Halls Bayou Report 7/12/2015

My son-in-law and I decided to give Halls Bayou a shot Sunday morning.  It had been a while since our last attempt which yielded only one strike and we have grown tired of driving hours to fish for bass.  After 6 months of way above average rain fall in the Houston area all of the bayous looked more like the muddy Mississippi than Southeast Texas Bayous.   The water Sunday wasn't the normal greenish color we expect from the bayous but it was much better than the chocolate milk we had been seeing the past few months.  Even though the water had a little brownish stain it was very fishable and we knew from past experience there were a number of colors that work very well under these conditions.  Now the one note that I did make was that the water temps were in the upper 80s so I figured it was going to be a tough day.  Normally this time of year when the water temps get in that range you are lucky to get 4-5 bites all day.

We decided to head up the bayou to start with on this morning and see what the water looked like.  The further up the bayou we went the better the water looked.   We also noticed there were big schools of shad everywhere and also a lot of gar playing, including a couple gator gar in the 5 foot plus range.  I figured with that many shad in the bayou the bass just might be wanting a shad like bait so I tied on an Acid Perch Finesse Rayburn Swim Jig with a salt and pepper 4 inch curly tail trailer.  This time of the year a lot of bass will slap at your baits but won't take them, I wanted to make sure that wasn't the case so I applied some Liquid Mayhem Garlic Minnow to the end of the trailer. Not only does this attractant taste good once the bass get it in their mouths, but it also gets them to take the bait in their mouth.  I know using Liquid Mayhem on my favorite baits like the Rayburn Swim Jigs gives me an advantage over the bass and other fishermen.  Now our game plan was to fish different baits to start so we wouldn't be missing a potential bite.  My son-in-law decided to go with another Halls bayou favorite which is a spinner bait in the Cole Slaw color.  Cole Slaw is pretty close to the same color as the Acid Perch Rayburn Swim Jig.  

We went about 3/4 of a mile up the bayou from the FM 2004 bridge to a spot that looked like a good place to start fishing.We were working the shady areas next to structure along the banks of the bayou.  It didn't take too long for me to have the first bass in the boat.  It wasn't close to being a keeper but it was a bass and it proved the swim jig might the way to go for the day.  That the swim jig was the bait of the day was affirmed in not too many more casts as I had the second bass on and this one was a keeper for sure.  After my third bass it was time for my son-in-law to follow suit and put on a swim jig.   Now he didn't go with a Rayburn Swim Jig as him and his cousin have been playing around with making their own jigs.  They have some very good color combination I will have to say, but I'll be sticking with Santone Lures for all my jigs.  The Cole Slaw jig he tied on did make a difference in his catching well that and he also decided to put some Liquid Mayhem on his jig.  After this it was in short order his fish bass of the day was on the boat.  Though he started to put some fish in the boat I was still maintaining my 2 to 1 advantage with my old faithful Rayburn Swim Jigs.

From time to time we didn't try a few other baits and in fact for the course of the day I caught 2 bass on Creme Lures Scoundrel worms and one on a Santone Rattlin' Jig with a Creme Lures Same Thing Beaver trailer.  My son-in-law also added a bass on a Texas Rigged Same Thing Beaver.  However we both seem to get back to the swim jigs.   There was however the big ole Catfish that hammered my son-in-law's spinnerbait mid morning.   Heck that ole whiskers would have likely tipped the scales in the 8 pound ranges, he was huge and would have made a fine dinner, but he decide he was happier not being dinner and threw the hook.   I also lost a really good fish but we aren't sure what it was.  It hit the Rayburn Swim Jig and did not fight like a bass and it was big Redfish, Catfish or Gar is all I can say.  It was at about this point my son-in-law decided to switch to a black and red swim jig.  When he did this he closed the numbers gap really fast.  I didn't have a jig in that color so I couldn't match him, so I guess I'll be making an order to Santone Lures.   The rise of the sun into the midday sky is the only thing I think that stopped him from catching me in numbers.   He did catch the 2 best bass on the day though and the one was a really good bayou bass.

So in short, Halls Bayou is back and for mid July is hot not just in temperatures.  So if you folks want to have a good day on the bayou get yourselves some Finesse Rayburn Swim Jigs and some Garlic Minnow Liquid Mayhem.   Cast them into the shaded cover along the bank and work them out slowly at first but speed up your retrieve until you find out what the bass want that day.  Oh by the way the count ended up with me catching 9 and my son-in-law catching 6.

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

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Also Checkout the great folks that help make my fishing adventure possible and the tackle I use and trust.
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Liquid Mayhem Fish Attractants