Now we talking

Now that is a good un!
 

Jeff

I was out there today, sure wish I would have had time to meet up with everyone, but I had to leave to get back to a meeting this afternoon. Seems like big head had a lot better day than me! Congrats on a great fish man! Sight fishing I'm guessing? I couldn't get bit deep today I guess because of the current running through the lake. Caught 4 fish sight fishing and that was it. Saw a couple good ones, one about 7lbs and one well over 10lbs, but neither ever locked on a bed.

Sorry we didn't get to see you Josh. We fished Housin, Six Mile, and Miles Creek today. The bite was steady all day but best in the morning. Tried a little hump fishing but most came off cypress or grass edges Felix and I ended up with 15 or 20 to 5#. Jerry was the lucky (skilled) angler that got the big one fishing a senko on the outside edge of the grass. We didn't see any beds but wish we did, would have been all over them! Water must have been clearer where you were. It's pouring rain now and is supposed to all night and tomorrow. Sure hope we can get out and try again!

Ask me again how sick I am that I can't be there.  Please, we need lots and lots of photos and videos from you folks.

Yea I know it's killing me!

I hate the weather!

I owe Long Mike a trip from way back!

I would be tempted to forget the offcolored water & fish the buck brush & shore line cover. Try a 1/2 oz white spinner bait with gold willowleaf blades & Black-N-Blue jig.

Try Bull & Ashmoore creeks, maybe White Oak

It's 7:08 EDT.  You guys better be on your way to the lake if you're not there already.

 

There's fish to be caught, and obviously, some very nice fish at that.  Reveille has already been played.  Looking forward to the daily report at the end of the day.

Sorry we didn't get to see you Josh. We fished Housin, Six Mile, and Miles Creek today. The bite was steady all day but best in the morning. Tried a little hump fishing but most came off cypress or grass edges Felix and I ended up with 15 or 20 to 5#. Jerry was the lucky (skilled) angler that got the big one fishing a senko on the outside edge of the grass. We didn't see any beds but wish we did, would have been all over them! Water must have been clearer where you were. It's pouring rain now and is supposed to all night and tomorrow. Sure hope we can get out and try again!

Yea I hate I missed y'all. If the weather breaks, straight across the lake is pirates cove. The water in ere is very clean and the two big coves on your right going in have a lot of beds. You have to position your boat between the hay grass on the buck brush to see em, but they are there. Most fish weren't locked on yesterday, but we saw some giants cruising. Maybe they'll be locked on now and y'all can catch em!

The crew at Toledo Tackle restocking for tomorrow

Today was pretty tough. Heavy rain last night and most of the day today dropped water temps from upper 60's to lower 60's and muddied up the water again. Felix and I managed to get a half dozen from the bank to outside the grass. Felix fish came on a mojo rig and Rage craw while mine bit a Zoom 6" lizard in red bug. Wrapped up early for a trip to Toledo Tackle and ate like kings at Big Mama's. Every man needs an adventure and this has been one with a great BR crew!!! Wish y'all were here

Congrats guys! Sure wish I could be there! And it's not a real trip to Toledo without spending $100 at Toledo tackle lol. Is everyone heading out today?

I'm back home and wishing I could go back to TB next weekend! Only got a few hours fishing in this morning but Felix an Chris both got a good one to close out the trip. This was a great group to fish with and I hope to get together with them again!

We need pics Felix and Chris!!!

I want to thank Mike for putting this trip together, hope you are doing well.  It was a great weekend.  I really enjoyed spending time with some new friends, thanks fellas.  We did eat too much.  I'm already ready for the second annual Baked Potato Classic.  Hope we can do it again next year.  Oh, we did get a little fishing in.  With the rain and lake conditions we did catch enough to keep it interesting.  If anyone makes a trip to Toledo Bend give me a shout, I'm usually there on weekends.

