Lake Guntersville is special. On the Tennessee River in north Alabama, it is a grass filled bass factory. The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society ranks it in the top ten bass lakes in the nation most years.
When big tournaments are held there it is common for five bass limits weighing more than 20 pounds to come to the scales, and catches of five weighing 30 pounds are weighed in most years.
But there are two sides to this story. Bass clubs in Alabama send in tournament results and the state compiles it in their BAIT report. That report shows Guntersville has a lower percent of anglers catching a keeper bass in tournaments than all but three other Alabama lakes.
Fishing can be great there but the whole lake looks “fishy.” When you stop on a point or in a cove and see hydrilla, water willow and eel grass everywhere it is hard to decide where to cast. It looks like a bass could be anywhere, or everywhere.
The Sportsman Club fished there last weekend and our results are more like the BAIT results than the results of pro tournaments or tournaments fished by local fishermen that know the lake well.
After fishing from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM Saturday and 6:30 AM to 1:30 PM Sunday in very hot weather, we brought 21 keeper bass weighing about 45 pounds to the scales. Nobody weighed in a five fish limit and three of the nine fishermen didn’t have a keeper.
Guntersville has largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. The length limit on smallmouth and largemouth is 15 inches and in our tournament a spot had to be 12 inches long. About 14 of our bass were largemouth, six were spots and one a smallmouth.
Raymond English had bad/good luck and won and had big fish. His boat motor would not go into gear so he had to fish around the ramp both days, but caught six keepers, four largemouth and two spots, weighing 15.14 pounds for first and his 5.40 pound largemouth was big fish.
My six, three largemouth, two spots and one mean mouth, weighing 8.80 pounds was second, Zane Fleck had three largemouth weighing 7.97 pounds for third and Billy Roberts had three largemouth weighing 6.13 pounds for fourth.
I went up on Wednesday and camped at Guntersville State Park, a beautiful facility with good shower houses. As usual I was shocked at the number of huge motor homes and fifth wheel trailers that came into the campground, were set up and the folks went inside.
I seldom saw anyone else outside except midmorning when some came out to cook breakfast and then came back out late in the afternoon to cook dinner. I guess it was just too hot to leave the air conditioning in their home away from home, but I don’t understand driving to campground on a beautiful lake and staying inside almost the whole time.
I spent Thursday and Friday riding around looking for deep fish on ledges on my electronics. Guntersville is famous for its deep ledges as well as its grass beds. I found many schools of fish but could not get them to bite. One local guide told me they were inactive and would not feed unless current was moving from power generation, and there was no current the whole time I was there.
Saturday morning I started on a grassbed a guide had suggested, and caught two short bass and one barely 15 inch long keeper. At about noon I was fishing down a bluff bank, mainly keeping my boat in the shade, and caught a keeper spot. Then a little later on another bluff bank a good keeper largemouth it my small jig in a treetop. Those three put me in third the first day.
Sunday the grassbed produced only one short fish so I headed to my shady bank early. I caught an unusual looking fish, it looked olive green, not green like a largemouth and not brown like a smallmouth. I looked it up and it was a cross between a spot and a smallmouth, called a “meanmouth.” It had a patch of “teeth” on its tongue like a spot and, according to what I found on the internet on my phone and a text to a local guide, it was considered a spot for size limits so I could weigh it in.
I stayed on that shady bank the rest of the day and lost a keeper spot and caught two short spots. Then, with ten minutes left to fish, I caught a keeper spot. At 1:17 I thought to myself I could make two more cast before running in. That cast produced a hit on my small jig and I landed a barely keeper largemouth, giving me second place.
GOOD. Water clear; 72 degrees; 0.94 feet above pool. Crappie are good in 20-35 feet on minnows fishing over trees. Report by The Bait Shop, Post, Texas.
FAIR. Water stained; 81 degrees; 65.79 feet below pool. Black bass are fair in the bays chasing shad. Fish can be caught with topwaters, flukes, frogs, buzz-baits, spinner baits and flukes fished in 5-15 feet. White bass are good in the Rio Grande chasing bait balls in 40-50 feet of water. Stripers are fair in 30-50 feet of water in the Devils River around sheer ledges. Report by Captain Raul Cordero, Far West Guide Service.
GOOD. Water stained; 75 degrees; 7.91 feet below pool. Water level is low, but target fish near the dam, and the deeper part of the lake. Drop down on brush piles.
GOOD. Water lightly stained; 68 degrees; 6.70 feet below pool. Catfish continue to be good drifting with fresh cut shad. Report by Brandon Brown, Brown’s Guide Service.
GOOD. Water normal stained; 76 degrees; 1.13 feet below pool. Bass are good and can be caught on the outside of grass lines with Texas rig worms and weightless flukes. Crappie are slow on small jigs over deep brush 25 feet. Report by Reagan Nelson, Lake Athens Bass Guide.
GOOD. Water stained; 72 degrees; 0.56 feet below pool. Bass are starting to concentrate around bridges. Lots of bait out deep right now. Baitfish patterns such as jerkbaits, small swimbaits, spinnerbaits are doing well right now. The grass is starting to break down creating a cheesy top and setting up good for the frog bite. The cooling temperatures are bringing some bigger fish up shallow. Report by Carson Conklin, ATX Fishing Guide.
FAIR. Water stain; 75 degrees; 0.32 feet below pool. Mayflies are hatching, so expect some topwater bass action. Bass are fair on soft plastics in the cuts, or with frogs over grass. Crappie are fair with jigs in flooded timber. Catfish are fair on juglines.
GOOD. Water stained; 89 degrees. Bass are good in the discharge with swimbaits, worms or a shaky head. Grass edges and reed edges are loaded up with bass, so cast a fluke, shad shaped swimbait, or a frog or wakebait. Work ledges in 8-20 feet with a deep crankbait, jig, Carolina rigged finesse worm or fluke. Report by Bryan Cotter, Texas Hawgs. Bass can be caught on deep points and humps, or shallow by the reeds. Senkos seem to be the best lure of choice. The bass size tends to be larger and more active later in the day. Report by David Townsend, Austin Fishing Guide.
EXCELLENT. Water stained; 76 degrees; 2.12 feet below pool. Fishing for white bass is even better after the third cold front of fall. Although fall temperatures are above normal, the length of day is decreasing and driving typical autumn behaviors. Mornings are best, with the bite kicking off around 8:15 a.m. and going strong for about three hours before tapering off by noon. Look for fish in 22-25 feet of water in the first hour and move progressively deeper to 38-44 feet to keep up with them. Find fish holding in groups of dozens, scores, or even hundreds using well-tuned side-imaging. Spot-Lock atop these schools and work MAL Original Lures with chartreuse tails vertically by dropping them to bottom, then racing them upwards through the lower third of the water column. Use LiveScope to help gauge fish response to this presentation. This active tactic with MAL Lures is easily outfishing slabs snap jigged off bottom. No birds or topwater to speak of this past week. Report by Bob Maindelle, Holding the Line Guide Service. Blue catfish are excellent with numbers of catfish under 10 pounds being caught along old river channels in 10-30 feet of water drifting with fresh cut shad. Channel catfish are fair using punch bait around gravel beds and timber. Flatheads have been slow but can be found around large rock piles using live bait. Report by Brian Worley, B&S Catfishing.
GOOD. Water stained; 80 degrees; 3.52 feet below pool. Catfish are good in shallow water. Perch are good in shallow water. Crappie continue to be good in 20 feet of water using live minnows. Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are shallow around structure using chatterbaits and Texas rigged worms. Few reports on catfish and sand bass.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 80 degrees; 1.19 feet below pool. Channel catfish are excellent in 10-14 feet of water with stink bait or chicken liver. Crappie are excellent in 10-20 feet on brush piles with jigs or minnows. Report by Joey Crews, Lake Bob Sandlin Chubby Chaser Guide Service. Windy banks and main lake points should produce strikes from bass. Try topwater baits early and late in the day. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Spotted and black bass are fair but can consistently be caught with 3-4 inch shad swimbaits on secondary points with grass or timber. Spinnerbaits or swim jigs have been great around docks. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service.
stained; 85 degrees; 3.29 feet below pool. Bass are good with frogs over pond weed early in the morning on cloudy days. Flukes and Yum Dingers are good at the edge of pond weeds and bushes in 4-6 feet. Texas rigs best bite in timber lines and road beds in 6-8 feet. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service.
SLOW. Water stained; 85 degrees; 13.10 feet below pool. Black bass are slow with a few being caught late afternoon before dark around deeper rocky shorelines using senkos and slow rolling spinnerbaits. Catfish are slow with a few caught late afternoon into the night on cut bait. Crappie and white bass are slow.
SLOW. Water stained, 88 degrees. The lake experienced a minor fish kill last week, so expect fishing to be slow until the water stabilizes. Reports of redfish near the dam.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 72 degrees; 12.62 feet below pool. Sand bass and hybrids are mixed together, moving around the main lake. Slabs will put fish in the boat. Do not be afraid to bounce around as these fish are still moving fast. Largemouth bass are good on topwater baits on main lake points and swimbaits later in the day. Crappie are still good on minnows around docks and mid depth brush piles. All ramps are open. Report by Keith Bunch, Lake Bridgeport Guide Service.
GOOD. Water stained; 73 degrees; 0.18 feet below pool. Black bass to 6 pounds are excellent on frogs and swimbaits in the grass and weeds, or on crankbaits off the rocks in 2-8 feet around the rock cuts. Fall transition is in progress and the fish are on shallow flats. Crappie are fair with catches up to 10 inches around docks with brush on minnows in 15-18 feet and some offshore brush piles. White bass are good with catches up to 2.00 pounds on crankbaits around the lighted docks. Catfish are fair to 10 pounds on shad and liver.
GOOD. Water stained; 80 degrees. The bass bite picked up after the recent cold front. Bass are good on brush piles and shallow with topwater lures. Report by the Aggie Anglers.
FAIR. Water slight stain; 76 degrees; 14.05 feet below pool. Striper fishing continues to be good, but keeper size fish are hard to come by. Vertical jigging, or slabbing, with �½-1 ounce spoons has been one of better producing techniques for the stripers and the white bass. Live shad has also been just as effective. Key water depths 28-34 feet of water. The fish have been staying with the boat more consistently this week as we leave the full moon phase. The lake is on the verge of really twisting off for some great fall action once the high pressure moves off. Report by Travis Holland, TH Fishing. Fishing patterns will remain similar until the weather cools. White bass, catfish and few keeper striped bass are on main lake points and edges with 28-35 feet of water. Striped bass and hybrids are slow with a few fish being caught trolling downriggers and bucktails. White bass are good with numbers being caught on jigging spoons and small shad. Catfish are good in the same area on cut shad and punch baits. Report by Captain Aaron Dick, One Up Fishing Guide Service. Crappie are fair on brush piles and standing timber in 20-25 feet of water with chartreuse jigs and minnows. Blue and channel catfish are fair in 10-16 feet of water with punch bait. Report by Jess Rotherham, Texas Crappie Fishing Service. Lake Buchanan is always good this time of year because this lake fishes best when the temperature drops. Look for bass in rock piles in 5-15 feet of water and bang a crankbait around them for some good bites. Slow down with a jig or Texas-rigged worm or craw to get some nice bites as well. Flukes and swimbaits are working great back in coves and around any wood especially laydowns in 5-10 feet of water. Report by Bryan Cotter, Texas Hawgs.
