So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

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our club fishing t.b. sat. and sun. i couldn't make it. :-[

buddy of mine had 23.oo lbs today leading with a 10.3 lber.

he caugth shallow with jig. 2nd place was 17lbs.. it's a 2 day tournament so let's see what happen's tomorrow.

[bayouXpress]

We just got back. could not believe how high and stained the water was.

We stayed at Shady Oaks lodge in cabin 1. It is located on the LA side on the south side of La nana. We had 3 boats with 2 anglers in each. None of us have ever fished this area before, but armed with some of the info in this thread I had somewhat of a game plan. It took a lot of taking to get them to get off the bank first. We are bank beaters and i just could not change their thinking. We actually ended up splitting up towards the end.

Day 1 Weds

Wed morning we all fished in la nana. I decided to fish the north creeks of la nana because of the creek channels that ran through them almost all the way to the back and because of the distance of them from shallow flats. On the map its just called Back of creeks..its has the 1215 bridge going over it and its a couple creeks before Beech bay. I noticed on the map the big flat point in 12 feet of water in the front. Made a couple drifts with the wind tossing spinners and traps. Move to the back and began targeting secondary points. pulled 3 non keepers on 1 point in about 9ft of water off of a creek bend on spinnerbait and trap. After pulling a 4lber and another keeper of the next point it starting to look like we might have a pattern going. after the 3rd point and 2 more keepers 15" fish. I was excited. Other boats called and wanted to try another area. They fished the creek over and had only a fish or 2 per boat. So wanting to stay together we picked up and left for another spot for the afternoon fish. I thought we would just apply this pattern to the next spot, but when we looked at the map to get a gameplan it was mud lake and not a creek so we could not hit the secondary points.

Launched at mud lake and with a south west wind it was muddy and windy. didn't stay long 30 minutes and decided to throw in the towel for the day.

totalled about 8 keepers and water temps were around 57-60

Day 2 Thursday

weather was strange. Pressure was so low I thought the weather website was wrong. I remember seeing 29.56 at one point. Anyway we all left for carrice creek. This was the area we fished the most previously. Also had the best looking water. We targeted the ditches running to the back the creeks. Water temps were in the 60s' so we began moving closer to the shallow areas since we were not really hitting on anything. Picked up a couple non keepers on spinnerbaits right near the launch. Move back in carrice and lost a keeper after he took the spinnerbait home with him. We did see a couple 3-4lb fish cruising the flats but not interested in anything. We continued south out of carrice and hit a couple more creeks without much luck. Mainly spinnerbaits, traps, flukes and the occasional jig on the outskirts of the buck brush.

That afternoon we decided on patroon. we all fished corsey creek and things started looking better. We did best when we were in about 16-17 feet of water and had some cypress trees in about 6 feet of water out about 10 feet from the bank. We actually got into flipping our spinnerbaits up against the tree letting it fall then reeling. all other boats just beat the bank mostly with spinners

totalled about 10 keepers a 4.5lb, 3-13, and another 4 or so 3lbers.

Day 3

More weird weather. Too me it seemed like a high pressure.. blue bird, dry, wind changing, but the pressure was still very low.

we all decided to fish in beech bay creek in la nana on the north side. We took little beech creek and the other 2 boats went right. Had a few boats in there and we went further to the back. We noticed buck brush everywhere, in the middle on the bank. It was very different from what we were fishing before. So we took the same approach. Followed a creek bed into the bank and started working the buck brush with our flipping the spinnerbait technique. It ended up being the best action to that point. Had about 8 fish with 5 keepers and 2 were in the 4lb range. All on flipping the spinnerbaits in the brush. if you were not getting tangled you were not in enough. Got together with other boats and they also had some good keepers from the other side but they were fishing over some hydrilla.

We decided to go back to the creek a couple over from little beech and attempt the same pattern, but it was very slow. I think we had 2 keepers and 5 fish. Could not get the fish to bite on anything but spinnersbaits. And we actually got these fish on the same point as day 1. Other boats in party went to carrice creek again

This day we ended up with about 25 total fish with 12 keepers. Biggest was 4.5lb mostly on spinnerbaits, couple on plastics.

Day 4

same weather as the day before. 

We all went back to beech bay and tried to duplicate the day before.  It was very slow for us.  Lots of boats with some Tx anglers.  only boated 2 non keepers and other boats had 1 keeper each. 