Today was pretty tough. Heavy rain last night and most of the day today dropped water temps from upper 60's to lower 60's and muddied up the water again. Felix and I managed to get a half dozen from the bank to outside the grass. Felix fish came on a mojo rig and Rage craw while mine bit a Zoom 6" lizard in red bug. Wrapped up early for a trip to Toledo Tackle and ate like kings at Big Mama's. Every man needs an adventure and this has been one with a great BR crew!!! Wish y'all were here

 

Bighead and I had a field day out there regardless of the weather.  I am on my way back home where it's a balmy 21 degrees right now.  I would travel twice as long to get together with this crew again!  Great times, great stories and great fishing!

Baked Potato Classic, I like it!!

Gentlemen and Lady, now that you have all returned home, the lurkers on this thread, including me, would very much appreciate a narrative (with pictures, if possible) of your trip. e.g. How many fish did you catch each day.  What size were they? How was the weather.  Tell us about your fellow attendees, about the resort, about the restaurant/bar, about the lake, about the things you did off the water.  In short, we want to hear everything!

What blast it was....AGAIN!

Meeting new friends and seeing old friends......I will definitely be going back to Toledo Bend to fish.....but mostly to see friends again!

Here are our pics....some duplicates of others'.

Getting together for supper......we did so every night and lunches and breakfasts too.

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Shopping at the local 'Super' Tackle store.....Toledo Tackle.

Yep....they is some gators in these waters!

Hard to see....but there are a lot of boats on Toledo Bend....even in heavy rains (without lightning)

Look hard...there are over half a dozen on that one patch.

Some of our catches in no particular order.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/ChipsXJ/Mobile%20Uploads/86E9496A-075A-4A07-A45B-4912FFEEA639_zpsaijxvxma.jpg

Gentlemen and Lady, now that you have all returned home, the lurkers on this thread, including me, would very much appreciate a narrative (with pictures, if possible) of your trip. e.g. How many fish did you catch each day.  What size were they? How was the weather.  Tell us about your fellow attendees, about the resort, about the restaurant/bar, about the lake, about the things you did off the water.  In short, we want to hear everything!

Weather----from sunny and pretty warm to rainy (down pour in my book) all day and everything in between.

Mostly cloudy/overcast with just 1 very wet day.

Resort is nice with a restaurant....just check the hours on it......closed on Monday and didn't open until 11 most days except Friday, Saturday and Sunday opened at 7. Food was good.....big Mommas seafood local eatery)!was very good.

That is one big lake.....I only fished in housen and 6 mile and didn't even begin to exhaust those!

If you like grass then this is the lake for you. I don't have any vegetation on my home lake so it was nice to learn some things about that...(thanks Jerry)

The attendees were fantastic......great folks..very friendly...very sharing....very generous...absolutely very wonderful people.

Wow this was a great Road Trip......I wish you all could have been there.

It was just like the other 2 road trips that I've attended minus the number of people, tackle the storm raffle, soirée , burger dinner, Cajun/bbq dinner and banquet.

But we still ate every meal together and hung out together at the end of the day........it was just like the other road trips that I've attended......so the spirit was there as always.....so as far as I'm concerned you can just drop the 'unofficial'........it was the road trip!

It sure looks like a great place to fish, with something for everyone from the shallow slop to deeper structure, and just about every bottom composition in the book.

 

As for the rain, I love fishing on rainy days for a couple of reasons.  First, there is a lot less boat traffic, recreational in particular.  And second, the sound of the rain on water has to mask any unusual noise which might startle spooky fish.

 

The "short guy" looks very familiar for some reason.  We may have fished together in another life, or maybe in this one.

Some great looking fish!

Awesome guys & gal

I hate missing out!

I aint been fishing in 5 wks!

Day 1 Fishing – Friday – Gunk all over the water

With Bighead - Overcast, water in the low/mid 60’s.  Water clarity was around 2 fow.  Struggled to keep up with Bert who was a master flipping and pitching to Cypress Trees.  Part rust and part advanced pitching I struggled to catch 2 fish.  The fishing was difficult for me to start. 

