So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

[iClass]

Fishfordollars,

The Texas Oilman's will be there also.  Could be up to 600 boats.  Not trying to discourage you as there will be approx 200 boats with actual fishermen in them.  Just an FYI.

Also they will be only fishing Friday and Saturday.

Tightlines

[LAbail]

Looks like its gonna get a bit cold on the weekend forecast says 53 on Sat. but We'll have to see, Best not spend to much time thinking about the stuff i cant control. I dont think it'll effect the bass all that much as they seem to be in the spawning mode but we'll see.  

[fishfordollars]

Fishfordollars,

The Texas Oilman's will be there also. Could be up to 600 boats. Not trying to discourage you as there will be approx 200 boats with actual fishermen in them. Just an FYI.

Also they will be only fishing Friday and Saturday.

Tightlines

I know, it's going to be wild. I'll just get in amonst them and see if I can get bit.

[Wesley]

I have a tourny the 21st I will be starting practice for this saturday.

[Catt]

Corsey Creek, Carrice Creek, & San Miguel

Dang after looking at the open results I feel a lot better about my 3.25# average

Looks like you would have kicked some arse Catt.

In my mind I have been disappointed with my results for this year but the more people I talk to the more I find out I aint the only one struggling.

FYI y'all: stay away from the very back of Corsey Creek  

[fishfordollars]

Catt, strugle is not the word for my fishing. It has been a strange spring. I just cannot put my finger on my problem. The bite(For me) has been way off.

Read my post about my Conroe trip Sunday afternoon. Five hours without a bite.

[Wesley]

I havent been on Tbend in about 10 days (work sucks) but before I left we were catching numbers but nothing big, hopefuly the bigs ones will turn on soon for me.  

[Catt]

I'll let y'all know tomorrow night  

[fishfordollars]

Thanks Catt, I'm leaving mid day Friday, will give you an update when I return Sunday evening.

Thanks for all you do.

[Catt]

Finally kicked it up a notch

With only 4 ½ hours on the water before a major cold front hit that dropped the temperatures by 20+ degrees, switched the wind to the north at 30 mph, and produced heavy rain I finally broke the 3# average.

My youngest son Scotty, my partner Pat and I launched at Fin & Feather around day light heading into one of the major creeks. I had total of 9 bites boating every one of them starting with 2 Kentucky bass in the 11-12 range then a 7.1, 4.3, 3.6, 3.10, & 7.3 finishing with 2 more tight eyes. Pat boated 2 keepers with 1 tight eye while Scotty boated 2 keepers with none bigger than 2 ½ #.

All the bass were in water depths of 6-8' and none were on nest but all the larger bass were still full of eggs despite water temperature in the upper 60s.

Top Producing lures were the Gene Larew 7 ½ Salty Ring Worm in Cinnamon Pepper Neon/June Bug Laminated (Camouflage) and Rattle Head's spinner bait 3/8 oz white/chartreuse skirt with double willow leaf blades gold/silver. Again I'm going to sing the praises of the Rattle Head it flat out produced a Terminator and a Stanley Wedge accounting for 7 of the 13 bass (3.6, 3.10, & 7.3).

Y'all come on down the water's fine, the wind on the other hand huh

[bayousoonerfan]

Catt,

Great information. I am new to this thread but I have a camp in Pendelton Harbor and have fished the Bend for the last three years. I have fished the James Gaines area the most. I am curious about your coment on March 10th about staying away from the very back of Corsey Creek. Is the water to low or stained? We did well there last year and I will be down this weekend and was going to give it a try. I was unaware of the oilmen tournament but will do my best to catch them.  

[Catt]

My commit has to do with getting your line, rod, or arm broke

[bayousoonerfan]

OK, got ya. Sorry that I missed that one. The weather will be bad, boats will be everywhere but I will be one of them. I'll check back next week with a report.

[fishfordollars]

Well, I'm on my way up there at noon. Loading up the thermals and the BPS bibs. Looks like I'm gonna need them.

[Cohen]

Thanks for all the great information, It's a big pond to learn without any help.  One quick question for anyone, I just upgraded the cheap sonar that came on my boat with a lowrance color/gps unit.  It has built in lake map info, but does not appear to be very detailed.  It has capability for a smartcard upgrade, what is the best and what will I see over the factory map? thanks.

