SkeetyCCTX

Hows it going? Anyways, I live down in south TX and mostly fish Trophy LMB lakes like Choke Canyon and Falcon. However, I have a true love and fascination for smallmouth bass fishing! I absolutely love smallmouth and try to fish for them any chance I get, wheren lies the problem, there arent too many smallie lakes in TX! However, I have found a handfull of pretty darn good smallie lakes over the past several years, such as Belton and Canyon; and I have heard very good things about Texoma, Whitney, and Merideth. All of these lakes have record smallies of over 6.5 lbs and several of them have records of over 7 lbs! In my trips to Belton and Canyon I have always had no trouble catching decent numbers of smallmouths, and have found many fish in the 2-3 lb range! Now, what Im asking you guys, is for any imput you may have on good smallie lakes in TX. Im not talking about lakes that jsut have a few in em, but lakes that actually have catchable numbers where you can go out and target them with success on a regular day! Dont worry about giving away your secrete place because I probably wont fish your lake but maybe once a year, and I always catch and release!

Tommy, it is not uncommon to catch bass in shallow water during the winter, even when alot of fish are deep! I once read an article stating that there are 3 types of bass. One, bass that always stay deep! Two, bass that always stay shallow! Three, bass that alternate between deep and shallow! Its kinda like people, some like the country, some like the cities; and some live in both! Anyways, here in Texas a person can typically catch shallow fish year round, that doesnt mean that the best fishing will be shallow; it just means that a few fish will always be there. Me, Im the kinda fisherman that likes to target those transition points and catch the fish moving between deep and shallow. I look for places where deep water meets shallow water, and try to fish the exact location that I think the fish will congregate at as they move between the two! It works for me! Also, I heard something in an above points talking about how bass will not always hold directly on the bottom during cold weather. This is very true, they also do this when temps are extremely hot. These are suspended fish, and they are in the thermocline! The thermocline is a middle area that usually contains alot of O2 and a stable temp. Recently, I incountered a lot of suspended fish on a trip to Canyon lake in the TX hill country. This fish were in parts of the lake that contained about 60 feet of water, but they were suspended in about 30 feet! They can be tricky to catch because of this weird positioning. Good baits to try are: suspending jerkbaits, tubes, swimbaits, and the hair float tech!

I fished an Amistad tourny on the 7th and we caught fish as deep and 48 ft!! We even heard of fish being caught on jigging spoons in depths of 60, but not confirmed! Now, must of are fish came in 20-30 feet, but there were plenty of fish deeper. The fish that I caught at 48 feet was my deepest bass ever! The thing that will be weird to yall yankees, is that the surface temps were only as low as 53 degrees! That probably seems warm to some of yall, but I guess that Texas bass are like Texan people, wussies when it comes to the cold!

Well, I think it depends on where you live. I know down here in TX that Bass fishing is growing tremendously! There is more and more lake pressure every year, and the fishing seems to be getting tougher because of it! Now there are 3 categories of trouble that I see in our huge fishing population. Meat-Hunters, Tournys, and the ShareLunker Program. First off, TX's fishing population has a huge percentage of meat hunters. Now, there is nothing wrong with legally keeping some fish now and then, but there are guys out here that have to keep everything they catch. You can sit at the Choke Canyon and Falcon boat ramp and watch people filleting 25 lb sacks! Its sick! Those big fish are our breeding females and we need them alive so that our lakes can replenish and have good genetics. Kinda like with managing a ranch, you just dont go slaughter your best bucks; you let them breed! 2nd, Tournys have become absolutley huge in this state. Now, I love to fish them too, and Im not advocating the end of tourny fishing; but I think that we need to run more responsible tournys that what we are doing! There is too much tourny pressure concentrated on just a couple lakes for starters. These lakes are our best and had the best chance at spitting out a record (Fork, Choke Canyon, Amistad)! However, weekly 200 boat events have greatly impacted these lakes. Another thing is the percentage of fish that do not make it after being released! Down here in S.TX that is a huge problem, especially when events are held in the summer. Im not going to get into it, but there is many simple changes that can be made to increas survival rate! Third, the ShareLunker program, which is supposed to create better genetics; needs a drastic overhaul! Yes, their hearts are in the right place, but that doesnt mean that they cant try to get better. The percent of fish that die before they get to Athens is staggering. Sure, once the officials get them they do quite well, but most die before they get there. It is a combo of being too far away, and anglers not being perpared to hold a fish over 13 lbs! My home lake, Choke Canyon, lost like 7 fish last year because of this program, all of them over 14 lbs! I think we would have been better off leaving these fish in the water, in a few years they may have been world record caliber but we will never know now! Now, I dont know how other states are, but this is my opinion of things in Texas! The good thing is that all of these things are fixible. The bad news is that Texans resist change. When you mention better conservation practices people get very defensive. However, if we all do are parts and took a few extra steps to protect our fisheries, there is no doubt in my mind that records will fall!