They decided to hit carrice creek once more and we decided to stay in little beech creek hoping the warm water would get the bite going.  Temps were back in the 58-59 area in the morning.  The day before in the afternoon it was at 63.  Slowest of the entire trip.  was so tired of casting by none.  At 445 I said we are stopping at 5.  I decided to get as far into the back of the littlest coves and brush I picked up the ribbit.  After about the 5th cast I had a 4lber explode on it.  10 minutes later the same thing.  5pm came up and we pulled up to a tree to pack up and leave and I threw one more time right at the bank.  Another explosion, but lost him in the trees.  I was so excited I decided to end the trip on that note. 

AFter speaking with the other boats we probably had about 13 fish with 5-6 keepers with a 6.2 the biggest on a spinnerbait. 

Throughout the trip we had about 60-65 fish with about 37-38 keepers

it was fun but it was slow. 

sorry for so long.  the next couple weeks should be great.  I was at toledo tackle and someone was bringing in a 10.1x something for the lunker program.

[Catt]

Now that's a fishing report 

[Who Dat?]

Great report, bayouXpress.

You made me feel like I was in the boat fishing with you!!!!

[HomeBrewerDude]

Thanks for the info... Unless the weather is bad, I think we're going to try our luck at Indian Mounds campgrounds for a couple of nights. If the weather is bad... depending on how bad... we'll probably base out of a nearby town like Hemphill. 

If we had two days on T Bend, where should we spend it?

My dad's boat is not fast so we'd prefer finding a one or two of the bays near Indian Mounds and working those areas like lakes inside of lakes.  I think I read that advice somewhere in this thread...

Again, we'll be on the lake the week of the 29th for anywhere from 2-4 days.  We're also planning on fishing Purtis Creek for a day, and depending on how much time were at T Bend, we may also fish Sam Rayburn or another yet to be identified E. Texas res.

Oh and do these tournaments fill up the lake?

[Catt]

Oh and do these tournaments fill up the lake?

190,000 acres I doubt it 

[Wesley]

Oh and do these tournaments fill up the lake?

190,000 acres I doubt it

Don't forget about the 1200 miles of shoreline catt.

HomeBrewerDude Housen is a great area to fish out of.  If you want to base out of Hemphill and fish in there I would suggest launching from Jack 944 boat ramp.  Or you could go up old 83 and launch at White Oak to be near the mouth.   

[fishfordollars]

Oh and do these tournaments fill up the lake?

190,000 acres I doubt it

Don't forget about the 1200 miles of shoreline catt.

HomeBrewerDude Housen is a great area to fish out of. If you want to base out of Hemphill and fish in there I would suggest launching from Jack 944 boat ramp. Or you could go up old 83 and launch at White Oak to be near the mouth.

C'mon Wesley, white Oak is supposed to be a secret.

[Wesley]

Oh yeah, there is no fish anywhere near white oak, just launch from there and run somewhere else!

:-)

Jack have you been down to the lake any this week? 

[fishfordollars]

Nope, but I will be there sometime Friday. Gonna check a few things before we get started Saturday morning. I'll be launching at the ramp by the small bridge.

[Wesley]

its been quiet on here, anyone catching any fish?

[fishfordollars]

I fished our club tournament Saturday and it was tough. The day, at least the first half was beautiful. I ended up at my spot off Carrice creek and my coangler and I both caught a two pounder pretty quick. For some reason they just shut off and would not hit anything . It was not just us either. We talked to a lot of boats around us and not one had over two keepers.

We were in the back of a pocket about 11:00 and my coangler picked up a small crank bait and caught a small non keeper up on the inside grass line. I started throwing a LC 1.5 and immediately caught two keepers. We moved out on the point(Bare clay) out about 8' of water in the front of the pocket and I caught a 4.13 and a 5.28 on that little crankbait. It was all over by the time the front and rain hit at 1:00. I thought sure that would turn them on,but we never had another bite.

I had the only limit at weighin and had the big bass. My weight was nine pounds ahead of second place. I want to know if anyone else struggled Saturday. Everyone was up beating the bushes and not catching any fish. Was it different down lake? Let me know.

Went to Sam Rayburn Friday(I know, I was supposed to be on Toledo), and that lake is on fire. Hit the water at 3:00 and had a 7.43 flipping a watermellon/red baby brushhog at 3:20, a 4.24 at 3:47. Water was up in the buckbrush and the best bite was where you found at least four ft. of water in the bushes and off the side of a point.

