Well guys, it's been a while since I have made a report but I thought this would be a good time to jump back at it being a new year and all. I've been sort of slowing down on the reports due to things such as my wife's multiple surgeries throughout 2019 and 2020. Make no mistake though, I have been fishing behind the scenes. I put this event together as a PACK trip. For those of you that don't know what PACK is, I'll let ya in on a secret. It's one of the oldest kayak fishing organization in Texas. PACK (Paddling Angler's in Canoes and Kayaks) has been around for well over 20 years. PACK hosts SEVERAL kayak fishing trips each year as well as monthly meetings. For details on PACK, you can go to their website: www.packtx.org

I put together a last-minute trip to the Angelina River. Five people jumped in on this trip, including myself. My ole buddy, Frank, was going to be joining us on this trip. I haven't fished with Frank for a long while so it was great seeing him again. Things were set to meet at the launch by 6:30 am and to launch around 7:00 am, give or take. When I arrived to the launch, the temp dropped into the 30s. We were in a very remote area with no cell reception. After getting things prepared for launch, it was time to get things rolling.









I stayed behind with Mike as he was still getting things ready. He's new to kayak fishing so I wanted to be sure all went well when launching. Also, I am a firm believer that safety is in numbers.



Finally, Mike and I launch. Gary, William, and Frank are much further ahead of us. William and I were the only ones with VHF radios so we were able to communicate at various times throughout the day. Mike and I hooked around the corner and now it's time to fish.



Here is a few pics of William in the morning after he launched.





Mike and I were fishing with artificial this trip as were everyone else that showed up for this PACK trip. Mike was throwing a Road Runner and I was throwing a 1/16 oz tandem jig heads with a Strike King shad body with curly tail soft plastic for my choice of lure. I look down on my fish finder while I am fishing and the water temp is just under 55 degrees, however, the air temp had finally made it into the 40s. It's getting warmer but I am not sure my body feels the same way quite yet, lol.

I approach this one spot where there were people on land catching fish barely off of the bank. Those guys were catching white bass every other cast. I couldn't see what they were throwing then it finally hit me. Those guys were free-lining live minnows. I didn't want to intrude on their fishing so I went to the opposite bank where they couldn't reach and I casted at the shoreline on my side. WAM, first cast at the shore and a hit! The bite was ever so subtle. I managed to get the fish to the kayak and then I reached for my net. Finally, I scooped up the white bass and in the net this fish goes. After measuring the fish, my first catch was over 16". Not bad for the first fish of the day for me. That got the juices going! Let's do that again.

While I am doing my thing, Mike is casting the Road Runner and hooking up as well. At first, Mike was catching a few more than me. He was on a roll. After a while, I hear this loud noise. It sounded like a gar flipping the water. I don't ever really recall seeing gar out there but I am sure they are there. If that would have been a gar, it would have been a really HUGE gar based from the noise I had heard. After a few minutes, I turn around and see Mike on the shore. I thought he might have gone to land to take care of business. It turns out he flipped in his kayak while getting out (that was the loud noise that I heard earlier). He went into the COLD 55-degree water. I head towards him once I knew what was going on. I see him standing on the bank leaning his kayak at an angle to drain the water.



I told Mike to set the kayak down. He needed to get to his car and change immediately so that he doesn't get pneumonia or possibly hypothermia. I'm sure he is aware of that but it was important that he got changed sooner than later. After a few minutes, Mike started to realize that it was getting colder so he left to the car (his car wasn't very far). While he was getting changed, I put his yak in the water and pushed it out. I got in my yak and peddled over. I towed his yak back to the launch. While Mike was finishing up on getting changed, I leaned Mike's yak up so that I could bilge the water out of the back then sponge it. After I was done, Mike made a choice to head back home. That was probably good since he has no more extra clothing left to change into just in case he flipped in the water again. Just to clarify; as Mike was getting out of the yak, his foot slipped while stepping out on land. Much of the land at the edge of the water is steep and muddy. It's easy to slip. After Mike packed up, he headed home. I then headed back on to the water to fish.

