So Yall Want To Learn Sam Rayburn 2024

shaneus reply :

This will be much like CATT's Toledo bend Forum. We will be using navionics webapp so yall dont have to buy a map.....

http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp

What part of the lake do yall want to start?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I know the names of absolutely nothing on Rayburn, but man Ive been looking at the Navionics map of it and it looks awesome! If I were fishing Rayburn tomorrow, I would fish a few of the flats on the south side of the lake with the creek channel running beside it. N 31.08094 W 94.06112 seems to be close on Acmemapper 2.0 to where Im looking at.

shaneus reply :

This is just as good of place to start as any...there is a ridge that leads out to a hump next to a creek bed with an old railroad that is near by...most of my fishing is done closer to the bridge or the north west side of rayburn. Most of the recreational boaters and jet skiers use this part of the lake you mentioned, the area I fish has more grass than the southern end. I would use a 3/4 ounce football jig in pb/j with a green pumpkin trailer, and a Texas rig 10" plum worm to probe the area to see if they are there....

shaneus reply :

The farthest I fish to the south is the generators, I feel like the grass holds bigger fish and that's why I fish these areas on the lake (the NW) don't get me wrong at the right time fish are smashed on bare clay points/ridges just a personal preference.....

SkeeterDon reply :

Okay, I have the web ap on the pc but now how do we communicate specified locations?

Catt reply :

Cool guys! Aint been on Rayburn in years

shaneus reply :

we can use the acme mapper 2.0 like CATT showed us in the other thread.....at least that was how i looked up the coordinates b assfanatic posted earlier.....

shaneus reply :

i would post up a hot spot map but i have too many sharpie marks all over it and no one would be able to see the names up until i started fishing club tournaments, all i fished was rayburn, and now that i have a place on toledo it is all i fish.....

every google search you do for sam rayburn you hear people mentioning these areas as good fishing spots:

peckerwood point, 147 flats (bird island area), black forrest, caney creek flats, harvey creek, five fingers, veach basin, farmers flats, and many others......lets start with these one at a time:

peckerwood point (N 31.18314 W 94.29823)

Anyone guess why this area is productive?

SkeeterDon reply :

lol, I used the acme mapper as well to see those coordinates

SkeeterDon reply :

Okay I am going to be down there in two weeks. What you got with some 4 lbrs?

SkeeterDon reply :

I wish acme mapper showed rayburn like it does Toledo.

back water reply :

Way to go Shaneus!!!! With your knowledge of Raburn this should be very interesting. We have a 10 boat club tournament out of the Caney Creek Camp Ground on the 21 and 22 of Sept. We will be staying at Jane's Shady Acres. I will be watching your posts very carefully.

Our last tournament of the year will be on Toledo Bend Oct 19 and 20th.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I have never been on Rayburn, so I have no idea where the grass is ect. But, Peckerwood point doesnt impress me much on a map, at least the point itself doesnt, but just NW of the point the creek comes in parallel to some flats around N 31.18953 W 94.30407 that looks good to me. I love fishing deep ledges though, so thats more of what I look for. If I were fishing Peckerwood Point I would fish the SW side of the point were it tapers off in deeper water.

Catt reply :

I can picture Jack sipping on JD, lighting a Winston, & grinning!

I had a chance to buy his boat and should have, the chips in his Lowrance was loaded with Rayburn, Toledo, Conroe, Livingston, & Fork.

shaneus reply :

Should have bought it just for the chip! I wouldn't sell my waypoints for 20k... maybe me and Jack were a little more alike than I thought, except mine is a makers mark cigar........and JD or Wild Turkey

shaneus reply :

I know certain individuals have tournaments coming up so I won't give away an exact location but follow the point farther out to deeper water through the flat into the main river, I used the point and the way point as a reference to get you in the correct area because it's labeled on the map. I can tell you right now the thermocline for this area is around 37 feet, does this change how you approach fishing the area any?

Catt reply :

Told ya y'all were a like

RNG521VX reply :

If you love flipping grass start in Harvey Creek. Find where the old 147 roadbed comes through. Good deep creek channel and hydrilla along the roadbed and secondary points. Also look for some brushpiles along the channel bends on the flat.

