Greetings to all from the Upper/Middle Brazos River.

The Spring Kayak Fishing season is in full swing and the fishing has been nothing short of fantastic. After enjoying a couple of days off, I could hardly wait to get on the Brazos to do a solo overnighter and keep my bite dialed in for upcoming guide trips.

My gameplan was to fish the afteernoon striper bite as a front settled into the Brazos Basin and then do a largemouth trip the next day, after the front had passed. The NOAA forecast was for temps in the 40's the first day and climbing into the high 50's the next. Wind speeds/gusts were predicted at 20-35 mph out of the North and then South for both days. This type of wind pattern is typical for this time of year and actually helps the fishing by adding dissolved oxygen to the water as well as dissapating light penetration beneath the waters surface. This advantage goes to the angler in a clear water fishery, as all members of the bass family are inherently light sensitive.

Alright class, the Ichthyology lesson is over...

Let's get this Freakshow on the road!

One of my favortie things about the Basin is the scenery, which greets me promptly, upon arrival.







Did I mention it was windy?



As I paddle to my first striper run, I stop along the way to load up on big, primo baits. One throw and I've got enough for the afternoon.

As I cautiously approach my first run, I rig up and begin my drift. Immediately, I get a couple of bumps and swipes from juvies trying to engulf my oversize livey.

I make a mental note of where the action took place and continue my drift. With no further action on the drift baits, I return to the area where the fish had revealed themselves to me, previously.

I change my presentation up and put out a fresh spread. It does not take long and I get a blistering run as one of my Abu 6500s gets lit up. As I come tight to my fish, it becomes abudantly clear, she's got shoulders. Now, I settle in for what would later prove to be a somewhat prolonged and impressive battle.

Soon, I have "Miss Piggy" at my kayak for a CPR session.



With several hours of daylight remaining and the wind building, I stay in the run and continue to CPR quality stripers for the remainder of the evening. Here are a few shots from the action.




With the striper portion of my mission completed, I scale down my bait size and pick up a few "eaters" for my campsite meal later in the evening.

Just before dark, the wind lays and I cease paddling for a moment to bask in the dwindleing light of a stunning Brazos Basin sunset.



(Continued)

Shortly, I resume my paddle to the takeout to facilitate a relocation down river to a remote river campsite for the evening.

Did someone say dinner?



Nothing better than two small 18-24" river stripers for a campsite meal!

After a peaceful and uneventful night of uninterupted slumber in my sweet little Exponent Inyo II (sets up in under 10 minutes), I awake to be greeted by a sun soaked morning and brilliant blue skies. I can see and hear one of the local Ospreys off in the distance, as it heads to the fishing grounds.



As is customary in the Basin, the wind is up with the sun and blowing a steady 20-30 mph. lol

I take my time breaking camp and ease on down to one of my bass haunts, pattern casting to likely areas, picking off and CPRing a few LMBs along the way.




Overall the action begins somewhat slow. However, as the day progresses, my bite grows steady as the needle moves from good to great.

Here are some shots of the larger LMBs that were CPRd.






Later in the afternoon/evening, the winds begin to subside somewhat and I move to a run that has been very good to me in the past. It is consistently good for at least one big fish, if worked properly.

I spend about an hour in this area and finally get the shot I'm looking for as my fakeage gets pounded mid-retrieve. Now, I've got my hands full with an oversized advesary as I begin to settle in for a prolonged battle on relatively light tackle. After utilizing brute force and several other evasion and hook tossing tricks in her quiver, my quarry breaks water for the first time in a jaw dropping display of back to back aerobatics that leave me awestruck at the shear mass of riverine LMB I have on the other end of my line.

Moments later, my conservative "fight plan" pays off and I have the pleasure of CPRing my second LMB over 24" in the last two weeks.



Due to the remoteness of my location, there would be no way to facilitate a healthy release of my fish, if I were to bring it in for Water Body Certification. So, for the second time in as many weeks, I have the distinct pleasure of CPRing another giant river LMB larger than the existing Brazos Water Body Record.

Recounting the success of my trip, I suddenly become aware of the fact that I'm faced with going home empty handed!

However, I'm not terribly concerned as I stash the bassing gear and gather a native bait or two. My final gameplan would be to hit one of my channel cat runs on the way to the take out, in search of a "Dinner Guest".

Before you know it, I've got a bonifide 30 plus inch giant Brazos channel cat ready to be iced in the the fish bag.



Man, did this cat give me a tussle!

(Continued)

As I proceed up river, this turkey flies over to my side of the river and lights on one of the overhead riverside trees, appearing completely indifferent to my presence.



As I continue to the takeout, I can't help but feel blessed as I paddle off into the setting sun.



Until next time...

Shane, do you ever have a bad day on the water? You're a fishing machine.

I do have a couple questions. First, what do those big record class blacks weigh, you think?

And where would you get the weights certified around there, if it were feasible to do so?

Thanks for the kind words, TXbowhunter.

The 24" fish pictured in this report, plus the 25" plus from my report last week last week, were in the double digit range, without a doubt.

Here is the scoop on the three fish my customer and I had certified as Brazos River Water Body Records. My 17.97# Hybrid was certified at the Trading Post. However,
my 40.4# Striped Bass had to be weighed on commercial scales in Dallas, due to the after hours time frame and excessive weight. We were able to certify Skeet Hooks 42.66# Striped Bass at PK Industries. I had my 6.2# Smallmouth certified at the second gas station/market East of the Whitney Dam back in 1991.

Beautiful pics and too much fun!!

Awesome. Thanks for the response.

Great report as always!

Man your making me want to go turkey hunting.

A couple double digit stripers would be fun too.

Too much to do... not enough time.

I hear ya, Bro.

lol

Give me a holler sometime.

Awesome report!

Beautiful scenery and catches. I will go one day. Great job. Thanks for the great post.

Thanks for the kind words, Guys.

Glad you enjoyed the report and picks.

However, probably not as much as I enjoyed CPRing them.

Those fish fought me like Warriors!!!

lol