Jack

FYI, I never put much of a pattern together, just kinda wandered into the several larger fish I caught. My co angler only had the one fish. Great example why you need more that a day of prefishing to set up some working patterns.

[Wesley]

sounds like you had a heck of a tourney Jack! Good Job!!!

[fishfordollars]

sounds like you had a heck of a tourney Jack! Good Job!!!

Wesley, did you fish saturday? Was it tough on you to? Please let me know.

Jack

[Wesley]

Nope still out on the rig, be home the night of the 26th if the weather isnt bad.

[Corkpuller]

its been quiet on here, anyone catching any fish?

2 fish yesterday on a Fluke, 5-6' water, scattered coontail. Didn't get a hook in a couple bank runners in the bushes on a blk/blu tube jig. Fished from 0830 - 1230. On the porch today for sure, it's plum nasty out there. I hope my "catching" improves tomorrow and the rest of the week, it's not been real kind to me this year so far.

[fishfordollars]

its been quiet on here, anyone catching any fish?

2 fish yesterday on a Fluke, 5-6' water, scattered coontail. Didn't get a hook in a couple bank runners in the bushes on a blk/blu tube jig. Fished from 0830 - 1230. On the porch today for sure, it's plum nasty out there. I hope my "catching" improves tomorrow and the rest of the week, it's not been real kind to me this year so far.

Well, at least i know it was not just me. I worked my a** off for that limit i had that weighed 14.54. Again, not sure how I did it. Just kept moving and got lucky enough to get those five bites. I only caught three other non keepers. Talked to a guy that had two keepers all day on a blade, but we could not get bit on one. I caught my first fish on the Senko at 7:00am, and the rest were on that little crank bait all between 11:00 and noon. One of the toughest days i've had over there in a while.

Jack

[Catt]

Jack, Pat only caught 1 

[capierrottie2]

Fishing Report,

Fished a club tournament Saturday. We fished Arnolds, Negrett, and Yocum. We caught a total of 14 fish. Nothing to brag about all small. We did manage to put together a five fish stringer for 9.2lbs to come in 4th place. We started the morning beating the banks with senkos then moved off the banks to about 8ft of water. We had more action in the 8ft to 10ft depth range. Two of the keepers came in 10ft of water slow rolling a spinner bait. The rest were caught fishing a senko wacky style.

capierrottie2

[fishfordollars]

Fishing Report,

Fished a club tournament Saturday. We fished Arnolds, Negrett, and Yocum. We caught a total of 14 fish. Nothing to brag about all small. We did manage to put together a five fish stringer for 9.2lbs to come in 4th place. We started the morning beating the banks with senkos then moved off the banks to about 8ft of water. We had more action in the 8ft to 10ft depth range. Two of the keepers came in 10ft of water slow rolling a spinner bait. The rest were caught fishing a senko wacky style.

capierrottie2

That was a very good day. All the reports i got was fishing was extremely tough. Makes sense about the 8-10 ft of water. That's where my two best fish came from. you would have finished second in our club tournament. Not bad at all considering the way our day went.

[Needeep]

Finally getting to post on my trip from last tuesday thru thursday. Tue fished in lake just south of patroon and in coves above 1215. caught 4 keepers that day all on white spinnerbaits above grass.  Missed a few on flukes.

Wed trailered up and went to six mile my partner and I were culling by 1030 all on spinnerbaits half were spots and half were biggies. Most of the fish were off one point off main canal just kept making passes. Fish were in about 8 foot of water and slowrolled spinners above grass. Water much cleaner in 6mile than la nan area. Caught a few more that evening in coves above 1215 and patroon area.

Thursday the wind was pretty rough hard to fish patroon area so we fished the areas above 1215 mid day and managed to catch a few more.

All in all ended up with 26 keepers and threw about 20 back.  Biggest one was 3-9. Most came off white spinnerbaits, few off flukes. Missed a bunch on paca-craws in brush. Big one bit black/blue lizard. water was high and stained but getting cleaner and dropping.

We have had better trips but i didnt think too bad for two boats that only make this trip once a year.

[fishfordollars]

Finally getting to post on my trip from last tuesday thru thursday. Tue fished in lake just south of patroon and in coves above 1215. caught 4 keepers that day all on white spinnerbaits above grass. Missed a few on flukes.