GOOD. Water stained; 80 degrees; 0.31 feet below pool. The water temperature has slightly increased and the bite on the main lake has turned on in the grass and lily pads with a fluke or top water. The river bite will turn back on when the water cools below 72 degrees. When this happens cast Alabama rigs or crankbaits in the river. We need some rain to help with current and help set up the fish better after this dry and hot this fall. Lake is very low so be careful running around but it is always a beautiful time to come see this majestic lake that God spoke into existence. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.
GOOD. Water slightly stained, 89 degrees. Redfish being caught from the boat ramp to Jet Ski Cove on live bait and shrimp, trolling near the dam on plastics and spoons. Blue catfish are good on the south road bed with cheese bait and cut bait. Channel catfish can be caught along rocky bank lines with cheese bait. Some bass are being caught around reed lines. Report by Harry Lamb, Alamo Texas Fishing.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 75 degrees; 26.57 feet below pool. Topwater lures are productive for bass in the morning, then as the sun rises drag a dropshot on the grass edges. Stripers are schooling in the mornings in random spots across the lake hitting topwaters. Report by Evan Coleman, Big Bassin Fishing.
EXCELLENT. normal stain; 72 degrees; 3.28 feet below pool. Good stacks of hybrids and white bass are being found on midlake points and drop offs along sandy flats throughout the dam area, Crappie Island, Key Ranch and the spillway humps in 11-17 feet. Cast spinners and slabs and look for schooling fish on these flats as well as deeper seawalls and shorelines. Fish any hump in 14-22 feet throughout the lake to find fish stacked up in schools as the day warms up. Look for schooling fish on cloudy days. The birds have slowly started showing up as the weather has cooled off and we will be seeing more of these on a regular basis when it is cloudy. Use spinnerbaits or drop a slab down to the bottom and work it fast up and down and the fish will hit it immediately. Also throwing out a slab and reeling it back with a slow retrieve is also working well. Cast rattletraps, spoons, umbrella rigs, slabs or sassy shads to get the hybrids to bite. The crappie bite has been getting better. Target crappie with small jigs and minnows in 5-12 feet under bridge pylons, hidden brush piles throughout the lake or under docks. Crappie fisherman have been moving spot to spot finding limits. You may catch 4-5 and then have to move on to another spot on some days. Limits are being reported, although guides have been reporting conditions are improving with bigger sized fish being caught. Report by Brent Herbeck, Herbeck’s Lonestar Fishing Guide Service. Catfish have started to bite in 3-10 feet of water on cut shad. Larger fish can be caught drifting in 15-24 feet. Report by Jason Barber, Kings Creek Adventures.
FAIR. Water stained; 80 degrees; 32.19 feet below pool. White bass are schooling near the dam area on points and flats. A few can be caught with small spinnerbaits. Bass are fair on shad colored crankbait, or green pumpkin soft plastics. Numbers are good, but some catches are small. Crappie are biting on deep brush in 25 feet of water with live minnows or black and chartreuse grubs. Report by Scott Springer, Fish Choke Canyon Lake.
GOOD. Water slight stain; 69 degrees; 14.18 feet below pool. The weather has been windy keeping anglers off th water. If you do plan to fish be sure to wear your chin strap otherwise you may be fishing for your hat. Report by Lake Cisco Rentals.
SLOW. Water normal stain; 77 degrees; 0.63 feet below pool. Water clarity has improved. Largemouth bass are dispersed throughout the lake relating primarily near stumps and boat houses. Crappie are slow with jigs and minnows.
0.34 feet above pool. Largemouth bass to 8 pounds are good on a variety of soft plastics including dropshot rigs. Anglers are boasting about catching 40-70 bass per day. Limits of eater sized channel catfish are also being caught using prepared baits. Lots of smaller catfish with a few bigger ones mixed in. Tilapia are abundant. Report by Michael Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters.
GOOD. Water stained; 75 degrees; 1.4 feet below pool. Catfish are great from the bulkheads to 30 feet of water on Catfish Bubblegum, worms, liver, and punchbait. There are plenty of fish to be caught, but once the water cools the bigger fish will separate from the smaller fish. Bass are good in shallow water early and late in the day, then seeking deeper structure and shaded docks midday. Crappie have been fair with some decent catches, but you have to move frequently sifting thought the bream in 8-25 feet of water. Report by Brad Doyle with Bradley’s Guide Service. Hybrid, with some white bass mixed in, have been in smaller schools in 12-25 feet hanging on flats and drop offs. Many folks are trolling with a deep diver and a pet spoon trailer, others are using slabs from Bradley Outdoors to jig for them. As well as casting swimbaits or crankbaits. Always wear your life jacket & stay hydrated. Report by Mike Cason, Fishical Therapy.
GOOD. Water stained; 75 degrees: 2.00 feet below pool. Fish are starting to move to winter patterns so target the river channels. Be cautious of lake turnover as the water begins to cool. This will slow the bite for about two weeks until the water stabilizes. Hybrids are great off main lake humps and points with live shad, you can catch them vertically jigging spoons. Crappie are slow but can be caught in 3-10 feet of water on the bottom of timber with a crawdad jig. Catfish are good on the edges of the river channel in 15-20 feet of water. Report by River Bottom Boys Guide Service.
SLOW. 80 degrees; 11.28 feet below pool. Boat anglers reported catches of crappie in 15-20 feet, a few smaller sized catfish and little gar. Bank anglers reported a catch of a drum and small catfish. The mornings have been foggy and the afternoons are windy. Navigate with caution due to low lake levels. Report by Weber’s Boat Landing.
GOOD: Water normal stain; 71 degrees; 1.16 feet below pool. Channel catfish are excellent in 10-14 feet of water with stink bait or chicken liver. Crappie are excellent in 10-20 feet on brush piles with jigs or minnows. Report by Joey Crews, Lake Bob Sandlin Chubby Chaser Guide Service. Spotted and black bass are fair but can consistently be caught with 3-4 inch shad swimbaits on secondary points with grass or timber. Spinnerbaits or swim jigs have been great around docks. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 70 degrees; 7.05 feet below pool. White bass are fair to slow on main lake structures. White bass continue to be scattered due to ongoing water releases. Crappie are fair to good on brush piles and main lake structure on jigs with white color combinations. Blue catfish and channel catfish are good on punch bait and cut bait. Report provided by Chad Ferguson of North Texas Catfish Guide Service.
GOOD. Water stained; 80 degrees; 45.58 feet below pool. Bass are slow in brush piles with crankbaits and soft plastics. Blue catfish are good with catches up to 30 pounds in 15-20 feet of water dragging or anchoring fresh cut shad or tilapia. Bow fishing for gar are good up the river. No reports on crappie. Report by Ram Reyes, Ram Outdoors.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 82 degrees. There is spotty turnover throughout the lake. Bass are good shallow early in the morning with a rattle trap. Then move to 12-20 feet of water with a red worm on a Carolina rig, shaky head or dropshot. Topwater action for bass is spotty. Perch bite has slowed to few and far between. Catfish are good for night anglers on punch bait in the intake. Report by Mark Fransen, Fransen’s Guide Service.
GOOD. Water Stained; 81 degrees; 2.41 feet below pool. Bass are good on topwaters early in the morning around grass. Square bills crankbaits are fair in mid range depths around 4-6 feet on points and flats. Carolina rigs are good in 7-10 feet of water on ridges with small baits. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Streamers are tempting active feeding bass in 1-3 feet on main lake points. Dock fishing is providing a variety of fish with small beaded fish imitations. Catfish are shallow around boat houses and brush. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. The crappie fishing on Lake Fork is just phenomenal right now going into the early winter months. We have fish in depths from 14-58 feet. You can find crappie almost everywhere on the lake but if you find the right area they are loaded up. We are seeing some black crappie grouped up in numbers. The huge white crappie has been showing off the past month also. We are catching fish on timber mostly and pole timber and Bois D Arc trees are both good. Some fish will be holding to bridges as they migrate as well. Minnows continue to be the best bait, but jigs will work too. The catfish bite on Lake Fork is nothing short of incredible. There are so many catfish in the 20-25 feet range around timber you can almost fish anywhere. If you drop some cattle cubes or sour grain in an area you will be catching fish within 30 minutes on any prepared catfish bait you drop down. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.
SLOW. Water stained; 77 degrees; 8.21 feet below pool. Anglers are reporting good catches of crappie. Hybrid stripers are fair to good. White bass can be caught trolling with crankbaits or live shad. Largemouth bass are good on topwaters along the rocks.
SLOW. Water stained: 78 degrees; 11.35 feet below pool. Expect the bite to improve as the water temperature cools. Sand bass are hit-or-miss in the evenings. Bass are slow in the evenings with catches up to 2 pounds. Carp and gar can be caught up stream. Black drum can be caught in the stilling basin.
FAIR. Water stained; 80 degrees; 5.48 feet below pool. Fishing is improving. Bass are feeding up on shad all over the lake. Bass are good on moving baits like spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Sand bass and hybrids are schooling up in shallow water on flats with a good bite on spoons and top water. Crappie are on brush about 13-15 feet deep on minnows and jigs.
GOOD. Water stained; 75 degrees; 1.49 feet below pool. Water temperatures have been slow to fall due to the warm weather Rain is expected heading into the weekend. White bass are good to excellent on many areas of the lake. Lots of small fish with some bigger ones mixed in. Striped bass are slow to fair with catches up to 10 pounds on slabs and live shad fished on the lower ends. Largemouth bass to 7 pounds are possible on crankbaits and soft plastics fished on shallow humps near creek channels. Some good reports of largemouth bass in the river north of Hunter Park on laydowns. Big catfish action is fair on cut shad fished on the upper ends. Channel catfish are good on hot dogs fished under deeper docks. Crappie action continues to be good on flooded timber and bridge pilings on small jigs and minnows. Some good crappie catches have been reported from near Water’s Edge to the timber by the Peninsula. Report by Michael Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 72 degrees; 2.20 feet below pool. White bass are really good in the morning, slowing some in the afternoon, with a quarter ounce jig head in 12-16 feet. Birds are working along the north and south shorelines. moving quickly so double rigged with a slab and jig. Look for shad busting the water and fish in that area. Some catfish are mixed in with the white bass. Report by Omar Cotter, Luck O’the Irish Fishing Guide Service.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 74 degrees; 50.56 feet below pool. Crappie are in standing timber. Sand bass are good. Catfish are good on minnows and worms. Largemouth bass are good.
