desertwitch

Keep in mind that algae grows most heavily in the first couple of inches of waterline. When lake levels start falling, baitfish aren't pecking at the established algae growing in these places because it's no longer in the water. These small fish need to look elsewhere for their food and the bass follow them. In waters that have little depth fluctuation, you can almost always count on those baitfish being very shallow during the warmer months whether they're grazing on shoreline algae or the first inch or two of docks. When the water level drops, one of their most convenient sources of food is no longer available. The bass follow the bait.

With TX heat, I fish more in winter than I do in summer. When it gets VERY cold here (I'm talking 20°), we'll hit our power-plant lakes at Bastrop and Fayetteville. There's nothing so wonderful as launching on a cold morning into a steamy 68° lake. The breezes actually feel good when they hit you and those pickles make excellent hand-warmers when you unhook them. And with the warmer water, the bite is always on.

I'll give it a look-see. Thanks for the tip, we've not yet fished Pickwick.

We use guides when vacationing in a spot we've never fished. It's been well worth the $$ though it can get expensive. If you don't want to do that and plan early enough, you can join local forums for the area and let them know you'll be heading their way. There are a lot of nice anglers out there who freely offer tips. If you get lucky, you might be able to talk one of them in to taking you out for a day if you offer to pay for gas & expenses. It sure doesn't hurt to ask. We've done this here on our home lakes for out-of-towners we've met on our local forum. They're always appreciative, offer to return the favor when you visit their neck of the woods, and have taught us some new things as well. I'm hoping to luck in to that sort of situation when I visit Hot Springs, Ark next Spring.

I'll stick with photos. IMO, it beats killing a big trophy bass or having an unrealistic replica made. Of course I'll be taking those photos with a good camera at 4800dpi so I can get an actual life-sized print made up!

A guy on my local forum caught a beautiful 16-lber back in January. It went in to our state's Share-A-Lunker program and the angler was given a replica mount by Tx Parks & Wildlife. Here are photos of the original fish as well as the mount. You can see the two don't look much alike. The girth on the mount is nowhere near the girth on the actual fish. The mount's head is too big and it's body too small. Coloring and details are also very different. But maybe TPW uses an inferior taxidermist...

Thanks folks, I appreciate that. If anyone wants info on my home lakes, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'm happy to share what I know.

I'm a new member from Central Texas. I've been bass fishing for years and finally competed in a local tournament trail last year. Wow, am I ever hooked now. Hubbs and I have an 18' Skeeter and spend most of our free time on Lake Travis, Lake Bastrop, Lake Austin, and Fayette Lake. We'll be fishing the Texas Tournament Zone (TTZ) trail this coming season and we're looking forward to it. We're 40-somethings who met a while back when trying to find regular fishing partners. Decided to simplify things and just get married 7 years ago. Other than bass fishing, our hobbies include pouring baits and home-brewing. Hubbs has guided a few trips on Lake Bastrop on the side and enjoys it very much. Until he can retire and do part-time guiding, he works in the asphalt industry and I'm a sometimes-employed technical writer. We've got a couple dogs (The Kids) and a couple of freakishly evil cats which I'm convinced are actually aliens. We're planning a vacation this coming Spring to the Hot Springs, Ark area. I'm looking at renting a home on Lake Hamilton and also fishing Lake Ouachita. I know nothing about these lakes or the general area. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.