So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

[capierrottie2]

Toledo Bend Housen, Six Mile, Indian Mounds, Lowes

Total for Friday Evening and Saturday till noon

30 fish

5 Kentucky's

3 Yellow Bass

22 Large Mouth Bass

Keepers 13 total , no hunkers 3 fish around 3lbs

Main Pattern catching fish off of points, near deep water, where grass is plentiful.

Lures: 3/8 Double Willow Spinner Baits

Finesse worms, Trick Worms,

Horny Toads

Colors- worms (plum apple, watermelon candy and Mardi gras)

spinner- white and white/chartreuse

Frogs- watermelon red

[HitmanFO]

Cappie, how are you fishing those spinnerbaits? Letting them sink all the way to the bottom, then reeling them in slow, letting them stay deep? Or reeling them in just under the surface? Are you going across the tops of the grass, or along the face of the grass line? Only in the morning, or all day, or only late?

Hope these questions aren't out of line... just asking because I tried them the weekend before last, mainly fishing them perpendicular to the bank/weed line, keeping them pretty shallow, and didn't get a single bite. I'm wondering how the guys that are catching fish on them are presenting it. I'll be fishing Six Mile again over the Labor Day weekend and would like to try my Stanley Wedgeplus in white/chartreuse again. Thank you!

[capierrottie2]

HitmanFO

I fish the spinner baits mostly in the morning or late afternoon. If it is cloudy you can catch fish all day using them. The trick is to "wake" the spinner bait over grass flats. Hold your rod tip up and as soon as the spinner bait hits the water reel in fast enough to try to throw a wake behind the spinner bait and lower your tip of your rod as the bait gets closer to the boat. It works best with a ripple on the water.

[Catt]

Stanley has brought back the best spinnerbait of all time... The Original VibraShaft

I done added a little tricka wedge blade

[HitmanFO]

Great, capie, I really appreciate the tip. I'll be out there in Six Mile Saturday and will give it a shot... will post my results.

[Catt]

A couple more ½ oz Hildebrandt Go-Getter gold blade/white skirtRed Bug Plastic  

[Catt]

09/02/09

Lake level: 168.34

Water temperature: Low to mid-80s

Generators: Currently running 6hrs. 2 - 8pm

I'm seeing more trucks hauling ATV than bass boats so fall is definitely in the air

There is a 30-60% chance of rain approaching for the holiday weekend which from all the PMs & E-mails has many concerned; my reply is get your slicker suit out & have a spinner bait tied on. Big single blade spinner bait is being demolished when slow rolled down the outside grass line in back of creeks. Two models that are hot right now is a Hildebrandt Go-Getter smooth gold blade/white skirt and a Rattle Head hammered gold blade/white skirt.

[capierrottie2]

Catt,

Good call on the spinner bait. If the weather is not too bad and the cloud cover stays it should be a perfect weekend for some spinner bait action.

[HitmanFO]

I'm driving up there tomorrow after work, fishing tomorrow evening, and from dawn til dusk Saturday, Six Mile and Housen.  I'll have a spinnerbait tied on first thing!  Will post results... hopefully good ones...   ;D

[HitmanFO]

Fishing report:

Friday evening I caught 3, one on a shallow running crankbait, two on the Stanley Wedgeplus in white/chartreuse.  I had 4 short strikes on the spinnerbait, close enough to the boat that I could see the underwater action.  I tried both slow-rolling (thank you Catt) and waking (thank you capierottie) it... both worked great!  Had fun with the spinnerbait this evening... first time I've ever used one.  Location was the south side of the Sandy Creek/Six-Mile crossover.

Saturday AM I had no luck with anything I threw, though my fishing partner put 4 in the boat on Carolina-rigged plastic and 3 on a medium-diving crankbait.  We spent most of our time fishing the grass points in the highline cove on the north side of Six-Mile.  Saturday PM, while the storm was rolling in, we took shelter in a cove along the Sandy Creek boat lane (north side) and I caught two, throwing Tx-rigged watermelon red trick worms into schooling bass.  My buddy caught a few on a Chug Bug, doing the same thing.  Late in the evening, after the storm blew by, we fished Six Mile Flats and pulled in a keeper right before it got dark on a Tx-rigged purple trick worm... they seem to be working like a charm out there.

