HitmanFO

I play blind and dumb... I don't see anything, I don't do anything different, "oops, sorry, didn't realize you were there" as I cast right where they cast, cast beside their boat, etc. They know when they are being rude... they just don't care. So, I play the same game, right back at'em. In every situation like that I've been in so far, it's just a matter of minutes before they get bored with playing games instead of fishing and they move off. Of course, I've been the guilty party before, accidentally cutting off a guy that I thought was maintaining his position when he was actually drifting a flat... just a simple "hey man, you're cutting me off" is enough for me to apologize and move out... whoops. No need for cursing or violence!

I've had the most success with the fluke by putting it on a Carolina-rig... I've had days when bass wouldn't touch it any other way. It's my favorite C-rig lure.

Go to Google.com. In the search bar, type "Where is Chuck Norris" and hit the I'm Feeling Lucky option. "Google won't search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don't find Chuck Norris, he finds you. Suggestions: Run, before he finds you Try a different person" LOL Love it ;D

My favorite fishing shirt is a long sleeve Magellan shirt from Academy. It cost about $16. It is made out of some kind of micro-fiber, something like that, feels like silk. Even with the sleeves down, the vents in back of the shirt catch the air and funnel it thru the shirt, making it cool to wear either way. I also have a Columbia fishing shirt ($40), but I've never worn it fishing... it's my "angler dress-up" shirt for going out in public. ;D The Columbia is nicer, but the Magellan gets the job done!

"Hitman" was a nickname given to me by my platoon in the Army, because I was always volunteering to walk point, do recon, etc., all the dangerous, adrenaline-pumping stuff. "FO"... I was an artillery Forward Observer. Anybody that dealt with artillery in the military knows what an "FO" is; the guys out in front of everybody, blowing stuff up! I've used that name for years as a username on every forum, website, or e-mail address I've had.

Catt, I believe it... I fished for 9 hours on Saturday, from Willow Oak to Mill Creek and back up, hitting various coves and flats and points between the two, and only had two dinks on spinnerbaits to show for it (and I threw the tacklebox, not just spinners). A buddy of mine caught one dink and one keeper on a wacky worm back in the brush in Willow Oak. I'd say post spawn is here. On another note, I did see a guy hauling in nice white perch back in Willow Oak, about 70 yards due north of the boat ramp... I talked to some locals that were extremely interested in that...

Catt, I love Steinhagen... if they'd quit draining it every few years, it would be a great lake. I fish it about once a month... almost got the Champion stuck on a mud flat last time, in the middle of the lake! Skeety, I don't fish other lakes besides Toledo/Rayburn/Steinhagen very often, but rumor is, Stillhouse Hollow in Belton has some pretty nice fish. Lake record is only about 13 pounds, but those I talk to that fish it often say that, in a tourney, if you don't have 20+ pounds, you're not even in the running. Waypoint Guide Service up there (don't know them, have no affiliation, never used them, so I'm not pushing them) posts on his website that he and a client have put together 49# between 5 bass in one day, and 42# another day. That's pretty amazing! I fished there a couple of weeks ago, but the water was in the low 50's... hope to return this summer and really go after them. So, I guess I would say that it is probably underrated, though I don't fish enough other lakes to really put together a "Top 5" list.

A few months ago I took a buddy and my two boys out fishing, just a quick Sunday afternoon trip. We launched in a reservoir and ran way up the river to a couple of small lakes. We get to the spot, I hand my boys their rods, I drop the trolling motor, and I hear my buddy screaming "Oh my god! Oh my god! I need help!" I turn and look and he has a trap going thru his right eye! His first cast went into the brush and he yanked it out; when the trap flew by his face, the hooks caught him. I left the boat drifting, I move my boys to the front of the boat, I have him sit down, and I start evaluating the damage. What we thought was a hook through the eyeball turned out to be a hook through the lower eyelid, not touching the eye... in, out, and hooked into the eyebrow, holding his eye closed. We briefly discussed heading for the nearest ranger station, but were afraid the long ride back would cause more damage. I get the hook out of his eyebrow, and now the trap is dangling from his lower eyelid (in hindsight, that would have made a GREAT picture!). I start working it free, when one of my boys yells "watch out dad!" and my buddy YANKS his head around to see what they are talking about, nearly ripping off his eyelid! Turns out the boat was just drifting up on the bank... no big deal. We turn back to the business on hand and finally make the decision that it's time to cut. He happened to have a razor knife with him, so I start cutting, small, minute cuts, freeing the hook from his eyelid. There was suprisingly little blood... I pulled out my Army first aid kit and we got his eyelid cleaned up. Now, this is a sign of a good fishing partner... or a stupid one... I ask if he wants to head back to the ramp and he says "No, it's not bleeding, let's just fish!" After we got done shaking and the adrenaline rush subsided, we went on to have a great couple of hours of fishing, catching 25 bass or so, and my 7yr old boy caught his first two bass all by himself (cast, reeled, caught the bass, landed it)! We laugh about it all the time now, and have renamed the lake "Hookeye Dan Cove"! Oh, he went to his doctor the next day and got a tetanus shot... the doc asked how he got the trap out and Dan told him "my buddy cut it out with a knife". The doc said, "Well, he did a good job!" Now you can barely see a little scar on his eyelid. I now keep a pair of pliers specifically for cutting hooks in the boat... and we troll over to where we're hung up now, instead of yanking on it! Good times!

Happy birthday Catt... I appreciate all the knowledge you've passed on to bassin' rookies like me!

Just saw this thread... happy birthday... thanks for all your input!