GOOD. Water slightly stained. 80 degrees. Streamers fished above grass and near lilies should draw bass. Try topwaters lures early and late in the day. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.
SLOW. Water stained; 75 degrees; 0.33 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are consistent, but this should change as the weather begins to cool. Crappie can be caught on brush with minnows and jigs. Bass can be caught on topwater early and late in the day. Later in the day cast Carolina rigs, dropshots and crankbaits.
SLOW. Water Stained; 77 degrees; 14.89 feet below pool. Bass are slow. Smaller fish are biting topwaters, and bigger fish were caught on square bill crankbaits for jerkbaits for schooling bass. Blue catfish can be caught on juglines with live bait or cut carp. White bass are schooling throughout the day.
SLOW. Water normal stain; 79 degrees; 0.53 feet below pool. The bass bite is pretty tough, but fish are moving shallower. Soft plastics are working in brush piles 7-10 feet, as well as swimbaits, underspins, Alabama rigs. Schoolers can be caught on swimbaits, wacky worms, and lipless cranksbaits. Bank bite is picking up on soft plastics.
SLOW. Water normal stain; 80 degrees; 0.73 below pool. Despite the high winds, fishing is good. Bass can be caught on structures in 3-8 feet of water with soft plastics. Crappie are shallow in creek channels or ditches with wood in 5 feet of water. You can catch them on finesse 2 inches swimbaits. No report on catfish. White bass are chasing shad, find the bait, and find the fish. Report by Gilbert Miller, GTB Outdoors.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 80 degrees; 0.45 feet above pool. Spotted and black bass are fair but can consistently be caught with 3-4 inch shad swimbaits on secondary points with grass or timber. Spinnerbaits or swim jigs have been great around docks. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service. Crappie are great on timber in 10-25 feet of water.
EXCELLENT. Water lightly stained; 80 degrees; 3.94 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are holding steady as parts of the lake are turning over. Crappie are great with 1/32-1/8 ounce jigs or minnows. Fish can still be found on shallow stumps or some kind of structure in 3-7 feet early morning until about 8:30-9:00 a.m. Then fish move out to brush piles in 15-20 feet of water to lay up for the daylight hours before they go back out hunting at night. Look for sinking logs or stumps in 4 feet of water to start the morning and any kind of hard structure out to 20 feet. Periodically fish are on deep structures in 20-30 feet. Also bouncing a 1/16 ounce jig with a soft plastic body and black or white, bumping them along the rocks on the rip rap on the dam or the railroad has been producing. Black bass are on fire fishing early mornings in 3-20 feet with the bigger sized catches in 7-15 feet with spinnerbaits. Cast white and chartreuse spinnerbaits early in the morning 1-5 feet. As the sun rises target hard structure, or very sandy flats with structure nearby with a spinnerbait. When the morning bites ends, switch to a 3-6 foot diver. Then gradually go to a 12-15 foot diver, Texas rig or Carolina rig as the sun rises higher around 10 a.m. but, if you are still able to catch bass with a squarebill crankbait, do not switch to the 12 foot diver until you have covered at least two places that you normally catch bass at. When the reaction bait bite ends slow the approach with Carolina rigs or Texas rigs to entice a bite along rocks along banks, boat ramps, floating and submerged tire reefs, and rock piles. There are some 3-5 pound bass shallow in 2-5 feet of water feeding on bundles of gizzard shad and threadfin shad. If the water is clear enough it will appear black along the banks from all the shad. Black bass set up in 4-7 feet of water on single boulders or stumps to ambush the shad. Best way to fill a stringer of catfish is to sour some grain in a five gallon bucket and chum in 9-15 feet. Very good numbers of nice sized catfish of all sizes can be caught with punch bait, chicken, liver, cooked shrimp, or fresh chunks of shad. Dragging shad on Santee Rigs is producing some 10-15 pound fish with an occasional 20-30 pound fish. Gizzard Shad and sunfish cut in chunks. Some days catfish may be really shallow, so do not be scared to anchor up somewhere. If you are dragging your baits and you hook up to a good fish, anchor up in that exact spot and cast around the boat if possible. As soon as the water hits about 72-75 degrees white bass will go super shallow and you will not find fish on any points deeper than 5 feet. The gizzard shad and white bass will make the green water turn black and with polarized glasses the fish will pop for you and it will be obvious the water is way darker and not muddy. Small rooster tails or roadrunners will work, or use a quarter ounce jig with a 3-4.5 inch swimbait in white or chartreuse, And this is an absolute must, you have to cast in 1-4 inches of water and start reeling right before it hits the water to prevent it sticking into the clay banks. Your first bite will be in 2-4 feet of water so that is 2-4 reels of the spilling reel, and your cast is over. Repeat. Once you find them, spot lock or anchor within casting distance without your boat drifting into them. Bluegills are great on brush piles mainly 15-20 feet with a 2-4 pound line and earthworms, wax worms, mealworms. Crickets are catching some bigger ones. Do not be surprised if you catch crappies or catfish, and lunker bass patrol the piles too. If you are an experienced angler, slap on the 2 pound mono and you will have an absolute blast! Lake Lavon has a decent size population of tilapia now. You can legally catch them in a cast net and take them home as they are not a game fish, and have no regulations, except if you were going to harvest them and take them home, you must cut their belly open and remove their guts before transport per law. Using light line on spinning rods and a bobber with live earthworm pieces seems to produce more bites than any other bait in 3-10 feet. Carolina rigged on sandy flats near boulders is producing nice stringers of tilapia as well. But I would have to say the bobber seems to be the best method. Peas, corn and small little dough balls , also work well when no live bait is easily accessible. As the water gets colder, they will become less abundant. Note, to possess any tilapia, grass carp, or any other fish listed as harmful or potentially harmful without first killing the fish by gutting, beheading, gill-cutting, or other means, or placing the fish on ice, except on those waters where a valid Triploid Grass Carp Permit is in effect. Not properly retaining will result in a ticket. Report by Carey Thorn, White Bass Fishing Texas.
GOOD. Water stained; 72 degrees; 0.26 feet below pool. Fishing should be similar through the weekend. Crappie are good on chartreuse jigs and minnows in 12-20 feet of water on brush. Channel and blue catfish are good on punch bait in 20-24 feet of water over drop-offs and rock piles. Report by Jess Rotherham, Texas Crappie Fishing Service.
FAIR. Water stained; 73 degrees; 2.84 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are holding steady. White bass are fair on humps and points in 15-30 feet of water. There has been some sporadic bird activity on mid lake flats and humps. Slabs, jigs, and live bait are working. Keeper sized hybrid stripers are fair in similar depths as the white bass. If you are keeping fish, please be aware that there are a lot of undersized hybrid stripers in the lake that look very similar to a white bass. Blue catfish are fair to good on cut shad. Drifting mainlake humps, points, and flats near the river channel have produced in 12-32 feet of water. Channel catfish are fair on baited holes on punch bait and cut shad in 15-28 feet of water on humps and points. Crappie are fair in 6-26 feet of water. Check brush piles, bridge pilings, and submerged cover close to a drop off ledge with minnows and jigs. Report by Wes Campbell, BendARod Fishing. The lake is turning over. Bass are best early morning or at sunset hitting jigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Bass are cruising shallow cover eating shad or bluegill. Crappie are on deeper brush piles in 12-20 feet of water. Sand bass are on main lake points in 6-12 feet of water. Seeing lots of big hybrids moving around.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 72 degrees; 2.58 feet below pool. White bass are schooling all over the lake in 7-20 feet of water with some surface action. White bass continue to school around docks with lights and fresh willow trees continue to be the best for building brush piles. Fish are easy to find with a livescope or forward facing sonar. Lake in a turnover right now and the thermocline is 18-24 feet. This has made some of the fish dormant this week. Crappie are in 6-14 feet this week. Largemouth bass are good in 2-14 feet of water on brush piles, rocks and docks using moving baits. Catfish are 10-18 feet of water. Report by Colan Gonzales, CG’s Just Fishing Guide Service.
GOOD. slightly stained; 80 degrees; 1.98 feet below pool. Very little boater traffic. White bass are in depths at 8-20 feet of water. Report by Michael Richardson, Lake Livingston Adventures.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 80 degrees; 2.35 feet below pool. Bass have been good early morning and late afternoon fishing points and the edge of hydrilla with crazy shad topwater baits and Texas rigged redbug worms. Crappie are good but getting harder to find on brush piles and laydowns in 18-30 feet. Better fish are on the bottom with no thermocline present. Catfish are good at the high line area on the south end with live and cut bait. Report by Hambone Guide service.
FAIR. Water stained; 67 degrees; 48.78 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are holding steady as the water starts to cool off. White bass bite continues to be excellent on just about anything. Bass are good on minnows and artificials. Catfish are fair to good with nightcrawlers, minnows, chicken liver and frozen shad. Crappie are fair with artificial baits and minnows. Trout are slow. Walleye are good on minnows, grubs, and other artificial baits. Best of luck to you out there. Please be safe out there, watch weather reports. Life vests save lives. Report by Kenneth Wysong, SharKens Honey Hole.
SLOW. Water stained; 75 degrees; 2.26 feet below pool. Yellow catfish are good in 10-14 feet on jug and trotlines with perch or shad. Blue and channel catfish are slow. Very few catches of crappie in 20 feet of water. Bass are slow.
GOOD. Water slight stained; 72 degrees; 2.09 feet below pool. Largemouth bass are excellent with an abundance of 2-4 pound fish schooling in 12-15 feet. Fish can be caught with Carolina rigs and deep diving crankbaits. Crappie are good with numbers of keepers being caught on white jigs. Catfish are fair on cut bait. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 70 degrees; 0.50 feet below pool. The fall turnover looks to have officially started. The north end of the lake have turned chocolate brown, and the main body of the lake will soon be next. The cold nights but hot days might extend the turnover a bit longer. Throw flash and rattle lures during the turnover. Spinnerbaits, squarebill crankbaits, and chatterbaits in less than 10 feet of water. Crappie population is good. Catfish are slow. Report by Eric Wolfe, NacoTack Fishing Services. Largemouth bass are good with catches 2-5 pounds with green pumpkins dropshots. Crappie are fair for keeper sized fish biting white crappie jigs. Catfish are fair in live minnows off the fishing pier. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 84 degrees. 0.41 feet below pool. The bass bite has been fair on white chatterbaits and spinnerbaits early morning and evening. Midday flipping soft plastics around reed bases in 1-3 feet of water is the ticket to catch shaded up largemouth bass. Crappie were good around boat docks on chartreuse jigs and catfish were fair on cut bait and stink bait around river channel bends. Report provided by the Angelo State Fishing Team.
