Magic Month or Just Another Good One?
February is likely the most celebrated month of the year for catching trophy trout. Does this mean you can’t get one in any other month? Not hardly... but the fact that Jim Wallace pulled a 13 pound - 11 ounce state record speck out of Baffin Bay on Feb 06, 1996 certainly doesn’t dampen February’s reputation. Neither was February’s reputation the only one carved in stone that day. You see, Wallace used a little-known lure called a Corky that day, made by an equally obscure lure tinkerer in Pearland, TX., named Paul Brown. And the rest, as they say, is history.
All the hype and hysteria aside – all things February, Wallace, Brown, Corky, and State Record – let’s dig in a bit deeper and see what else we can learn.
We’ve already touched on the fact that February is not the exclusive realm of trophy seatrout. Indeed, lots of out-sized specimens have been landed in this last month of winter, but March and April actually have better potential if you consider that the fish are still winter-fat and also likely to have ovaries swollen with roe. The additional weight of which can tip the scale favorably before they begin to spawn in early spring.
And then there’s Wallace and Brown, two very likely candidates or culprits, depending how well you might have known them in their respective prime. Wallace was an incredibly talented angler and spent more days pursuing big trout during his career than most anglers ever get to pursue any pastime in a lifetime. And Brown, the term inveterate tinkerer might apply, driven certainly does. The man simply never gave up. Pure and simple, that’s how the Corky came to be. Nothing really magic about it; it’s greatest attribute is that it just kind of sits there. Paul listened to dozens of anglers and finally perfected the sink rate and the way it darted and settled after a twitch. Rather uninspiring in some ways, you either love it or you don’t. The proof of the pudding though is what the fish think.
And now let’s have a closer look at that state record. Prior to Wallace’s giant, the record was held by Mike Blackwell. Blackwell’s record weighed 13 pounds – 9 ounces and also came from Baffin, no surprise, back in 1975. Wallace edged him out by a scant 2 ounces and Mr. Blackwell, we are told, fished like a demon all these many years after seeking those missing few ounces to win back the Holy Grail of Texas trout fishing.
But back to February; while certainly a great excuse to heave off for a mid-winter fishing trip, is there really any other magic in it?
