BassinHog Posted February 4, 2015 Posted February 4, 2015 Catt  I have posted on here before, love reading all of the info on this site. No offense to others on here, but really pay special attention to what Catt, Bass_Fanatic & from Jack's earlier post, have to say. Not to get a GPS coordinate, but to get an idea what to look for at varying times and weather patterns. I fished as a youngster on Toledo Bend with my father and remember like it was yesterday, which is now 30+ years ago. I now have a senior in HS who is obsessed with fishing. Could be a pitcher on his HS baseball team this year, but baseball got in the way of his fishing. He and his partner have been fishing together since they were freshman in HS and travel around to varying states competing in various HS tournaments. We have fished some and planning on fishing more tournaments at Toledo this year. Matter of fact, in the next month and a half will have fished a HS tournament on Toledo 3 Sat's.  A question I have for you guys is this. When fishing grass the next month to month & half, pre-spawn - spawn, what weather pattern, if any (water temp), would you expect to make the bass sit on the edge of the grass vs moving deep within the grass. For instance, after a warming spell for a few days, my guess is they will be on the inside of the grass moving toward the shallower water. A cold front following the warming, mild or semi mild I would think would move them into the grass or even closer to the deeper edge of the grass. If so, can you go by water temps and make any decisions? Do you punch grass much this time of the year or are you more concentrated on fishing the top of the grass? Quote
Bugzx250 Posted February 4, 2015 Posted February 4, 2015 Winter to pre-spawn is difficult fishing, it takes multiply lures presentations, it takes covering lots of water, & it takes all day! Just joined this site and all I can say is Im amazed with the info on this thread. Im 41yrs old and been fishing Toledo bend for about 20yrs mainly once or twice a year. I have a camp now for the past 5 years that ive been to a lot more and have a hunting lease near Zwolle so Im there every weekend. Bought a zx250 Skeeter last year and now can travel the lake like I want. Anyway just here to say thanks for the information and will continue reading this thread for the next week or so. Went last weekend and hit Blue Lake and caught 3 good ones, 3.9-3.8-2.8, then traveled to Martinez and stuck two more in the 3lb range. Caught one on Blue/black swim jig and the rest on ole monster dark colored worm. Should be there every weekend in March and first two in April then my girls select softball season starts and I'll be traveling the states. Quote
Super User Catt Posted February 4, 2015 Author Super User Posted February 4, 2015 Bugzx250, check out the Roadtrip thread under the general section. And welcome home! Quote
six-mile C-Rig Posted February 5, 2015 Posted February 5, 2015 Just joined this site and all I can say is Im amazed with the info on this thread. Im 41yrs old and been fishing Toledo bend for about 20yrs mainly once or twice a year. I have a camp now for the past 5 years that ive been to a lot more and have a hunting lease near Zwolle so Im there every weekend. Bought a zx250 Skeeter last year and now can travel the lake like I want. Anyway just here to say thanks for the information and will continue reading this thread for the next week or so. Went last weekend and hit Blue Lake and caught 3 good ones, 3.9-3.8-2.8, then traveled to Martinez and stuck two more in the 3lb range. Caught one on Blue/black swim jig and the rest on ole monster dark colored worm. Should be there every weekend in March and first two in April then my girls select softball season starts and I'll be traveling the states. Â I'm curious about Martinez creek. Is there any grass? hydrilla? milfoil? Â if there is any, how deep does it grow? Â What was the water temps? Â Water clarity? Â sorry for all the questions, i've never been in Martinez creek. Â how deep were the fish you caught? Â what cover were they relating to? Quote
Bugzx250 Posted February 5, 2015 Posted February 5, 2015 We didn't go far into creek and fished the first point we came to which was shallow. I followed the creek edge in and was sitting in 18' of water casting to shallow about 6-8' I'm guessing and when they would eat the worm they would run back towards us/deeper water. Made me realize they were just coming up and feeding in the shallow and not staging for prespawn. Was a little grass but not much where we were fishing. Quote
Super User Catt Posted February 5, 2015 Author Super User Posted February 5, 2015 Bugz, they feeding up for the spawn, which is called pre-spawn. Did you see buck brush about half way back near the center? Quote
Super User Catt Posted February 5, 2015 Author Super User Posted February 5, 2015 BassinHog, aint forgot ya! Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted February 5, 2015 Posted February 5, 2015 Bassinhog, I don't pay much attention to water temp. I very rarely fish grass flats. I'm more or less looking for grass irregularities. Points, holes, patches, inside grass line, outside grass line ect. Most of the time I start on the outside grass line fishing points and work my way in from there. Very rarely can I not find fish on the outside grass line points. Every once on awhile, maybe after a front, I'll punch in the heavier stuff, but for the most part I'm working offshore grass points. Quote
BassinHog Posted February 5, 2015 Posted February 5, 2015 Thanks Bass  Will do a little pre-fishing, but most of the time we will just have to study maps, watch conditions, fish history, show up and hope for the best. Seems like a lot of the time even when you pre-fish and really get to feeling good about what you have, you go get to the tournament and conditions have changed or the fish have moved. Guess that's why they call it Bass fishing rather than catching. I have one son who is a bass fisherman who will stay out there all day for those few quality bites and my other son only wants to catch.  I almost seems like you have to fish somewhat fast (unless you are 100% confident they are there), catch a quality fish, work that spot over and hope you can hit that sweet spot before the day is done. Guess I am looking for a way to delete a lot of water and you have definitely helped. Quote
