Tonto

Anyone been out to fish Big Sam lately? I'm sure the bass are slow, but any tips are appreciated. Looking to get out there one of the next couple of weekends.

Front coming through this weekend so that'll scramble em but I'd say start looking 3-5 and depending on part of the lake, real shallow.

Was able to get up and fish Saturday morning. We cleaned up in little farmers cove. Fishing both shallow and deeper towards the entry into the deeper part of the cove. Caught em on rage craw & senkos-any of the watermelon with red combos in 3-5 fow. Caught a couple in 8-10 fow, including a real nice size one throwing some random swim and crank baits in the middle. But the better action was 3-5 fow around the grass. Heading back up this weekend and will likely get 3 or 4 trips out there so we're gonna try that, then head up to Veach and that area and see how it's hitting.

Heading out this weekend. Obviously being a holiday weekend the lake will be packed, but hoping to get some early morning and late evening fishing in. Going to go to my usual grass spots and throw senko's, then late evening I'll try some top water in the shallows. Yellow Magic usually works for me out there, maybe a frog or two. Can't wait to get out to Rayburn. Hoping the weather stays away.

Going to get up there next weekend to introduce some friends to the lake. Saw that the water level has gone from near pool to +3.04 in the last 36 hours. With the amount of rain they got up there I expect that to rise even more in the coming days. Hopefully it'll level out. Any tips for fishing muddy, high water level? Has the recent warm snap been enough to move a bunch of fish to shallower water? Last year after the big rise during spring we fished real shallow when it was about +5 feet and did pretty well, but that was the end of March. Plan is to go float into some "yards" in some coves and get behind the trees in the shallows if the fish are there, but if not I suppose we'll play with some brush and grassy areas in Little Tiger Creek or fish right off the grass in the coves in the areas past Needmore Point. I'll take any advice from anyone who has tips for fishing in the muddy, flooded conditions.

Heading up this weekend. How's Canyons/Deer Stand holding up? Still pretty good? I might try and get up that way.

Thanks Red. We're headnig up this weekend. Obviously the lake will be crowded, but hopefully we can get em early in the morning.

Great fish, Red! Unfortunately it has been a while since I've been able to make it up that way. Hope to be out there in about 3 weeks. I have been tracking the water. Last we were up there was when it was right about at its highest in June, and it has fallen like a rock since them(go figure, the rain stopped). Will be nice to see Rayburn at regular depths again, and I hope I can get on a few fish when we're out there.

Anyone heading up to Big Sam for the holiday weekend? It'll be kind of weird with no Island to party on as Rattlesnake is pretty much completely flooeded still

We had a pretty good weekend out there. Cleaned up in the grass at about 13 foot depth throwing into it a bit shallower, then just dragging senko's through that grass. Anyone else been on Big Sam lately?

I haven't been out there in a month or so either. Hoping to be on the water early tomorrow morning.

roblo pretty much had it right for us as well. Being up 5.2 feet over the weekend, all the spots we wanted to seek out were significantly deeper water due to the lake being up so high, and that made it a lot tougher to get into the shallow stuff in certain areas. That being said, we did ok and caught a few small fish in some grass up near needmore point, and then down south in some coves there seemed to be a decent amount of fish back beyond trees if you could get your boat back in there. Spent a hell of a lot more time fighting the wind on Sunday than we wanted. Ours were caught on some Watermelon Senko's, and another soft plastic as well. The fish are there, but it just wasn't as good of a weekend as we were hoping. Now I may not be able to get back up to Rayburn until the 18th of April. Really hate to miss the next 2 weekends. The water temps are perfect for some great fishing. Now that the lake level is settling in, as long as there's no big rain, it should be good fishing. Good news about the rain is that being up 5.3 feet in March bodes really well for the summer, in case we have a dry spring. If you can get shallow, get SHALLOW. That seemed to be where most of the action was across the lake based off what we heard.

Fixing to get up there tomorrow afternoon and fish tomorrow Saturday and Sunday. Weather looks fantastic the next few days.

Hello all new to the forum. Got a house up at Rayburn. We try to get up there as much as possible, but that usually only means 2 weekends a month at most. This past weekend was brutal for us. Water was so muddy and filled with debris from all the rain earlier in the week and the lake rising. The wind on Saturday afternoon also didn't help that. Fished up near Needmore Point and in that general area in some areas that usually do well. Lots of boats on the water, but seemed to be pretty little action based on what we saw and heard from others. Just wanted to say I really appreciate this thread and reading it. Even though I've fished throughout my life, I have never fished enough to dedicate a good portion of time to truly learning the craft. As I start to do that more, these threads and this site is a fantastic place to share ideas and talk fishing, especially at Rayburn.