The biggest was 4 lb

Yes, the swallow bridge is open and that's where we were.

Flamingo Beach Area

Flamingo Resort Marina pictures are to the right.  About two years ago, the marina owner did not pay his taxes and the government shut down the marina.  Now, you have to wade to your dinghy to get to your boat.  They drag the fuel lines from the shore to the boats with the dinghy.  Really a classy setup. 
 

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Whale playing right outside our room.

Lots of these guys...usually in male female pairs.

Some of these needle nose come right up after you.
 

Another Whale wallowing in the surf

Beautiful Linda - the mast head.

Fighting the Mahi-Mahi (Dorado).

Interesting way to subdue the fish for about 5 minutes.  Line from loop on tail to hook.
 

Pepe, our great first mate.

Time for a break.....
 

Any of you old guys thinking that zip lining is easy, think again.  Once is enough.  Congo Trail has 11 zips. 

Conchal Beach.
 

Great Sunsets! 

The bigger fish are along the edges of the rip rap. 

Mike (SouthernBoy)

Near the lake on Stuart Road

The work has finally started on the deep water ramps.  They have been shut down for two weeks, but nothing has been done.  There was no reason for them to be closed until today. 

The center dock has been pulled out.

My 4 year old shepherd.  She is a pure bred red, from Germany.  She did really well in the boat.

Pi

Guess where....

Video of Ramp Work

The water was quite muddy from the recent rains.  The lake is up about a foot.  Pump was not running.  The fish were spawning all over the banks.

This is SouthernBoy's daughter having a fine time on Monday, March 12.  33 Channels

Moved over to near Turtle Rock and fished the wind blown edges under birds.  The bigger cats tore me up.  I threw back 10 smaller fish and kept the bigger ones.  The shad were thick along the edges.  The Northeast wind set up a great area for fishing. 

This was on the table when I arrived.  If they could, someone should have released this beauty.

Fish are working the edges

Good green grass is inundated.

South breeze < 10 Mph. 

Jeff, Southwest Charters, did some good down-rigging in about 20-25 feet over old roadbed using plastics.

Your tax $$$ at work.  This is one of the smallest boats on the lake.  Looks well equipped to handle any threat.
 

New Grandbaby...Eleonor
 3 weeks old.


 

This 'gator was crossing Opposum Creek as we were driving across the hwy 99 bridge.  He had a branch in his mouth and was quite large.

This is the 2nd time I have been checked by this very polite, thorough and helpful young game warden.  He offered advice on equipment and on where to fish.  We need more officers like him.

We look forward to the influx of funds for the parks and wildlife which was passed by the last session of the Texas Legislature.

 

Another due in three weeks

Had the opportunity to watch Cliff Hill and his charter in action. 

 

Beautiful afternoon with a large thunderhead blocking the afternoon sun and keeping the temperature less than 85.

71 - 76 degrees, NE wind @ 10
Lake about 18 inches low

No Flow
 

The Birds are back

Even the young, tall ones have trouble getting into boats

Us old guys have to crawl


There is no enforcement of these rules.  Park personnel have no way to enforce them and Bexar County Sheriff's Office is not interested in helping.  Boaters pay extra for ramps and fisherman use them without penalty.  This has to change.




This guy did not hook up his trailer.  It fell off while he was leaving the ramp.  It is a wonder that it did not come off on the ramp.

 

Luis had a good day

They are mowing this area finally, but there are plenty of ants running around.  These mounds need t0 be treated regularly because of the fish leavings.  The fish baskets were clean and scrubbed down...a great improvement!

6 keepers, a few dinks
7:30A - 12:00P
Free-lining shrimp in  1-13 ft all over the lake.  Water= 72-76
Day temp = 62-83



 

They are pumping a little

Problem of the day other than the flat on my trailer....

When pulling into the north dock, these folks were fishing where I wanted to pull in...

I asked them to move and they refused..so I beached my boat on the shore next to the dock and told them at they were not supposed to be fishing on the boat dock.  He ignored me.


so I went for my car.   I helped the lady with her boat...she had no place to tie off because the  fishermen would not move.

I approached them and asked them if they knew that this was a boating area.  The guy blew up, cursing me out...threatened to throw me in the lake and said he would fish there if he wanted to.  He also said that he fished there all the time and that I was the only %$^&-@## that had complained.  He told me to F*** off and get off the dock.!


I informed him that the sign was meant for him and that boaters had to pay extra to use these docks and that I was calling the office...he flipped me off some more.  I called the store..the attendant told me that there was no one to come help.  I decided to put my boat on my trailer and clean my fish.

About 45 minutes later, they were still there.


It is obvious that this jerk had never been asked to move by park personnel. This could easily have developed into a physical conflict.  I could have challenged the vulgar, arrogant jacka$$, but I am hoping that SARA Park Managers will get a handle on enforcing the basic rules of their park.

Response from SARA: Everyone should call the Calaveras office for assistance in enforcing this rule: 210-635-8359 and report these people: If the office will not help, call the number below:

Don - we will reinforce to our park partol staff the importance of directing bank fishermen away from the boat docks and ramps. If they do not comply, staff can escort them from the park. Most park users "play nice together", but unfortunately there are some who do not.