The water was really low... at my buddy's house, his boat was sitting about 5 feet lower than the deck that you're supposed to be able to step off of into the boat.  This also corresponded with what I was seeing on the depth finder... grass line started at approximately 9 feet, instead of the usual 15 feet.

Question for you, Catt:  since the water was so low, making the grass line in 9 feet of water instead of 15 feet, would bigger bass retreat to even deeper water with different structure, or would they still hug that grass line?  From my experience this weekend, they weren't on the grass line... most of the ones we caught were 12-13 inches.  The only keeper that we caught that was in/along the grass was on Six Mile Flats.  That makes me assume that the bigger bass went to deeper, cooler water.

[capierrottie2]

Fishing Report,

I wasn't able to go to the Bend this weekend due to Honey Do's. My fishing buddy went and he caught 20 bass. One nice 6 1/2 pounder. He went to Housen and said there were too many boats so he went to Lowe's Creek area. He caught some on Texas Rigged, but most came from C-rigged baby brush hog in watermelon candy color. He said he was in 15 to 20ft of water and caught most fish off humps, small patches of grass, and submerged stump fields. We are fishing a tournament together this weekend I will give a report then.

[Catt]

The type of grass and how fast the bottom tapers into deeper water will determine at what depth the outside grass line will be located.

This is what I gather from your report and you can correct me if I'm wrong

1. The south side of the Sandy Creek/Six-Mile crossover

2. The grass points in the highline cove on the north side of Six-Mile.

3. A cove along the Sandy Creek boat lane (north side)

Y'all are still relating to the shore when you should be relating to creek channels

[alwayslooking]

Catt, does that mean where the creek channels relate to 17' of water? i've read that you like that depth, +or-, 3'. and is it to early to start looking in the backs of the creeks? or should i not get to hung up on the depth? really value your opinion, thanks

[Catt]

My target depth is 15 foot plus or minus 3 foot; this most generally is where all vegetation stops growing.

Most people start at the bank working inward till they find 15' while I start at river/creek channel working outward till I find 15'.

[fishfordollars]

My target depth is 15 foot plus or minus 3 foot; this most generally is where all vegetation stops growing.

Most people start at the bank working inward till they find 15' while I start at river/creek channel working outward till I find 15'.

Exactly why you consistently catch the larger fish.

When you face the bank 90% of the fish in a lake are behind you.

[bigtimfish]

Toledo Bend today. Caught fish on Stanley Wedge double gold spinner(destroyed by one 2lb fish) also Rage Anaconda 10" (red bug), Rat l Traps, Wave Tiki Platypus. 2 Fish early in my favorite cove(12ft). 2 fish in Sandy creek just off boat lane where big bouys turn to smaller ball shaped bouys (9 to 18 ft), Then on to Gilley's Point 4 fish there on spinner and traps. I caught fish on a spinnerbait in 30' of water. My first time for that. The bass we caught were mostly all in the 1.5 to 2lb range the biggest going about 3.5. I did notice that they were all chunky little fish. We watched them for quite a while just schooling and gorging on shad.

[HitmanFO]

Catt, you are correct... I've been relating to the bank, for the most part, coming off the boat lane, heading toward the bank, finding the grass line, then turning the boat parallel to the bank (following the grass line), fishing all sides of the boat.  You say you are finding a creek channel, then moving away from the creek channel until you find the grass line, then casting back into the channel while sitting on the grass line?  Some of the channels are fairly deep within casting distance of the bank... do you take this into consideration, or just fish per the depth of the water?

I haven't been doing that 100% of the time... many times I am cruising off of the boat lane, running across humps that aren't shown on the map, and fishing them.  And I try to stay along that grass line, whether it's in 9 or 15 or however many feet of water, whether it is 10 feet or 100 yards from the bank.

That's not how you do it?  Critique me!!! I know I've learned A LOT of good stuff from this forum... thought I was doing pretty good following your tips/instructions/teaching, but evidently I've misinterpreted some things!  

Thanks for your time Catt!  My fishing buddy is getting tired of hearing me say, "Well, Catt said this..." or "No, Catt said do it that way..."   ;D

[alwayslooking]

Catt, what hitmanFO says,,,,x2

[bigtimfish]

I gotta go X3 on that.