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 75 degrees; 1.06 feet below pool. Largemouth bass up to 7.75 pounds can be caught near the marina dock. Catfish are good throughout the lake on cut perch or shad. White bass are schooling. Crappie are hit-or-miss with some big fish being caught. Report by Navarro Mills Marina.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 75 degrees; 26.92 feet below pool. Lake level dropping a few inches a week and the water temperature is back up around 75 degrees after the record heat this week. Black bass continue to be slow with catches up to 6 pounds possible. A lot of bass are chasing dragonflies in shallow water being caught on frogs and topwaters, and chatterbaits. Most of these are about 2 pounds. Crappie slow and scattered, but can be caught suspended 8 feet down on timber with minnows or white/chartresue jigs. Channel catfish have been good on cut shad and stink bait in and around brush in 5 feet of water or less. Report by Wendell Ramsey, Ramsey Fishing.
SLOW. Water lightly stained; 80 degrees; 17.76 feet below pool. Fishing continues to be slow with few anglers on the water. The white bass are being caught using small spoons such as the Bomber slab. A few reports of crappie being caught on brush piles with BoneHead jigs. Report by Bronte Guns and Tackle Pro Staff.
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 69 degrees; 1.70 feet below pool. As the lake approaches its annual normal low in late October and early November, around 2 feet low, consider these factors. First off, please remember that there are no reliable lakes lanes in Lake Palestine marked on the lake with buoys or on maps for any lake level. Second, please note that even though the areas of standing stumps are diminishing, each 3 inches of depth loss brings your lower unit closer to more solid tree trunk tops. The boat launches, as shown on the page “Public Access Facilities”. The sites A-1 through A-3 are getting shallower, and Chandler may not give access to the lake at all. Sites B-1 through B-3, Kickapoo and Flat Creek publics are very small and parking areas quickly fill, but Flat Creek Marina, while continuing to improve services, still is very shallow. The C sites, Campers Cove, Palestine Pines, and Kiloland no longer exist at all, Lake Palestine Marina is very tight and close to rocks, and what is shown as “Lake Palestine Campground” is really the Lake Palestine Resort. Of the D sites, Cherokee Landing no longer exists and Chimney is not usable for most trailered boats. Of the major marinas, all are usable, though Lake Palestine Resort is single lane and Flat Creek Marina is shallow and requires some caution. Report by Jim Beggerly, Jim’s Fishing Lake Palestine.
GOOD. Water slight stain; 80 degrees; 1.18 feet below pool. There is rain in the forecast. Largemouth bass are slow with only a few catches to report. Crappie are slow on minnows. Blue catfish and yellow catfish are still biting up in the creek on limb lines with cut bait. Report by David Holt, Lake Palo Pinto RV Park and Resort.
FAIR. slightly stained; 72 degrees. Water clarity is clear. Largemouth bass are good with small swimbaits and natural colored deep diving crankbaits. Crappie are good on standing timber in 10-12 feet of water. Catfish are fair on live minnows or cut bait. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
GOOD. Water stained; 72 degrees; 2.51 feet below pool. Stripers are fair to good with live bait early in the morning in 20-40 feet of water, then in 40-60 feet later in the day. Downriggers continue to be slow. Fish are still moving very fast and it is very hard to stay on top of them but it can be done. Your best bet is to just put baits in the water and slowly move around with the trolling motor until you find them. Once you find them, try to stay with them. Sand bass are slow in 20-30 feet of water with live shad or small slabs and jigs or rattle traps. White and silver are good colors. Catfish are still fair to good with cut shad or your favorite brand of stink bait, also known as punch bait, is still producing good numbers of fish in 15-30 feet of water fished on or near the bottom. Water clarity is steady with 4-10 feet of visibility. Report by TJ Ranft, Ranft Guide Service. Bass are slow in 5-15 feet of water on ledges and points with chatterbaits, small crankbaits, and plastics. Report by JK Outdoors Bass Fishing Guide.
SLOW. Water stained; 85 degrees; 0.03 feet above pool. Copperas Creek day use and westside dock and ramp has been a popular area for anglers. Promontory Park Day use boat ramp is open. Early morning fishing on jugs has been productive for catfish. Hybrid bass are schooling in the morning under the birds.
FAIR. Water light stain; 79 degrees. Leaves are dropping from trees and fall fishing patterns are here. A strong cold front pushed south mid-week. Water is slightly stained. Bass are good with flukes, worms, and lipless crankbaits near the hydrilla grass edge are reported to be working for bass. No angler reports of crappie or catfish this week, but anglers can try minnows on crappie jigs near brush piles or piers to target crappie. Catfish can be targeted with worms or stink bait fished near the bottom at the prairie branch pier or over towards the dam by the valve release tower. Bluegill are biting on worms and hotdogs over at the boathouse dock. Anglers should try to use them on a free lined hook or with a hook and bobber.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 79 degrees; 3.19 feet below pool. White bass are fair on shallow points early morning and late evening throwing tail spinners and topwaters. Later in the morning sand bass move to 16-28 feet of water on humps, levees and long points using 3/4 ounce slabs. Trolling is also producing white bass 13-16 feet of water. Crappie are fair and relating to brush in 15-22 feet deep and suspended on bridge pylons moving on and off structure on minnows. Catfish are fair around the north end of the lake around timber using cut shad working best in 12-17 feet of water. Report by John Varner, John Varner’s Guide Service.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 80 degrees; 1.32 feet below pool. White bass can be caught on points and humps in 15-25 feet on live bait and slabs. Crappie are good in 5-20 feet on brush piles and small patches of structure, minnows. Blue catfish can be caught drifting cut bait on flats 20-40 feet. Report by Justin Wilson, Wilson Outdoor Connection.
FAIR. Water normal stain; 73 degrees; 1.92 feet below pool. White bass fishing remains slow. Check out the 309 Flats and main lake points for birds and bait. The coming cooler weather should turn the bite on. Hybrid stripers are also slow with a few fish being caught on live bait. Crappie fall pattern is fair good on brush piles in 10-15 feet of water. Minnows are normally the preferred bait. Blue and channel catfish are excellent on punchbait in 15-25 feet of water on timber in the Richland Creek Arm of the Lake. Chum with Range Cubes and, or fermented grain. Report by Royce Simmons, Gone Fishin’ Guide Service.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 77 degrees; 2.37 feet below pool. There is an abundance of shad in shallow water. Shallow bass feeding on the shad can be caught with spinnerbaits and topwater frogs. Crappie are transitioning from brush main lake brush to creek channels. Blue and channel catfish are fair in 24-27 feet of water and in the river bends on cut bait and minnows. Report by Captain Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service. Expect the lake level to continue to drop slowly through the winter. Shallow bass are centered around shoreline brush and hay grass along with high spots, shallow ditches and creek channel swings. These fish can be caught on Texas rigs, wacky rigs, shallow water crankbaits and topwaters. There is a large population of schooling bass heavily chasing bait balls around main lake ledges in 17-22 feet, main lake drains in 10-17 feet, and main lake and secondary points. Cast a dropshot, Carolina rig, �½-�¾ ounce jig, or deep diving crankbait. Report by Hank Harrison, Double H Precision Guide Service.
SLOW. Water normal stain; 74 degrees; 1.97 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are holding steady. At Somerville marina the crappie bite is slow, bluegill and catfish are fair. Crappie are fair over brush in 8-16 feet of water with jigs and minnows. Black bass are slow moving plastics in 6-12 feet of water. Catfish are fair in 6-10 feet using cut shad or punch bait. White bass slow trolling with various spoons or anchored with shad and ghost minnows. Hybrids are slow when in deeper water using cut bait. Dam gates are closed. Report by Weldon Kirk, Fish Tales Guide Service.
SLOW. Water stained; 85 degrees. 45.89 feet below pool. Fishing reports remain slow for all species. The reports are very slow for black bass. The white bass are actively schooling biting spoons and inline spinners. Catfish are slow, with some reports of channel and blue catfish being caught from shore on cut bait. Report by Bronte Guns and Tackle Pro Staff.
FAIR. Water normal stain; 75 degrees; 1.44 feet below pool. Bass are slow. Crappie are fair in shallow cattails. Channel catfish and blue catfish are good throughout the lake on jug lines.
SLOW. Water stained; 76 degrees; 0.74 feet below pool. White bass are scattered with some early movement by mostly small fish into the middle third of the reservoir from out of the dam end. Largemouth bass fishing has been hit-or-miss with fish reorienting from hydrilla to the lake’s sparse natural cover. This has created a scenario where multiple fish will hold on a single piece of suitable cover. Anglers can go long whiles without a bite, then land 4-6 fish in just a few casts when one of these desirable pieces of cover is found. Due to lack of hydrilla, Carolina rigs may now be fished much more readily than when the hydrilla was present. Smaller, dark, natural hues of soft plastics are always a good bet on this lake. Report by Bob Maindelle, Holding the Line Guide Service.
GOOD. Water lightly stained; 82 degrees; 2.37 feet below pool. Lake Tawakoni continues to fish good as we begin our cooling down stage. I would not consider the lake to be on a fall pattern, as we are still seeing fish move a lot. However, signs are trending towards the fall feed and fish are definitely biting better this week than last. Hybrid stripers and white bass have been solid on slabs, slab-spinners and swimbaits. The shallower fish in 8-12 feet are biting best. The trophy catfish bite has picked up with catches up to 35 pounds being caught on cut gizzard shad. Best bite has been in 10-20 feet. The eating sized channel and blue catfish bite is still excellent. Limits can be caught within 2-3 hours of fishing using punch bait. The largemouth bite has been good. Now is the time for early-morning top water and spinner baits. Dock pilings are best right now. Report by Captain Michael Littlejohn, Lake Tawakoni Guide Service.
GOOD. Water stained; 68 degrees; 2.45 feet below pool. Striper fishing is excellent on live bait and topwaters. Thousands of gulls have arrived and will be working deep water on the right day. Check ledges in 30-40 feet of water with bait, and target shallow points early with TW’s. Bass fishing is picking up with cooler temperatures and potential inflow if we get rain. Look for fish on humps and structure in 10-15 feet of water using plastics and reaction baits. Fish around dock floats and lifts with a small V-tail swimbait. Catfishing is good on cut shad and prepared baits. Larger fish are appearing on deep flats in 40-50 feet of water and off river ledges in deep water. Smaller fish are still plentiful on cut shad in 30-40 feet of water. Crappie action will increase with cooler temperatures as fish move up and hold tight to brush and around creeks. Use electronics to locate active fish in 12-18 feet of water near brush. Report by Jacob Orr, Lake Guaranteed Guide Service. Cooler weather will improve the bite. Striped bass are best on topwaters early in the morning, then switch to slabs on shallow flats in 12-25 feet of water with topwaters and slabs. Follow the birds when there is bird activity to land a few sand bass and striped bass. Report by John Blasingame, Adventure Texoma Outdoors.