Flippman reply :

Great job guys sharing info on these lakes guys. I love the Harvey creek area also., my only real success has come in January/February chunking spinnerbaits in the bushes.

shaneus reply :

Okay I'm back to civilization, let's take the Harvey creek area and look at it a little more...while we are in this area we will look at the northeast side off the bridge, (bird island area) as well.....I'll start with the summer seasonal pattern....I would start off by following the Indian Creek bed all the way out to the main lake and fishing the west ridge that comes out the farthest that has a hump on the end 31.13.481....94.17.418 on navionics app for android....... I have caught fish here using recon worms and zoom mag II and a football jig, for some reason I feel that the fish on rayburn don't bite worms over 10.5 inches as well as the 10.5 size does, toledo fish like the BIG worms...I don't go back into the creeks until the schools of shad have moved in

RNG521VX reply :

I agree with your take on worm size Shaneus. The Mag II seems to be the mark on big worms. Green Pumkin is my go to color...especially working outside grass lines.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Any recent reports from Rayburn. I'm gonna try and fish it for the first time this Friday. What would be a good starting point for me? Area, depth, bait??

shaneus reply :

Where are you putting in?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Not sure...was thinking Sam Rayburn Marina just because its closest, but wouldnt mind going to Umphrey's because thats where I see all the tournaments are held out of.

back water reply :

Fished Raburn this past weekend out of Caney Creek Park. Heavy rain Fri, Sat. drizzle and cool, but the wind was 20-25. Stayed in Caney Creek - ribbit frogs and flukes early up in the hydrilla - T-Rigs caught most of the fish the remainder of the day, but they seemed to be holding in the scattered hydrilla about 5 - 10 yards off of the visible hydrilla. Water depth was 7-8 ft. - Veach was also a hot spot. Black with blue tail worms worked well. Caught ALLOT of small fish 10 -13 3/4. Had one 4.68 and 3.88. Sunday warmed up, but the wind didn't lay. Don't forget to throw a crankbait some.

Keep a tight line

Dutch

shaneus reply :

Veach and five fingers is good for some tight lines, but the big girls are out deeper!

shaneus reply :

Hey guys im selling my 2012 triton explorer 18 $21000 looking to get into a bigger boat before I get married

SkeeterDon reply :

Good luck with the sale. When is the date?

shaneus reply :

June next year, date is still up for debate lol

shaneus reply :

She likes the new bass cat I have my eye on!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I got a Puma and love it!!!!

TBendBassin reply :

Cats are sweet! When I narrowed it down to the two I wanted it was between basscat and Phoenix. It took me months to decide!!! I went back and forth driving them both and probably logged over a million hours on the Internet researching them lol I eventually fell for the Phoenix

shaneus reply :

time to move in closer and hit 'em with a frog!

colvmicw reply :

Fished the ROC last weekend. Put in at Umphrey's and ran up to Veach. had 5 for 10.5 first day with one on a buzz bait ( 3.5 lbs) and the other 4 on watermellon red texas rig on outside edge of grass. day 2 only produced 3 for 9.5 lbs with a 6 lb kicker again all on watermellon red texas rig just outside the grass. Would like to get into crankbait fishing on this lake. We only get down there one time a year.

back water reply :

Fry:: Congrats - Not a bad weekend - Last time out caught so many small fish, but enjoyed the catching. I was supposed to fish a club tournament on the Bend this weekend, but my partner has to go out of town for his company and getting too old to fish by myself. Good luck to all.- keep a tight line!!

shaneus reply :

sold my Triton! Got a new bass cat puma ftd, love it! Got a tournament wed next week, hopefully my fish are there...... can't go wrong fishing outside of grass on watermelon red brush hogs anywhere on the lake, key is getting into a big school of em!

shaneus reply :

Heading to big Sam tomorrow, will report when I get off the water!

Brent1981 reply :

I hit harvey creek area today...caught 4 between 1 and 2 lbs, crankbait seemed to be all we could make them bite

shaneus reply :

fish my club tournament Wednesday, only a couple of us weighed in fish, I had four fish for 7.5 pounds, the rest of the field fish Saturday and I will report back with what I hear. Fished Harvey and the dam with a SK 2.5 caught adj my fish on it, sexy shad color

Express Kid reply :

Anyone fishing big sam? Been thinking about going fish her but no idea where to start or what to throw. Anyone catching on crank bait or are they still on texas rig worms? Gonna get a hook n line map and get started researching. Shaneus is it like TB fish the grass? Thanks

shaneus reply :

