Fishing Started Out Slow But Then Almost All of Us Caught Something...

 Cathy's brother John and his wife Mari recently retired to Lake Jacksonville. This put John within reach of joining Cathy, me and brother Matt for a fishing trip this afternoon to Lake Sam Rayburn. With Hanks Creek closed due to rising water I bought a Senior County Park pass to launch at Cassels Boykin Park. It was cheap enough and who knows when Hanks will be open again. Cassels Boykin is a nice park but the campsites are not on the water and we loaded the boat during a bass tournament weigh in. I don't know who won but we managed a nice catch of 17, mostly blue cats to about 3.5 pounds. 

Fishing started slow. With the lake about 3' higher than our last outing we did not find them in the same spot. Finally about the fourth spot I tossed a maker buoy at a creek channel edge and started getting good bites under slip corks fished 8' deep. Everybody managed a good one except Cathy who unusually was skunked for the day.  I guess she was just letting her brothers have a good time.

This was taken at the "Horseshoe" which has produced 10 pound fish in the past. No fish here against the trees, everything at the creek edge behind us. I see from the online fishing reports that guides are beginning to target catfish on this lake and producing some fantastic catches. They are probably using livescope to spot the big fish and good live bait. We are doing alright with stink bait, a simple depth finder and marker buoys. I don't think I want to skin any bigger fish than I have been. 

Two at a time. 

 The usual suspects joined us for supper, ate half of what we caught and I bagged the rest which I think I will pack up in the nice RV freezer for a fish fry at Morgan's house in Greenville S.C. next week.  

I used a different Dutch oven for frying and though I set the cooker on fire for a minute I think once I get used to the differences it is going to cook just fine.