Kayak fishing for white bass near Inks Dam

Spring has finally, slowly begun to arrive. It is the latest spring that I can ever remember. After the hottest December since records have been kept (11 degrees above average), we finally got our winter in February and March. Those of us who love to fish the white bass spawning run this late spring has a negative effect. One of the major harbingers of the white bass run is when the redbud trees begin to bloom. That’s usually mid-February. This year it began to happen in mid-March.

The white bass run up the Guadalupe River out of Canyon Lake has been very slow. I have made numerous trips since late January up the river. Very few fish are up the river.

So my neighbor, Tom Ray, and I put the river on the shelf for the moment and began to fish below Inks Dam on Lake LBJ. For several years, this has been a slam dunk in March. Lots of fish. So on Tuesday, March 14, we loaded our kayaks and made the two-hour trip in the dark to Inks Dam.

We launched the kayaks at the Inks Lake Federal Fish Hatchery and began to slow troll chartreuse-white crappie jigs. The fish were there. We put 28 in the icebox by 11 a.m. That night, we fried fresh white bass for our whole Martindale neighborhood. It was a going-away party for one of the couples who have lived on the river with us for many years.

I fished these same waters 55 years ago when I worked at the Buckner Baptist Boys Ranch. The ranch was located only four miles downriver from the Inks Dam. I kept a little jon boat in a boathouse on the lake and fished most days in March and early April. Nothing has changed. The white bass are in the same holes in March as always.

So Tom and I went back three days later. But this time we took others with us. A 14-year-old young man in my Cowboy Church at Canyon Lake named Travis Kork came as my guest. I have latched onto Travis as my young buddy. We have been fishing and duck hunting together for almost a year. We hope to hunt spring turkeys in a few days. Travis lives with his grandparents, Michael and Jodie DeVries. They keep kidding about me taking out adoption papers on Travis.

Tom brought a guest also — David Wormer. Both guests had never logged any time in kayaks, so it was a little risky.

We got the kayak that Travis would use into the water first. He pushed off the shore, tossed out a crappie jig and began to paddle. In less than three minutes, Travis was hooked into a nice white bass. I paddled to him and show Travis how to extract the hook. He was a happy camper.

Son a powerful northwest wind began to howl as a cold front made its appearance. It got cold. Temperatures in the high 40s are not really cold until you put a 30 mph north wind with it. I was glad for all the clothes I had on.

Fishing was slower than on our scouting trip three days before but we were all catching a few fish. Dave hooked one as he trolled right beside my kayak. As he lifted the fish into the kayak, he shouted, “That’s the first fish I have caught in 20 years.” We had another happy camper.

The string wind called for lots of effort in the kayaks. Stop paddling and you were going backward. By 11 a.m., the bite was over. Tom and I took out our kayaks and began to clean fish. The two guests were far up the lake near the dam. They were having a ball in the kayaks. Dave, a great biologist-naturalist, was identifying all the different birds and trees for Travis. Pelicans, ospreys, cormorants, ducks, kingfishers, Canadian geese and a myriad of small birds were seen through Dave’s binoculars.

When they finally showed up at the launch place, we counted our catch: six for Tom, six for me, four for Travis and three for Dave — a total of 19. Not bad for a cold, windy day. Travis and his grandparents ate fried white bass that night.