Herald-Zeitung Fishing Column Every Thursday

Welcome to another week of Anglin’ with Austin. Question, is ice fishing legal in Texas?

Freezing temperatures drop lake water temperatures down to the fifties and big blue cat go coo coo for Coco Puffs. That sends this angler into a downward spiral of no sleep and bouncing from lake to lake in the area. When you have ice on your boots and you are still throwing a cast net with your bare hands you love fishing. When your anchor rope goes “clunk” you love fishing.

We fished the Guadalupe chain of lakes for the last six days straight and even dropped in on Canyon to let my customer bust my lake record. This past weekend when the temperatures dropped into the teens, we were there on the lake fishing. When your bait thaws and then refreezes twice, its cold. Three personal bests over a four-day period was priceless.

On Wednesday, we visited the monster, Canyon Lake, and all its splendor on a cold 40-degree day. It did not take us to long to find what we were after, cats on the sonar and stacked up.

Drop two anchors, throw out ten rods, sit back and wait for the action to begin. And begin it did, our rod buried itself and Ron Denson was the proud owner of the new Canyon Lake record blue cat at 25.5 pounds and 39 inches long.

This left me in quite a pickle and having to make on-the-spot executive decisions knowing that the brute on the end of the line would mark the end of my reign as Lake Record Holder. The little man on my left shoulder told me to push the customer overboard into the frigid water and keep the record.

The guy on my middle shoulder told me to just cut the line and be nice. The smart one on my third shoulder intervened and made me net the rascal and break out the camera. The third shoulder sucks. What a day on the water, why cant these big cats be just as hungry when its 101 degrees out?

Several blue catfish hit the floor of the boat this week. Ron followed his catch up with a 15 and 16 pounder on Tuesday.

Robert Aguilera and Travis Smith both landed their personal best, a pair of beautiful 24-pound blues on the Guadalupe. Both big cats put on one heck of a show and fought these two guys for several minutes. Travis even had the pleasure of witnessing day two of the jet boat race finale that took place on Dunlap. Needless to say the only boat in the competition, still came in second.

Please take that boat to Canyon Lake if you want to fly around like a 16-year old in a nova on prom night. There is plenty of room on Canyon and not many people to run into when the wind finally flips you.

If you are looking to catch a beast of a catfish, it is that time of year to be hunting for the big ones. Tie a big circle hook onto your rod, get a piece of fresh shad and put it on the hook. Then hang on tight.

Best times to fish this week are from mid morning to after lunch and then fish the peak right around dark thirty.

Rainbow trout: Excellent at the Canyon Dam Tail Race throughout the day using Berkley Powerbait, Salmon eggs, trout worms and small spinners (1/16 and 1⁄32 ounce)

Largemouth bass: Good throughout the day in 3-15 feet of water using Motor Oil, Green Pumpkin, and Watermelon Candy colored soft plastics and 3⁄8 ounce white spinner baits with Colorado blade over grassy flats.

Smallmouth bass: Fair through out the day in 6-20 feet of water on rocky points, piles and ledges jigging Watermelon Seed or Pumpkin Yabbies (crawfish).

Striped bass: Fair trolling Shad-colored deep crankbaits (DD22, Hot Lips Express) around Randolph, and Ramp No. 1, and the Dam.

White bass: Good trolling medium running silver or bleeding crankbaits (Shad Rap, Rapala DT6 and DT10) In coves and the edge of the river channel in the upper end of the lake.

Crappie: Fair through out the day using live minnows in timber and brush piles in 10-25 feet of water toward the mouth of the river.

Channel catfish: Channel Cats are good on the edge of creek and river channels using stink bait and chicken liver in 5-25 feet of water.

Blue and yellow catfish: Fair in river and creek channels using live perch, cut shad, and shad gizzards in 18-30ft of water.

Lakes Dunlap and Placid — Largemouth Bass slow on spinning bait, swimbaits. blue catfish and channel catfish – Fair on Big Marv’s punchbait and cut shad. Yellow cats fair on live perch and cut gizzard shad.

Tip of the week

Chasing crappie in the cold weather is not easy and they are hard to find. If you can find a spot in a river or lake that is 2 to 3 degrees warmer than the rest of the area, this is your spot. The bite is a lethargic slow bite and you must be paying attention.