BassinHog

Hey guys, been a while, my oldest has moved off to College and fishing there, but I now have been able to get my youngest (who is 17) involved and he is starting to get the itch. Anyway, been keeping up just not doing much posting. Bass, you finding a good number of bass moving out? Was there this past week (Fri & Sat), saw what I thought were good quality bass anywhere from 14-25', just could not get much reaction out of them. The few bites I had seemed to be short strikes. This was more Sat than Fri as the wind did not allow for much offshore Fri. What depth are you finding them setting up now and are you cranking, dragging, drop shoting or all of the above? Just pulling my hair out trying to figure out what that is down there and if I could just get one of them to commit I would feel better about my skills.

Funny thing was a little later, maybe 2-3 hrs we see several asian carp swimming 2-3' below the surface in this area. Could that be what we were seeing. We thew everything but the kitchen sick at them, and in practice had little issues at all getting the fish to bite. We really didn't spend much time fishing in practice because we would get bit so quickly. Still to this day I can't for the life of me figure out what went wrong.

Bass Awesome shots. If you get a chance send more. I am still trying to figure out what I am looking when I see something. Some are pretty obvious, other not. The more pics (not trying to find out location) the better. For instance, the following picture was from a tournament a couple summers ago. In practice we caught enough good sized fish 4+ lbs to feel like we had found a great spot. Tournament morning we pull up and this is what we see. We are going to wreck them. Nota, could not get a bite. This is a lot different then what we saw in practice. Would you think this is bass or something else. River Lake.

Catt Thanks, by reading into your comments I and I am sure most can tell that you're letting us know that we can apply that same tactic to many of the similar coves (not just Hurricane, as it appears may not necessarily be your favorite) and get similar results. This is why I am on here often, not to go get one of your spots to fish, but rather to learn and apply your tactics to the Bend if possible, but more often to similar lakes I fish near home (although much smaller) and see how well I can do. Do you feel the wind change was the major factor in triggering the fish to feed? Was it the mixing of the water that made more forage available for the bait fish to feed on? These are thoughts that pop into my head first. The fish had to be there, you probably fished around them all morning without triggering many of them to react. I will often check the major feeding periods, if we are talking about Tues Oct. 6th, according to my chart you really only touched the beginning of a minor feeding period. So, hard to say that was what was going on. Almost has to be the change in wind direction. Why? I hope to get up to the Bend and or Rayburn soon. Have spent the past couple of years taking my son and his fishing partners fishing in HS tournaments. He is now in College (fishing) and I am having withdrawals. The past 2 years we have traveled across several southern states competing and having a blast. I would say to anyone on here, if you have an opportunity to take a High School Fishing team out, please do so, you will truly be blessed, and it doesn't have to be family.

Catt You think it was the wind that blew the shad up in Hurricane, or just got them active. I have been on similar fish at local lakes the last couple of weeks. Wind helped. Just not getting many big bites out of the groups. Were you catching bigger fish when it turned on or just numbers?

Catt Did you do anything different when the wind changed, change location, presentation? Just wondering, wind (as long as you can stay in the boat) seems to really get them going at times.

Thanks Bass & C-Rigger Feel much better prepared for this coming week's tournament. Headed out this afternoon. Pre-fishing Friday & Sat. Coaching a couple of high school students (who have just graduated) one of whom is my son. Have been doing this for a few years but about to get kicked out of the boat. Thanks for all of your help and will not shy away from the 20-25' water this week. Lake is almost 8' above pool and probably will be by tomorrow.

Bass & C-Rigger Another questions that I always struggle with. If your catching fish pretty consistent but the size is 13" to 2.5# max fish and really nothing any bigger and your tournament fishing. Do you stay there thinking you will eventually get the bigger ones to bite (if they are even there) or do you pull out to deeper structure looking for the bigger ones. I always find it hard to pull off of biting fish, but when size matters I struggle to get myself to move. What would you do in this scenario? Are the big ones mixed in there with them just less active or are they in the same area but a little deeper?

What I meant to say was "Do the shad spawn at those depths or just on the shallower humps"?

Bass & C-Rigger What do you consider their predominate food source at that depth? Crawfish, shad !!!!! I would think the bream would be spawning closer to the bank. Am I correct or way off base? The shad spawn was going on for sure this past weekend, not sure if it will still be going on, but my thoughts were that they would be following the shad around. Do they spawn at those depths or just on the shallower humps?

C-Rigger, When you say deep are you saying 12-15-25? Reason I am asking, we fished this past weekend and will be doing so again this weekend. We looked deep, 20-25' and didn't see much. Fished it as well with no luck. May be that we didn't fish with confidence, but were a little confused. We caught several in the 12' range, but 2#'s were about the best we could manage. When you look out right now at the ridges and humps you have to add 6-6.5', so a 9' hump right now is in 15+'. Bass, Would you be shying away from the 20-25' water right now with the lake so high. The grass also seems to have taken it on the chin on many of our normal grass holes in the main lake. Sure is an awful lot of water right now and really has us a little confused as last year was really the first year we spent on the lake. Just like C-Rigger experience, our feeling is that most of the big ones have moved off somewhere, just not sure what depth we need to be targeting.

Heading up for a tournament this weekend. Looking like a lot of water. I am sure water clarity will be iffy, but temps appear to be good. Catt, any reports of bass moving up on beds anywhere. They should be licking their chops to get up there. Should be plenty of water to move them up into the brush.

Maybe one of these days I can get these boys or even myself on something like that. One thing is for sure, you can't do it sitting at home. Takes a lot of time on the water to find these spots or have some inside info with a weigh point. Don't get me wrong, if someone has been willing to confide in me with a weigh point I have taken advantage of it at times, but the hunt and finding on your own is very satisfying.

