So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

[kajun32]

Got it figure out, the wrap boat look like a shark from underwater looking up. We are changing the wrap to a big bleeding

shad!! We going back out this weekin on Toledo and try again.

Everyone Have a Bless Day!!

[Bloodandguts]

Hey Kajun32

Some offshore boats have silhouettes of squid and tuna painted on the hull. Maybe we should paint schools of shad on ours. lol.

[kajun32]

Yea, I was thinking the same thing blood.

[Bass_Fanatic]

I'm heading up to fish tomorrow. I'll have 3 kids from my church with me. Hoping to let them see a lot of fish on beds and get lucky and find one big female!

[kingmotorboat]

I'm heading up to fish tomorrow. I'll have 3 kids from my church with me. Hoping to let them see a lot of fish on beds and get lucky and find one big female!

Indian creek had a few on beds

[Bass_Fanatic]

Indian creek had a few on beds

Thanks. I plan on fishing mill, buck, and Indian.

[kingmotorboat]

West bank was where we hit them hard this past weekend on Indian. Just remember if you get down to the lafleurs dock ( you will know which one there's a sign on it) please have a fast retrieve and some abrasion resistant line. My dad rapped one up twice ina row under all that brush and she looked like she was about 5 . Tons of underwater brush under there new bank walk way

[Bloodandguts]

Got here late yesterday and fished spring hill. Water was a little stained. Threw a WMR fluke w the tail dipped chartr. Found them shallow, between hay grass and bank. Went 3 for 6. Fished about 1 1/2 hrs. Caught one that was dripping eggs (15"). Eased her back in the water.

Woke up to gale force winds this am. Will try a midday bite.

[r_c_h]

I have just completed reading 135 pages of this thread. I am in awe of the knowledge that has spilled out. All i can say is "wow". I have not been on Toledo Bend since I was a kid growing up. Every year my grandpa would take his vacation in the summer and we would head to the Bend. It was always a wonderful experience for me. It was the only time that I saw him fish on a Sunday. We caught the mess out of the big blue gill in the day and caught crappie at night. But man, those schooling bass, that was a treasure. I never could figure out why bass couldn't be caught like that in our pond. Anyway, saying all that to say this.... I have purposed in my heart to learn (a portion) of the Bend. This thread has brought to life a lot of wonderful memories.

 

I really enjoy night fishing more than anything. So this year I am going to pick an area and learn it inside out. My question is this...keeping in mind 1. launching from the Louisiana side 2. fishing at night..... what area would you pick?

[r_c_h]

Not having been on Toledo as an adult and in my own boat, I guess what I was wanting to hear is that it is safe enough to crawl over to the Texas side and learn the area that Catt talks a lot about.....

[jcdogfish]

I usually launch in six mile or housen and every now and then cross to pirates cove from there.  With that being said, if I was on the LA side and wanted to fish one of the Texas coves from Palo Gaucho down to the dam I would trailer around and launch in the cove I wanted to fish.  No reason for me to have to worry about the wind, and weather or crossing the main lake if I don't have to.  That's just me.  Is it safe to cross, yes, if the conditions are good.  But, they can change fast.

[wrp75951]

Anyone heard if the bream are doing anything yet.

[Catt]

r_c_h,

First welcome

Unless you know the boat lanes well, have boat capable of handling 2-3' chop, & you're experiened at running this lake in chop I would agree with jc.

[r_c_h]

thanks Catt for the welcome.... I plan to make several day trips before I would attempt a night trip.... even knowing a lake, night fishing is still something that can get hairy in a hurry... Tuesday I will be headed to "the big

 

pond". I have not been there since I was 9 years old (39 years ago). I'm kinda giddy about it... I'm assuming that if I could learn how to get around Caddo and Fork that it will come to me... could be wrong though.... The

 

size of Toledo has always intimidated me. The lake is probably up, is that right? I haven't seen one of Catt's full lake report recently.

[fishnla]

RCH check out Toledo-bend.com it will keep you up to date on water level. And just for reference full pool is 172. It also has some basic reports to look at.

[r_c_h]

RCH check out Toledo-bend.com it will keep you up to date on water level. And just for reference full pool is 172. It also has some basic reports to look at.

 

 

that's right !!! I forgot that I had saved that to my favorites... thank you !!!

[r_c_h]

just my thoughts... the upper third maybe the upper half is in full blown post spawn or close to it and not very motivated to participate. There is more rain on the way for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and

 

Thursday. Catt would catagorize this as "stable conditions". As long as the wind doesn't get up I think I can take what I've learned here and still catch fish. Deeper water fish are less affected by such things.