Hello, I am new to this forum and it seems to be a pretty cool place! The last forum I was on had some pretty shady members. Lots of trolls and unethical fisherman. I just like to talk fishing, give reports of the lakes I fish, and help people out without having to be trash talked for doing so! Anyways, I am adicted to bass fishing. Though I grew up on Padre Island saltwater fishing, I have moved inland to the river and have been hardcore bass fishing for the past several yrs. Thought I live 15 minutes from lake Corpus Christi, I am constantly at Choke Canyon which is only about 45 minutes from my house. If you know anything about Choke, you cant blame me! We have already produced 7 fish over 15 lbs this year alone! I also enjoy making the 2 hr trip down to Zapata, TX to fish Falcon Lake, which is considered by many BASS pros to be the nations top largemouth lake! I try to fish this lake at least once a month, and know it very well. Anyways, I love to talk fishing and help people out. If anyone is planning a vacation to Choke Canyon or Falcon, and needs some help, feel free to contact me. I would be glad to give you a report and some advice, maybe even fish together. I am 26 yrs old, work as an outside salesman for an oilfield trucking company, and have a 2008 skeeter bass boat! Nice to meet yall!

Hi, I lived all the way down near Corpus Christi TX. Though we have great Largemouth fishing at lakes such as Choke Canyon and Falcon near by, I have always been very interested in smallmouth fishing! Last year, I couldnt stand it any more and began searching for the closest lake to south texas where smallies could be caught! For those of yall that didnt know, yes, there is smallmouth in some TX lakes! About 3 hrs NW of Corpus Christi, I found two lakes that have smallmout populations. The first is Medina Lake which is about 30 minutes west of San Antonio, TX; and the other is Canyon Lake which is about 30 minutes N of San Antonio, TX. All of this area is what is call the "Texas Hill Country!" The hill country has several highland type reservoirs characterized by clear water and lots of rocks. The water is much cooler and deeper than the lakes just a few hrs south, and can sustain smallies. Medina is a nice lake, but is is far behind Canyon Lake for smallies. Canyon actually has a very catchable population of smallies, with many fish over 3 lbs. My first time fishing it I was able to catch 3 smallies, all about 2 lbs, without having a clue about the lake! As you move further north, you can find several lakes in TX that have decent smallmouth populations. The lakes range from Amistad in west texas to Texoma with is more NE. Top TX smallie lakes include: Texoma, Belton, Stillhouse, Whitney, and Merideth just to name a few! Recently, I took a trip up to Belton, which is inbetween Waco and Austin (the Capital). This was a beautiful highland style reservoir with clear deep water and lots of rocks. This lake is quickly building a name as maybe Tx' top smallie lake, arguably. It was my first time there but I caught a limmit of smallies in less than 5 hrs! I landed a large fish of 3.5 lbs! So, though many of you did not know, TX does have a smallie population in scattered lakes throughout the state. They are also present in several rivers throughout the state, such as the Guadalupe and Brazos. Many of the lakes that have them boast records over 6 lbs! The state record comes from Texoma, I think, and is about 8 lbs! Good Luck!