Good day on a bad day.

 Well, it was bright blue sky, very windy and about 20 degrees cooler than the day before. A cold front had gone through the night before and I left the boat launch at about 1:20 PM. These are not ideal conditions by anyones standards. But, as you can see I did quite well. I saw people catching fish on white frogs over grass. I couldn't get a strike on my pop r so I changed locations and baits. I started throwing my gold and black rogue and started catching fish. I also caught fish on my ribbit around lilly pads. The rogue was producing near hydrila in about 5 ft. of water. The lake is probably 9 ft. low and very clear.
I ended up catching 15 fish in about 4 hours on what I would call a bad looking day.

Mine was bigger.

10.74 lbs Wins Sam Rayburn McDonald’s Big Bass Splash Robert Laird brought in the first double digit bass of the event at 10.74lbs Friday and held the lead to win the McDonald's Big Bass Splash on Lake Sam Rayburn, TX.

Laird is a big bass fisherman ! Leads on day 2 at Rayburn.

Robert Laird of Livingston set the hook on a 13.19 pound bass.  Laird was fishing in 6 to 8 feet of water beside the U.S. 190 bridge across Lake Livingston. He was using a Bagley crankbait.

Laird’s fish is the first ShareLunker ever entered from Lake Livingston and is the new lake record for largemouth. The fish also was the big fish in the Polk County Bass Club tournament Laird was fishing in and helped him win. The fish bested Lake Livingston’s previous largemouth record of 12.45 pounds caught February 16, 1987.

Lake Livingston is not known as a big bass lake, and some of Laird’s friends doubted him when he said he had a fish over 10 pounds to weigh in.

“They didn’t want to believe me on Lake Livingston,” he said. “When I pulled her out of the bag, all their eyes flew open.”

Any angler legally catching a 13 pound or bigger largemouth bass from Texas waters, public or private, between October 1 and April 30 may submit the fish to the Toyota ShareLunker program by calling program manager David Campbell at 903-681-0550 or paging him at 888-784-0600 and leaving a phone number including area code. 

Big Bass Splash results, day 2.

I've been waiting for day 3 results but they are not yet available, soooo, I will publish this. For all hourly results of the 1st 2 days, http://www.sealyoutdoors.com/

                                                       Day 2 of the McDonald’s Big Bass Splash on Sam Rayburn started out with very cool temps in the 40’s and the wind was already rolling. Robert Laird is still in the lead from his Day 1catch weighing 10.74 lbs. He was closely challenged on Day 2 as Joe Kirbow (photo on right) of Beaumont, Texas ran to the scales with the biggest catch of his life – a 10.36 lb fish! The top 5 leader board nearly had a complete turnover by the end of the day.

1st	Robert Laird	Livingston, TX	10.74
2nd	Joe Kirbow	Beaumont, TX	10.36
3rd	Tommy Hammons	Jacksonville, TX	9.73
4th	Russell Spacek	Dime Box, TX	9.52
5th	Bob Sims	Orange, TX	8.98

Big Bass Splash results, day 1.

10.74 Leads Day 1 - McDonald's Big Bass Splash on Lake Sam Rayburn, TX Day 1 Leader Board

1st   Robert Laird Livingston, TX 10.74 2nd   Russell Spacek Dime Box, TX 9.52 3rd   Luke Reed Dayton, TX 8.27 4th   Danny Shoemaker Lufkin, TX 8.20 5th   Walter Peddy Nacogdoches, TX 8.00 That's gonna be hard to beat. Keep watching.

Big Bass Splash

It's that time of year again! The McDonald's tournament is back at Big Sam. The weather is going to be < perfect. I went out yesterday morning and caught about 10 fish in all. Nothing big, but as you know, all fish are good fish. The fish bit watermelon/red Senco on a 5-0 hook with no weight, also on a floating rattling Rogue in orange and black  in about 5' of water. Water temp. was 68 and the water is clear. I am not too sure that the winning fish won't be caught on Sunday, because the weather is going to be bad today and Saturday. Now, it depends on when the cold front comes through today. If the first few hours of the day are good then it could be caught early today. I will keep you posted.

