11 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Bout to really see what lives in this epic pond in a week with the Elite Series 😎

 

Don't need no Pro to see that!

 

Caught below the dam in the turbine channel, 26.5" 15#.

 

What size Flashy Swimmer?

3 hours ago, Catt said:

What size Flashy Swimmer?

I've been using the 3/0- 3/16. In the fall when the shad and bass moved into my little cove, I had problems hooking the fish because my swimbait was too bulky. I switched to the keitech swing impact and hook-up ratio went up. 

12 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Don't need no Pro to see that!

 

Caught below the dam in the turbine channel, 26.5" 15#.

 

I'd bet money there's a 17lb fish in the lake right now as well.   

 

Below a dam makes the catch all the more epic in my book as myself and I'm sure every other angler has told and heard folk tales of "dam monsters", most famously the notorious "Dam repair diver who saw a punch bugger cat" story 😂

 

I grew up fishing above and below dams as my mentor loved that style of fishing, there's always a grain a truth behind even the most outlandish folk tales, and your picture is evidence.  Big fish live below dams....but I've never seen big green fish caught below them much.     

5 hours ago, Catt said:

What size Flashy Swimmer?

3/0 -3/16once

2 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

3/0 -3/16once

Forgot to add, they seem to be favoring the gold Colorado blade version right now.

 

I got out for a few hours after lunch today, really only fished for 2 hours but I managed 7 bites.

 

First five bites were solid 15 to 16.5 inch fish, next tow bites were short fish.

 

Found one stretch of bank that was sheltered from the wind and had sun on it nearly all day. Water temp on that back was 60 to 61 degrees. They were holding tight under cypress trees.

 

Babybass colored swimbait on the above mentioned hook.

12 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'd bet money there's a 17lb fish in the lake right now as well.   

 

Below a dam makes the catch all the more epic in my book as myself and I'm sure every other angler has told and heard folk tales of "dam monsters", most famously the notorious "Dam repair diver who saw a punch bugger cat" story 😂

 

I grew up fishing above and below dams as my mentor loved that style of fishing, there's always a grain a truth behind even the most outlandish folk tales, and your picture is evidence.  Big fish live below dams....but I've never seen big green fish caught below them much.     

I promise you there is a new wolrd record swimming around in this lake.

@AlabamaSpothunter It hadn't been verified but there's rumors that bass was caught in a hoopnet. I don't know how that could be done off the bank. You certainly can not get a boat in there.

 

I believe a 17 ponder is swimming out there.

Edited February 19, 20242 yr by Catt
Fingers faster than the brain

20 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

Forgot to add, they seem to be favoring the gold Colorado blade version right now.

 

I got out for a few hours after lunch today, really only fished for 2 hours but I managed 7 bites.

 

First five bites were solid 15 to 16.5 inch fish, next tow bites were short fish.

 

Found one stretch of bank that was sheltered from the wind and had sun on it nearly all day. Water temp on that back was 60 to 61 degrees. They were holding tight under cypress trees.

 

Babybass colored swimbait on the above mentioned hook.

 

what is water clarity looking like up your way? 
we fish san patricio and surrounding areas for this high school tournament we have coming 3/1 - 3/3 

staying there too. so we are really committed to the area.

 

 

1 hour ago, PlanoSooner said:

 

what is water clarity looking like up your way? 
we fish san patricio and surrounding areas for this high school tournament we have coming 3/1 - 3/3 

staying there too. so we are really committed to the area.

 

 

Dirty like always.

6 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

Dirty like always.

 

North of the bridge is always off colored. The overall depth is shallower & that's where the Sabine River enters the lake. 

3 hours ago, Catt said:

 

North of the bridge is always off colored. The overall depth is shallower & that's where the Sabine River enters the lake. 

 

Being a northern bum, I never put together that the Sabine is the river that feeds Toledo Bend.  In my experience, usually full river systems (and their lakes/resevoirs) tend to be similarly productive (usually because of underlying nutrients or land practice surrounding them).  How is it that Toledo Bend has such good quality fishing while the Sabine, well, isn't.  Looking at Tournament results on the Sabine and hearing pros talk about it, its pretty clear that it isn't a hotbed of bass angling as much as its might be something different and enjoyable to watch for us couch anglers.  What changes when you hit Toledo bend to make it the hot spot?

 

5 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

Being a northern bum, I never put together that the Sabine is the river that feeds Toledo Bend.  In my experience, usually full river systems (and their lakes/resevoirs) tend to be similarly productive (usually because of underlying nutrients or land practice surrounding them).  How is it that Toledo Bend has such good quality fishing while the Sabine, well, isn't.  Looking at Tournament results on the Sabine and hearing pros talk about it, its pretty clear that it isn't a hotbed of bass angling as much as its might be something different and enjoyable to watch for us couch anglers.  What changes when you hit Toledo bend to make it the hot spot?

 

The lower Sabine aka south of the dam is good bass fishing, the upper Sabine from circle drive to Logansport not so much good bass fishing.

 

I feel the lake aka toledo is so good  because of the huge amount of wood cover in all water depths as well as the amount of bait fish aka shad and bream. To have a healthy and large population of predator fish, you have to have a even larger and healthier population of prey fish and this lake has more prey fish then we can even calculate a number too. I have caught bass so stuffed with shad, that they looked like they had swallowed a foot ball and had tail fins sticking out their throat hole while I was unhooking them.

 

The lake also has a bottom that is conducive to bass being able too live a good life year round, as they can go deep to survive the temp drops of coldfronts while still being able too feed well from shad die offs during those coldfronts.