Happy birthday Catt! Wish I'd have had that bit of "north vs. south" info on Saturday! ;D The guy that said he caught the 4 lb'er was tied to a stump right at the mouth of a cove on the south side. I don't have my map with me to get the name, but it is the second cove on the south side, coming from the main lake... penetrates really far into the peninsula. But anyhow, the point is, he was on the south side, fishing right out at the main bay (not deep in the cove), so that concurs with your info. Well, better luck next time, I guess. But, why were the bass on the banks on the south side of the main bay? This is my first "winter bass fishing" season, so I have no experience of my own to draw from. Do you have an educated guess/opinion on why they were located where they were? Was the water warmer for some reason? Maybe the prey was located on the south bank since there was a north wind? Is the structure there more conducive to the conditions we faced on Saturday than it is elsewhere? Just trying to figure it out... trying to make sense of it.

Well guys, I didn't know quite what to expect, since this was the first time I've been bass fishing when it is really cold, but I did not expect to get skunked! And not even just skunked... we did not get a single BITE. We tried everything in our arsenal and fished all kinds of different places. We put in at 7:15 at Fin & Feather. I was planning on going to the coordinates that Catt posted, but never did... instead, we went due north from boat ramp and into the middle of Housen and fished there. We fished grass, the face of the grass, and the channels out there... from 4 to 25 feet deep... with C-rig and Tx-rig plastics, cranks, traps, and spinnerbaits. Then we moved to the north side of Housen and fished the mouth of one of the coves. Next we fished Housen Flats... then moved over to Six Mile flats... then came back into Housen and fished the whole length of a cove/creek, all the way to the back. There was one boat tied to a stump, fishing... he was talking to another guy in another boat and said he caught a 4-lb'er. The other guy said he caught 1 dink. That's the only fish stories I heard that day. We got out at 12:30 or so, ate lunch at Sportsmans, then put in again at Willow Oak. Again, we tried all kinds of lures, all kinds of different structure, varying water depths... nothing worked. At the end of the day I was actually throwing a jig with a worm trailer (I've never jig-fished before), just in an effort to try something different and SLOW DOWN. That was my catch-phrase of the day... "If I think I'm fishing slow enough, I need to SLOW DOWN." ;D But anyhow, after a visit from the game warden at the boat launch (I've launched at Willow Oak 2 times and have been checked out by them both times... no problems... just crazy how they always hang out back there), we were on the road headed back home at 4:15 or so. The water temp was 50 deg in the morning, and the warmest water I found was 53 deg throughout the day. It was a bluebird day with a steady, but not too strong, north wind. We spent 30 min to 1 hr at each spot we went to and fished as slow as we could stand to. I also ripped a trap and a spinnerbait through the water, just to try something that the fish probably weren't seeing that day. Just being out on the water was fun, and trying out some new gear made it worth it, but not seeing/hearing/catching a single finned life form of any type was frustrating! alwayslooking, I'd have been happy with a catfish! At one point I told my buddy, "Shoot, let's go perch jerking just to put something in the boat!"

Hey Catt (and everyone else), I'm going to launch at Fin-and-Feather in the morning and run out to that flat in Housen you pointed out, to take a stab at "structure fishing". I'll try it out, and probably spend the rest of the day at various places in Housen. If any of you see a black/red/silver Champion with two guys shivering their butts off in Housen tomorrow, feel free to swing by and say hi! My name's John and I'll be up front, my buddy Dylan will be in the back. I'll let you guys know how it goes... hopefully I'll be posting a new PB... just like I think I will every time... :

Whew... OK... glad that worked out. ;D Going back to the beginning of this whole topic, you said time and time again that bass coming off of the main lake may stop at the first bit of structure they come to. Well, I would expect that, coming from the main lake into this cove, this hill is going to be the first bit of structure they come to, especially attractive if it has grass on top. So, I'd start on the west side of that hill first and then, like alwayslooking said, work my way east. Thanks for the question, Catt... made me do a whole lot of thinking and map-checking... you're opening my eyes on what to look for with underwater structure! I've studied maps before, trying to pick out good features, but your input is making me look at it in a different way now.

Let me let my ignorance flap in the breeze for a moment... As far as terrain features go, that looks like the middle of a hill running from NE to SW that could vary from 159-150 ft of elevation. It could drop down to 141 ft around the south, east, and north sides (between 150 and 141 ft, a little channel running around 3 sides). The west side drops off into the depths of the main lake. It looks like a creek once flowed from the east, split to the east of this hill, and flowed down each side of it, north and south, making deeper channels on the three sides. I guess bass coming in from the main lake would encounter this hill first when coming in from the depths on an west-to-east line... if they swam over it, they would find that it drops back off into deeper water on the east side, fairly sharply, and climbs back up toward the shoreline. They would find this to be the case on most of the north side and all of the south side. Sooooooooo.... maybe this is a place where grass might grow on the top of the "hill", and then they have deeper waters to retreat to on all four sides? Three sides would be creeks/channels/ditches, whatever you want to call them, and the fourth side, the west side, would be the main lake. With the main lake at 170.55 today, I'd expect these exact coordinates to be somewhere in 11.55 to 20.55 ft of water, depending on if the elevation at that point was just under 160', or just above 150', which is the variation we could have since the contour lines are marked every 10' and this hill is between the 160 and 150 contour line. AND, based on your post the other day, if the generators were running today (they're not), I'd expect a current to be running down each side of this hill... approaching from the east side, running down the north and south sides. Alright... I was brave enough to lay it out there instead of just waiting to see what everyone else said... don't be too hard on me when you straighten me out! ;D