Wed trailered up and went to six mile my partner and I were culling by 1030 all on spinnerbaits half were spots and half were biggies. Most of the fish were off one point off main canal just kept making passes. Fish were in about 8 foot of water and slowrolled spinners above grass. Water much cleaner in 6mile than la nan area. Caught a few more that evening in coves above 1215 and patroon area.

Thursday the wind was pretty rough hard to fish patroon area so we fished the areas above 1215 mid day and managed to catch a few more.

All in all ended up with 26 keepers and threw about 20 back. Biggest one was 3-9. Most came off white spinnerbaits, few off flukes. Missed a bunch on paca-craws in brush. Big one bit black/blue lizard. water was high and stained but getting cleaner and dropping.

We have had better trips but i didnt think too bad for two boats that only make this trip once a year.

Good job. Sounds like ya'll did a lot better than most. At least you caught some fish. That's more than a lot could say about their trips.

The white blade makes sense to, I just couldn't get them to offer at it though.

Jack

[Rather Be Fishing]

Well I'm heading up this Friday for a small alumni tourney on Saturday.  I know some of y'all are gonna be meeting up that weekend too, and I wish you all luck.  My buddy and I will be in a white Blue Wave bay boat with dark blue or black trim at the top.  I'm about 6'4" with brown hair down near to my shoulders, and we'll probably be anywhere from Pirate's Cove, South Toledo State Park, Six Mile and Housen(as we really are just gonna try to figure out where to head in another day or so, but the weigh in is at South Toledo State Park)...if you run across us definitely feel free to come say hello and tell us where they're at, 'cause we'll be guessing!  Seriously though, thanks to everyone for the information over the last months, and I'm definitely better prepared to give it a shot this week than I was in January.  It's my buddy's boat, but I'll do my best to keep us off the banks!  I've bought most baits that were mentioned more than a few times on here, as there was definitely a pretty select group of them, so I guess there's nothing else to do but get through the next couple of days.  Can't wait to put a line in the water.  Again, best of luck to you guys... 

[BASSINATORBIGJOE]

WANTED TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW WE CAUGHT FISH IN LANANA. WATER WAS VERY STAINED BUT CAUGHT ANYWAY. BEST TWO PATTERNS WERE FISHING POINTS ON THE NORTH SIDE IN ABOUT 4 TO 6 FEET OF WATER, RATTLE TRAP WITH A MEDIUM RETRIEVE APPARENTLY THESE FISH WERE TRYING TO BED AS THEIR TAIL AND FINS WERE BLOODY BEST FISH WAS A 5.13 CAUGHT ABOUT 20 ALTOGETHER WITH ABOUT 13 THROWBACKS. NEVER SAW A BED ALL WEEKEND. I THINK THESE FISH ARE BEDDING IN DEEPER WATER THAN IN YEARS PAST MAYBE BECAUSE THE LAKE LEVEL IS UP HIGH AND THROUGH THE YEARS THE FISH HAVE LEARNED THAT THE LAKE LEVEL GETS DROPPED IN THE SPRING. THE OTHER PATTERN WAS FISHING A SWIMMING SENKO IN WATERMELON WITH A QUARTER OUNCE WEIGHT RIGGED TEXAS, SLOW RETRIEVE IN EMERGING HYDRILLA. WATER TEMP. ON THE POINTS WAS 60 TO 61 SAT BUT FOUND SOME WATER 66 TO 67 ON THE SUNNY BANKS FRIDAY CAUGHT SOME NICE FISH THERE IN 4 TO 6 FEET ON A SPINNERBAIT CHART. AND WHITE GOLD BLADES OVERALL IT WAS A GOOD TRIP UNTILL THE WIND PICKED UP SAT AFTERNOON AND IF YOU WEREN'T ON THE BANK YOU WISHED YOU WERE. HOPE THIS HELPS ANYONE GOING THIS WEEK AS IT SHOULD BE GOOD WITH THESE SUNNY DAYS AHEAD. BIGJOE

[Catt]

As of: 03/24/2010 6:30 AM

Lake Level 171.37

Generator 1 Currently running 24 hrs.

Generator 2 Currently running 24 hrs.

Spillway Gates Closed Current Water flow 15134 CFS

Water temp: 53 to62

Thursday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 69. West wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. North wind around 5 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73.

Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51.

All big fish bites are coming on a Texas rigged watermelon red baby brush hog