FAIR. Water normal stain; 80 degrees; 4.75 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are steady. Water temperature is finally staying in the low 80s, dipping into the upper 70s in the mornings. Bass fishing has improved with catches up to 9 pounds this week. Bass are shallow in 1-5 feet of water on topwater lures, swimbaits and chatterbaits during the first couple of hours. Then target mid range fish in 8-14 feet of water on Texas rigs and crankbaits. There is a deep bite on dropshots and spoons in 18-25 feet. There are a good number of fish, just not many big fish yet. Few more crappie getting caught this week on shallow brush and at night on lighted deeper docks. All live bait. Report by Stephen Johnston, Johnston Fishing.
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 75 degrees; 42.25 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are holding steady. First few hours of the morning are producing bass on the lower end in the grass. There is a really soft bite on craws and dropshot. Bass are good with 3-4 pound catches coming in the river and backs of coves on rocky points with crankbaits and topwaters. Water clarity is clearer from Lago Vista to the dam, and stained up the river. Report by Randal Frisbie, Central Texas Fishing Guide, LLC. There is a good topwater bass bite due to the cooler morning temperatures. Topwaters, fast moving soft jerkbaits, wakebaits and the like are catching some good fish. Bass are also feeding around the grass, so cast a Texas-rigged soft plastic like a worm, craw or jig. Shallow to mid crankbaits will catch a lot as well. Target points and cliff walls for cranking. Report by Bryan Cotter, Texas Hawgs.
SLOW. Water stained. 70 degrees; 39.25 feet below pool. Fishing is very slow for all species. Catfish are slow in the main body of the lake on drop-offs with cheese bait or fresh bait. Carp are slow. Crappie are slow and small, with undersized fish scattered in 7-15 feet of water. Report by Captain Michael Peterson, 4 Reel Fun Guide Service.
SLOW. Water normal stain; 77 degrees; 1.49 feet below pool. Forecasted weather change should improve the bite. Crappie are slow with some decent size fish suspended in 16-20 feet of water with minnows. Catfish are fair in 10-16 feet of water stink bait, liver and nightcrawlers. Bream are fair on red worms off the barge and throughout the lake. Bass are fair on topwater baits, crankbaits and spinnerbaits scattered throughout the lake. Report by The Boulders at Lake Tyler. Crappie are good scattered on docks in 6-8 feet of water, or on the southern end of the lake chasing shad on minnows. Report by Caleb Hensley, 903 Fishing.
SLOW. Water stained; 80 degrees; 1.75 feet below pool. Crappie are good in 10-20 feet of open water on brush piles with live minnows or jigs. Largemouth bass are slow and scattered. The best bite is early or late in the day with soft plastics. Sand bass are excellent on small slabs, small crankbaits, small swimbaits and small spoons in 15-35 feet on open water humps, points, ridges, roadbeds, and on the Old Dam. Blue catfish and channel catfish are good with cut bait or live shad on juglines or rod-and-reel in 10-30 feet of water. Hybrids up to 7 pounds are being caught with 5 inch swimbaits or spoons at the Old Dam. Best colors are white and chartreuse or chrome.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 76 degrees. Watee clarity is a typical stain with about 2 feet of visibility. The boat ramp is closed to power boats for infrastructure repair, but you can still launch kayaks and canoes. It is also still possible to fish from the bank. Water level is continuing to drop as they prepare for repairs. Fall conditions are in effect and bass are still chasing shad so they can be caught with multiple moving techniques like swimbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jerkbaits off the reed lines and in the open flats and points. Texas rigged weightless/light weight soft plastics continue to be successful along the submerged grassline and in pockets against the reeds. Bass also keying in on dragonflies which means they’re still hitting top water some, but that bite seems to be slowing down overall. Report by Team YAKUSA.
FAIR. Water heavily stained; 80 degrees; 4.65 feet below pool. Crappie are fair with some keepers being caught in 10-12 feet of water on brush piles with jigs. Catfish are fair along the rocks with cut bait. Bass are slow.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 75 degrees; 23.51 feet below pool. Water level is low so launch and navigate with caution. Catfish are fair. Largemouth bass can be caught off the shore with soft plastics.
FAIR. Water normal stain; 82 degrees; 0.92 feet below pool. Catfish are good using punch bait in 18-25 feet of water. Striped bass bite is slow on live bait or trolling in 30 feet of water. Some stripers being caught on artificial baits while trolling umbrella rigs and Alabama rigs. Crappie are fair on small jigs and minnows in timber in 15-20 feet on the north end of the lake. White bass fishing is slow. Largemouth bass fishing is slow. Report by Captain Cory Vinson, Guaranteed Guide Service.
FAIR. Water normal stain; 70 degrees; 3.26 feet below pool. White bass are good on main lake structures on slabs with teaser flies. Crappie are fair to good on brush piles and main lake structure on jigs with white color combinations. Blue catfish and channel catfish are good on cut bait punch bait. Report provided by Chad Ferguson of North Texas Catfish Guide Service.
GOOD. Water normal stain; 75 degrees; 0.13 feet below pool. Largemouth bass are shallow in the morning feeding heavily in worms and grubs. Transitioning to rocks in the evening being caught with crank baits. White bass are getting thick in the main lake being caught with both crank baits and small paddle tails. Crappie are great in the rivers being caught on small jigs tight to structure in 12-16 feet of water. Catfish are being caught on jugs rigged with live perch and fresh caught shad using an 8 foot leader. Report by Captain Zackary Scott, Zack Attack Fishing.
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Saltwater Weekly Fishing Report Week of October 30, 2024
Redfish Bay
FAIR. 83 degrees. Full moon has slowed the bite during the day while fish feed up at night. Expect changes to the pattern with the forecasted coldfront. Drum are good with piggy perch, cut skipjack, cut or live mullet near Klondike Island. Captain Aerich Oliver, Rockport Paradise Outfitters.
San Antonio Bay
GOOD. 80 degrees. Redfish and trout were good on bay reefs, but expect the bay to be murky and stirred up after the recent wind. Redfish, trout and black drum can be caught in the back lakes and reeds. Decent sized trout can be caught on live shrimp. Redfish are good on mullet. Black drum are good on dead shrimp. Report Captain Lynn Smith, Back Bay Guide Service.
Sabine Lake
GOOD. 85 degrees. When the winds are calm the gulf rigs are holding trout, ling and cobia in 35-40 feet of water on LSU colored 3inch plastics. Triple tail can be caught in the same area along the weed lines with debris beneath. When the winds are blowing drift in the Sabine Channel and ICW for limits of trout and redfish off the points, drops, shell flats and rock piles with live shrimp under a popping cork. Water has dropped some brining flounder out of the marshes in the channel on artificials. Flounder season ends November 1. Neches River is now fishable, producing a mixed bag of speckled trout and redfish off the points, drops and rock piles. Bait primarily seems to be holding to the rock piles. Forecasted cold front should increase the bird action throughout the system. Birds are still working in Sabine Lake leading the way to redfish fishing a �¾ ounce gold spoon off the bottom. There are a lot gafftops and even sharks beneath as well. Bull redfish can be caught in Sabine Lake and the Neches River. Report by Captain Randy Foreman, Captain Randy’s Guide Service Sabine Lake.
Bolivar
GOOD. 77 degrees. Water temperature staying in the upper 70s. Water levels swapping back-and-forth this week with the front and the tides. Anglers are still catching plenty of redfish everywhere. There are plenty of big croakers along with sand trout, black drum, speckled trout, and crabs caught along the jetty with a few small stingrays and sharks. Flounder are still sporadic with small males still being caught until we get some cooler weather. Flounder season ends November 1. The surf is producing lots of redfish and black drum, a few gafftop, lots of small stingrays, and bigger sharks along the whole peninsula with high activity towards Gilchrist/High Island mainly. Report by Captain Shane Rilat, North Jetty Bait Camp
Trinity Bay
SLOW. 78 degrees. Birds still active in the northern area of the bay. Shorelines holding better fish in 2-4 feet of water over shell. Schools of redfish in the open bay. Ship Channel spoil islands are producing catches of no a redfish, black drum, a few sheepshead and speckled trout. Best on live shrimp. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Winds are forecasted to be pumping out of the southeast. Pay attention and plan to navigate and fish protected shorelines. Kayak fishing can be deadly during these conditions, so always wear a life jacket and be safe. Wearing a kill switch when underway can save ask the lives on a boat. Redfish are heavy on shorelines with rocks in coves in shallow water being caught on imitation shrimp rigged weedless and live shrimp under a popping cork. Trout are in scattered shell flats that are around 5 foot deep being caught on the WACky fluke in the code red color teamed up with a 1/4o ounce jig head. Sheepshead and drum are tight to rock shorelines being caught on live shrimp under a popping cork. Flounder are showing up pretty good on points and mouths with current being caught on live shrimp on the bottom and gulp shrimp rigged weedless. The flounder season ends November 1. Report by Captain Zackary Scott, Zack Attack Fishing.
East Galveston Bay
GOOD. 78 degrees. Flounder, redfish, black drum, and a few trout being caught near bayou mouths and drains. Birds working over schooling speckled and sand trout, also a few bull redfish in the open water. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. A few more slot-sized speckled trout, black drum, and redfish being caught on live shrimp, croakers, and finger mullet. A few reports of good fishing by the old broken bridge, Siever’s Cut, and near the boat ramp by Rollover. Report by Captain Shane Rilat, North Jetty Bait Camp. Surface water temperature 75 degrees, water clarity has been extremely good for East Galveston Bay this past week. There has been lighter than average winds, allowing anglers to fish all over the bay system. Trout and redfish were good off shore oyster reefs. Redfish were also good off grass shorelines, including back in the marsh. Target flats with scattered shell around pinch points with current and nervous bait, with great success, enabling us to land trout, redfish and the few flounder are beginning to show up in their Fall Spots. Imitation Shrimp lures under popping corks with 12 inch leaders have still been producing the most bites. Fish are also hitting 1/8 ounce jig heads with WacAttack and Deadly Dudley tails in lighter colors, as well as Gulp tails when targeting flounder. Birds are still working all over the bay. The morning and evening temperatures are nice, so get out there and enjoy the great outdoors. Remember October 31st is the last day to keep legal flounder until Mid-December. Report by Captain Jeff Brandon, Get the Net Guide Service, LLC.
Galveston Bay
SLOW. 78 degrees. Wind will be a factor fishing the open bay wells. Look towards protected shorelines as they have produced catches of redfish, black drum, sheepshead, even a few flounder and speckled trout. Best action on live shrimp. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing.