[capierrottie2]

Guys,

Here are some tips that I look far when fishing Toledo Bend. I am not Catt or even close to being the fisherman he is I am just trying to see if I can help.

The things I look far:

1. Flats, Humps, Points, Secondary Points.

2. Good grass

3. MUST BE NEAR DEEP WATER ( Creeks, Channels, Trenches, Etc)

I think there is a misconception about the grass line. It is not always the visual one you can see from the bank. It might be 100 yards from the bank. The grass line or ledge that I am talking about is usually ends in 15ft + or -3 ft. You cant see this grass line on top of the water. You might be in 15 ft of water and 12ft of that is grass. If you follow it it the grass will just stop and there appears to be a grass line or ledge under water. I look for these grass lines near deep water channels, creeks, trenches, etc. I look for standing timber that is a good indication of deep water.The reason why is I believe the fish move to the deepest water possible where there is still good cover. Other fish including bait fish use the deep water for travel (highways), the grass provides a good ambush spot for bass, and it protects them from the sun. I move away from the ledge and fish along ledge from the deep water (channel/creek/etc) toward the grass line. It is usually just out of casting distance. Always checking my depth finder to make sure I am in the 15ft + or - 3ft depth. Once again I am no expert or claim to be.. I might be totally wrong, but this works for me. Hope I helped. Catt correct me if I am wrong.

[HitmanFO]

capie, I think I see one error I have made, based upon your input. I have fished flats, humps, points, secondary points, and good grass, but not always NEAR DEEP WATER. I'll fish the grass line in 15' of water, but the bottom may stretch flat and level at 15-18 feet for quite a ways, before dropping off to deeper water.

Sounds like I need to find that grass line, but have a good drop-off into a creek channel, road bed, whatever, within close casting distance.

You agree?

One place I can think of like that is the highline cove on the north side of Six Mile that I mentioned in an earlier post. It has a grassy point that is above water close to land, and tapers out to a grassy point about two casting distances from where the grass first goes under water. On each side of the point is a good dropoff into 25 feet of water or so, which comes back up on either side to grass again, within casting distance of the bank. Fishing that grassy point, and along the sides of it, with Carolina-rigged plastic, produced a lot of bass this last weekend for two buddies of mine that fished it. Only a few keepers out of all of the ones they caught... but at least they were catching them.

Maybe I need to sit smack dab in the middle of where that grassy point tapers off, or along the taper somewhere, and cast into the 25 feet of water, reeling back toward the grassy point, instead of sitting in 18-20 feet of water and casting toward the point.... hmmmmmmmmmm..... is that what you and Catt are suggesting??? Did a light bulb just appear over my head???? Let me know!

[Catt]

capierrottie2 you are dead on

NEAR DEEP WATER: This part of structure fishing can be confusing because we can not determine how far the bass are willing to travel; some productive structure is within casting distance while others are 100+ yards away.

There are two scenarios when you will find my little red Stratos near the bank, pre-spawn or when a creek channel is near the bank.

Boat positioning: I position my boat where I can reach onto this outer grass line with a long cast; I cast 360 degrees around the boat. Some times you will catch them all on the grass line side, some times you will catch them all on the deep water side and some times it's both.

[capierrottie2]

HitmanFO,

Yes you are correct you need to have deep water nearby and as far as boat positioning and casting I cast both directions (toward the deep & toward the grass).

[alwayslooking]

Ok, it seems to me, we end up at the same spot, no matter how you get there, 15' on a main or secondary point, is 15'? whether you relate to the channels or bank? now, once you get there, be sure to fish 360 degrees around boat. i can only guess that you use the channels, Catt, because your looking, really, for the miagration routes, breaks and breaklines?    

[Catt]

Sorry but we do not end up at the same place!

While 15' is 15' that in itself is not the whole equation but only a part of the equation; the whole equation is what was before the 15' and what is beyond the 15'. A long slow tapering point with no breaks or break lines offering easy access to deeper water will not hold many bass if any at all. One must pay attention to contour lines on your map; the closer the contour lines are together the faster the drop while the farther apart the slower the drop.

Starting at a river/creek channel I can find a ridge that comes up to 15' that is only 20-30' wide that you will never find coming from the bank because once you reach 15' you stop.