So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

[Dougw]

My preference is enough water to float the boat off the trailer in the morning and enough water to float it back on the trailer in the afternoon.

 

Gotta a couple of places I won't even go if the LvL is below 171'. I can go there but kinna pointless to do so.

[Back to Front]

I been lurking here for a while and thought I would finally contribute. All fish were caught in 2-3 foot of water because I can't seem to get them to bite offshore. She the attached photo.

 

Thursday Afternoon: Very windy. Caught 6. biggest 3Lbs on T-Rig watermelon Red Sinko and C rig brushhog. Indian Mounds Area

Friday Morning: Fished the same area without a bite.

Friday Afternoon: 3 Spotted Bass and 7 white perch in Negreet

Saturday Morning: Fished Negreet and had one small one

Saturday Afternoon: Caught 7 on wacky rig sinko at the Indian Mounds. Biggest was 3lbs.

 

I've attached a picture that I took on my fish finder. This appears to be bass feeding a shad. I tried everything to get them to bite (even shiners). How would you approach these fish? Any tips would be appreciated.  

 

 

[A5BLASTER]

8 hours ago, Back to Front said:

I been lurking here for a while and thought I would finally contribute. All fish were caught in 2-3 foot of water because I can't seem to get them to bite offshore. She the attached photo.

 

Thursday Afternoon: Very windy. Caught 6. biggest 3Lbs on T-Rig watermelon Red Sinko and C rig brushhog. Indian Mounds Area

Friday Morning: Fished the same area without a bite.

Friday Afternoon: 3 Spotted Bass and 7 white perch in Negreet

Saturday Morning: Fished Negreet and had one small one

Saturday Afternoon: Caught 7 on wacky rig sinko at the Indian Mounds. Biggest was 3lbs.

 

I've attached a picture that I took on my fish finder. This appears to be bass feeding a shad. I tried everything to get them to bite (even shiners). How would you approach these fish? Any tips would be appreciated.  

 

 

Jigging spoon and those look like white bass too me.

 

Still a fun fight and great eating but they look like white bass and not large mouth too me. At least that's what they look like on my helix7 mega down imager when they have a ball of shad locked up.

[Catt]

@Back to Front Welcome! How y'all are?

 

Great report! 

 

I agree with @A5BLASTER they look like white bass.

 

If shiners didn't work IDK!

 

[NoShoes]

Man I’m sitting in a Shreveport hotel down the road from Toledo bend and kicking myself for not being able to fish it. Back to Georgia tomorrow, only here for the afternoon but still cool to be in proximity 

[Catt]

@NoShoes That's hard ?

[Dougw]

Once again I'll be on TB from Wed-Sun. Naturally I check the weather. Oh... wonderful...

Wednesday wind - 5+10=15mph WNW

Thursday wind - 10+15=25mph NW

Friday wind - 10+15=25mph NW

Saturday wind - Light and Variable. I've been beat to death by "Light&variable" WNW@6mph

Sunday wind - 10+15=25mph S

 

Yeah... think I need to find some fish close the the ramp in Caney Creek! 

 

The reality is a person should never have to leave Caney Creek to catch a decent sack. I believed that 6 years ago when I first started fishing the ABA that puts out at the Army Ramp. For the first two years I did not leave Caney Creek. And... I the best I ever did there was 2nd but mostly it was middle of the pack finishes.

[Catt]

@Dougw I feel your pain!

 

Everytime someone says the wind is your friend, I'm like no it ain't.

 

The only good thing I can tell ya is from what I've heard the spawn is actually late in this area of the lake. There should be a huge push shallow with the approaching full moon.

 

[A5BLASTER]

19 minutes ago, Catt said:

@Dougw I feel your pain!

 

Everytime someone says the wind is your friend, I'm like no it ain't.

 

The only good thing I can tell ya is from what I've heard the spawn is actually late in this area of the lake. There should be a huge push shallow with the approaching full moon.

 

That's not the only area it is late.

 

We caught 10 keepers yesterday and all the females had under developed eggs.

 

It was slow with no wind yesterday lol.

[LovestoFish]

2 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

That's not the only area it is late.

 

We caught 10 keepers yesterday and all the females had under developed eggs.

 

It was slow with no wind yesterday lol.

 

How can you tell if the eggs are underdeveloped?

[Dougw]

2 hours ago, LovestoFish said:

 

How can you tell if the eggs are underdeveloped?

They're hard to crack! 

There were fish on the bed(s) in Caney first week in March when I was there. I didn't see'em but I had several folks tell me they saw'em but couldn't catch'em.

[RonnieF]

Headed up this afternoon. Bringing my boat to Toledo Fiberglass to have new electronics installed plus Mega 360. I’ll be playing with them and trying to fine tune them. Hope to have a report later in the week. 

[A5BLASTER]

4 hours ago, LovestoFish said:

 

How can you tell if the eggs are underdeveloped?

The color and the firmness/texture of the eggs themselves as well as the hardness of the egg sack.

 

If the eggsack is hard like a rock and the eggs are bright,bright yellow, she is about to find a bed and drop them.

 

All I have time for right now, lengthy  report coming this evening, we on them so far today, just stopped to eat a late lunch.

 

We got wind today, so the shad bite is on. Top water is coming to life as well.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Dougw said:

There were fish on the bed(s) in Caney first week in March

 

Not saying there aren't any on beds but rather the major waves haven't moved up. 

 

In @A5BLASTER area they are probably into the second major wave.

[A5BLASTER]

Ok so trying too condense this as best as possible.

 

Sorry I didnt give a report yesterday, it was late by the time we had everything cleaned up and ate supper.

 

So here goes.