[Basseditor]

Two practice days are done. It was too windy to explore much on Thursday. I've found a minor pattern but it sure is hard to get to them. (Behind the flooded cypress trees very shallow.)

Some minor schooling action if you're in the right place. Let's see how the tournament goes tomorrow. I'm really not on any quality fish.

My first time on the lake so I tried to learn three area. I'll fish Six Mile and Housen and if the wind isn't too bad I may try one other place. I didn't see others catching many, but the guy in the next room got one about 7 lbs.

I caught 7 keepers today but none over 3.5 pounds.

[Catt]

Here on the Gulf coast we got 5 1/2" of rain in 2.5-5 hrs!

[Bloodandguts]

Fished Palo G. Thursday and got a 4 keepers out of 7. Water slightly stained, but real muddy in back by bridge.

Caught on WMR and Wcandy flukes, craw, and senko (1/32 ounce wt).

Fish were between grass and bank.

Friday afternoon fished turtle beach. Fish had moved off the bank and caught several in 3-5 ft. Water clear. Senkos! Caught some off point in middle and the cove to the east. A few bites all the way in the back. Missed a heck of a fish there. Prob 5+. Rolled on a fluke and hauled butt into deeper water. Didn't get a good hook set. I'll be sick for a while.

Found white bass schooling in Tenn Bay in 5-7 ft. The kids wore em out. Caught 30 or so with a few large mouth and Kentucks mixed in. Shad colored rouge.

[Kidflex]

Hey guys. This is my first report to help contribute to this great thread. It has helped me tremendously. I recently started fishing toledo bend and now that I have a boat I can fish whenever time allows. Last few weeks I've been on the south side, j&l and pirates area. Beating the banks catching mostly dinks with an occasional 3lber. A few days ago I decided to hit housen and flip some buck brush and cypress trees and get away from the hay grass. Lol. Started late around noon but didn't take long before gettin bit. I pitched a D bomb all day and my partner fished an under spin fluke rig. 11 bass caught in a few hours. Mostly keepers, a 3lber and a 6.21. She would've been heavier but had released her eggs. Flat belly and left some eggs on my boat carpet. Also got a baby gator on the D bomb. Don't ask me how. Lol

[back water]

We had a 19 man tournament with the Cleveland Bass Club on Sat. and Sun. We only fish until 3:00 on Sat. and 1:00 on Sun. We wasn't looking forward to the weather forecast, but it turned out fine. Sat. heavy stringer was 17.20 lbs and Sun. was 17.72 lbs. Tournament winner was 26.67 lbs. 19th place was 18.02 lbs, so you can see all and all it was a great tournament. Spinner baits, flukes and plastics did most of the catching. Most of the big bass had already spawned.

Be safe and keep a tight line - Backwater

[shaneus]

im getting away from shimano cumara and crucial, going to phenix rods will have 10-15 rods in great shape coming up for sale soon from 6'8 to 7'11 casting and cranking...... first 2 phenix rods will be here wednesday... first two i will be selling will be a 6'8 and a 7'2 cumara med hvy fast action. less than 4 months old

[Bloodandguts]

Shaneus,

Why are you switching brands? What are the problems with the shimano rods?

Pat

[shaneus]

Rods are great, I bought the rods when they (BPS & GANDER MTN & ACADEMY) did the over the counter lifetime warranty swap. Now no one hardly carries the cumara line except online retailers and BPS and they dont swap them out without buying a 2 year protection plan or something. Which is not a real big problem, you have to ship them to shimano directly when you break them.... The rods are great and I bought them on the promise of a lifetime warranty, now they have done away with the lifetime warranty (and not decreased the price) its only a 1 year warranty......i have rods that i use 1 month out of the year  (rattletrap), one year warranty is not for me....so thats why i am swapping, the main reason i invested soo much money in shimano rods was the great warranty, and its gone now, so i think i found a good brand of rod to replace them. i swapped all shimano reels when the company came out with the crap they caled a g7 i went to lews, now they ticked me off again with the rods and i want to get rid of the brand all together....high end rods are light and sensitive, but ive found that comes with a price of durability, i dont want to start the rod warranty debate, but if i am fishing and i break a rod on a hookset im sending it back for warranty replacement, if i slam it in a rod locker, i will buy another one or pay the replacement cost......shimano said they had too much abuse with their warranty program and did away with it......cumaras cost 250-280 to the consumer it cost them 40-60$ to make in china if that, they can warranty the same rod 8 times before they lose the profit. rant over sorry.....