 

That and the lake is so huge, that there is no amount of fishing pressure that can drive the productivity of bass breeding down and lower the over all bass numbers. I seen it said one "for every bass spawing on the bank, turn around and their is 20 spawning out deep". There have been pictures taken of bass spawning ontop of stumps out in deep water.

 

I read it posted by sra la/tx biologists that the lake can produce hundreds of tons of bass in pounds per year, like in the 100 million pound range per year. Same as killing big racked bucks. If they can avoid danger they can live long enough to get big and this lake has all the necessary things for a bass to live a long time and stack on the weight.

 

Give you an example. My house we clean and eat around 150 to 175 bass per year. 99% of those bass are caught within a 2 mile stretch of my house on San Miguel. The lake fish's as good or better for me every year.

4 hours ago, Catt said:

 

North of the bridge is always off colored. The overall depth is shallower & that's where the Sabine River enters the lake. 

Yep. Only time I have seen it become "clear" aka "clean" is during the hot part of summer. And that takes several weeks of no rain and all day every day calm winds.

 

I'm saying clean meaning instead of 3 to 5 inches of visibility it goes to 7 to 9 inches of visibility. I don't like it that "clean". They can see me to easily and I be kind of ugly 🤧 😤 🤪 

The biggest difference between the upper Sabine, lower Sabine, & Toledo Bend is the Toyota ShareLunker Program. 

 

Biologist have proven that not every bass is capable of reaching double digit status. Regardless of food source or how fertile an ecosystem is, without proper genetics it ain't gonna happen.

 

A 13 lb+ from lake Naconiche had it's genes traced to mother, grandmother, & great grandmother. Even more amazing the Naconiche bass, it's mother & grandmother all came from the same male. That male was a stout 7 lb+ specimen.

Bassmaster Elite on the Big Pond 

 

FYI: Joey (Cowboy) Cifuentes is Larry Nixon's protégé. Joey, Larry, & another 18 yr old phenom have been staying with Tommy Martin. 

 

Interesting!

Very Interesting! 

4 hours ago, Catt said:

Bassmaster Elite on the Big Pond 

 

FYI: Joey (Cowboy) Cifuentes is Larry Nixon's protégé. Joey, Larry, & another 18 yr old phenom have been staying with Tommy Martin. 

 

Interesting!

Very Interesting! 

Wish them all the best.

Saw a few this morning around patroon. Lee livesay only one I got close enough to see. All the others r scoping

On 2/19/2024 at 9:29 PM, A5BLASTER said:

Dirty like always.

 

How bad are they beating our our fish up your way?

 

6 hours ago, PlanoSooner said:

 

How bad are they beating our our fish up your way?

 

Not sure.

On 2/20/2024 at 8:56 AM, casts_by_fly said:

 

Being a northern bum, I never put together that the Sabine is the river that feeds Toledo Bend.  In my experience, usually full river systems (and their lakes/resevoirs) tend to be similarly productive (usually because of underlying nutrients or land practice surrounding them).  How is it that Toledo Bend has such good quality fishing while the Sabine, well, isn't.  Looking at Tournament results on the Sabine and hearing pros talk about it, its pretty clear that it isn't a hotbed of bass angling as much as its might be something different and enjoyable to watch for us couch anglers.  What changes when you hit Toledo bend to make it the hot spot?

 

Lake fork is also the Sabine River 

 

edit: after I posted that I followed it on Apple Maps and it’s not quite, but awfully close haha. Could have sworn I fished the Sabine right below fork dam but that was 2006 and apparently I was a few clicks off 

 

also fishing below a dams in Texas is not quite as productive as TVA dams, I remember almost being able to cast all the way across the river from the bank 

9 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

Not sure.

Any idea what the lake temps are north of Pendleton bridge? Holley park/San Miguel area….Has the water stabilized and cleared up some? Around Palo they are reporting high 50s to low 60s with water starting to clear.

@casts_by_fly

Ok according to a Google search lake fork is indeed the Sabine River. Guess I wasn’t crazy after all (sure…….)

a quick wikipedia check says not quite.  Same river system, just not the river.  That would still fit in my logic above though about river systems having very similar characteristics though.

 

The dam is 12,410 feet (3,780 m) in length and impounds Lake Fork Creek, a tributary of the Sabine River, and other major creeks are Big Caney and Little Caney.

Lakes in Sabine River Basin

Brady Branch 

Lake Cherokee 

Lake Fork 

Lake Gladewater

Lake Hawkins 

Lake Holbrook 

Martin Lake 

Murvaul Lake

Lake Quitman 

Lake Tawakoni 

Toledo Bend 

Lake Winnsboro 

 

 The major river in the basin was named Rio de Sabinas or River of the Cypress by Spanish explorers.

 

The Sabine flows for 555 miles. Its total drainage basin area is 9,756 square miles, of which 7,426 is in Texas and the remainder in Louisiana.

36 minutes ago, Catt said:

Lakes in Sabine River Basin

Brady Branch 

Lake Cherokee 

Lake Fork 

Lake Gladewater

Lake Hawkins 

Lake Holbrook 

Martin Lake 

Murvaul Lake

Lake Quitman 

Lake Tawakoni 

Toledo Bend 

Lake Winnsboro 

 

 The major river in the basin was named Rio de Sabinas or River of the Cypress by Spanish explorers.

 

The Sabine flows for 555 miles. Its total drainage basin area is 9,756 square miles, of which 7,426 is in Texas and the remainder in Louisiana.

 

so the next question is which one of them in that basin is the hidden gem that produces almost like Fork or Toledo Bend but doesn't have the name and popularity.