Colorado River 'Pups', round 2. AC to Lil' Web
Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:01 am
This was definitely one for the books!
My girlfriend, sister, sister's boyfriend, and I did the overnight trip from Austin Colony to Little Webberville Park this weekend, Oct 29-30. We had a blast! This is my attempt at a complete report.
Oct. 29 (Saturday). We left Taylor around 7:45 with all 4 kayaks loaded into my pickup. I believe the temperature was 42 degrees at this point. Arrived at Austin Colony somewhere around 8:30, and to my surprise the new fence had a section of cable cut. That was a treat, for sure. We didn't have to use my makeshift kayak carts! With that time saved and with a quick shuttle from Cook's Canoes our trip started at 9:30, about 45 minutes earlier than I had expected. Temp was roughly 50 by now.
I've kayaked this trip twice before, both in one day, and have never caught fish in the first half mile or so. This time was definitely different. Within 100 yards of the put-in we had already caught 5 fish. One of those was my sister's boyfriend's (David) first fish ever. Man was he happy (pictured below). We did teach him the proper way to lip-grip a bass.
The temperature rose pretty quickly, making for a great day. By 10:45 we had all taken off our outer 2 layers of clothing.
Saturday ended up being the best fishing day I have personally had on the Colorado. I can't say that I caught a lot of size on this trip, but I pulled in 41 fish on Saturday alone. My biggest was only a little over 2 pounds, and the biggest of the trip went to my sister at 3.5 pounds or so. All in all we pulled in 76 bass on the weekend, the greater majority on Saturday.
We arrived at the Hog Island campsite about an hour later than we had planned, at 4:00. The fishing was too good to warrant getting off the water. Camp was set up pretty quickly, the beer was passed around, and dinner was cooked. I purchased the Coleman Max (Peak 1) backpacking stove on the recommendation of a fellow TKFer, and I highly recommend it. Dinner was mixed fajitas. It was very nice to have a hot meal as the temperature began to drop. I think we were all in bed by 8:30 or so on Saturday night. Without a campfire there is no real draw to stay out after the temperature plunged.
Oct. 30. On Sunday morning we woke to temps in the lower 40's. The Coleman really saved the day, again, when my girlfriend used it to percolate a pot of coffee. Once the coffee warmed us up we whipped up a breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushroom, onion, and bell pepper. We took our time packing back up, and we were on the water by 10:00. Again, once the sun made it past the tree line the temperature was perfect.
Sunday's fishing was a bit different. It started off pretty heavy-I caught 8 smallish bass within about a half hour. Then all of a sudden they developed lockjaw. I did notice that the water downriver from the camp was quite a bit murkier than upriver, and I believe this had something to do with it. We only managed about 20 fish on Sunday. I was very relieved to see my pick-up intact at Cook's, and we quickly loaded and headed home around 1:00 pm or so.
All in all a great trip. I'm looking forward to doing it again!
My girlfriend, sister, sister's boyfriend, and I did the overnight trip from Austin Colony to Little Webberville Park this weekend, Oct 29-30. We had a blast! This is my attempt at a complete report.
Oct. 29 (Saturday). We left Taylor around 7:45 with all 4 kayaks loaded into my pickup. I believe the temperature was 42 degrees at this point. Arrived at Austin Colony somewhere around 8:30, and to my surprise the new fence had a section of cable cut. That was a treat, for sure. We didn't have to use my makeshift kayak carts! With that time saved and with a quick shuttle from Cook's Canoes our trip started at 9:30, about 45 minutes earlier than I had expected. Temp was roughly 50 by now.
I've kayaked this trip twice before, both in one day, and have never caught fish in the first half mile or so. This time was definitely different. Within 100 yards of the put-in we had already caught 5 fish. One of those was my sister's boyfriend's (David) first fish ever. Man was he happy (pictured below). We did teach him the proper way to lip-grip a bass.
The temperature rose pretty quickly, making for a great day. By 10:45 we had all taken off our outer 2 layers of clothing.
Saturday ended up being the best fishing day I have personally had on the Colorado. I can't say that I caught a lot of size on this trip, but I pulled in 41 fish on Saturday alone. My biggest was only a little over 2 pounds, and the biggest of the trip went to my sister at 3.5 pounds or so. All in all we pulled in 76 bass on the weekend, the greater majority on Saturday.
We arrived at the Hog Island campsite about an hour later than we had planned, at 4:00. The fishing was too good to warrant getting off the water. Camp was set up pretty quickly, the beer was passed around, and dinner was cooked. I purchased the Coleman Max (Peak 1) backpacking stove on the recommendation of a fellow TKFer, and I highly recommend it. Dinner was mixed fajitas. It was very nice to have a hot meal as the temperature began to drop. I think we were all in bed by 8:30 or so on Saturday night. Without a campfire there is no real draw to stay out after the temperature plunged.
Oct. 30. On Sunday morning we woke to temps in the lower 40's. The Coleman really saved the day, again, when my girlfriend used it to percolate a pot of coffee. Once the coffee warmed us up we whipped up a breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushroom, onion, and bell pepper. We took our time packing back up, and we were on the water by 10:00. Again, once the sun made it past the tree line the temperature was perfect.
Sunday's fishing was a bit different. It started off pretty heavy-I caught 8 smallish bass within about a half hour. Then all of a sudden they developed lockjaw. I did notice that the water downriver from the camp was quite a bit murkier than upriver, and I believe this had something to do with it. We only managed about 20 fish on Sunday. I was very relieved to see my pick-up intact at Cook's, and we quickly loaded and headed home around 1:00 pm or so.
All in all a great trip. I'm looking forward to doing it again!