West Galveston Bay
GOOD. 79 degrees. Decent bite on large sand trout, speckled trout, and redfish, over shell and along the shoreline coves. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing.
Texas City
GOOD. 77 degrees. Bull redfish is still the name of the game. Plenty of fish are being caught at night and some during the day near the end of the dike. Galveston jetties producing bull redfish, black drum, even some speckled trout. Best bite for redfish has been on crab, mullet or shad. Trout are biting live shrimp. Report by Captain David Dillman, Galveston Bay Charter Fishing. Anglers are still catching plenty of speckled trout, redfish, and flounder with the occasional black drum, sand trout, gafftop and big croaker. Successful wade fishing around Mosquito Island and inside the Moses Lake Tidal Gate in the late afternoons. Along the dike has been productive from the beginning to the end. Live shrimp and finger mullet have been the best baits. Report by Captain Shane Rilat, North Jetty Bait Camp.
Freeport
GOOD. 85 degrees. Birds have been working over trout and redfish feeding on shrimp in the mornings and in the evenings. Live shrimp under a four horseman popping cork, or gulp with 1/16 jig head has been catching fish. Redfish are good in the surf on live or cut mullet. The old river has been good for trout, redfish, sheephead and mangrove snapper. The river been good for trout, redfish, drum, sand trout and big croaker using either live or dead shrimp. Report by Captain Jake Brown, Flattie Daddy Fishing Adventures
East Matagorda Bay
GOOD. 85 degrees. Weather continues to be warm, with wind. Trout are being caught wading or drifting with plastics, live shrimp under a popping cork and topwaters. Report by Captain Charlie Paradoski, Captain Charlie Paradoski’s Guide Service.
West Matagorda Bay
GOOD. 85 degrees. Weather continues to be warm, with wind. Redfish, trout and drum can be caught wading or drifting with plastics, live shrimp under a popping cork and topwaters. Report by Captain Charlie Paradoski, Captain Charlie Paradoski’s Guide Service.
Port O’Connor
GOOD. 84 degrees. Large trout are being caught on the outside of the jetty on live shrimp. Redfish are biting at the ends of both jetties on Spanish sardines and blue crab. Keeper black drum are biting on the inside of the south jetty halfway down in 25 feet of water. Sharks are biting in the middle of the jetties on cut bait. Report by Captain Marty Medford, Captain Marty’s Fish of a Lifetime Guide Service.
Rockport
GOOD. 84 degrees. Trout are fair on croaker and piggy perch along grass and shell in 3-4 feet of water. Redfish continue to be great on flats, sand pockets and along the islands with shrimp, piggy perch, cut skipjack or mullet. Black drum are good on live or dead shrimp and fish bites in drains, sand pockets and along oyster beds. Tides continue to be high. Report by Captain Kenny Kramer, Kramer Fishing Charters.
Port Aransas
GOOD. 84 degrees. Slot and oversized redfish are good on silver spoons, shrimp and cut mullet or skipjack at the north and south jetty. Trout are good with croaker, piggy perch or shrimp free lined along rocks. Silver spoons have also been producing good redfish at both north and south jetties. Black drum are good on shrimp. Report by Captain Kenny Kramer, Kramer Fishing Charters.
Corpus Christi
FAIR. 83 degrees. Full moon has slowed the bite during the day while fish feed up at night. Expect changes to the pattern with the forecasted coldfront. Redfish, trout and drum are biting on live shrimp under a popping cork. Report by Captain Aerich Oliver, Rockport Paradise Outfitters.
Baffin Bay
GOOD. 80 degrees. Redfish have really picked up on the grass flats of Baffin Bay lately with good numbers of near-oversized drag rippers being landed. With the never-ending ultra high water levels still hanging in there, big trout fishing can sometimes be challenging. However, they are plentiful! The upcoming fall and winter should be tremendous for trophy Trout catching. Soft plastics, both straight tail and paddle tail, rigged on light jig heads are working fantastically along the bottom of the water column. Try the Coastal Brew 6 inch darts and Down South Lures in the supermodel size. Natural colors are working best. Texas Custom SoftDine XLs will be coming into play as the water temperatures begin to drop. Make sure you’ve got a good stock in dark and light colors to have them ready to go. Weather has been fantastic so get out there and take advantage of it! Report by Captain Sally Black. The incoming tides and the abundance of rainfall has promoted positive activity as well as grass growth in our bay system. There are schools of bait alongside shorelines early in the morning. Baffin Bay is mainly wind driven, so follow these pods of bait and throw your favorite lure from soft plastics to Corky’s and topwaters. Color depends on the water clarity, as well as sunlight. Baits with copper or gold and silver glitter have been performing well. Remember to stay safe and courteous on the water and as always tight lines! Report by Captain Reanna DeLaCruz, Captain Reanna’s Baffin Bay Adventures.
Port Mansfield
GOOD. 80 degrees. The wind will be an issue off and on this week. The west shoreline will not be an ideal place to wade or drift. The east cut should produce some trout and redfish action. In the morning using Mansfield Knockers topwaters would be best and switching to KWigglers plastics in the afternoon. Topwaters and 1/4 ounce gold spoons on the sand flats northeast of butchers are producing redfish action. The saucer, out by the cabins fishing towards the IWC is also a great stop to make while out on the water. Report by Captain Michelle Frazier.
South Padre
FAIR. 80 degrees. There is rain in the forecast with light winds out of the southeast. Trout are good on the Gas Well Flats and intercoastal with live shrimp. Redfish are fair to good on Gas Well Flats and on the westside of the pavilion. Trout are good free shrimping at the old causeway with sheepshead mixed in. Mangrove snapper are excellent at the end of Brownsville Channel. Report by Captain Lou Austin, Austin Fishing South Padre.
Port Isabel
FAIR. 80 degrees. There is rain in the forecast with light winds out of the southeast. Trout are good on the Gas Well Flats and intercoastal with live shrimp. Redfish are fair to good on Gas Well Flats and on the westside of the pavilion. Trout are good free shrimping at the old causeway with sheepshead mixed in. Mangrove snapper are excellent at the end of Brownsville Channel. Stay safe out there. Report by Captain Lou Austin, Austin Fishing South Padre.
The bite for me was mainly about top water as there was times when you could have fished on top all day long and caught top water fish. We had perfect conditions most of the week for a variety of top water baits; results are everything and it proved out fishing over grass.
Baits were mainly about SPRO pop-r’s, buzz baits and spooks working over grass. We did have some good results on Missile Bait D-Bombs and Tight-Line swim jigs. The best was certainly the top water bite, and it really didn’t matter what to bait you fished.
Retrieve Speed and Results
As we approach winter fishing or late fall feed up this becomes a time of year that one of the most critical things that people do wrong shows its head. When you have trouble catching fish this time of year, it has a lot to do with how quickly you retrieve your bait while fishing!
There are many ways to work a bait and certainly many of them require you to work them very quickly to produce the action the bait was designed for; however working that bait certain times of years require you to slow down and we are approaching that critical time now!
Let me give you an example, many of us are successful at fishing a frog when we burn it across a grass mat. Excellent example of when and how to catch fish; burning it does require you to change speeds and tempo many times to be successful. If you’re burning the frog without stopping, slowing, or speeding back up, then you could very well have the wrong tempo required to get a bass to bite. When your best buddy tells you to burn it and they will bite does not necessarily mean he never slows down, or stops the bait to change the tempo, this can be a critical piece of retrieve speed.
All baits we fish with require thought on the presentation; and many times the presentation you use at first light may need to be changed drastically to get the same bite at 11am. Fish are more active many times at 6am than they are at 9am and retrieve speed and tempo needs to be changed many times as the day progresses.
Lastly tournament anglers are a perfect example of critical retrieve speed. Many times a tournament angler hits the water for a practice day and really slays the fish. He goes back to the same spot at the same time of day during the tournament and can’t get his fish to bite; why? He is fishing with a different tempo than he did during his practice time. Not realizing how critical this can be, his body is hyped up and the speed and tempo at which he catches fish in practice has changed! His adrenaline changed his tempo and hence his bite.
Thought is everything in retrieve speed!
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You never know when or where you’ll connect with the fish of a lifetime
PARK FALLS, Wis. (October 9, 2024) – Sometimes referred to as “a foot deep and a mile wide,” the sprawling Susquehanna River rises in Central New York’s Otsego Lake and drains over 27,000 square miles in three states before dumping into the Upper Chesapeake Bay. Bisecting the entire state of Pennsylvania and containing a rich forage base, the Susky is full of spunky smallmouth bass… for anglers who can get to them.
Shallow and rocky, the Susquehanna is the domain of the jetboat; ideal craft for skimming over and around treacherous rocks and ledges that would destroy an ordinary bass boat. Susquehanna fishing guide, Joe Raymond, bought his first in his twenties and now runs a 300-HP Rock Proof River Rocket. He’s been guiding anglers on the Susquehanna for over 15 years. In that time, he watched his clients catch a lot of big bass. A couple of weeks ago, Raymond caught one of his own.
“For George and me, we looked at this picture and were absolutely shellshocked,” Mike told viewers in his intro. That speaks volumes, given the Acord brothers’ some-50 years of experience fishing on the Susquehanna River, not to mention the hundreds of big smallmouth photos they see from their customers each and every year.
Raymond described the series of events leading up to the historic catch.
“Tom (Mills) and I had talked about fishing a Williamsport Bassmasters Charity Tournament for Toys for Tots,” Raymond said. “We’d only fished up there a couple times and it had been a few years. We remembered both times being a dinkfest, but we decided to do it and have some fun while supporting a worthy cause. There was a big thunderstorm the night before. My roof was leaking and I didn’t sleep at all. We didn’t have much of a gameplan and just headed upriver in the dark to a spot we’d had some success at before. There was already a boat there so we just kept going.”
Raymond says they finally pulled into a spot and started fishing. “The plan was for me to fish for a limit and Tom to target a lunker,” he recalls. “I was throwing a 3” Z-Man MinnowZ swimbait on a weedless jighead and I kept losing fish. Nothing big, but it was aggravating,” he says. When Raymond opted to switch to an open jig, a new sort of misery crept in. “I started to catch a few small ones, but I was getting snagged on almost every cast. I told Tom I was done and we had to move.”
The pair bounced around to a few spots in the largely unfamiliar water without a lot of success. “There was an area up there in one of those pools we had passed… it looked so good,” Raymond says. “We agreed it had to have fish, but we’d never caught anything there during our two prior trips to this part of the river. We decided to try it anyway.”