Getting Closer

I took my head into the shop today. Supposed to be done tomorrow afternoon, (tomorrow being Thursday).
I am seriously hoping that my boat will run much better when it's done. I believe that we got the leaks fixed.
Now all I need is a motor and I'll be set to fish. Then I can get back to telling you what they are biting.

Went out Saturday and caught 7 fish to 2.5 lbs. on beetlespins and chartruese spinners in about 3 hours. Really went to see if I had fixed my boat, I hadn't. Seems I have a warped head. I've been told that I must have carberator problems, as the fuel in the cylinder is what actually cools the engine, not the water pump.
The lake is still 8ft. low but is clearing slightly. Still time to catch those spawners.

As soon as I can.

As soon as I can fix the blown head gasket on my boat, I will fish again. As soon as I can fix the 2 holes in my boat, I will go fishing. Well, I already fixed the head gasket, and with the help of my neighbor Andy we have fixed 1 of the holes. Should be able to fix the second hole on Friday. I am looking forward to this weekend.
I have it on good authority that the Crappie are biting at the Canyons, in the grass. The bass have been biting on
stickbaits, topwaters, early and red Rattletraps. The spring bite is in full swing, you better hurry. It wont last long.

Take a child fishing!

If you have never felt the thrill of seeing your grandchild catch a nice bass, or view a perfect sunset then I can tell you that you are really missing out. This is the easiest time of the year to catch a bass of a lifetime,or to make memories with your son, daughter or grandchild.
Today we just threw out a Rogue and a Long A and just shook our rod tips, then let it sit and BAM, there's a bass on it. Set about 50 yards of the shore, by the hydrilla and cast over it and shake it and wait. It couldn't be simpler and you can hardly miss as hard as they are hitting them.
Take a child fishing, it will do your heart good.

Hcbb Annual Tournament.

The first annual Hidden Cottage BB fishing tournament was held last weekend.
Fishing was good but the fun was excellent. I caught 12 fish and lost the most fish
trophy to Devon, the biggest fish trophy to Bryan (The Gorilla Man ), but I did tie
for the smallest fish and received a trophy for it. Many fish were caught on a variety
of baits such as swimming jigs with pearl white grub tails, rattle traps, roadrunners,
football head jigs with craw trailers and rogues. Fish are located in grass in 2 to 5 feet
of water. Fish seemed to be in patches of clearer water more than in stained. The lake is still
about 8 feet low and temp. is running from 56 to 63 degrees.

Contractual Obligation Post

We find ourselves in another fishing season, and we are really going to enjoy
this one.

My personal best
She is still swimming today.

It's shaping up to be a great one. We were catching fish like the one pictured here in February... February man!!! What can March, April and May have in store for us. I can't wait, and I suggest you not wait either. Book your stay now or regret it later.

Hog Heaven!

 9lbs.13ozs. What about that one. I had to let this one go because it would have eaten the other fish in the live well. This fish was caught 15 ft. from the boat launch. Could have easily been caught from the shore. Took a few pictures then released it for you to catch when you get here.

 Well we had a nice day on the lake, and caught a total of 11 fish. Not pictured here was a nice Crappie, which I was surprised to see up the creek this early in the year. The Eagle was setting in a tree about 75 feet away. This is the closest I've been to one that was sitting.
The water is still very low and dirty with a surface temp. of between 57 and 62 degrees.

Where'd they go?

No pix today, nothing spectacular. Caught 3 keepers. The fish are coming from sparsh grass in about 5 feet of water. The problem is that they don't seem to have a patern. They will hit several different baits, but nothing consistantly. You can fish a whole bank and get one hit. The fish are not stacked up yet.
Anyway, the water temperature is around 56 degrees and the water is stained.The lake is about 8 feet low. Not the best conditions but they are getting close to the spawn, you can just feel it. Come on 60 degrees!!!

Schoolies just before dark.

If you watch for birds working the water near you, you can sneak up under them and throw a Long A, a Rogue , or any minnow imitation bait and have much fun catching schoolies like these.
P.S. These fish were all caught on Long A's and Red Fins. I lost my Long A on a good fish that broke my line at the boat. I culled 5 fish. Stay tuned for more fish stories in the coming days.

The big ones are biting at Rayburn again.
My battery was dead and I caught all these within 75 yards of the launch.
They are biting traps over grass.