 

Had some kin up for the weekend, we started fishing saturday morning, fished till noonish ate and then fished till dark. Sunday started fishing around 8am, fished till 1ish ate and then fished till 7pm.

 

Between the 2 of us we ended up with 28 keepers, 40 plus buck/dink bass and he put one back that went 4.70 that had spawned out and was skinny and run down.

 

Our fish were averaging 15 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 pounds.

 

Baits used were 4 inch baby bass colored swimbaits rigged on owner flasher swimmer hooks. White and chartreuse swimjig with some kind of white trailer. Black and red flake baby ribbet, white popping frog, 1/4 once blue back and chrome trap and kvd 1.0 sqaurebill crank ( dont know the name of the color).

 

Have pics of all the bass in the sink before we cleaned them but site says file is to big too upload.

 

The tree pics are from sunday morning where we found them on a shad bite.

 

[Dougw]

Wonder why... SRA is deciding to screw up the spawn? From 170.82 4 days ago to 169.9 today and still running both generators 24hrs. Head scratcher fer sure....

[A5BLASTER]

8 hours ago, Dougw said:

Wonder why... SRA is deciding to screw up the spawn? From 170.82 4 days ago to 169.9 today and still running both generators 24hrs. Head scratcher fer sure....

They still biting, swimbait in ghost shad color plus white and chartreuse baby ribbet.

 

7 females and 1 male.

 

I know the water level s%&$@ but got too make the most of it, they going to spawn somewhere.

[Dougw]

6 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

 

I know the water level s%&$@ but got too make the most of it, they going to spawn somewhere.

 

Yeah... I know. 

 

Nice sack of fish you got there! Takes me 5 days to round up that many keepers. I do not know what it is about me and Toledo but it has kicked I disagree for the last 6 years. 

 

Seems 170' was their target. Shut the generators off at mid-night last night. The new generating schedule is not posted yet.

[Catt]

16 hours ago, Dougw said:

From 170.82 4 days ago to 169.9 today

 

That's a drop of 0.92" over 4 days!

 

Not being rude or trying to hurt anyone's feelings but!

 

Average Monthly Level for 48 years 1969–2015

 

Lake average for the month of April 170.642

 

While we wonder what the SRA is doing the bass know what they're doing & will adjust.

 

https://www.toledo-bend.com/lake-level/

[Dougw]

36 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

That's a drop of 0.92" over 4 days!

 

Not being rude or trying to hurt anyone's feelings but!

 

Average Monthly Level for 48 years 1969–2015

 

Lake average for the month of April 170.642

 

While we wonder what the SRA is doing the bass know what they're doing & will adjust.

 

https://www.toledo-bend.com/lake-level/

No feelings hurt here! Ok... so my brush was a tad broad.

 

My comments about screwin' up the spawn was focused on those fish that dropped their eggs  but the hatch has not taken place. No doubt fish just now, or within the last week, coming up to spawn can, and will, adjust accordingly.

 

But you are correct about the water level in April. It appears, based on historical data from the last 6 years, that 170 seems to be the target level for April.

[Catt]

52 minutes ago, Dougw said:

No feelings hurt here! Ok... so my brush was a tad broad.

 

There are a few people who come here anonymously from one of the social media websites. They are jealous of what has been created & their only intention is to cause hate & discontent. 

 

Instead of creating an account & having an open & honest discussion they prefer hiding.

 

The bass are "smart" enough to build their nest deep enough to compensate for water level changes up or down.

[Dougw]

Yesterday was "fun"... Today was even mo'fun.

 

Spent yesterday in/around Indian Creek. 'Bout 3:00 decided I'd better put it on the trailer. 15-20 NNE blowing right in on the ramp. Got one shot at putting it on the trailer. Whew... I picked the ramp down by the dam because the weather channel said "wind out of the NW. NO... it wasn't! It was out of the NE!!!

 

Put in at the army ramp today. Loading/unloading was easier that was all. Caney was rough. 2 days and I've yet catch a black bass. Several whites but that's it. I'll admit to spending a lot of time on ActiveTarget. Frustrating sums it up pretty well....

[LovestoFish]

 ???

No postings this time of year can only mean one thing...

[Dougw]

O'tay... I'm absolutely tired of getting my buttinsky kicked on Toledo Bend. After reviewing/analyzing the last 6 years I've been going there I've landed on one glaring issue. I've spent the last 5 years trying to unlock the mid-lake area. I am not a "mid-lake" fisherman - period. The last 30 years of tournament fishing found my success up the river. Being as we put in at the Army Ramp getting up the river was a bit challenging for me. But... gonna give it a try this time. I'll be there from 5/9 - 5/15. Basically 7 days.

What are the functional ramps up lake/river at the current water level of 171'+/-. Doesn't have to be a "good" ramp. Biggest concern would be security. The further north I can launch the better - I think.

[A5BLASTER]

3 hours ago, Dougw said:

O'tay... I'm absolutely tired of getting my buttinsky kicked on Toledo Bend. After reviewing/analyzing the last 6 years I've been going there I've landed on one glaring issue. I've spent the last 5 years trying to unlock the mid-lake area. I am not a "mid-lake" fisherman - period. The last 30 years of tournament fishing found my success up the river. Being as we put in at the Army Ramp getting up the river was a bit challenging for me. But... gonna give it a try this time. I'll be there from 5/9 - 5/15. Basically 7 days.

What are the functional ramps up lake/river at the current water level of 171'+/-. Doesn't have to be a "good" ramp. Biggest concern would be security. The further north I can launch the better - I think.

At 171 level all ramps are useable.

 

As to security. If you dont have to pay to use it. It's not going to be secure. If you pay to use the ramp it's going to be 50% secure.