I called out on my VHF to William. Those guys went really far. I went to an area that all of us were familiar with. I waited for those guys there. I caught a few more fish in the area I was waiting. I managed two barely keeper white bass (I threw those two back). While I continued to fish, I managed to catch a keeper crappie. This crappie had no meat on him so I threw him back to grow.



After a little while longer and catching small white bass, I decided to let William know that I was going to fish closer to the launch where I was catching bigger white bass. Eventually, those guys would make it back to where I was fishing at. I managed some more fish on my stringer. By this time, the guys that were fishing from the bank were gone. William, Gary, and Frank soon showed up. William and Frank continued on and Gary fished with me.

Gary decided he needed to head to land to take care of business. He wasn't liking the steep slope to get out so I came over to assist. I got out of my yak and then pulled his onto land. Gary stepped out. Soon Gary got back into his kayak. I started to push the yak into the water. He was almost completely in when he started to lean in one direction and he kept on going. The only thing different about Gary falling in and Mike's situation is that the air temp by this time is close to 60 degrees. The water is still at 55 degrees though. Gary was really close to land so he worked his way up and I pulled the yak out of the water. Unfortunately, Gary broke a fly rod when the yak flipped over. I don't believe he lost any gear.

At this point, we needed to get Gary back to my truck. Gary rode with me so I needed to get him into my vehicle so he could change. I walked back to the yaks while Gary was changing so that I could tow Gary's yak back to the launch. Once I made it back, surprisingly Gary's yak didn't have much water in it. Once Gary was done changing, he wanted to get back on the water. We went back to the spot where I was catching white bass (same spot where he turtled). Gary wasn't having much luck. He came with a fly road and a ultra-lite rod combo. Since the fly rod broke, Gary was down to fishing with one rod. I gave him two lures that I was having all my luck with. He hooked one lure on his rod and I let him borrow one of my rods (I carry six rods so I was able to spare up one) to put the other lure on it. I showed him where I was catching fish at. He casted to the shore line. The lure went on land and caught up in some other line that was laying on the bank. Gary's lure was all caught up in that mess. It took him forever to get that loose and then he decided to just cut it out and re-tie.

While we are doing our thing, William was sitting on just a few fish when he found a hole where some white bass were stacked up in. Every other cast he was throwing and catching, some big and some small. Essentially, he ended up with a 12 white bass meat haul. A few of his white bass went over 16" and so did a few of mine. That one hole ended up being the spot for William. Congrats to William for finding the fish (I think your 16” was heavier than mine, awesome job!)!

Frank caught some fish as well. Most of his fish were caught trolling. I decided not to troll because this body of water had quite a bit of debris at the bottom. I didn't want to lose all of my lures trolling so I just decided not to troll this go around. By the time Gary was untangled, it was time to head back. William and Frank were on the same page as well. We all pretty much made it back to the launch at the same time.







Most everyone caught fish. Gary didn't catch much but that was mainly due to him flipping in the yak and also learning things while on the water. Now that he has been fishing at this place, he is going to be better prepared for the next time. We talked on the way home and he is excited to come back and fish this place again.

I forgot to mention, Mike caught four white bass.



Frank caught a few white bass.



William caught 12 white bass.



I caught 12 white bass.



Here are a few more pics of all the white bass we caught.



While we were packing everything up, we got in for a quick photo.



Finally, the day was done and what a great day of fishing it was! As you can see from the pics, the weather was awesome. The winds were low. Every now and then the wind would give a quick gust of air but it would last for only a few seconds and then the wind would lay down nicely. It was great fishing with old and new friends. Even though a few of the guys fell in the water, everyone still had a great time. The white bass are moving and I will definitely be back again soon to catch more. Thanks to everyone for reading and tight lines!

Awesome, great report and hope all stayed healthy especially the "turtled"

and one FANTASTIC POST ! Good job.

Where did y'all launch from?

Did you go down river or just fish in that area?

Looks like a great trip!