lipless crankbait, at a later trip to the dam.  We only witnessed one other guy catch a fish.

5/17/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and one member (two total participants) had a good time at the 5/17/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Travis on a cloudless, windy day.   At dawn, we started off at the Gnarly Gar cove.  Randy Rowley caught a 19″/ 2 1/2 lb. bass on a clear/white Heddon Chugger Spook.  After getting no more bites we moved to the Rock Harbor cove.  Randy caught a dink bass on a green and white Strike King XD6 crank bait.  Ryan Rowley caught a shad on a lipless crankbait.  Randy also had a hit on a white grub.  We finished the day on the cove to the north of Rock Harbor, with no hits.

4/25/14 – 4/27/14 Self-chartered Bay Fishing Trip

One officer, six members, one first time guest, one son, and one nephew (10 total participants) had a good time at the 4/25/14 – 4/27/14 Self-chartered Bay Fishing Trip near Aransas Pass.  Although the fishing was only fair Dan Rogers, Randy Rowley, and David Smith caught slot redfish (between 21 – 28″; the largest was 24″); Binh Chu caught a 20″ speckled trout and Trevor Shipper caught a 17″ speckled trout; Binh caught a couple keeper spanish machrael; Dan Carlson, Tim Price, Randy, and Binh caught keeper gafttopsail catfish (Randy’s went around 4 lbs.).  Several undersized reds, trout and sheepshead were caught as well as small stingrays, ladyfish (baby tarpon), hardhead catfish, rock fish, a large croaker, a pin perch, and three large crabs.  Randy had a large fish on that was stripping out drag and running from right to left that ultimately broke his line near the boat (probably a black drum or redfish).  Due to strong winds we did not fish the jetties.  We fished the South Bay, the East Flats, the gas wells, and the Fina dock.  We watched the Spiritual Outdoor Adventures DVD Talk the Talk with the Duck Man.  Thanks to David for opening up his home to us and to David, Daryl Shipper, and Binh for letting us use their boats.

4/21/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and two members (three total participants) had a good time at the 4/21/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip at Lake Fayette on an overcast day.   Before dawn, we started off at dam.  Minnows were feeding on the surface at the rocks and bass were feeding on them.  But they wouldn’t hit our imitators including poppers and dog walkers.  Randy Rowley then switched to a black and red spinnerbait and hooked a nice one, but it tail walked, shook its head, and threw the lure.  Randy then caught 16 and 15 1/4 inchers on the spinnerbait.  We then fished the intake for awhile with no hits.  The same was true for the discharge.  We then fished the cove to the north of the discharge with no hits.  We then moved to the telephone pole cove (with the fishing dock) and Burl Fulenwider caught a 17 incher on a bass colored Shad Rap and Jim McGee caught a 19 incher/2 ½ pounder on a pumpkinseed power worm with a chartreuse tail.  We moved to the trees to the west of the dam and got no hits.  We finished the day on the dam where Jim caught a 14 ¾ incher on a pumpkinseed Senko.

4/18/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and two members (three total participants) had a good time at the 4/18/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip at Lake Fayette on a mostly cloudy day.  We started off at the intake and couldn’t buy a top water bite, so Randy Rowley switched to a crawdad colored lipless Xcalibur crankbait and immediately had a 15 3/4″ bass.  He then proceeded to get stuck on a couple of rocks.  He thought that he had stuck a third rock when all of a sudden it jumped, shook its head, and threw the lure.  It looked like it would have gone 4 lbs.  He then caught around a 3 lb. tilapia (his first one).  He snagged it above it’s fin, near it’s head.  We then tried a cove to the left of the discharge that was out of the win.  Fishing along the shore didn’t yield any hits, so we started to fish outward and started to get hits.  Randy ended up catching four bass, the best was 16″ and the worst was 14 3/4″.  Burl Fulenwider had a hit on a Junebug worm.  The bite waned so we moved to the second cove (the one to the right of the telephone pole cove) with no luck.  We then moved to the telephone pole cove (with the fishing dock) and it was a zoo (at least eight boats were in it).  Stephen Morrow had a bass hit his jerk bait right at the boat but he didn’t hook it.  We finished the day at the cove to the left of the far end of the dam (with all the trees in it) and had no luck there either.

4/5/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and two members (three total participants) had a good time at the 4/5/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Austin.  Randy Rowley caught two keeper bass including a 15 3/4 incher.  Ryan Rowley caught a nice white bass.  Ryan led the way in losing lures with six.  Randy was close with five and also broke the bill off a Bomber crankbait (which Academy replaced).  Chris Rowley didn’t catch any fish but also didn’t lose any lures.  All of the fish that were caught were caught on either lipless or lipped crankbaits.

3/10/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trips

One officer and two members (three total participants) had a good time at the 3/10/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trips to Granger Lake and Lake Travis.  For the morning trip we fished up the San Gabriel River with both lures and minnows, predominently for white bass, and had no bites.  We did hit a lot of stumps though – sorry Bob!  For the afternoon trip we fishing Lake Travis with lures.  Ryan Rowley caught two bass on crankbaits, Randy Rowley caught a bass and a big crappie on crankbaits, and Rob Brigman caught a bass on a plastic worm.  Randy had the biggest – a 14 1/4 incher.

3/8/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer, one member, and one son (three total participants) had a good time at the 3/8/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Austin, even though the weather didn’t cooperate.  It rained or drizzled several time.  Consequently, the bass weren’t interested in biting.  Caleb Swann caught the only bass – a 15 1/4 incher, on a swimbait.

2/17/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip

One officer and two members (three total participants) had a great time at the 2/17/14 Self-chartered Bass Fishing Trip on Lake Austin on a pleasant day.  We launched at Mary Quinlan Park and stayed in that area the entire time.  It started off overcast but by mid-morning it was partly cloudy.  Ryan Rowley led the way with eight, Jim McGee caught five, and Randy Rowley caught three.  Jim caught the biggest bass – a 5 1/2 pounder.  All bass were caught on lipless or lipped crankbaits.  Jim also pulled in a very nice rod and baitcasing reel.  The reel alone sells for $150 new.  Randy broke a rod (that Academy replaced – no questions asked).  He also lost four lures.  Ryan lost three and Jim lost one.  Nothing that a trip to Academy couldn’t solve!  :^)