Nope completely different! I caught all my fish on a 2.5 SK crank the last time I went, grass was around, they were more on bare points chasing shad

Express Kid reply :

Thanks.

shaneus reply :

Put in at twin dikes, fished buck bay, needmore point, the dam and some points around the launch since the win was blowing so hard before the front got here, didn't catch much, only few I caught were on a t-rig 1/2 oz junebug worm, nothing on moving baits.....threw a frog around a bit in farmers cove with no luck....... anyone do any better? Normally I fish around the 147 bridge area, branching out and trying to fish different areas is frustrating at times........I haven't got to spend as much time on the late lately because of work

shaneus reply :

Anyone braving the cold fronts this week or is everyone hunting?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Hunting for me. Gotta fill the freezer

TxGator reply :

Yep its another hunting weekend for me too. But I do need to try and get up that way. Ive going to be captaining a boat for a high school touneyment up there in a few weeks and Id like to find them some fish. Weather doesnt sound too bad this weekend other than being a bit windy.

hunterfishes reply :

Well its been quite on here must be several tournaments coming up (or maybe the weather) Well I'm getting ready for my first high school tournament this month (Dec 14). So we went out yesterday to the mid lake area (caney to 147) . it wasn't as cold as it has been but still a cold ride yesterday morning. Fishing was slow for us had 3 small ones on Rattle trap. we did graph fish and shad in the creek channels in 25 to 30 foot of water, but couldn't get them to hit a spoon or jig. we did not get a soft plastic bite at all. water temp was 56.6 warming to 58.0 by 3pm, but weather forecast says more rain and cold weather probably going to be closer to 50 by the weekend. Anyone else braving the weather to try their luck.

shaneus reply :

Get the rattle traps and wacky worms ready!

shaneus reply :

Merry Christmas, hope y'all are staying warm out there!

The Commodore reply :

Merry Christmas all! I will be heading to Rayburn tomorrow. This will be my first time on the lake during this time of the year. Honestly I am used to my Florida waters where the bass get really finicky when it drops below 50 degrees. I got lipless cranks, senkos, trick worms with shakey heads and might whip out the dropshot.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for this thread, learned a little something I didn't know for Rayburn.

shaneus reply :

Cover water with a shad colored rattle trap until you find them, then slow down with a weightless texas rigged trick worm in that area. Find the grass the fish will be staging on the outside and inside grass edges fattening up chasing shad

The Commodore reply :

Thanks Shaneus! Should I keep the worm shad color or switch to green pumpkin? Also will there be any tournaments are anything I should watch out for? Do not want to get tangled with a tournament when I'm trying to learn the lake. And thanks again.

shaneus reply :

I have 4 colors of worms I fish with : watermelon red, red bug, red shad, junebug. 2 lights and 2 darks, I also use a big heavy wire hook that acts as my weight also, sometimes a little lead 1/32 oz if it is windy. with all that said the red shad worm is a senko brand color I only buy the yamamoto's, the rest are zoom trick worms. You can try doing the tails with chartreuse spike it, but I find you get more perch, bluegill bites on it and setting the hook leaves you with half a worm.......

The Commodore reply :

Thanks for the advice. I will report back.

henrylewis reply :

Im henry im 15 im on both sites Im in the high school tournaments there will be a tournament feb 1 I have read all on what is o both sites tx gator is my boat captain he really teaches a lot

TxGator reply :

Henry, just a bit of online info for you. The "site" is bassresource.com, and this is the forum where multiple topics are discussed. What your refering to is a thread, or topic, specifically "So you want to learn Rayburn" or "So you want to learn Toledo Bend".

Not doggin ya, just trying to enlighten you.

Have you found the "Best of" thread in the general bass fishing section. If not add it to your reading. There is lots of good information.

Now Back to Rayburn, Feb 1, the tourney what marina are they using, and can you trailer?

henrylewis reply :

Umphery pavilion abd yes we can

TxGator reply :

Any reports for Rayburn this weekend? I was finishing up hunting season, may try to go next weekend to try and find these boys some fish. Any advice would be appreciated.

Gator

hunterfishes reply :

Im Hunters boat captain also, were from the Jasper High team, and to answer txgator's question. the tournament is going out of the Humphery pavillion it will be a trailering tournament they are not doing prelaunch boat checks this time. The start and stop times haven't been posted on the web site yet I think but will be up this week I suspect. I can't get the link to work so just copy and paste the address below it will take you to the homepage.

