So Yall Want To Learn Toledo Bend?

[JAWS]

8 hours ago, Bass_Fanatic said:

I was on Toledo Tuesday through Friday this week.  Worked from the camp some and fished some.  We caught a lot of bass, probably 200 or so in 12-18’ on Arigs and crankbaits.  Had a lot of 4-5lb fish mixed in with the 1-3lbers.  Had a blast.  But, what was even better was catching HUGE crappie over tips in 20-25’.  We loaded the boat everyday!

Awesome!!! Now that's how to quarantine

[samwise2u]

Caught 5 small ones. Still looking for that double digit bass and/or a double digit catch day to make the drive from Shreveport worth the drive!

 

I'll be back.

 

 

[Smalljaw]

To Bass Fanatic, could you tell us more about your electronics?  Are you using traditional 2D with downscan and sidescan, or some of the newer technologies?  Can you offer any tips for finding deep water schools?  Thanks to you and others for continuing to post during this challenging time!

[Bass_Fanatic]

9 hours ago, Smalljaw said:

To Bass Fanatic, could you tell us more about your electronics?  Are you using traditional 2D with downscan and sidescan, or some of the newer technologies?  Can you offer any tips for finding deep water schools?  Thanks to you and others for continuing to post during this challenging time!

Sure. I have 2 Humminbird Helix 12 SI units at the console and a Helix 9 DI at the front.  I run one unit solely for SI.  Anytime you run SI you want it to span the length of the screen in order to enlarge the image.  Do not split a screen for SI unless you split it horizontally.  The other unit I split vertically with half mapping and half DI.  I rarely use 2D when idling, but I do use 2D up front when dropping on fish.  You can see your bait a lot easier on 2D.  As for tips, the best one is to commit to idling and looking. I only stop and fish when I see fish.  I have spent countless days idling for 10-12 hours and not even making a cast.

[samwise2u]

On 3/29/2020 at 7:56 PM, Bass_Fanatic said:

  I have spent countless days idling for 10-12 hours and not even making a cast.

You are kidding. Right?

[Bass_Fanatic]

1 hour ago, samwise2u said:

You are kidding. Right?

Nope.  Especially when I tournament fished a lot.  I rarely cast when prefishing.  I would spend 2 days on the lake the weekend before Basschamps, 10-12 hour days, and never cast.  You have to learn to love it.  I have almost as much fun finding fish as I do catching them.

[Catt]

5 hours ago, Bass_Fanatic said:

Nope.  Especially when I tournament fished a lot.  I rarely cast when prefishing.  I would spend 2 days on the lake the weekend before Basschamps, 10-12 hour days, and never cast.  You have to learn to love it.  I have almost as much fun finding fish as I do catching them.

 

That's structure fishing!

 

How ya think I've learned this lake?

 

I've spent hundreds of hours staring at a Humminbird Super Sixty, LCRs, LCR 4ID, 3-D sonar, & so on.

 

Back in the early 70s there wasn't even topographical maps showing the lake's shoreline, aerial photos were a rarity, satellite imagery was for military use only.

[Dougw]

Sabine River Authority of Louisiana

 

 

TOLEDO BEND PROJECT JOINT OPERATION

450 Spur 135, Burkeville, TX 75932        59839 Hwy 191, Anacoco, LA 71403

409/565-2273                                                     337/286-5244 (Office)

                                                                          337/286-5253 (Message)

 ADVISORY #1

DATE: Saturday, March, 28, 2020

 

TOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR – OPERATIONS

 

 

Persons having interests in the Sabine River Basin below the reservoir are hereby advised that on Saturday, March, 28, 2020 at 19:30 hours, the reservoir elevation was 172.42 ft. MSL.  Currently, both generators are operating 24 hours per day.

 

Inflow information from the National Weather Service Forecast Center is currently being monitored. Should the reservoir continue to rise, spillway gates may have to be opened.  Releases through the spillway gates will be made in accordance with the Toledo Bend Spillway Operating Guide as approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

 

Toledo Bend Reservoir is not a flood control reservoir and can experience significant rises in elevation in a short time span. The Sabine River Authority of Texas and the Sabine River Authority, State of Louisiana emphasize the importance of keeping informed and staying safe during a rain event.