Dale Bransford, CPRP
Park Services Manager
San Antonio River Authority
dbransford@sara-tx.org
210 302 3661 or 866 345 7272

My good friend Cliff decided to go fishing and he took me along!!!  A true treat to fish with him.

Deep water (North) Boat Ramp Improvements below:

Notice the yellow line which is the end of the ramp.  Prepare for a rough bottom when dumping boat.  The parks people put in larger rocks at the end to fill the prop wash hole, but your wheels, boat and trailer bounce




This boater obviously had a new Skiff.  He could not get it away from the ramp so he bounced the prop along the concrete.  It was grueling to watch.  then he stayed right leaving the harbor and ran aground. 

Air Temp 55-70, water temp 72.  Variable breeze < 10 Mph. 

This young one actually swam after our bobbers

Why they are not running water into this half empty lake is a big secret.  CPS will not tell us.

Cliff and Steven getting ready for an afternoon trip.

Park Patrol asking dock fishermen to leave after I asked the office to do so.  Response was quick but the office staff is often without anyone to call on to go to the complaint.

Boat Ramp Improvements Cont. below:




The new small docks are nice.  They even have cleats!.  It is amazing that they can not float because the lake is so unnecessarily low.

10 channels kept 1 - 3 pounds
5:00P - 1:00A
DK blood under bobbers
and Free Lining shrimp in  2-9 ft
 

The lake is as low as I have ever seen it.  The underwater vegetation prevented me from fishing many of my favorite spots.  I can understand the low levels of this lake during the ramp construction.  Perhaps they will get the ramp deep enough on this one.

Air Temp 55-70, water temp 72.  ENE breeze < 10 Mph.

 
New Ramp Work

Went out preceding the cold front to see if the bite was hot.  It was not hot...just pretty steady if you moved around to different spots.  The birds were starting to roost and the fish were in the shallows, just scattered.  Caught about 15, kept 6 to clean and gave them away to a new friend at the fish table:

The lake is too low, but I am getting some contact info soon.

Air Temp 70 - 85 , water temp 78.  SE breeze 10-20 Mph. just before big front moved in.

 
Floating docks reported by Roger were indeed the rental docks.

Air Temp 40 - 65
water temp 64 - 72. 
 SW breeze 10 Mph., just before big front moved in.

Three fishermen found some blues on chicken liver in the mouth of the first 181 cove.

The park guys are stenciling the warning signs on the end of the ramp.  There really is not much difference between the pavement and the bed of stones that SARA installed.  My trailer hardly knows the difference when unloading.  Lake is still abnormally low.

Regarding the pictures in the right hand column:

Those of you who know Hippie might want to know that he is battling cancer again.  He is refusing chemo and has been very ill for about 3 months.

Hippie lives a very simple life in one of the sheds and helps fishermen and other campers in maintaining their equipment for any donations they want to give him. 

He has come to my rescue numerous times without any hesitation.  He has a giving heart of gold and is a wealth of information about the lake.  He has family in Floresville.

Here are my yacht's new digs.  Love the asphalt floor.  Paying $55/month with 1 month free for a year in advance.








Below are the old digs.  Stayed there about three years.  The first year, the original owner kept it up and it was pretty nice.  Then she sold it to some guys who don't give a darn about the place.  They raised the rent from $45 to $50 and did not even mow the grass once.  If it weren't for Hippie who lives in one of the sheds, the place would have been more unusable than it was.





Below the boat in front of one of the sheds is there because the door won't open enough to put it inside.








The gate has been broken for over six months.


 

Air Temp 40 - 70
water temp 63 - 73. 
 SE breeze 5 Mph.




Here I found the floating dock moved to allow them to paint a yellow warning stripe to step up.

They moved it over here


It does not get calmer than this...


Good News!!!!, but not a bite in the cove.


Osprey is resident in the cove.


There are spider or caterpillar webs flowing in the wind...they attach to everything.
 

Two significant events today!!

I was motoring past the Swallow bridge up to the dead tree bay when I noticed a lone white pelican about 30 ft off shore...flopping around.  I stopped to investigate and observed that he/she could not bring it's head up and appeared to be caught in something.

Video

It was caught in an unattended trot line.  It had a hook thru its bottom bill hooking into its breast so that it could not lift its head.  The left foot was caught in the trot line and had another hook drop wrapped around its leg.

I prepared my tools and approached on the bank side...sliced the trot line so that it would not pull that way.  The bird swam toward open water, but was still caught on the other end of the trot line.  I approached with a lasso and threw it around its neck and let it pull gently until it gave up.  Then I pulled it in and took the head in my hand.  I cut the barb out of the breast and worked the hook out of the lower bill. 

The leg was still wrapped solid, so I cut the lines off the leg while holding the head...wow..those wings gave me a bath!

On the final slice, I let him go and he started swimming...

Video

I proceeded to my spot and took this video of the flock he joined...

Video

The 2nd miracle was retrieving this expensive set of pliers after throwing them in with my anchor rope

Everytime I go out now, I notice that Homeland Security keeps an eye on me...must be the pressure I am keeping on CPS and SARA about the park maintenance.