2020 – Fishing Reports

11/11/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing and Duck Scouting Trip

10/24/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing and Duck Scouting Trip

Four participants mostly enjoyed watching the ducks and the scenery on Lake Stillhouse Hollow.  They saw around 15 – 20 flocks of ducks.  Most were high.  No bass were caught.  A major cold front blew through the afternoon before the trip – it gave the bass lockjaw.

9/19/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker, on a cooler pleasant day.  There was a strong north to northeast wind.  Roland Olivarez caught the only bass – two 20 3/4 inchers (the second-largest bass caught on an FCS trip to Decker).  One was caught on a soft plastic swimbait and the other on a jig.  He had another one on the jig that looked to be as big as the first two but it got off at the boat.  They also tried three crappie spots to no avail.

They tried frogs, swimbaits, lipless crankbaits, squarebill crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Roadrunners, and creature baits.  They did not see any schooling bass.

8/27/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker.  Earl Prochnick caught the only bass, a dink, on an inline spinner.  Randy Rowley had a bass on his frog for about two seconds but it got off.  He also had two different bass miss his frog.  Jim McGee had a bass on his frog for a second but it got off.  He also had a bass bump his Chugger Spook popper.

There was no interest in their lures after the sun rose.  In addition to the inline spinner and frogs, they tried a Whopper Plopper, swimbaits, lipless crankbaits, deep-diving crankbaits, squarebill crankbaits, spinnerbaits, a chatterbait, an umbrella rig, Roadrunners, worms, and creature baits.  They thought that they ran into some schooling bass on the inlet side of the powerplant but they proved to be gar and carp.

8/8/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Four fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery and endured the waves from the wake boats on Lake Travis.  Randy Rowley caught the only bass, a 15 incher, on an Evergreen Shower Blows topwater plug.

There were a few blowups and no schooling activity.  They tried Whopper Ploppers, swimbaits, Flukes, lipless crankbaits, deep-diving crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and umbrella rigs.

7/25/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Four fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Bastrop on a very windy day.   Zack Tomlinson caught the only bass, a dink, on a Texas-rigged worm.

There were hardly any blowups and no schooling activity.  They tried frogs, a Whopper Plopper, a Baby Torpedo, swimbaits including an underspin, weightless Flukes, a swimming Senko, Texas-rigged and shaky-head worms, lipless crankbaits, a square bill crankbait, a jointed swimbait, spinnerbaits, a chatterbait, and an umbrella rig.

But it was a beautiful day. They didn’t get rained on until they arrived back at the boat ramp.

6/27/20 – 6/28/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing trip

The trip started at Aransas Bend Park on Travis on Saturday but Randy Rowley’s starter motor was dead, so the group went back home.  Randy took his starter battery to auto zone and they said that it was so dead that their checker couldn’t even read it.  He took the battery (an Interstate one) back to Academy and got his money back, as he bought it only six weeks ago.  He then went to Advance Auto Parts and bought one from them.

The group went back to Aransas Bend on Sunday.  They focused on the cove by the Gnarly Gar restaurant and the cove where Rough Hollow marina is.  It was slow.  It was also very windy, which kept them from fishing the main lake points and cove entrances.

Burl Fulenwider led the way with three bass – he caught one on a Whopper Plopper and two on lipless crankbaits.  One was 14 1/2″ and the other two were dinks.

Randy caught a dink on a lipless crankbait and had a bigger one on with the same bait but it shook his head and threw the lure.

Chris Rowley caught one on a swimbait.  It was 16 1/4″.  She had another one on briefly with the same bait.

They also tried Flukes, dog walkers, spinnerbaits, deep diving crankbaits, an umbrella rig, a Roadrunner, and a popping float rig.

They saw some evidence of schooling by the marina at the Gnarly Gar – they were clearly chasing small shad, but they didn’t stay on top for long and weren’t interested in the topwater baits or in the float rig.

Murphy joined the group a second time on Sunday.  They decided to eat lunch at the Gnarly Gar and pulled into a slip.  The waves were bobbing the boat up and down and Burl had trouble tying the boat to a cleat.  Suddenly a wave caused Cam (Randy and Chris’ boat) to bounce off the dock.  Burl was leaning over to tie the dock rope to the cleat and, when Cam rebounded off the dock, he lost his balance and fell into the water.  He worked his way to the back of Cam and climbed back aboard via his ladder.

By the way, Dink Pearson is closed – apparently permanently.  Randy read that someone bought it, so it’s now private land.  Launching at Aransas Bend was expensive.  It costs $5/person for those under 63 and $3/person for those 63 and above, plus a $7 trailer fee.

5/30/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker.  It was very slow with no schooling, unlike six days earlier.

Jim McGee caught a dink bass on a swimbait and a crappie on a Roadrunner.  He also had a bass take his frog for a second in the lily pads.

Burl Fulenwider caught a crappie on a Roadrunner.

Randy Rowley caught somebody’s old rod and reel and had a bass miss his frog in the lily pads.

For once Murphy left Randy’s boat, trailer, and truck alone.

5/25/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

One of the three fishermen who went to Lake Decker had a good time.

Randy Rowley caught a record four bass (for him on that lake and a record for FCS trips on that lake) – an 18 incher on a frog in the lily pads, a 17 incher on a whopper plopper at the edge of the lily pads, a 15 1/2 incher on a lipless crankbait in the discharge, and a dink on a lipless crankbait in the discharge (they were schooling, somewhat, in the discharge).  He also had a bass run off with his lipless crankbait as a souvenir in the discharge and a gar miss his frog in a cove.