[BigBassN]

Newangler here to learn Toledo Bend.

Catt or anyone else.

I'm looking at the maps and wondering which boat ramps can be used for a fee or free south of Pend bridge.

I see the index list on the map, which ones are good?

Been to the lake twice and launched at the bridge twice.

Great info Catt, keep up the good work.

[fishfordollars]

Well I fished our club tournament Saturday on Toledo Bend. All in all it wasn't a bad day. Caught lots of fish and won the dang thang and had big bass.

Here's how I fished and what happened.

Anyone in the area Friday and Saturday knows how bad the wind and rains were. It let off Saturday and actually it was not bad. Cold with lows around 39-40 and it warmed to about 47 during the day. No wind to speak of.

I started off fishing a ditch just off Carrice Creek with 3-4' of water on the sides and the bottom varied from 8-12' depending on how far out you fished it. Put the boat in the middle of the ditch and worked a 3/8 oz. blade with a chartruse/white skirt and watermellon/red senko from just off the edge out to the middle of the creek. First fish of the day ending up being my largest at 4.55 lbs. It bit the senko in the bottom of the ditch in about 8' at 7:30 a.m. I fished the area for the next 45 minutes without anouther bite.

Originally I had decided to run out to the river to fish the outer side of Bugg Island, but when I started east up the pipeline cut I could see at least 20 boats sitting on it. Turned around and headed south to fish the main lake points just north of Palo Gaucho Creek. First point was barren of fish. The secound point was also barren. I caught three nonkeepers in 3.5' of water off the next point off the trick worm. Backed out to try for a few larger fish and nothing.

At 10:30 I ran to a midlake ridge that is about 3/4 of a mile off the mouth of Carrice and just off the main river channel. Water on the top was 3.5 deep falling off into the river to about 35'. Fished it until noon and no bites.

Noon time I headed back to try my early morning ditch and on the first cast with a watermellon/red trick worm caught a 3.88 that came out of 2' of water up on the edge of the ditch. Worked the ditch out about 50 yards, turned back and refished it back to my starting point without a bite.

It is now a quarter till 2:00 and weighin is at 3:30. I have two keepers in the boat so I headed 1/4 mile down lake to an old pond dam that I thought should hold some fish. As I was heading down lake I remembered a point with a nice creek down the side of it that ran parrellel to the mainlake. The point had a washout that was located half way out and was about 20 yards wide. The water depth ranged from 3.5 on top of the point out to about 8.5 where it met the creek. It took me about 10 minutes to position my boat to make the cast I felt like need to be made. This was due to the large number of stumps and standing timber located between the river and the point. The first five cast with the watermellon/red trickworm produced five bass that weighted about 2 lbs. apiece. I broke off on the hookset on the sixth cast, retied and the seventh cast produced another that was just like the first five. Went to weighin and was glad the day was done. Best 5 weighed 14.55. Not what I had expected, but no one else had a clue as to what to do, so I did not feel to bad.

The smaller fish were relating to the points and ditches in 3-4' of water and the better fish(At least for me) were in the 5-7' water. All fish were caught on watermellon/red trickworms, senkos (Watermelon/Red), and 3/8oz blades with white/chartruse skirts. Total fish caught was 22 with eight keepers. the 4.55 was a female full of eggs and had shown no signs of bedding. The 3.88 was a large male and he had no signs of bedding activity. I felt like I fished a very clean tournament. I boated every fish I stuck except the one that I broke off on the hookset. Not sure of anything else I could have done to up the weight, just never got the big bite.

Hope this will be of some help to anyone headed over there. With all the rain the lake should be on a fast rise and the backs of the major creeks should dirty up fairly quickly. If you are wanting to find the pockets with the clearest water concentrate on the pockets without an active creek. They will be the last to get dirty and the first to clear. Good luck and you are welcome to call me and I will give you a lot more detail on the types of areas I would fish during the next two to three weeks. I will be back in the area fishing on Friday and Saturday.

Jack 281 224-8853.

[Catt]

Ok that's one report

Now the rest of y'all had better sound off cause I know who y'all are so don't make me call you out!

