Lake Somerville @ Welch Park 10/27 - 10/28

I went out to Welch Park at Lake Somerville yesterday evening after work. The lake is up higher than I've ever seen it. It looked as though it was actually back up to it's "normal" state. I ended up fishing an area where I had previously parked my truck when I took my son camping there about 6 weeks ago. I can honestly say that you can now actually fish from the bank at Welch and stand a chance of catching something (as opposed to putting rod holders out in deeper water like I usually do).
You can see in these photos the newly submerged vegetation:





I put out five rods with JPigg, Sure Shot, DK, Premo and Catfish Charlie. The bite was nice and steady from about sunset until almost midnight. I caught 9 keepers in the 1 - 2.5 lb range and threw back probably 6 or 7 dinks. All the baits were getting bites, even ol' Catfish Charlie!

As to my experiment with the tripe, I put out a couple rods with tripe dipped in Sure Shot and JPigg. I got bites but had trouble hooking anything because the tripe was too thick and covered up too much of the hook. I decided to remove the tripe and just fish the bait as normal since the bite was so good.

Here's a shot of my little GTMO Bay:


Once it got late I switched the rods over to my "overnight bait", which consisted of beef heart sprinkled with garlic powder and Redneck soap bait. Then I put out some throw lines with Redneck, Zote, Catfish Candy and Shelby. When I got up the next morning some of the soaps and beefhearts were gone and I only had a 12" channel hooked up (caught on Redneck), which I let go.

All in all I think this was an unusual occasion with the cold front (which is usually bad for fishing when it first arrives?) and the newly risen water level (which must have had a net positive effect).

Here's another shot of the Somerville 9. Upon closer inspection while cleaning it looked as though one of the larger cats might have been a flathead and another a blue, but I'm not sure.

Tripe, the Other White Meat!

Howdy Folks,

Saturday morning I'm going to Lake Somerville @ Welch Park for some early morning R&R punch bait action. I generally have good luck at that park with punch bait. I can park right on the beach and there's nothing out in the water to get hung up on, except catfish!

But this time I'll be using tripe meat on a couple of my rods as the bait holder. By that I mean I'll place a square of tripe on the treble hook to help support the punch bait. Tripe is essentially the meat that comes from a cow's stomach. If you've ever had menudo then you've had tripe! Tripe is cheap (99 cents a lb), tough and stinky ... which are the primary prerequisites for a great catfish bait. Plus, I've already sprinkled mine with garlic powder.

I'll post full details (and pictures) when I return.

Frozen Shad

For those of you who are castnet-challenged like me (I'm gonna practice, though!) Academy carries frozen shad, at least in the Houston area. Our local Gander Mtn carries goldfish as well. Throw in a little beef heart (sprinkled with garlic powder) and you've got a great jugging/trotline trip in the making.

Modified Zote (pink) Part I

Well folks, my first try at melting down the Zote so that I could sprinkle in some extra goodies was a dismal failure. I dropped a bar into a double boiler and nothing seemed to happen after the water started to boil. Then I put the pot-O-soap directly onto the burner and the soap definitely started to soften up but part of it turned brown and then it really got stinky when I splashed in some fish oil.

After doing some more research I discovered that the double-boil approach was right I just needed to shave the soap up into very small pieces and give it a much longer period of time to melt. A crockpot can be used but a little water needs to be thrown in and this process can take 4-6 hours.

I'll try again as soon as I can acquire a cheese grator and possibly an old crusty crockpot from a garage sale. I'm also thinking about getting a pepper grinder or a small coffee grinder so that I can grind up some anise seeds and broken up range cube.

Shelby's Catfish Candy

Stumbled across this bait today:
http://www.shelbyscatfishcandy.com/

It's a kind of dough bait that has a pleasant odor (anise probably?).

Anyways, here's a review:
http://www.jimporter.org/reviews/review14.shtml

I confirmed that Academy carries both original and garlic flavored.

Menhaden Oil

Picked up a gallon of Menhaden oil at Bass Pro Shop yesterday for $17. I was hoping for Shad oil but I suspect that Menhaden is the only kind I'll be able to get by the gallon.

Howdy!

From time to time I will be posting pictures and details about my fishing trips. I will try to be as descriptive as possible, cussing like a sailor whenever I can (ok, not really!).