Both my fish were caught the same way – Wacky Senko (green pumpkin) in less than 10 fow by a retaining wall/large dock area which seemed to hold fish no matter what the conditions.

No treble hooked baits due to all the stuff in the water.

 

Day 2 – Saturday – Rain, Rain, Rain

Bighead and I ventured out to some other areas.  We explored fishing the inside and outside weedline of this Alligator Grass.  This stuff was thick.  Practically impossible to get lures out of this stuff.  Snapped off several 15lb test t-rigs to this stuff.  Caught 1 on a mojo rig on the inside weededge in less than 6 FOW.  The other two were caught on a rage craw one on the outside weed edge in about 9 fow;

Key was the weight.  Fishing heavy weights (1/2oz)  for a reaction strike was not happening.  Spooked off a few fish doing this.  Dropped to 1/4oz to flip the edges.

 

Day 3 – Sunday – Better but the water was muddy!

With Bighead ½ day AM – Caught 1. - In around 4fow in very shallow water which was d**n near impossible to get to.  Needless to say my pitching technique was getting better too.  Pitched in through the weeds of two cypress trees for my first one.  Pitched in there, let it soak, felt weight and set the hook.  Bites were not terribly aggressive.  My best of the trip.  Around 4lbs.

 

With BassnChris ½ day afternoon.

All less than 10FOW.

·         Soft Jerkbait – Weed edge. – x1

·         Drop shot – the smallest of the bunch.  Open water.  x1

·         ¼ oz T-rigged senko – by the retaining wall.   X2

·         Rage Craw – x1

Things I learned

 

1.       “We don’t get many of Y’all down here!” is how I was greeted at Bass Pro (Shreveport) when I bought my license.  That sentiment repeated itself over and over again down here.  J

2.       Clear water is relative.  What the guys described as clear water to me was stained.  One thing we could agree on was muddy water.  J

3.       Watermelon Red works in “stained” water.  I could barely see it when the lure was in the water BUT when push came to shove that was the color to use.  Confirmed with one trip to Toledo Tackle where all the good Watermelon Red baits were plain off the shelf.

4.       Never order decaf in the South.  They looked at me like if I had my head cut off.  LOL

5.       Weight was a key to my catches.  When flipping and pitching I tend to go heavy.  Drop it hard and fast for reaction bites.  That scared more fish than I can imagine.  Dropping down considerably for me (1/4oz) was the key to getting some bites.  A subtle fall with a nice soak was got their attention.

6.       Switched to fluorocarbon – get more bites.  On day 1 Bighead was fishing with fluoro, I was using braid.  Over time we were puzzled why I wasn’t getting bit.  We worked over the setups one section at a time.  First the weight, second the lure and finally the line.  Once I got to the line I started getting bit.  In that water clarity we were both convinced that line color wouldn’t make a difference.  FWIW it did to us.

7.       Never order a baked potato past 7pm.

8.       When looking for tackle stop by any gas station.  They got their priorities straight down there!  Shout out to Toledo Tackle which puts any of my Albany shops to shame.

9.       There are gators in Toledo Bend.  Did not know that.

10.   There are Alligator Gar in Toledo Bend.  Tried catching a few to no avail.

11.   Travel rods are a GREAT way to save money when flying.  Carried 2 3-piece rods on and bagged and tagged 2 two-piece rods which counted as standard luggage as opposed to oversize.

12.   Shooting through weeds around a cypress tree to catch bass is FUN AS HELL.

13.   Riding over a submerged stump rattles the unexpected.

14.   Riding down “boat lanes” and seeing a marker WAY off course also tends to make you pucker just a bit.

15.   Who knew … “boat lanes”  We don’t have these on Lake Champlain.  J

16.   No matter how much tackle you bring you will ALWAYS not bring the lure they were biting on.  Uhm … lizards.

17.   Boudin Balls are delicious!