Halls Bayou 2-7-2015

We have our next Bayou Bassin' League tournament on Halls Bayou in a couple of weeks.  With all the rains we have had the bayous in the area still have off colored water, though the water conditions have been improving in the last week.  What I found when I arrived was very improved water color, but not what I would consider great water.  The water temperature ranged from 55 to 58 degrees depending on the area and the color also differed as well.  The tide was coming in but there really wasn't a lot of water movement. 

I started the morning fishing a Santone Lures Rattlin' Jig with a Creme Lure Company Same Thing Beaver for a trailer.  Normally this time of year and water temperature this combo is deadly when fished in the laid down timber.  This was not true for this day as I couldn't draw a strike on this combo. I switched to a Santone Lures Rayburn Swim Jig with a Creme Lure Company Reel Scremer as the trailer and did get one bass and missed another on it, but still I thought there might be something that worked better.

I tried spinnerbaits and chatterbaits with no takers so I switched to a Santone Lures Football Piglet shaky head with a Creme Lure Company Same Thing Straight Tail worm.  This did get hit and it was a pretty good fish, but light tackle and laid down timber don't mix so the fish got off and I lost my Piglet.  Thinking I might be onto something, I put this same combo on heavier tackle to see if that would work, but I didn't get another hit.

I decided to make a run to a location that had been good in the past and also go back to the Rayburn Swim Jig and Reel Scremer combo.  This provide to be the ticket for the day.  I caught 5 more bass with most being between 14-15 inches.  I'm sorry I don't have more pictures as I normally would have been video taping the trip.  If you read my last blog article you will know why the video camera was not running.  I did however remember to take a picture of the best fish of the day.  This girl would push 3lbs.

How was I working the swim jig combo you might ask.  Well it wasn't anything fancy as I was just casting it up near the base of the laid down timber and then just slow rolling it back to the boat.  When ever I hit a branch I'd pause and let the jig fall for a second and normally that is when it got hammered. I was also using some Rage Fish Attranctants Liquid Mayhem in the Garlic Minnow favor.  This really makes the bass hold onto the bait when they hit and gives you a chance to get a good hook set.

I wish I could bring you better news about Halls Bayou.  It isn't in the best conditions but if you work at it you can catch some bass and might even get a good one to boot.  Just remember to fish your baits slow in the off colored water.  If we don't get any more hard rains the water conditions should improve over the next few weeks.

Until next time, Tight Lines and Take a Kid Fishing!!!