So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

[Wesley]

Congrats Bass_Fanatic, 

 

Anyone else been out on the Bend lately?  I am at work would like to hear some fish stories!!

[back water]

WOW!!!!! No activity - sure hate to see this thread die, I have enjoyed it so much. Dutch

[Wesley]

Not gonna let this one die. Reports are mostly post spawn with a few stragglers down doth on beds.

[Bryan J]

Agreed backwater.  I don't get to fish TB as much as I'd like anymore now that I'm in NOLA (maybe 2 trips a year), but I do periodically read this thread.  Thanks for all the great input.  

 

My report...

 

Fished the La. Oilmans this past weekend.  It was tough for us.  We were 1.5 lbs away from the money and I dropped a 4.5 at the boat.  Just wasn't meant to be this year, but we still had a good time.  Caught most on a green pumpkin senko and a few on jigs.  No bait really produced for us and we threw the tackle box.  Fished north and stayed in 0-6 FOW around San Pat.  Pretty sure we should have looked deeper, but I do not know the north end that well.  Most fish in the 3-4 ft range for us off the banks in or near shallow spawning flats.   

 

I will be back up Thursday for a Bachelor party.  We are going with a sacalait guide on Saturday, but I plan to bass fish Thursday/Friday.  We are staying at Wildwood, thus I'll take any suggestions on areas to concentrate on the north end (since I apparently am not in the right area).  

 

Thanks again for all of the great information on this forum!

[Bass_Fanatic]

Ill be at Wildwood this Friday/Saturday too!  I plan on fishing midlake though.  What cabin yall in?

[Wesley]

I will be fishing out of cypress bend this weekend.

[Bryan J]

_Bass_Fanatic, we will be in cabins 13 and 10.  Should be 15 or so of us.  We will be pulling up my white Champion bay boat with my buddies F250.  Stop by and have a beer.  

 

We might fish midlake too since the reports I am hearing don't sound promising on the north end.  I did hear a decent report from 1215.

[fishingcajun]

I fished the oilmans as well. Had a great practice, released a 7+ fish and a few others. Only managed

four fish the first day with 9#, one fish 2nd day.  Fished Sammy Gill a short time, then remaining time

was  Indian Mounds and Housen. We saw very little buck bass remaining on the beds.  I will be going

back up next week to  practice for next oilmans.  Sure hope i do better than the first two.

 

Wish i could give a pattern, did not catch enough fish to pattern them.

[Flippman]

Stumbled across this thread and couldn't believe the knowledge, and different ways to approach the Bend. Thanks Catt, and r.i.p. Jack. So I registered outta respect. Took the time to read all 150 pages. Catt my back seat is open for you anytime, just for an on the water sonar/graph school...thanks for all the insight gentlemen. I will post accordingly.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Well good luck this weekend everybody!  If you see a white/black/red Puma w/250 ProXS come by and say hello. 

 

Bryan J, Im not sure which cabin we are in as I didnt make the reservations, but its looking like we wont get in until late tonight.

 

Wesley, where u gonna be?  I plan on fishing Carrice area and then Slaughter some Saturday.

[Wesley]

We fished Buck creek and six mile.  We only weighed 11.4, caught 10 or so keepers but no size.  Found a big girl on a bed but she wouldn't lock on, and when we came back she was already gone.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Yea I heard of some big uns' on beds south.  I caught 25 fish on the main lake, big fish was 5lbs.  I could see a thousand of em on my graph, but could hardly get em to bite anything.  I threw cranks, jigs, c-rigs, a-rigs at em but they only bit on a darn drop shot.

[Bearonthewater]

Gentlemen,

 

I’ll be traveling to the Bend this weekend to hit the waters next week.  Needless to say, I was compelled to revisit this thread only to be reminded of the valuable information found here and the contributions many of you have shared.

 

Staying at Big Bass Marina and planning on fishing the Tx. side in some areas like Spring Hill Bay / Palo Gaucho flats near Alpine Marina, Lowes Creek, and Indian Mounds.  I haven’t fished those areas very thoroughly before………..especially in the spawn / post spawn transition stages.

 

Been studying my maps and doing my homework, but any reports or tips for those specific areas, typical month of April patterns, or suggestions for the approaching full moon on Toledo Bend would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance and hope to be able to post some good news afterwards.

 

Bear

[Dam Yankee]

Yea I heard of some big uns' on beds south.  I caught 25 fish on the main lake, big fish was 5lbs.  I could see a thousand of em on my graph, but could hardly get em to bite anything.  I threw cranks, jigs, c-rigs, a-rigs at em but they only bit on a darn drop shot.

 

Try a flutter spoon.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Gentlemen,

 

I’ll be traveling to the Bend this weekend to hit the waters next week.  Needless to say, I was compelled to revisit this thread only to be reminded of the valuable information found here and the contributions many of you have shared.

 

Staying at Big Bass Marina and planning on fishing the Tx. side in some areas like Spring Hill Bay / Palo Gaucho flats near Alpine Marina, Lowes Creek, and Indian Mounds.  I haven’t fished those areas very thoroughly before………..especially in the spawn / post spawn transition stages.

 

Been studying my maps and doing my homework, but any reports or tips for those specific areas, typical month of April patterns, or suggestions for the approaching full moon on Toledo Bend would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance and hope to be able to post some good news afterwards.

 

Bear

 

There will still be some fish on beds Indian Mounds south.  Go shallow and look for bare spots in the grass and throw senkos or lizards in them.  Also, swimming a swimbait can be deadly at times through that grass.  I would also look at points pretty hard too, lots of big fish pull out on main lake points this time of year. 