Texas Team trail was won with a 35.5# stringer. Sure would love to know that story, they had an 11.42# big mama. Would love to be part of something like that one of these days. Very few public lakes around with that type of potential for a 5 fish limit & there are two in that area within 30 minutes of each other.

Report from Sat. Fished near Hurricane & Bull Creeks, anywhere from mouth to middle ways back. The boys did week for their 2nd time on lake Caught close to 11 pounds, no big ones, just solid 2-2.5's with one 14" that we were unable to cull. A-rig caught most, strike king half ounce double willow spinner bait (chart & white skirt) caught largest, Toledo gold one knocker caught one. Pretty much caught all that bit, really had no big bites. Buck brush in the back of bull was covered with boats, did not really see any fish being caught there, but did not go their till around 11am. All fish caught were in the 8-10' depth in grass. Will be back in a couple of weeks March 7 & March 14th weekend. Had boats around us all day and we really never saw anything caught over 2#'s.

Thanks guys for the insight. Will try to put a few things to work. Planning on going to Indian Mounds Sun and do a little looking. Haven't fished there yet, but have been given some info to check out from guys who had done well there in the past. Seems like it is a very busy place to visit this time of the year. Looking at the next 10 day forecast (yea, I know they really don't know) appears to be a roller coaster. Hopefully the weather will begin to settle out and be helpful to us weekend warriors.

Catt I will be headed over to the Bend on Feb 21st as well hauling my son and his partner over to fish a high school tournament out of Fin & Feather. Maybe we will run across your path, even though I am sure the lake will be covered up with bass boats. Maybe we can put together a pattern or two we have learned from this site as well as info from friends who have fished the bend. Hopefully this tournament will turn out better than the one we fished this past Nov. One 30# striper was all they were able to catch as well as a few unders. The striper had us going for a while, until it surfaced we were sure we had hooked the new state record. Bass & Catt When you look for your areas along the edges of the grass, do you use your side imaging to mark grass points, pockets and clumps, or do you just pretty much look on your maps and fish accordingly. Also, can you usually see the fish with your graph on the edge of the grass, or are they usually sitting just on the inside of the grass line and undetectable with the depth finders. Looking at maybe exploring a few areas this coming Sun (only will have a few hours to do so), but don't want to just show up blind. I have a few ideas that I would like to pursue, but just don't want to show up completely clueless with these two young men. Both are very versatile fisherman and can pretty much fish type of equipment. Our thoughts have been a-rigs and we still have those on our mind, but it also looks like a shallower, rattle trap, spinnerbait, jig & craw type of game plan may need to be pursued.

Thanks Bass Will do a little pre-fishing, but most of the time we will just have to study maps, watch conditions, fish history, show up and hope for the best. Seems like a lot of the time even when you pre-fish and really get to feeling good about what you have, you go get to the tournament and conditions have changed or the fish have moved. Guess that's why they call it Bass fishing rather than catching. I have one son who is a bass fisherman who will stay out there all day for those few quality bites and my other son only wants to catch. I almost seems like you have to fish somewhat fast (unless you are 100% confident they are there), catch a quality fish, work that spot over and hope you can hit that sweet spot before the day is done. Guess I am looking for a way to delete a lot of water and you have definitely helped.

Catt I have posted on here before, love reading all of the info on this site. No offense to others on here, but really pay special attention to what Catt, Bass_Fanatic & from Jack's earlier post, have to say. Not to get a GPS coordinate, but to get an idea what to look for at varying times and weather patterns. I fished as a youngster on Toledo Bend with my father and remember like it was yesterday, which is now 30+ years ago. I now have a senior in HS who is obsessed with fishing. Could be a pitcher on his HS baseball team this year, but baseball got in the way of his fishing. He and his partner have been fishing together since they were freshman in HS and travel around to varying states competing in various HS tournaments. We have fished some and planning on fishing more tournaments at Toledo this year. Matter of fact, in the next month and a half will have fished a HS tournament on Toledo 3 Sat's. A question I have for you guys is this. When fishing grass the next month to month & half, pre-spawn - spawn, what weather pattern, if any (water temp), would you expect to make the bass sit on the edge of the grass vs moving deep within the grass. For instance, after a warming spell for a few days, my guess is they will be on the inside of the grass moving toward the shallower water. A cold front following the warming, mild or semi mild I would think would move them into the grass or even closer to the deeper edge of the grass. If so, can you go by water temps and make any decisions? Do you punch grass much this time of the year or are you more concentrated on fishing the top of the grass?

Hello everyone, first time post. Whew, I have been reading thru this thread for close to 4 weeks, and didn't want to post anything until I was able to get current. Great info. Thanks Catt for starting this thread and for the many others on here who have contributed. I haven't been looking on here to get that secret waypoint, but rather to get insight on how to read a map and apply it to what the bass are doing at a given time of year. My son who is a senior this year has been fishing High School fishing tournaments with the same partner since they were freshman. We travel around and fish tournaments whenever possible. This year they have fished Rayburn & Dardanelle as well as their home lakes in Northeast LA. They will be fishing some tournaments this fall at Rayburn & Toledo Bend and are really looking forward to fishing the big pond. Some of my fondest memories as a child were fishing Toledo Bend with my father. I don't remember much because it was like 30+ years ago, but what I do remember well is that my father caught a lot of really good fish on the lake. If I remember correctly, we would stay a Lanan Landing and fish that area and something about the Christmas Tree hole sounds really familiar. Anyway, looking forward to keeping up and will post if and when we have any success. Thanks for all of your insight.