If you don't tell us how y'all did we can't help you get better

[Shanon]

Great Report fishfor$,

We are headed to the Bend from Gonzales, LA on Thursday for a 10 day guys trip. We love the lake and this time of fishing. With this fast rise coming on how does this affect the fish in a week? Can we expect the Generators to cut on this week and a drawdown to 168.00 forthcoming?

Thanks guys for a good topic.

Shanon

[fishfordollars]

Catt can probably answer the generating question. I sure cannot. As far as the fishing Catt and I fish two entirely different parts of the lake and he has years of experience that I do not have. What part of the lake are ya'll fishing?

My report was from a one day go for it club tournament and I was fishing areas that have produced for me over the years. I fish the bend maybe 10-12 days a year so I would really stick with his information. The area I fished over the weekend will dirty up quickly and if I had to fish I would look for a little cleaner water(Down lake) or I would move up as shallow as possible and look for pockets without active creeks as they might hold water with a little more visibility. Big bladed spinnerbaits, rouges, plastics, c-rig, and t-rigs, etc. The fish should continue to move shallow but in my area I'm sure sight fishing is going to be out of the question until the water clears some. Not sure how fast the lake will rise but the fish should follow the water up into the bushes if it gets that high. Points, secondary points and any of the known spawning areas will hold fish, it's just a matter of finding them. Again, Catt has forgotten more than I will ever know about the lake so I would listen to what he has to say instead of my report. I posted my report to let anyone know what I had found over the weekend. It could change on me in a heartbeat, so, don't count on it being the same when ya'll arrive. Heck, I could be completely wrong about the water getting real muddy, it's possible it will stay very clear. Again, I just don't have the knowledge that Catt and some of the others have.

Good luck!

Jack

[fishfordollars]

Newangler here to learn Toledo Bend.

Catt or anyone else.

I'm looking at the maps and wondering which boat ramps can be used for a fee or free south of Pend bridge.

I see the index list on the map, which ones are good?

Been to the lake twice and launched at the bridge twice.

Great info Catt, keep up the good work.

The ramp on the east side of the small bridge is free. It is located 1/4 mile west of Gary Yamato's tackle store and just before you get to the big(Pendelton) bridge. Try to get there early as it is packed and parking is limited.

[Cohen]

Catt, I have fished the last three weekends near the Indian Mounds and community hole and was picking up some decent fish.  Things for me slowed down after this front and the rising water.  Sunday caught five legal fish, One I released cause it was over 3# and the others I cleaned.  One thing I found interesting was not one fish i cleaned had eggs, where the two weeks prior allmost all had eggs, Would this indicated that they spawned allready or did the front move the females off the grass flats?  Also interesed in how this rising water will affect the bass spawn at such a critical time? thanks in advance.

[Shanon]

What part of the lake are ya'll fishing?

Good luck!

Jack

We fish this square: Indian Mounds to Lowes Creek Then Negrett down to Yokum. We mainly foam the water near the bank.

We love the topwater bite as much as anyone - Is anyone catching bass early in the morning of the buzzbaits?

Cohen - I too would be interested in the knowledge of the rising water and the spawn. I've always heard (in the past) when they would drain the lake down in the spring this would be extremely bad for the eggs at the shoreline. Then I heard that these same bass started making deeper beds. So What will the rising water due to those Already spawned and prespawn?

Shanon

[Wesley]

I have been out the last 3 days, fished shallow no bites on spinner baits, rattle traps or Flukes.  Fished Grass in 6-8 foot of water in the back of carrice creek and nothing there either.  The fish have me puzzled and I have a tournament this weekend.

[fishfordollars]

I have been out the last 3 days, fished shallow no bites on spinner baits, rattle traps or Flukes. Fished Grass in 6-8 foot of water in the back of carrice creek and nothing there either. The fish have me puzzled and I have a tournament this weekend.

The back of Carrice is dead for me. I always fish it out towards the main lake. If you ever see me behind the small bridge I am grasping for straws. Wesley, call me 281 224-8853 and I will tell you where I caught those fish Saturday in Carrice Creek. We  were probably within 600 yards of each other Saturday.

Jack