The pair arrived at the back end of the pool and Raymond started fishing his 3” MinnowZ on a 7’ medium-power St. Croix Legend X spinning rod paired to a 3000 Vanford reel with10-lb. smackdown braid and a 10-lb. Tatsu fluoro leader. The curse continued. “I broke off again… like right away… and had to tie on a whole new leader,” Raymond says. “Tom was throwing a Ned rig in a current seam and he had broken off too.”
Raymond was sick of snagging up, so he tied a fresh EZ Money-colored Z-Man paddletail with a weedless jighead onto the fresh leader.
“There was a log on the bottom in the back of this pool in about four feet of water. I made a cast to it and flipped the bail closed after giving the bait a couple seconds to get down,” Raymond says. “I reeled tight and felt weight and immediately thought I was snagged again… then I felt movement. I hit this thing and it came screaming up and did a backflip in front of the boat. The fish looked huge, but I was still trying to process what had happened and how big the bass actually was. It only took a couple more seconds before I realized what I was fighting.”
“When a guy like Joe Raymond tells you to get the net because he just hooked the biggest smallmouth of his life, you move quickly,” Mills says. “The fish was just digging behind the boat puking up crayfish like crazy. The water was so clear it was like watching the scene in an aquarium.”
“The fish fought so hard,” Raymond says. “I was thinking, is this real life?” Then the St. Croix took a deeper bend and the fish took off downstream.
Raymond snapped out of his daydream and took the MinnKota off of Spotlock to follow the big brown bass that was now peeling line and headed for some rapids. “We caught up and netted it,” Raymond says. “Both of us were staring into the net and going crazy like a couple little kids.”
Raymond weighed and measured the fish quickly before snapping a couple of photos. She stretched the tape to 24 inches and bottomed out at 7.19 pounds. Later, the fish would weigh 7.08 at the tournament weigh in.
“I just kinda lost it,” Raymond says. “Like any guide – or any serious fisherman – I obsess over big fish. I’ve celebrated with so many of my clients after helping them catch personal-best bass over the years. This fish is the first over six pounds I’ve ever caught on the Susquehanna, and only the second over seven anyone I know has ever heard of from the river. It wasn’t a super-fat fish, just thick all the way through and super healthy. I actually know the guy who caught the other documented 7-1 back in 1981. His name is Russell Fuller. I heard the story over and over when I was young and was always suspect until I got the chance to meet him and speak with him later in life. He brought the mount into the restaurant a few years ago and I was blown away when I saw it. He caught his in the spring, basically right behind the house where I now live in Duncannon. It was a 23” pre-spawn fish, so it was quite a bit fatter. Mine wasn’t as deep but was an inch longer.”
Raymond has a few key tips for all smallmouth anglers.
“You never know when or where you’ll connect with the fish of a lifetime,” he says. I certainly never expected to run into this fish in the spot we were fishing. I was lucky that I had just re-tied my leader. We’ve all gotten lazy about knots and leaders and it always bites you. I learned this early as a guide. If you cinch down a knot and it doesn’t feel right, or your leader knot gets hung up in your guides, or you feel some nicks in your leader, take the time to re-tie and avoid disappointment.”
Raymond is also a firm believer in using the best gear you can afford. “I’m not rod heavy; I’m rod particular,” he says. “Unlike a lot of bass fishermen who have a dedicated rod for every specific presentation they make, I’m the guy who has a handful of different rods that I like and trust with a few powers and actions that suit the lines and lures I most often fish. There are a ton of great rods on the market today. For me, it’s hard to beat the quality and performance of St. Croix and specifically their Legend X series. These rods are made in the USA, light, load up great, and are extremely sensitive. It’s the same with the lures I most often use. Z-Man ElaZtec plastics mimic everything in this river a smallmouth eats and the material is incredibly soft with unmatched durability. For me, that means my clients can catch a bunch of fish on a single bait before I have to replace it. The Z-Man MinnowZ swimbait is the best bait ever for guiding. They can be rigged in a bunch of different ways to match the conditions and have a shimmy almost like a spybait on a slow steady retrieve. You will catch fish hopping them on the bottom and burning them through the water, too.”
Finally, Raymond encourages anglers to handle all fish with care and to release the ones with the genetics that make better fishing possible for everyone. “I think most bass anglers are in the same camp about caring for big bass and releasing them healthy, but we still have some archaic regulations and procedures in some states, especially when it comes to recognizing record fish,” he says. “In a lot of states, you just can’t get a record fish certified without killing it. No record or recognition is worth killing a huge, old fish. The very same day I caught my fish here in Pennsylvania, a guy fishing a tournament in New York caught a nine-pounder, which would have smashed the state record. He called the DEC and was told to put the fish on ice until someone could come out and certify the fish the next day. He would have had to kill it to get it certified. That’s a huge problem. To his credit, the angler – Dante Piraino – knew better and had no part of that plan. After it was weighed and revived, he adamantly directed tournament officials to put that fish right back into the St. Lawrence River with all the rest of them. States need more protocols and procedures that make it easy for people to certify fish like this without killing the fish. These are genetic freaks and all of us need to let them continue to do their thing.”
For up-to-date information on fishing in the Susquehanna River, or for tackle recommendations, contact Susquehanna Fishing Tackle at 800-814-7433 or via their website, sfttackle.com.
Water Level: The lake level stands at .64 feet ABOVE full pool.
Water Temp: Temps are hovering in the upper 70s on my Garmin
Water Clarity: Nothing significant to report on the clarity of the lake, it’s typical clarity for June.
I have been on Lanier for 4 of the past 7 days. The fishing was very good for numbers with some good fish mixed in to keep things interesting.
There really has not been a lot of changes in what I have been doing since my last report. Top water is still the most productive pattern day in and day out. I expect this to continue until the water temps creep up into the low to mid 80s range. When that happens, the thermocline will become more prevalent, surface O2 levels will decrease and Anglers will have to get more creative with presentations.
For now, it’s time to enjoy the famed topwater bite that Lanier is known for. My focus is humps and point in 25’-35’ FOW. Chrome if it is sunny, bone or more subdued colors when it is cloudy.
This is also the time of the year where it is a good idea to have several different styles of top water baits available. Anglers may need to vary their retrieves and bait profile to figure out what the fish want on any given day.
Lastly, I want to hit on our old buddy the shaky head. While Top water rules the roost for most days, the shaky head can still be a trip savior. Anglers often don’t think of the SH as a June bait, but it can be extremely effective on days when the fish just don’t want to play ball or when Anglers are just looking to give fish a different look. I throw it in the same areas as I do top water, I am just slowing way down. A 3/16oz Davis HBT head with a Trixster Tamale is my go to set up.
The daily videos I publish cover these techniques in greater detail and all other techniques that were effective over this past week. In these videos, I cover the conditions, part of the lake, and how I caught fish (or did not) for most days that I am on the water. All subscribers will have access to all historical videos as well (261 previous videos). You can sign up and view videos at https://jeffnail.uscreen.io
Lake Lanier Fishing JournalDaily updates on bass fishing at Lake Lanier. Created by Jeff Nail Fishing and Guide Service.jeffnail.uscreen.io
For the new few weeks, I have the following dates available: June 15-18 and 21. July: I am pretty open for all days after the 8th. If you are interested in a trip, please reach out and I will get you on the calendar.
Jeff 770-715-9933 jeffnailfishing@gmail.com jeffnail.uscreen.io Jeffnailfishing.net
Bass were feeding on herring or gizzard shad spawning on a rocky point. I caught every fish I weighed in except one by 8:30 each morning. Several hit a spinnerbait, the others hit an underspin lure.
For years at Clarks Hill after the spawn bass hung around back in coves and pockets feeding where they had bedded. I remember daddy and two other men going around the back of a creek with Hula Popper and hooking big bass one morning.
They would not let us kids back there with them, we were too noisy! Four of us were in a bigger ski boat that we had pulled their jon boat to the creek from the boat ramp. We were near the mouth of the cove, trying to paddle it and fish.
I tried to make a long cast to a button bush in the water with my Devil’s Horse topwater plug but it went way off target. As I reeled it in as fast as I could turn the handle on my Mitchell 300 Spinning reel, a huge bass attacked the plug.
Somehow we managed to land that seven pound largemouth. It was by far the biggest bass I had ever caught when I was 15 years old. For days we talked about that bass being crazy chasing down that lure skipping across the top of the water. Everybody knew you fished slowly for bass!
Now we know you can not reel a lure faster than a bass can chase it down, and often very fast moving lures will attract bites when nothing else will. Buzzbaits were invented for that kind of fishing. I just wish I had been smart enough to figure that out back then and invent them!
I caught many bass at Clarks Hill in the 1970s and early 1980s fishing back in coves and creeks in April. Then the blueback herring population exploded in the lake and changed everything.
Bass love the herring. They are big with an average size of about seven inches so they are a big meal to fill a bass fast. And they are very rich in oils and protein, perfect for bass recovering from the spawn.
Herring are an open water fish, living on the main lake where it is deep. When the herring spawn they go to shallow gravel and rock areas on the main lake and are easy for bass to catch and eat.
It seems all the bass have learned that and almost[RG1] all of them will head to open water as soon as they spawn in April to eat herring. It has changed the way I fish on herring lakes like Clarks Hill.
The first weekend of May might be a little on the soggy side, with warm temps and a light to moderate south winds. Hmmm… sounds like pretty good fishing weather to me. The extended forecast indicates lots of cloud cover through the week, and an increasing chance of rain late in the week. The bite reminds pretty good for Bass and Stripers, although we are seeing some changes with the warming water temps. The lake level dropped last week, .28 feet, to a level of 1071.23 that is .23 above full pool. We’ll call the core surface temp 72 degrees.
Remember to be sure and tune into Capt Macks Epic Outdoors Radio each Saturday AM, 4 to 6 am. on WSB 750 Am. Yeah, it’s early, but I’ll be up with a pot of coffee and some Fig Newtons waiting to take your hunting and fishing calls.
Striper Fishing
The bite is good, and the techniques are really the same as recent weeks. The fish are also using the same types of structures and areas, with maybe a little more emphasis on the Herring spawn. The fish are pretty catchable when you find them so stay in the move until you locate them. Free lines and planers continue to account for good numbers of fish, but the down lines are still producing and are perhaps a bigger part of the pattern than in the last few weeks. Keep in mind the floating down lines, they are often a good technique at this point in the year. Herring and Gizzard Shad are catching fish, with shiners also still being effective, the shiners mostly on the free lines. Pulling the baits around shallow humps, reef poles, and points is a solid pattern, best in the am, but effective all day.
Looking for the spawning bait fish remains a good strategy, find the bait fish spawns and the Stripers will likely be nearby. Shad and Herring may spawn on almost any type of rock or hard surface. Look around the ridge pilings, seawalls, rip rap or rocky banks. The fish that are around the bait concentrations may be shallow, especially early. After the bait fish activity slows or ceases, the Stripers may stay in the same area, just backing off into deeper water and relating very loosely to the structure.
The pitch bite remains very, very good, perhaps one of our most prolific patterns each year. To respond to a couple of questions; What exactly is pitching? It is just finding a likely structure that is holding fish, securing the boat with spot lock shallow water anchors, and casting or “pitching’ a live bait, on Lanier general a Herring to the structure. Easy enough, but there are a couple of pointers there will catch more fish. Firstly, once you pitch, lob may be a better description, to the point, fish with your rod tip low. The reason being, many of the fish, especially the Stripers will eat the bait and swim towards the boat, fast! Maybe faster than you can reel. If you rod tip is high, you lose the benefit of being able to lift the rod on the bite which gives you the ability to take up several feet of line, aka slack. Also, I prefer not to set the hook, but just start cranking until you feel the weight of the fish, then lift the rod, keep reeling and that should get the hook set. I prefer a circle hook over the octopus for the pitching technique
Bass Fishing
April Was a very good month, it’s early, so far it looks like May will continue that trend! The patterns of the last few days are continuing, I think we can just add in a few post spawn patterns that are emerging. Are the fish still spawning? I think so, however, I think there was a big group of fish that spawned on that last full moon that be will be finishing up soon. I still think we will have another group of spawning fish, maybe not as big as last month, so the shallow water patterns will still have merit, we’ll just have some post spawn patterns to add variety.
With water temps in the low 70’s we should have shallow fish anyway, regardless of the spawn. You’ll still have the advantage of catching fish on many baits, the same baits that have been effective in recent weeks will still be catching fish. The soft plastics, jerk baits, spinnerbaits, swim baits (both soft plastics and hard baits)and top waters continue to produce. One footnote on the spinnerbait bite I have discussed so much recently: as the fish leave the banks the spinnerbaits will still have application. The technique is the same as mentioned in earlier reports, just deeper. Fish the bait slowly enough that is following the slope of the bottom to get the bait down into 5 to 12 feet. a heavier bait may also be a plus in getting into the appropriate depth range. Banks with cover will still hold fish, it will most likely be that shallow offshore structures will be more prolific. Target long flat points, shallow humps, deep stump flats and shallow brush tops.
Keep an eye on the spawning Herring, find them and you find the fish. What to cast? Again, lots of choices will get the bite. Sashimmy Shads and Lanier Baits Magic Swimmers, are a couple of consistent producers. Soft plastics on the lead head, and top waters should all get the bite. The same baits will have application for any schooling fish you see chasing bait, and that is occurring frequently now!
Call it a tale of two Sinclairs. Or a tale of three lakes in only three days. Last weekend showed how fast bass fishing can change this time of year.
Last Friday I met Ricky Layton to get information for my GON April Map of the Month article. The weather guessers were right for a change when they predicted high winds, bluebird skies and cold weather. That combination is usually the kiss of death for fishing in the spring.
Ricky said we would meet at Bass’s Boat House, an old marina where the clubs used to put in back in the 1970s. It was near the dam and the water might be slightly clearer in that area, and we would be more protected from the wind. All this spring the flooding rains have made our lakes fill up with very muddy water.
We waited until 9:00 AM to go out since it was cold. The first two hours seemed to show the weather and muddy water was working against us. Ricky took me to some places he had caught good fish the weekend before, but the water was even muddier than it had been and we got no bites.
At 11:00 Ricky was starting to look at the article pattern and caught an eight-pound largemouth on a bladed jig. The fish was up shallow near a grass bed, the pattern for April. That is a big fish for Sinclair, it has been a long time since I have seen one that big there, although there have been several that were close the past few years.
About noon we started fishing and marking places for the article, working bass bedding and shad spawning areas. Ricky caught a five-pound largemouth out of a grass bed on what will be hole #2. A few minutes later he caught one weighing about six pounds there.
The next place we fished Ricky caught another fish right at six pounds, on the same pattern, halfway back in a creek with grass beds up shallow on the bank. One of the last places we fished he landed his smallest fish of the day, one that weighted about 3.5 pounds. In all that time I landed one weighing about 2.5 pounds, but my excuse is I was too busy netting his fish and taking pictures and notes to fish.
Ricky ended up with five bass weighing a conservative 28 pounds. That is the kind of catch you dream about and expect on Guntersville, not Sinclair, especially under bad weather conditions. The water temperature was 58 to 59 degrees where we fished, making those big largemouth were looking for bedding areas.
On Saturday Ricky took his son fishing at Sinclair. Although colder, the weather was better, but the fishing was not. He said they did land a seven-pound fish out of hole #10 but their best five weighed “only” about 14 pounds, not great compared to the day before.
I could not wait to get on the water Sunday morning in the Flint River Bass Club March tournament at Sinclair. I should have known better.
After fishing from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, 13 members landed 20 bass weighing about 36 pounds. There was one five bass limit and five people didn’t catch a 12-inch keeper.
Travis Weatherly won with five weighing 9.02 pounds and his 4.99 pound largemouth was big fish. My three weighing 7.47 placed second and I had a 4.57 pounder for my biggest fish. Niles Murray placed third with three weighing 5.75 pounds and Brent Drake came in fourth with three weighing 4.20 pounds.
The cold air made me shiver on my run to my first stop. Luckily there was enough wind to keep the fog down, it was wispy and hanging just off the water. But there was enough to make it scary trying to watch for all the floating wood.
I stopped off a grass bed that was perfect for the pattern Ricky caught his big fish on Friday, but my heart sank when my temperature gauge hit 49 degrees. A nine or ten degree drop just had to affect the bass. It surely did affect my optimism!
I fished three places in three hours without a bite. Around 11:00 the weak sun was warming the water a little, raising the temperature to about 51 degrees in the cove where Ricky caught a six pounder. I cast a Chatterbait across in front of a grass bed, something thumped it and I set the hook.
My rod bowed up and the fish headed for deep water. I just knew I had a six pounder on, but suddenly my line went slack. The fish just pulled off without me ever seeing it.
At noon I was in the area where Ricky caught two fish, hole #2. I was very down, fishing half the day without a keeper. The water had warmed to 52 so I had some hope. I cast my Chatterbait into some grass and hooked the four pounder I weighed in. That improved my attitude a lot.
After another hour of fishing without a bite, I caught a two pounder in front of some grass, then at 2:00 PM landed my third keeper, a one pounder, from another grass bed. That was it. I fished hard for the rest of the day without another bite.
Borrowing finesse bass rigs for endless crappie, bluegill and panfish action
Ladson, SC – Sometimes, it pays to pitch for panfish as if they’re merely miniaturized versions of their larger bass brethren. In a way, they are. As members of the (Centrarchidae) sunfish family, species like bluegills, crappies and bass, in fact, all share a common pedigree.
The connection is even closer than anglers realize, as each of these species regularly co-mingle near the same aquatic turf, feasting upon the very same prey. Crayfish, insect larvae and tiny shad and shiners all whet the appetites of these communal predators. Bass and big bluegills frequently stalk the same rock-strewn turf, nosing around in little nooks and crevices for concealed crayfish, or larval insects clinging to the hard cover. Same deal on boat docks.
Just as often, they’re hovering and hunting around the fringes of brush and aquatic plants where baitfish hide. Here, bass, crappies and adult bluegills chomp and even cannibalize scads of baby, thumbnail-sized panfish.
Whether close to cover or cherry-picking emerging insects in the abyss, panfish frequently feed up and off bottom, leaning on their nearsighted talents to inspect potential prey, eye-to-eye. Picture a single big crappie or sunfish, nosed right up close and personal with their next meal, examining it for several seconds before finally scooting in for the kill shot. Imagine then the power of presenting a bait that hovers and quivers continuously in the water column, rather than sinking to the bottom and out of the strike zone.
Offering all the depth precision of a slip bobber or float rig, yet with the added ability to traverse the bottom terrain, micro-sized finesse rigs remain among the deadliest yet most overlooked panfish presentations of all. But accomplishing the valuable “hover” portion of the presentation relies solely on a new generation of specialized superplastics—exceedingly soft and lively, impossibly durable and perhaps most important, naturally buoyant.
Micro “Hover” Rigs Consider the value of a micro finesse dropshot, Carolina or Cherry (aka Tokyo) rig, coupled with a softbait that floats and hovers naturally in the water column. Often, panfish graze insatiably on emerging insect larvae that hatch out of soft bottom. In other waters, crappies and sunfish crunch crayfish and bugs, such as dragonfly larva, clinging to the upper branches of aquatic plants, vertical dock pilings, or tangles of brush.
In each of these fish-attracting scenarios, a Z-Man LarvaZ™, StingerZ™ or Baby BallerZ™ rigged on a dropshot soars at a set depth, continuously. The natural buoyancy of this specialized ElaZtech material offers ample loft to float the hook itself, tirelessly hovering and twitching nervously, right in the fish’s strike zone. Little tics of the rodtip make the bait’s tail kick, dance and undulate in place, mimicking the exact movements of a live larva. The durable nature of the softbait material keeps the bait on the hook and won’t tear, even if you merely impale it once through the nose with a #8 to #14 hook. Or thread it onto the hook shank for a more horizontal posture while maintaining complete tail motion.
If sonar shows fish staged two feet off bottom, rig the dropshot with the hook riding 2-1/2 to 3 feet off bottom. Most panfish enthusiastically swim up to feed, so always better to keep your bait at eye level or a foot or two above. When fish gather closer to the substrate, switch to a shortened dropshot or “Cherry” rig, pinning the bait/hook within inches of the bottom. Once again, the buoyancy of the ElaZtech material keeps the bait hovering right at the fish’s eye level and out of soft mucky bottoms, where a traditional soft plastic will descend and disappear.
As noted, tail-kicking microbaits like the LarvaZ and StingerZ shine for moving slowly around smaller areas where fish gather. For covering more water or for imitating faster moving baitfish, switch to a micro finesse swimbait like the Shad FryZ™ and drag the rig slightly faster across the terrain. Moreover, the versatile Micro GOAT™ imitates both a crayfish or a baitfish. Rigged flat and retrieved with a slower, rod-twitching cadence, the Micro GOAT resembles a crayfish. But arranged on the hook vertically and retrieved faster, the GOAT’s twin tails become a double tail swimbait with an alluring scissor-kick action. . .
About Z-Man Fishing Products
A dynamic Charleston, South Carolina based company, Z-Man Fishing Products has melded leading edge fishing tackle with technology for nearly three decades. Z-Man has long been among the industry’s largest suppliers of silicone skirt material used in jigs, spinnerbaits and other lures. Creator of the Original ChatterBait®, Z-Man is also the renowned innovators of 10X Tough ElaZtech® softbaits, among the most coveted baits in fresh- and saltwater. Z-Man is one of the fastest-growing lure brands worldwide.