[Catt]

Deep water jigging time

[cajunpapi]

Came over this site last week could not put it down. Been fishing ( I thought) Toledo Bend for forty years this site has given me more information about fishing in one week ,especially TB, than I have know in forty years.  My thanks and gratitude to every contributor to this site.   CATT I admire your knowledge and experience of the big pond Every member should thank you for sharing with us . I am resently retired and putting a camp on TB and will be able to fish more than 5 to 10 times a year. Have bought my Hook N Line map and rarring to go. CATT one problem I am having is getting a hold of the Gene Larew 71/2" salty ring worm. They seemed to be discontinued ,any substitute you can suggest.

[Catt]

If one were to head east out of Lowe’s creek you will notice a pipeline that runs all the way to the Louisiana side just north of Negreet. If one were to look north of where this pipeline and the shore of the main lake intersect and about 50 yds or so from each you might be able to locate some brush piles that the bulldozers piled up timber when clearing the pipeline. One might even find the same thing on the Louisiana side.

 

cajunpapi try Rage’s new Recon Worm

[Bass_Fanatic]

I'll be back up there Thursday-Sunday for the Best 6 tournament...cant wait, wish me luck!

[cajunpapi]

GETTING SITUATED AT THE CAMP IN YOCUM BAY. I HAVE FISHED VERY LITTLE,  SO NO REPORTS AVAILABLES,YET. LOOKING OVER THE HOOK N LOOK MAP OF THIS AREA IT SHOWS FISHING TO BE GOOD IN YOCUM AND ARNOLD BAYS ALL YEAR ROUND (GREAT). I CAN FISH THIS AREA FAIRLY GOOD IN THE SPRING AND FALL. SUMMER STRUCTURE FISHING I HAVE VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE, WILL BE APPLYING WHAT I HAVE LEARNED IN THIS TOPIC. ONLY AREA THAT I CANSEE TO STRUCTURE FISH IS THE ARNOLD BAY AREA WHERE THE MIDDLE LINE ON THE MAP #117 POINTS TO, THE SOUTHEAST POINT IN ARNOLD AND THE NORTHWEST POINT IN YOCUM. I AM LIMITED IN TRAVELING FROM THIS  AREA BECAUSE I FISH OUT OF A 17' ALUMINUM FLAT BOTTOM BOAT i WOULD HAVE TO TRAILER TO OTHER AREAS AND I PREFER  NOT DOING SO. CAN ANYONE GIVE ME SOME HELP WITH IDEAS ON STRUCTURE FISHING IN THIS AREA?

 

Hello, Catt need you

 

LETS TRY TO KEEP THIS TOPIC GOING FOR THIS RETIRED MAN . ALL HE WANTS TO DO IS  BE WITH GRANDKIDS AND FINALLY GET TO FISH TOLEDO BEND. 

[scott m]

Catt, thanks for all the great info. Ive only fished Toledo Bend once and love the lake. I am going to try my best to learn it. Due to my work I dont get to fish very often so all of your tips are very helpful for some one like me that might get to go to Toledo Bend maybe 4 times a year and have to fish Conroe the rest of the time being I live south of Houston.

Thanks again to Catt and everone else that has made this thread so great. Keep it up!!!

Scott

[Bass_Fanatic]

Well guys, fished the Best 6 tx this weekend.  Fishing was tough for most teams.  Had a cold front blow through Friday and the temps dropped to 33 degrees!!  In May!!  We found some good fish and ended up 4th!  Not too bad for some cypress tree flippers lol.  Our club is located about 2 hours from toledo, so we dont know the lake like most others, except me of couse lol, I try and go up ther 15-20 times a year atleast.  Anyway, we had a little less than 70lbs for the 2 days.  Look for deep grass!

[ATX]

Im a new comer to Toledo Bend and this Forum.  Ill start off by saying thank you for all the knowledge shared and i hope that some of you can find something usefull in my future post.  I grew up fishing small reservoirs in the south and was quite content until the last hurricane whipped them out.  So i went out and bought a bass boat and thought id pick up where i left off on big water...  wrong.  I have fished about a dozen lakes in the past few years with some success but found that i am normally in the 90% group wondering how the 10% are consistently catching.  So last year i decided i would build a lake house on Toledo Bend and do my best at learning it.  November it was complete and many long days on the lake later im still scratching my head trying to figure these bass out.  My last trip was for my bachlor party on May 1st.  I averaged 6 bass per trip, two trips per day and in three days only caught 5 keepers!  One of which did weigh 6 - 2 but she was long overdue!  I caught her on the south end of Texas Island right before dark on a black sinko with a south wind.  I know that i should be fishing deep but i find it very intimadating..  Ive made myself spend the whole day at times in deep areas that have structure and have had no success.  Joe Joslin is a guide and lives near my camp.  I am hoping to book a trip soon with him and learn as much as possible.  Good luck to all and thanks again for the reports and info.  Look for me on the south end at new camp on Hickory Hill or in a blue ZX200.. God Bless 

[Bass_Fanatic]

ATX...You have some great fishing down that way!  I love Six Mile, Housen, and Maghee flats.  Get you a good map and study it.  Find sharp breaks close to creek turns.  Also look for points with a creek running along side it.

[ATX]

Thanks for the encouragement.. I'll take your advise and keep casting. Let's say I find a creek bend with fish on it.. how do you recommended boat position? Should I anchor or troll, and do you drop your marker bouy right on the fish or beyond casting distance to keep from snagging it? And congrats on your resent tourney win!