 

Interested persons should monitor current river and reservoir levels since the Sabine River could reach flood stage and evacuation of persons, animals and property may become necessary.

 

Up-to-date reservoir elevations and releases as well as links to specific river gauges may be obtained from SRA’s websites: www.srala-toledo.com, www.sratx.org or www.setexasrain.org.  Information on specific river gages can be obtained from the National Weather Service at the following website: http://www.weather.gov/wgrfc and from the USGS at the following websites: http://tx.waterdata.usgs.gov or http://la.waterdata.usgs.gov.

 

It went down some during the week but jumped up .4' in the last 24 hours. Both generators are still running 24x7 and the spillway gates remained closed - for now.

[samwise2u]

On 3/29/2020 at 7:56 PM, Bass_Fanatic said:

As for tips, the best one is to commit to idling and looking.

Thank you for the tip Sir.

 

Are you looking...

1. Main Lake

2. Bayou's

3. Coves

...?

 

What I have been doing is pulling into the mouth of coves and firing up the side imaging. Ifn there are baitfish there I fish the cove, ifn not, I move on. Is this good strategy?

[Bass_Fanatic]

28 minutes ago, samwise2u said:

Thank you for the tip Sir.

 

Are you looking...

1. Main Lake

2. Bayou's

3. Coves

...?

 

What I have been doing is pulling into the mouth of coves and firing up the side imaging. Ifn there are baitfish there I fish the cove, ifn not, I move on. Is this good strategy?

That’s certainly not a bad strategy.  As for where I’m looking, it is dependent on the time of year.  Right now I’m looking at staging areas and following creek channels looking for fish on creek swings.  As they begin to pull out, I’ll follow those creeks out to the main lake and look on river ledges, points, and troughs.  Like I said before, I only stop and fish when I see fish.

[Dougw]

The discipline to do as you mention is rather difficult to achieve. Can I assume that in the beginning the minute you saw fish you'd try to catch'em. After enjoying success of catching fish after first seeing them you became confident that if you saw fish and they were schooled up in a particular fashion you "knew" you could catch them if you tried. But until you had that degree of confidence that not only where the fish you were seeing were bass you knew from experience you could catch them if you tried - just seeing fish was not enough.

 

I have no problem marking fish - most of the time. But catching what I see - yeah now there's the problem! And of course there's some days that seeing fish on the screen becomes the "impossible task". George Jean was talking about marking mega schools he said "Some days you can idle from Pirates Cove to Blue lake and never see a thing."

[Catt]

There are two types of fisherman, those that beat the bank & those that fish offshore.

 

With close to 1,300 miles of shoreline one can spend all day within casting distance from the bank year round & do quite well.

 

There is how ever 185,000 acres offshore!

 

Had an old guide tell me years ago, "for every bass you catch on the bank there's 5 behind you waiting to be caught."

 

I spend a lot of time "offshore" but not on the main lake.

[Amateur Hour]

On 3/30/2020 at 10:01 PM, Bass_Fanatic said:

 You have to learn to love it.  I have almost as much fun finding fish as I do catching them.

My dad hates me for this.  

[Bass_Fanatic]

6 hours ago, Dougw said:

The discipline to do as you mention is rather difficult to achieve. Can I assume that in the beginning the minute you saw fish you'd try to catch'em. After enjoying success of catching fish after first seeing them you became confident that if you saw fish and they were schooled up in a particular fashion you "knew" you could catch them if you tried. But until you had that degree of confidence that not only where the fish you were seeing were bass you knew from experience you could catch them if you tried - just seeing fish was not enough.

 

I have no problem marking fish - most of the time. But catching what I see - yeah now there's the problem! And of course there's some days that seeing fish on the screen becomes the "impossible task". George Jean was talking about marking mega schools he said "Some days you can idle from Pirates Cove to Blue lake and never see a thing."

