I'm gonna start with the bad news - we intended for this trip to be ~4 days long, but due to the weather we had to cut it short. Nevertheless, the Land of Giant Fish did not disappoint! We all went home tired and wet but with a few new PBs and some great memories. Now on to the report...

9/20/2018 - The Land of Giant Fish

This trip had been in the running for some time now, and even with all the preparation as always we failed to leave on time. Grabbing and Tetris-ing the wrong camp stove meant we had to unpack and repack half the items in my car before we even left the house, not to mention the fact that my friends were stuck in between fantasizing about "roughing it" and trying to take memory foam mats and duffel bags filled with clothes. We went from a departure time of immediately after work at 6PM to somewhere around 10 once everything had been sorted. Off to a great start! Anyways, with the memory foam mats and duffel bags pressed firmly into everything and everyone but me covered to their necks in supplies we set off for the lake. Arriving at about midnight we scouted the area, as much as you can anyway in the darkness, and decided to pitch our small tent in a simple spot and wait until daytime to find a better place to set up camp. After setting it up, the three of my buddies crawled in the tent while I set off in the kayak to drop a bucket of corn and half a bag of range cubes in. I set up my rods for the night, crawled atop the kayak (it's more comfortable than you think), and tried to squeeze in a few hours of sleep. No takers the first night, but I wasn't too fussed as I was pretty tired.
Morning came and I woke up the princesses sleeping on their luxury mats they just had to take. We quickly found a better spot to set up camp and the three of them went on their way while I rebaited with the kayak and prepared the packbait for the day. I had just discovered WinCo and their bulk food section so I was armed to the teeth with tons of grits, oats, rice, and panko. We went with a 50/50 mix of yellow and white grits, added in some creamed corn, hemp seed, Karo syrup, Monster energy drink, and CarpPro #3 flavoring to create a ground-meat looking pack. It was a fantastic consistency, we were able to pack it like a rock and it'd still break up in under two minutes. We tied on all of our rigs, baited up, and cast out. It wasn't too long before we were into our first fish!



Broke the ice with this gorgeous fish! He was super thick, and we'd soon learn that all of the fish were. What a healthy fishery! (only photo so excuse the focused stare)



Funky looking little common, he had what may have been a tumor on one side but he was still a fatty!



His first of the trip, no giants just yet but at least we were catching!



Triple! Damon set into his first, only to have Andr�s notice his rod was a little low on line. It seemed like as soon as he set into his fish I had a run as well! Juan felt a little left out but got a good workout running around netting all of our fish. Damon's fish ran 18.5lb, setting a new PB for him!



This little carp was kind enough to "share" his meal with Damon.



Juan finally got himself one! He had one earlier that made it all the way to the bank. We saw the fish and it looked like a solid mid to high teen, unfortunately lost it to a hook pull.




Redemption! While fighting this one, Juan was convinced it was small. What a nice surprise it was when we finally landed this 20lb beaut! 34 inches long, a Texas trophy! We'll be sending in a photo of this PB setting fish for his first big fish award.



Damon was lucky enough to land the first and only buff of the trip. Still not what this area is known to produce but that didn't make our fish any less impressive! This water pig ran 22 and a half pounds, setting another PB for him! Look at the size of those fins, it's a wonder this thing can even move!

It went quiet for a bit so we decided to kayak out a bit more bait. Andr�s cooked us some delicious burritos, and we sat around and munched on them until we noticed a strong storm coming our way. We fished until the last possible second, and quickly packed everything into the car and tent. We gave the forecast a look while sheltered and decided it'd be best to leave rather than stay and try to fish in the thunderstorms that would be nonstop for the next few days. As soon as the storm subsided we threw everything as best as possible into the car and made a vow to return in another attempt at a true monster.

Juan was saying that the buffalo looked like these pigs

Awesome outing!

Nice fish, congrats!

Thanks guys! I'm already planning a return trip, lol. My friends set PBs, now it's my turn.

Awesome post TXMulti-Species! You guys caught some very nice fish. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks BigPoppa and Gitter. Hopefully I'll have some more to share soon enough!

Giant fish great job!

Solid post and some super solid fish! Good job guys!

Great post

Thanks guys! Looks like I'll be headed back with my dad in a week or so. Now that Juan's passed him and got the second biggest carp and everyone seems to be encroaching upon his PBs he's ready to get 'em a bit higher.

Great fish and great pics!! Thanks for sharing!!

That buff has some serious personality. Looks like it was a great trip.

Thanks JJ and FWCarper!



Definitely, it looked like it was young but VERY well fed.