Sam Rayburn

[fishfordollars]

Spent three days on the lake this weekend. Lake is down 5 1/2 feet. We caught some fish, size was up to five pounds. Found the fish out in the center of the bays relating to the creek channels and off the main lake points.

***With the lake level dropping be very careful. Lots of things (Stumps, humps, ridges) beginning to show that normally do not come into play.***

Thirty two thursday up to 4 1/2.

Twenty two friday up to 4 1/4.

Thursday the fish were out on the creeks and points in the deeper water and out off the clean main lake points. Most were caught on plastics (Senkos, Baby Brushhogs, and 10" worms). Best colors were watermellon/red, pumpkin, and watermellon/candy.

Best bites Friday were in the 2-5' water on a buzzbait and frog fishing the pads and grass.

Had the great fortune to have an eleven year old catch his first fish ever out of the boat. It was not large (2lbs+), but was huge in his eyes. The father took some pictures and promised to forward them to me when he got home. i will post them up when I get them.

Will give a more detailed report when I get time.

[alwayslooking]

Jack,,,this is a hard one,,,and may not be fair,,but can you describe how rayburn and toledo fish different? I still relate both lakes to hydrilla,,,but you and Catt say they fish different....

[fishfordollars]

Man, i need to think how to put that into words. For me they do fish differently. I'll go back through my notes and get back with you with some examples.

Toledo is a deeper, more river dominated lake in my opinion. Rayburn is a lot shallower with miles of grass flats.

Severe cold front: The bass on Rayburn will bury up in the grass and for me it is tough to get bit the first bluebird day. I can go the same day 30 miles to Toledo and those fish will be suspended over a creek out in the mouths of pockets in the 12-15' of water instead of burying up in the grass and bite a crankbait all day long. Who knows why, maybe it's my style of fishing. Those Toledo fish seem to be the least effected and the first to bounce back.

I catch more fish on a jig on Rayburn than Toledo, but the jig fish I catch on Toledo will outweigh the Rayburn fish on average.

I think the river ledge fishing on Toledo is a lot more consistant and dependable than Rayburn. Probably due to the depts of the humps and ledges and I personally know a lot more humps and ledges out on toledo than Rayburn. Points are much more consistant on Rayburn for me and the flats on Rayburn always outproduce Toledo's for me.

When I fish Toledo i tend to concentrate on the mouths of creeks and the main lake humps and ridges with grass, but when I hit Rayburn i stick with the flats and points. The areas i fish on Rayburn tend to be dominated by large grass infested flats with underwater points, creeks, and ditches running through them and main lake barren points.

I seldom fish upriver on Toledo, but won't hesitate to run miles to the north end of Rayburn. Toledo is a challenge to run, but Rayburn is not. You are not tied to the bouys like you are over there. Actually, Rayburn has no bouys. If you are in the back of a pocket on the west side just aim the boat east and you can usually run a straight line to the other side without having to run the creeks and river channels. There are exceptions though. Toledo can fish small. By that , I mean the fish can be locked to certain areas and you can get covered up with thirty boats. Rayburn on the other hand can have the same thirty boats in one area, but they will be scattered over a huge flat and no one is crowding the other.

Plastics are about the same on either lake for me. The Toledo fish tend to bunch up tighter and require a little more effort to locate. They tend to spook easier to. They require lure changes, retrieve and angle changes much more than my Rayburn fish. At least for me it seems so. I have set on schools on Rayburn and just wear them out cast after cast without ever changing a lure or retrieve. Rayburn fish are so consistant. I'm still catching fish out of areas I caught them thirty years ago.

Sorry, I didn't do a very good job of putting this together. Just typed it as it came to mind. I'll try to condense and send you a pm with a little more direction.

[alwayslooking]

that should keep me thinking for a while,,,went out today,,,put in at sandy and crossed over to veach basin,,,using frogs,,t=rigs,,wacky worms,,crankbaits,,my buddy and i managed 6 keepers,,,6 dinks,,,1 five lber on frog,,most were caught on points,,,we had to shift sides often to stay out of the winds,,couldn't shift out of all the rain, though,,seems we had to keep the boat in 10fow to catch any,,,any shallower and the points didn't produce, ( had to have deep water close),,,thanks for the lesson Jack

[fishfordollars]

Need to let everyone know if you run south out of Jackson Hill Marina or make the run south from Hanks Creek Marina through the long cut the the hump out where the old town of Warsaw was located is now in play. Move to the right near the tree line south out of Jackson hill or cut the corner tight (Not too tight though) to the right just as you exit south out of the long cut to miss it. It's shallow enough to do possible damage.