Yes you are right.  When I first started fishing offshore and learning my electronics, I stopped and fished when I saw fish.  Through many many hours of looking and fishing, I now only stop on fish that I deem catchable.  I’ll idle by a lot of fish that I don’t stop on.  I wish I could explain it better with words, but I have a gut feeling whether or not fish are catchable based upon their relation with the bottom, each other, and where they are located.  Some days you find tons of catchable fish and some days it’s hard to find one school.  On days that I’m seeing a lot of fish, I’m really particular on which fish I stop on.  Days that I have a hard time finding any fish I may stop on smaller groups.  Just according to how the day is playing out.  

[Smalljaw]

There are a lot of "bald" humps and drops throughout the lake, since the disappearance of deep grass.  Discuss the importance of cover on deep structure, when looking for schools of bass.  Do the bass still relate to deep structure, even

though you can't see cover with your electronics?

[Bass_Fanatic]

5 hours ago, Smalljaw said:

There are a lot of "bald" humps and drops throughout the lake, since the disappearance of deep grass.  Discuss the importance of cover on deep structure, when looking for schools of bass.  Do the bass still relate to deep structure, even

though you can't see cover with your electronics?

Cover is important but it is secondary to structure.  A good hump on the outside of a river or creek bend with a sharp drop and tapering point provides everything needed without cover.  Cover can make a good spot great, but I’m always looking for the best structure, grass or no grass. 

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Bass_Fanatic said:

Cover is important but it is secondary to structure.  A good hump on the outside of a river or creek bend with a sharp drop and tapering point provides everything needed without cover.  Cover can make a good spot great, but I’m always looking for the best structure, grass or no grass. 

 

Exactly ?

 

Structure is the cake...cover is the icing!

 

This also applies to timber & brush.

[samwise2u]

Still grinding away in Bayou La Nana. Caught 7 with a 6lb 4oz kicker, new PB! Still learning about fishing a deep water lake and structure fishing.

[Catt]

The Sabine County Sheriff's Office has been notified by the Texas DPS that the border at Pendleton Bridge will close tomorrow morning beginning at 6am with total closing at 8am. Only essential personnel will be allowed through along with commercial vehicles.

[A5BLASTER]

27 minutes ago, Catt said:

The Sabine County Sheriff's Office has been notified by the Texas DPS that the border at Pendleton Bridge will close tomorrow morning beginning at 6am with total closing at 8am. Only essential personnel will be allowed through along with commercial vehicles.

I seen that yesterday myself.

 

Hopefully it goes both ways, if we can't go there, they don't need to come here.

[Dougw]

12 hours ago, A5BLASTER said:

I seen that yesterday myself.

 

Hopefully it goes both ways, if we can't go there, they don't need to come here.

Fear not.... “we” ain’t coming there!!! ?

[Catt]

[operationgrass]

Well I’m bored. So I was wondering what is a bait y’all use to throw and have replaced with the latest and greatest? Has to be still in production

 

mine Is a bandit 100 series splatterback. 

[A5BLASTER]

7 hours ago, operationgrass said:

Well I’m bored. So I was wondering what is a bait y’all use to throw and have replaced with the latest and greatest? Has to be still in production

 

mine Is a bandit 100 series splatterback. 

Bandit 100 pearl and black back with scale print and crome flake.

 

 

[Amateur Hour]

After 4.5 months I finally made a trip back to toledo bend.  Friday we stayed up around San Miguel and Patroon and caught a few small fish shallow.  Saturday we launched at turtle beach and I went poke around at TN bay.  Found a group of fish and set up on them.  We caught a few and then it happened.  Out of nowhere the calm SE wind turned into a stout 15mph out of the north.  We ran into Lowes and picked up another one, then decided to get back to the other side of the lake in case it got worse.  Picked up a couple in salter then went back on the main lake once it calmed.  We finished up with around 35 LM and spots and about 20 whites.  The whites were every cast on an a-rig.  Good times.  I can't wait to get back out there.  Here is a couple of shots I took on the main lake.