Fayette County Lake Trip Report - Dec 13, 2008

Saturday dawned with great expectations, the temperatures had  
moderated and the winds were manageable. The determined threesome of  
Bob S, Tom A and yours truly, arrived and were on the water just as  
the sun started coloring the sky. The full moon was still shining  
brightly so we headed for Junk Yard Cove and spread out along the main  
point shoreline that was protected from the SE wind. I drew a strike  
on my first cast (always the kiss of death) except the bass somehow  
avoided the hooks on my spook jr, not once but twice. Relieved to not  
have caught a fish on my first cast, I moved along and continued to  
throw the bone spook. My efforts resulted in only one hookup on a  
small fish. Bob and Tom were working plastic worms, spinner baits, and  
Tom broke out the fly rod. Bob landed a nice slot bass on a "wacky  
worm" and I managed another small fish on a wacky worm as well. We  
worked away at the edges of the hydrilla until the flotilla of  
powerboats started arriving to share the same shoreline. Somewhat  
different from saltwater, the freshwater crowd seems to not mind  
sharing the same small patches of water, especially on a small lake  
like Fayette County. As the power boaters moved up and down  and  
around us kayakers with their trolling motors, we stubbornly continue  
to work at our small area of protected shoreline. Unfortunately, the  
fish were not cooperating for anyone. I never saw a fish landed by any  
of the powerboats working around us, and our efforts were spotty at  
best. Tom headed in a little early, and Bob headed back to the launch  
and decided to fish the small cove adjacent to the boat ramp. That  
cove interestingly enough yields a lot of fish, despite the boat  
traffic which generally launches and motors right past the fish. Bob's  
efforts were rewarded with a couple bass, though not as large as his  
first. 

I met up with a friend from Seguin who happened to be fishing  
the tournament going on. He picked me up for a short visit and we  
worked a few areas from his very nice boat. We cruised several areas  
in open water and could see the fish stacked up on the creek channels,  
suspended at about 20 feet down in 40 feet of water. Everywhere we  
could find deep water, the fish were suspended. We attempted to work  
the creeks, but the wind had picked up and it was nearly impossible to  
stay on the fish. With the fish suspended at those depths, we  
concluded the rest of the day was going to be tough. We headed back to  
Oat Thicket park for a little lunch. By the time we finished eating  
the lake was pretty much white-capped and we decided to call it a day.
We had a brief chat with the local game warden who practically lives  
on this lake. The topic was the definition of "possession of a slot  
fish". Fayette County requires that any fish between 14" and 24" be  
released. The warden's interpretation of possession was pretty tight.  
He said the fish needed to be released to the water immediately, to  
give the fish its best chance of survival. If held any longer the  
fisherman was deemed to be in possession of the slot fish and  
therefore subject to a citation. So, be warned, if you catch a slot  
bass on Fayette, dont play with it, put it in the live well, paddle  
around with it on a stringer waiting to take pictures, etc. If the  
warden spots the fish, he will give out a ticket ($168 worth). This  
story was relayed to us by a fishing friend of mine and I thought it  
would be worth passing along to any other freshwater bassers who fish  
a slot limit lake.
Fayette County does yield nice numbers of very healthy, good fighting  
bass, on a fairly regular basis. Evidence of same is attached. In  
typical PACK outing fashion, the wind blew out a nice day and  
shortened the fishing and made the catching difficult. Thanks to Tom  
and Bob for coming along on my freshwater trip. I shall return.

Ron "Oleyakker" Romeis