[bullet20]

going to rayburn this sat. hope to catch em like u did,my son would enjoy a 5 plus pounder.

[fishfordollars]

going to rayburn this sat. hope to catch em like u did,my son would enjoy a 5 plus pounder.

Where you putting in?

[alwayslooking]

bassmaster weekend series will be at the pavillion sat and sun,,,most ramps are usable but the lake is now over 6 ft low,,,have fun, but be careful

[bullet20]

harvey or jackson hill

[alwayslooking]

patterning bass this time of year can be tricky,,,couldn't get bit on the points saturday,,,ended up fishing the the shallower hydrilla,,,not matted,,,with t-rig to put my limit in the boat,,didn't figure it out until the end of my day,,,

[fishfordollars]

Glad you figured them out. when they start a move you just have to keep moving and trying different things to figure them out. follow the bait.

[bullet20]

went sat. only 4 small keepers,2 on spinner bait 2 on frog and missed 2 keepers. It  wastn't the great for me.

[fishfordollars]

Still falling, be extremely careful at the south entrance of the long cut and around the north end and while running the west side of the black forrest area.

Fish are set up on the main lake and secondary points, off the grass(Of course), and starting to see a little more schooling activity out off the points and over the outer creeks.

Wacky worms

Baby brush-hogs

Big worms

Mid-size crankbaits

Traps are catching a few

Best colors for plastic have been watermellon/red, Tequila/green, PB&J

Crankbait colors are gold/black back, chartruse/blue back, and most any shad color

Caught some fish on the Trixie series worm in hot tomato color. They definitely showed a preference for this color the last couple of outings.

Hope this helps if you are going out.

[alwayslooking]

good info Jack,,keep us informed and we'll post what happens to us when we fish there

[bullet20]

caught some good ones  on rayburn findly, top water bite was alwsome,partner missed 2 monster's :'(  he like's to jerk the bait out of there mouth,i ant going to say any name's  : but he did put us on some good fish,he should be riding in a new ranger rig. ;D

[alwayslooking]

Jack, be safe on your trip,,,hope you catch 'em,,let us know, when you can, how you did,,,

[fishfordollars]

Leaving Thursday at 4:00am. Will be back Sunday night. Good or bad I'll post the results up.

[alwayslooking]

Jack, when is your next trip to big sam?

[fishfordollars]

I'll be up there next thur-sunday. Going to the PAA tournament this weekend on Lake conroe.

[alwayslooking]

fished rayburn yesterday,,the 10th,,caught nothing but shorts,,,had topwater bite early (shorts), went to worms and frogs,,no frog bites,,shorts on worms, out to 20 fow on main lake points,,this low water has me puzzled a little bit, thought the grass would be to shallow for them, (out to maybe 4 fow) but friends caught theirs wacky worming the edge of mats

[fishfordollars]

I am going to try and go the first of next week and spend a couple or three on Rayburn and one or two over on toledo. Wife has high school renunion this Fri and Sat night. Throws a kink in all my plans. Put the new side imaging unit on last saturday and it has not left the driveway.

[rebeav]

I just loaded up on lipless cranks (red, red, and reds) and frogs to bring down there next Thursday. What's this wacky business? lol I am gonna have to load up everything and bring it I guess.  After fishing Texoma and Red River with no limit combined I'm hoping to catch some fish down there lol. 

[fishfordollars]

Rebeav, I sent you a pm with some info.

FYI, red ain't happening for me right now. They have not touched it in a while for me.

[rebeav]

Well I got to visit the big Sam last week and weekend.  Fished out of Jackson Hill and got on a couple of patterns that we couldn't capitalize on. The bigger fish we missed were on hollow body swimbaits on the main lake points they were better with a little wind naturally. Missed some good fish also in the very back of the pads. We would pull in and go as far back as possible and miss one fish per patch.  Caught fish on Carolina (15") around an old cemetery that we probably should have pounded a little harder. We had to make a 6 hour round trip to swap boats Friday evening. Hit a deer on the way and made it back in time for showers and to load a reel or two.  Take off and a ski mask gets in our prop and things never really seemed to get lined out.  For us anyway BUT I can't see not visiting more often thats for sure. What an awesome place. If i were building one thats the way I would do it!

[bigtimfish]

Thanks Jack, It has been a while since I have been on here. My work schedule is crazy, straight 14 hr nights for the past two months. I am so glad to see this Rayburn thread. I have been wanting one for a long time now.