Jim McGee caught a  large perch on a Roadrunner in the discharge.

Burl Fulenwider hooked a bass on a lipless crankbait at the dam but lost it at the boat.  Burl also had a couple of “bumps” to his lure that might have been fish.

Murphy didn’t say “Hi” until they were unhooking the boat at the storage facility where Randy keeps Cam, his boat.  Randy couldn’t quite get the wheel of Cam’s trailer’s wheel jack on the concrete paver.  He used a 4 lb. sledgehammer to persuade it.   He thought that it had locked in place, but it hadn’t.  The wheel rolled and started to collapse.  Despite the three men’s best efforts to keep it upright, it collapsed.  Randy solved the problem three hours later with his 2 1/2 ton floor jack, after his nap of course!

5/16/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker, a few hours after a major thunderstorm.

Randy Rowley caught the only bass – a 15 3/4″ on a crankbait and had something hit his spinnerbait but not get hooked.

Jim McGee caught a crappie and a large perch on a Roadrunner.

Burl Fulenwider had something bump his Roadrunner.

Our friend Murphy showed up again.  Randy bought a new starter battery for his boat last Wednesday, installed it that night, and started to charge his batteries.  He worked his motor’s trim on Friday and fired the motor up.  He thought that all was well.  But when they got to the ramp the motor would not start.  They tried to jump start it with Randy’s truck but no cigar.  Off they went with just Randy’s trolling motor.  When they returned they were going to swap the starter battery, which they suspected had a bad cell, with one of his trolling motor batteries, so they could operate the trim and raise the motor.  Randy noticed that the nut on the starter battery negative post was less than snug.  He tightened it and the big motor fired right up.  Off they went again, this time with the big motor.

5/2/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen had a good time on Lake Decker.

Burl Fulenwider boated the most bass – a 16 1/4″ and two that were not measured on crankbaits.  He also lost one.

Jim McGee caught two – a 21 1/8″ 4.14 lb. (the largest bass ever measured on an FCS self-chartered trip to Lake Decker) on a swimbait and a 16 3/4″ on a Roadrunner.

Randy Rowley caught one – a 16″ on a crankbait and lost three, including one that rivaled Jim’s.  It hit his crankbait on the starboard side and ran to the port side.  It got off right at the boat.  The other two threw his spinnerbait when they jumped and shook their heads.

Murphy decided to join us, as he often does.  Randy’s tilt on his motor wouldn’t work and the motor was dead.  They tried jump starting it but all that they got was enough juice to raise the motor enough to get the transom saver off.  Undeterred, they went fishing along the dam with just Randy’s trolling motor.  The wind was stronger on the way back and the trolling motor’s batteries died about 300 yards from the ramp.  Fortunately, Chris Campbell came to the rescue and towed them back to the ramp.  The problem with the battery proved to be a bad cell.

4/25/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen had a good time on Lake Travis and the Pedernales River.  Burl Fulenwider caught the first fish – a perch.  He also caught about eight crappies.

Jim McGee caught the most fish – around 10 crappie and a dink largemouth bass.  He also caught the last fish.

Randy Rowley caught the largest fish – a gasper goo (freshwater drum).  He also caught a crappie and boated at least 10 sticks and shook off another 10 at the side of his boat.  He finally figured out that he was fishing too slowly.  When he sped up he started to catch fish.

They totaled 22 fish and took home five crappies and the goo.  All fish were caught on Bettle Spins, Roadrunners, and crappie jigs.

4/5/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Inks Lake.  Jim McGee caught the only fish – a dink crappie on a Bettle Spin.  Randy Rowley boated three sticks and Burl Fulenwider boated one.  We were serenaded by Canadian geese the entire trip.  For some reason, Canadians really like Inks Lake.  Randy has never seen them on any other lake.

3/28/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Four fishermen had a good time on Yegua Creek (off of Lake Somerville).  The bite was not as good as the 3/21/20 trip.  Randy Rowley caught two white bass and one dink largemouth.  Burl Fulenwider caught about a seven-pound carp and a perch.  Chris Rowley and Luis Almanza caught one white bass each.  The fish were all caught on crappie jigs and the carp was accidentally snagged.

3/21/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Three fishermen had a great time at Lake Somerville and Yegua Creek.  They tried to go up Nails Creek via Randy Rowley’s boat but the entrance was too skinny (1.2′) and he was bottoming out.  They tried another Yegua Creek but got the same results.  They succeeded in going up Birch Creek but had only one bite.  They then drove to Newman’s Bottom and fished by Yegua’s creek (on foot).  Chris Campbell caught 19 white bass, Randy caught six, and Burl Fulenwider caught one.  Chris and Randy caught their bass on 1/8 oz. crappie jigs with Mo’ Glow 2″ grubs and Burl caught his on a 1/4 oz. Roadrunner.

3/2/20 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip

Four fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker.  We fished for crappie but didn’t catch any, although we did have a few hits.  We switched to bass fishing and Chris Campbell caught six on a crappie jig!  Randy Rowley caught a bass on a Zoom Fluke.

2/22/20 Self-chartered Largemouth Bass Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Travis.  Randy Rowley caught a dink on a lipless crankbait.  Jim McGee hooked a nice bass but lost it a few feet from the boat.  They had no other hits.  They ran across a school of shad with probably some white bass below and above them.  They jigged there for a half-hour but had no customers.

2/17/20 Self-chartered Largemouth Bass Fishing Trip

Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker.  We caught no bass and had no hits.  On the way back to the boat ramp from the dam they ran across a large school of shad with probably some hybrids above them.  They jigged there for an hour but had no customers.