I had the opportunity to fish again yesterday, and since I had experienced such a great day at Cody Ranch last week, I decided to go back again, fish South Twin, and stay at the cabin instead of making a late drive back home last night. The fishing? Well, it wasn't anything like last week. I caught fish, but the patterns were totally different. Yesterday, the fish were holding tight to timber; I caught only 3 in open water and nothing in the pads. Successful lures were a 4" black T-rigged worm; 5" green pumpkin/black flake and black/blue flake wacky-rigged Senkos (a 7-pounder); 12-inch opaque green worms (I had 3 big ones either break me off or wrap me up and get off with 30# mono using these big worms); blue, 16-inch ribbontail worms (one 5+); chartreuse shad Rattletrap; chrome/blue back Rattletrap; and black/blue 5" Biffle Bugs (one 4+). Nothing at all on chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, frogs, topwaters, or deep-divers. The fish were in 3-14 feet of water, but always close to timber. Once again, I forgot to pay attention to the water temperature.

One thing happened that I found rather amusing. I had tied on a 16-inch blue ribbontail worm, and my first cast went over a limb about 8' high before it hit the water. I let it sink, and when I took up slack, I felt something on the worm and set the hook. That broke the limb, but it also pulled a 6-7" dink completely out of the water and over where the limb used to be. The fish hit the water right next to the boat. It wasn't hooked, though. I think its "tongue teeth" got stuck in that thin ribbontail, preventing him from getting off. When I brought in the worm to re-rig it, the little bass was still holding on to the end of the worm, and didn't fall off until it was over my lap - What a tenacious little fella! Its eyes were a LOT bigger than his stomach! (I did catch the 5+ on that same 16" worm.)

Fishing from noon until just after 7:00, I ended up the day with one 4+, one 5+, the 7-00, and 22 others between 14" and 4 pounds. Other than the dink mentioned above, I only caught 3 bass (and one bluegill on a 1/2 oz Rattletrap) under 14". I stopped fishing before dusk due to the strong north wind and lots of electrical activity nearby as the cold front moved through. It's a long way to go for a half-day of fishing, but to me, it's definitely worth it.

The Cabin at Cody Ranch was certainly adequate for my needs, although I did miss not having AC. The ceiling fans were all that enabled me to sleep at all, even with the front door and the window by my bed open.  I did get to the Cabin in time to see how pretty Moonshine Lake is. It's full of both pads and timber, and if there's any deep water in it, I really want to fish it! I can attest to the fact that Steve Cody has a truly beautiful ranch and some big bass - and I've only fished one of them.

Posted By: Thomas E. (Tom) Dillon