Chasing Red, Catching Blue

photo courtesy of tpwd.texas.gov

Well, it has been a while since I have been able to blog. With a new baby, my recreation time has been cut down some. The better half decided to visit family and it was way too expensive for both of us to fly, so a fishing weekend was planned. I have always wanted to visit Lake Victor Braunig that lies just to the southeast of San Antonio. This is one of two lakes that were created in the area to cool the power plants on their respective shorelines. The water in the lake stays warm year round and on this fishing day, the surface temperatures were around 91-95 degrees. This opens up the opportunity for Redfish to reside here. Even though they cannot reproduce in the lake, they are able to thrive all year long due to the higher temperatures.

After doing some research and soliciting some advice from locals, I decided that I would try to troll the rocky dam area. After selecting some lures the night before I was all ready to go. After the 2 1/2 hour drive I unload the yak and stepped into the water. I was amazed at how warm it was, almost like your first dip into a hot bath. I trolled around for about 2 hours without a bite. I changed lures a few times and I began to target just above and below the thermocline. My fish finder was showing the thermocline just below 15 feet of water. After another hour I still did not have a redfish to show. 

I decided to switch up tactics at this point. I moved over to the eastern side of rock jetty that is in the center of the lake. It is a gradual drop off in this area and I figured that reds may be lurking around the deeper edge of the drop off and ambushing bait in the shallows. I was correct about the bait, there was surface activity all around and I knew I was in a good place. I began casting two different jigs with soft plastics. I was sitting in 8-10 feet of water and casting into the drop off. While I still was not able to hook into a freshwater redfish, I was rewarded with two nice sized catfish. 

Lake Braunig is an exciting new lake for me and I intend to visit again. The thought of a bull redfish has not left my mind since the trip and I cannot wait to go back. Until next time enjoy some battles with a few catfish who wanted to play.