Colton Corner’s: Back on the lake

Colton McWilliams Sports Editor

The large bass I caught using nothing more than grasshopper bait the last time fishing at the lake. In the background is the spillway where most of the big bass hang around.
Daily Record photo by Colton McWilliams

Holding up one of the bass caught from the kayak on the lake. The bass hang around the moss line from the bank areas hoping to sneak across unsuspecting prey.
Daily Record photo by Colton McWilliams

One of the things I love about going home is being able to go fishing. Out of all the outdoor activities I want to do, fishing is by far my favorite.

Nothing beats being out on the water, whether from the bank or on the kayak, constantly throwing out your line in a therapeutic motion and the consistent reeling in before – BAM – a fish grabs your lure and you find yourself in the fight for your figurative life.

Battling back and forth as you struggle to bring a fish that fights to spit out the hook or break your line. Putting up a constant fight of give or take, you begin to reel the fish on land or in the boat.

Triumphantly, you grab the fish by the mouth to take the hook out, praying it didn’t swallow it, before holding it up to show off your prize to your family and friends.

When I go back home to fish with my family, there is one particular spot we go where the fishing is always the best.

Out on our family’s ranch, there is a government lake that helps feed into the Pecan Bayou, which goes into the Colorado River.

The lake goes far in the backwoods where you are away from people and, being on our private property, we are the only ones who can fish on it.

It took my dad years to get the lake properly stocked with both largemouth bass and catfish while managing the water.

I would help him build some natural habitats for the fish while my younger brother helped build some rock-type jetties to go out into the lake without getting wet. They continue to add on to the lake to make it the optimal fishing destination for us.

It had been a year since I last went fishing on our lake.

The last time I went, my younger brother and I went out in his truck. I refused to take my car out there seeing it is not an offroading vehicle, where we fished using nothing but grasshoppers as bait and headed towards our favorite fishing spot, the spillway.

As part of the lake, a giant spillway was built, along with a natural dam where we can control the amount of water to feed to our creeks for the cattle in the pastures down the way. When it rains significantly, the spillway allows the excess water to feed into those creeks without allowing major flooding to occur.

The spillway is also a big spot for large bass to hide and prey on smaller fish, which makes it a prime fishing spot.

I had thrown out my lure in the hopes of getting a perch due to the equipment I was using. Nothing was hitting the lure, so I decided to reel it in to reset. But the moment I started to reel in my lure, a large six-pound bass made a bite.

It was perhaps one of my most difficult fishing experiences I had due to the fact that I had a large fish on my line using tackle built for a small fish.

My immediate concern was whether or not the fish was going to break my line, so I began the slow and rigorous task of reeling in the big bass. Not helping matters was the fact my brother was also yelling at me to reel the fish, worried that the bass would break the line.

Yet during all of that chaos, I was able to get the fish into the kayak and celebrate my prize. I still consider it one of my favorite fishing experiences.

Despite not having my brother with me this year– he is currently off serving in the Coast Guard–I still had a fun time fishing with my parents.

While they fished off the banks, I fished from the kayaks and drifted down the moss line to catch some bass hanging around.

By the end of the day, I caught around six bass from various sizes making for a great trip to the lake.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc