TxGator

oufaninks, I would like to thank you as well. I have been Henry and Shanes captain the last couple of years. Unfortunatly I am now having to work out of town. Looks like you had them on some nice fish. Gator

The boys fished the high school tournament saturday. We caught 30 or 35 fish, 20 of which came from a small area in 12' of water. Of those 20, only 4 were keepers and barely legal at that. But having 4 in the box by 8:30 was nice. Moved to another area and began picking up a couple of better ones but they were scattered and hugging real tight to cover in 7' or so. They got their 5th fish, and I had to release a 3.5-4# since I had caught it. (I threw up in a hole they had already fished.) Water temps were 62-65 through out the day, water clarity was pretty stained. I think all our fish came off worms and brush hogs. G

Hey Don, do those 1198's come with memory chips just drippin with Rayburn information. If so, I might have to try and talk my wife into it. Gator

Soon as hunting season is over I need to get up there. Gotta try to find the boys some fish for the high school tournament. I do not normally fish this time of year, so its gonna be a challenge. Gator

Had a good time sat seeing new water even though we didn't catch much. Maybe next time. Thanks to fanatic for organizing this and I hope next time we have a bigger turnout. Just goes to show you another one of the differences between Rayburn and Toledo. Was catching in 12 to 15 on rayburn and they caught in 25 on Toledo.

Looks like Henry and I are in. Where is the launch gonna be and what's a fruit jar?

T rig with a small weight was working great this weekend. Caught my best on it a 8#, along with a 6, 2 almost 4 and one almost 5. Most of the fish were on the fluke fished just like this, a couple were on wacky worms. Didnt try it rigged any other way so im not sure if it was just the bait working, or the way we had it rigged. G

It was definitely my best day on the water as far as big fish goes. We've caught more fish overall but not of that quality. Guess the stars just lined up right or maybe we found where they dumped the McDonalds fish lol. The 8 had a red hook in its jaw, I guess who ever had stuck her didn't tie a good knot. The hook looked to be in new condition so I assume that it had happened pretty recently. I've got it stuck in my hat, its my new good luck charm. G

Yesterday was a good day. My father in law and I fished from sunup to about 1. Had 2 just under 4#, one just under 5#, a 6#, and my new best a 8#. On flukes mainly but a couple on wacky. Couldnt get a strike on anything else. I did see a couple swim around my top water lure, but wouldnt strike. Caught a few other fish that were too small and a couple that were barely legal. They all came from 10 - 12' on points. G

Dude, Im thinking ya got something messed up. You asked: He answered: You must not have understood his answer: He clarified further: You copped an attititude: Catt was trying to help, and if you have read his posts you will start to understand that he knows what hes talking about. We are extremly lucky to have folks on here that are willing to share their knowledge and experience with us. G

You might try reading the Toledo thread in the central section. There is a lot of information on this topic there. It might not be focus on the lakes you fish, but the principles should be the same. G

And dont be afraid to drop anchor. G

1500 should be fine. Id spend the extra for 4x4 maybe, but you dont need the bigger truck. Ive pulled my tractor many miles with my 150 with the 5.4 engine. It weighs about 7000# with trailer. You definitly have a load in the hills but it does just fine. Definitly want the towing package with the trans cooler though. G

Catt, and others too, I keep reading and folks that I know are telling me that I need to join a club. They say I will learn a lot and get a lot out of it. Whats yalls opinion of this. To be perfectly honest I stink at finding fish, though I can usually catch them if I know where to go. Do yall know of any local clubs that I might should look at. Im not really interested in fishing for big money, though I wouldnt mind a reasonable entry fee or club dues or whatever. I have a solid safe boat, though shes not pretty or fast. So I could be a boater, but I think I might learn more as a non boater. Would prefer the club focus on rayburn and Toledo, and I goess it could be anywhere between Beaumont and Lake Charles, Im pretty centrally located in Bridge City. Any advice would be appreciated. G

Good luck, Im the boat capt for Henry BTW. As they said practice all you can. Get out in the yard and cast a lot trying to hit a pie pan or some target. Being able to control your casts will help tremendously. Stand on something about a foot taller than your surroundings if possible to simulate being on the elevated deck of the boat. You dont want to waste time having to get your baits out of the bushes and scare off the fish in the area while your doing it. Also, as they said, do your homework. Try finding the lures that others are having success with and stick with them once your out in the field. Its easy to spend a ton of time trying this and that when you were on the right track at the begining. Again this is wasted time. Have confidence in your lure. One other thing that we always did was to discuss the day afterwards. What went right and what went wrong. Then we could focus on improving the areas that needed improving. Good luck. Ohh and one other thing. Donut Sticks, very important. You can grab a bite when your moving between spots. G

CHS if you are part of a high school team try having your team organizer contact various manufacturers. I am a boat captain for a team here and I know there are several companies that have made "sponsorship" deals by offering discounts. Some of which were pretty good. G

OK your making that decision by the areas then, not neccesarily physical signs you were seeing on the fish. I was thinking that there would be bloody fins or fin damage maybe following the spawn. Our fish seemed to come when there was deeper water near, I was thinking that was possibly due to the fluctuating temperatures weve been having this time of year, that they would want that escape route. Sounds like i need to go spend some more time over around the 147. When we fished out of Castle Boykin, i saw some pretty water that was new to me as Ive never really spent much time up there. Has anyone ever tried in the extreme north end of san augustine. Up around the bridge. Sure looks fishy from the highway, but it looks pretty shallow on the maps. Thanks G

OK your making that decision by the areas then, not neccesarily physical signs you were seeing on the fish. I was thinking that there would be bloody fins or fin damage maybe following the spawn. Our fish seemed to come when there was deeper water near, I was thinking that was possibly due to the fluctuating temperatures weve been having this time of year, that they would want that escape route. Sounds like i need to go spend some more time over around the 147. When we fished out of Castle Boykin, i saw some pretty water that was new to me as Ive never really spent much time up there. Has anyone ever tried in the extreme north end of san augustine. Up around the bridge. Sure looks fishy from the highway, but it looks pretty shallow on the maps. Thanks G

Sounds like yall had a good day. Ours wasnt too bad, but fell short of the limit I was hoping for the boys to catch. They caught 4 for 10.44 and released a couple of small fish. I think they did pretty well considering the shortcomings of their boat captain. Ours were all on swim baits is shallow water, 1-2 and right up in the thick grass or in brush. It also seemed like they needed deeper water close by, when we got away from the creeks, we stopped catching. Never found any fish deeper, though the wind prevented us from trying a couple of spots I wanted to try. Would you mind telling me why your thinking post spawn? I was thinking the opposite, that they were up there either about to start or just starting. I didnt see any obvious signs on the fish that they were finished. Maybe im not looking for the right things. Perhaps its the area of the lake too, we were in the san augustine area within a few miles from the park. G

One other thing, Id place the fuse on the positive side, as close to the battery as possible. That way if you get a short anywhere along the line you will be covered. G

When yall talk about up north are yall talking about north of 147? G

Thats a nice fish, congrats. Avryl, I was trying to find a thread on the structure vs cover that was extremly helpful, but have been unable to locate it so far. I believe there may have been a link to it somewhere in the 200+ pages on the toledo thread. Catt was pretty active in it as well and was full of good info. Read Read Read. When we first started the High School thing, I told my boys to start reading on here, theres tons of good info. I have a lot to learn my self, I told them I wasnt very good at finding the fish, and that it would be a learning experience for us all. I think were doing better, but have a long way to go. G

Our own club? Im in. And still waiting for the meetup that was discussed a while back. G

Arval, were in the same boat so to speak, though mines a Broadhead, not a Ranger, and I dont do the tourney thing except as boat captain. Read read read. Theres tons of info on here and I have no doubt that it has helped me, though full livewells are still a thing Im working for. At this point I feel that the main thing I need is more time on the water. Reading the information, and putting it to use is one thing, but just because the area looks good on a map dosnt mean that the fish are actually there. Where ya from? G

It seems commen that the old timers called things by different names than we find on the maps today. I am on a quest to locate brushy creek / cove on Rayburn that I used to fish with my uncle 20 years ago. I know its west of where Letney landing used to be, and was within about 20 mins run in my old 16' flat bottom. Ive narrowed it down but not knowing how fast the boat was sure makes my search area larger. One of these days im just going to have to go cove by cove until I find something that rings a bell. Sat was windy on the lake, but we caught 12-13 fish in shallow water. No size, biggest was about 3.5-4. At least I think ive located enough fish for the boys to catch a limit for their high school tournement this weekend. Water was 65 and stained. G