It’s hard to beat a warm, sunshiny Saturday in early February with temps in the mid 70’s, but when you add a boat, some GREAT folks and a few hungry biting winter time Blue Catfish, it gets even better!!
Had the good fortune of hosting Bill and Shawna McNamara and their daughter Shelby for a fun filled day of winter Blue fishing on Keystone Lake, and while the action was certainly NOT hot and heavy, we did catch enough to make it a worthwhile trip! While we didn’t catch lots, what we did catch were quality fish with a solid 6-7 pound average and one certified “dandy” that pushed well into the 30 lb range caught by Shawna, and I have to tell the story on that fish!
The general area we were fishing was loaded with Blues, and I do mean loaded! We had moved around a couple of times attempting to locate some active feeding fish and after getting situated on our third spot I started baiting and setting out rods. Midway through baiting the six rods, Shawna announced she wanted me to bait one of her rods with a piece of some deer sausage they’d brought along to snack on. Now, we were using fresh cut Shad already and I bantered back and forth with her about using anything but Shad, but she good naturedly “insisted” and I’ll admit I “grudgingly” complied with her request but also added a small tidbit of fresh cut Shad to the hook, cast it out and put it in the rod holder. While I was finishing baiting and setting the remaining two rods, lo and behold the “sausage rod” bowed down and the line took off sideways. Shawna jumps up, grabbed the rod and began the battle began, but there was a lot (a LOT) of smack talk going on while she was doing battle! End result, biggest fish of the day on deer sausage and Shad combo, and I think (not sure though) I heard some kinda remark that the customer is always right LOL!! Lesson learned
Big fish were returned to the water to swim and fight another day and only the 6-7 pound fish were kept and cleaned for what will be some delicious table fare later! Thank You Bill, Shawna & Shelby for a wonderful day on the water and I look forward to seeing y’all again soon!!
Spring Break is just around the corner with many different fish catching opportunities to choose from. Spoonbill, Sand (white) Bass, Hybrids, Stripers will all be starting their early Spring runs and it’s a Prime Time to get in on some memory making, fun filled fishing!!
Don’t forget my new “Refer A Friend” program, where you can get some cash back for referring folks to Hawker’s Guide Service! Read the details under my Cash Back tab above!
Tight Lines!
Steve
AFTCO
Power-Pole