Bugzx250 Posted February 5, 2015 Posted February 5, 2015 Catt, we went in the second cove which looked like the deeper one. There is plenty of buck brush but on the edge or on dry land. 2-3' higher would be ideal for flippin on the beds right there. I guess I'm weird in a way. I'll troll up to the bank looking for the creek channel or drop off them back off and try to stay on it with my electronics. Just now starting to use electronics so it's making me constantly look at depth. And I agree with your 12-18' range. Always catch fish when I'm in that depth just never really out that pc of the puzzle together. Fishing sacalait tourneys for years got me out the bass loop and when I'd go up there there's a few places I know I can catch fish so I wouldn't over think it. Quote
Super User Catt Posted February 5, 2015 Author Super User Posted February 5, 2015 What do I look for in weather? Stability! Give me 3 days of stable weather; it can be clear days, overcast days, or light rain; anything the same. Day 3 I'm gonna be there On the northern end you should concentration on wood/brush; grass is a bonus. What I look for is buck brush away from the bank, even down south I find clumps or areas of sparse buck brush. Buch brush doesn't grow in very deep water so when I see these areas I know it shallow. Sparse buck brush offers numerous ambush points; add a little wind & access to deep water. Quote
Wesley Posted February 5, 2015 Posted February 5, 2015 Well last week I was laid off from the oil field. Â But today I landed a new job with another Drilling Company. Â I should still be able to make the road trip to Toledo. Â The new job starts the end of March so now that I have a job lined out will be working on my professional fishing career. Â 1 Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 Glad to hear you got a job Wesley! I couldn't imagine belong laid off all of a sudden. 1 Quote
Super User Catt Posted February 6, 2015 Author Super User Posted February 6, 2015 Well last week I was laid off from the oil field. But today I landed a new job with another Drilling Company. I should still be able to make the road trip to Toledo. The new job starts the end of March so now that I have a job lined out will be working on my professional fishing career. Life in the oil patch, hope to see y'all soon Quote
mguidroz Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 Good Luck Wesley...I wish you the best! Â I'm heading to the lake Sunday (only). Any advise would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you in advance.... Â Mguidroz Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Well, fished again today. Really struggled most of the day but got on a decent pattern late. Caught 5 fish for about 15lbs. I'll be back tomorrow to see if I can run that pattern all over and en it goes off limits next week. I'll share more after basschamps next Saturday. Quote
Swampghost Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Where is Bass Champs coming out of? I have a club tournament there next weekend and I need to stay out of the way. Sure hate that you probably won't post until after then but can't expect anything different. Â Good Luck!! Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 We are going out of cypress bend. I'm sure there will be 250+ boats there. Quote
jcdogfish Posted February 8, 2015 Posted February 8, 2015 First trip this year. Fished from 9 to 3 Saturday. 8 fish, 6 keepers. Sunday 7 to 11. 4 fish, 3 keepers. Had a few more on that did not get to the boat. Fish were much shallower than I expected, 10 feet or less. Water temps 51 - 54. There was a nice breeze on the lake. Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 First trip this year. Fished from 9 to 3 Saturday. 8 fish, 6 keepers. Sunday 7 to 11. 4 fish, 3 keepers. Had a few more on that did not get to the boat. Fish were much shallower than I expected, 10 feet or less. Water temps 51 - 54. There was a nice breeze on the lake. Did you have any size up shallow? Quote
six-mile C-Rig Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 Had a club touney Saturday. Fishing was tough. 12 people fished and one 2 limits were brought in. After talking to everyone, I was the only person who caught fish deeper than 10 ft. Most said they caught their fish in 3-8 ft. I ended up finishing 3rd despite only having 2 fish. I had a 3.98 and a 3.95. Both were caught on a black and blue jig, with black and blue craw worm as a trailer. 15-17 feet deep. My approach was pretty simple. I was about 2/3 the way back in a creek. I positioned my boat directly in the creek channel and followed the creek and flipped every tree that lined the creek on both sides of the creek. There were lots of fish on the edge of the channel, I could see them in my graph, just couldn't get them to bite. Hope this helps. Quote
jcdogfish Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 Nope, had 1 close to 3 lbs, others were keepers to a little over 2. Not great but enough to keep me interested. Quote
Bass_Fanatic Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 Six Mile C-Rig, of your only gonna catch two fish, that's two good ones to have! I'd love 2 4lb fish right now, just need 3 3lber to go with em lol. I don't understand what's going on out there. Like you said, the fish are there, they just won't bite ANYTHING! Put your head down and keep at it I guess. Jcdogfish, that's about what I figured was shallow. Awesome job finding them! I just can't comprehend where the big fish are. Quote
BulletDon Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 Good luck, wish I was fishing the ben in BassChamps, but will in del rio for FLW. Good Luck another siteatic. 1 Quote
Super User Catt Posted February 9, 2015 Author Super User Posted February 9, 2015 Y'all just gotta keep chunking This weather will help to put them in the mood I'm going up Feb 21st & 22nd, small tournament iut if Big Bass. Quote
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