Also there are some new liability forms that all fisherman and boat captains have to complete before the tournament those are located on the home page via a link. as for info it took 20 lbs to win the Rattle Trap tournament Sunday.

setxhighschoolfishing.com

henrylewis reply :

Hunterfishes have you been fishing lately on rayburn I havent fished rayburm in probley 3 years I only know around jackshill are they bitting good right now & are you going to be fishing the tournament on the 1st?

hunterfishes reply :

Henry No we have not been on the lake in a couple of weeks hopefully will get out Sunday to practice. The fishing from the reports I have heard is best right now above the 147 bridge around the jkacklson hill area. There were 2 tournaments this weekend Bass champs and Rattle trap it took 23lb to win bass champs and 20lbs to win rattle trap. But for most of us the fishing has been a lot tougher than that. rattle traps and red eye shad are catching fish, but there are suspended smaller fish in deep water that are taking drop shots too. Its hard to find a good pattern with the variable weather patterns right now. If the weather settles down and we get some warming before the tournament they could be going into prespawn and moving shallow, but still several days before the tournament.

and yes Hunter and his partner will be fishing and I will be the boat capt. for them, Not sure I'll be much help to them though.

henrylewis reply :

Yes sir thanks for the info

shaneus reply :

I'm headed up Friday to watch the flw tournament and do some fishing, I'll post when we get back Friday night

TxGator reply :

Sounds good Shaneous, i wasnt even thinking about other tourney goin on as a place to get info. Huntersdad, If yall see a Blue/Grey Aluminum Broadhead, stop by and say hey. That will be us.

Gator

henrylewis reply :

Shaneous any fish ?

shaneus reply :

They cancelled the 2nd day of tournament, we did not end up going

hunterfishes reply :

Hey guys its hunters dad yes it was a tough week weather was terrible on the water. I fished co angler side of FLW rayovac. Got a bad draw on Thursday rookie couldn't decide if he wanted to fish deep shallow or in between ended up with both zeroing thursday. Friday was canceled but full field fished Saturday. I got a much better draw and was able to bring in 12lb 5oz to get a check.

Rattle traps and square bill crankbaits accounted for most of the fish. there were some jig fish deep, and I even saw a guy catch at least on on a drop shot in front of the harvey creek boat ramp. Water temp dropped 8 degrees from Thursday to Saturday but had climed from 42-44 back to around 48-51 , but with new system coming in temps are gonna plunge again. Hopefully the predicted warming trend will occur this week and turn the bite on for the High school tournament. Anyone fishing the High school tourney remember to go to the http://www.setxhighschoolfishing.com/ there are some new lliability release forms for boat captains and anglers that have to be completed.

Gator I'll look for you this weekend Good luck to the High school anglers.

henrylewis reply :

Hunters dad can I send you a message

hunterfishes reply :

yes Henry feel free to PM me

back water reply :

Whats happening on Sam Raburn?? Haven't been on the lake since last Sept. I have a 1 day tournament on Feb. 15 on the lower end of the lake out of Umphrey Pavilion. Don't know much about that end of the lake. Any suggestions of where to begin. Lake level, water temp, baits, ect. I sent a PM to Shaneus but haven't heard from him. Thanks BackWater

henrylewis reply :

Throw traps

Fish Murderer 71 reply :

I've never fished Rayburn, and looking on the topo's I see lots of creek beds and was wondering for all you that have fished this lake regularly, how thick is the vegetation around the creeks and points or is it like the rest of these east texas lakes that have had most of the vegetation killed off? Was wondering if any of you know about currents on most of the creeks ie inflow or out flow? I see several beautiful potential spots to start, but what is the timber/stump depth on avarage. I really dont want to kill myself or my boat so what depth are most of the tops of the timbers? appreciate the help in advance...

hunterfishes reply :

Good morning everyone I am probably on the wrong forum for this but wanted to get the word out Ignition bass will be having a Youth Fishing league tournament on Toledo Bend Feb 15th and then a team tournament on Sam Rayburn on Feb 16.

The youth tournament is open to all kids from 6 to 18 I think. It works similar to the high school fishing where the kids go out with a boat captian (the boat captian does not fish) but the kids only compete against other kids in there age group. So you don't have a 10 year old competing against an 18 year old there are plaques and trophys for each age group.

It been a great experience for Hunter who will be fishing the tournaments for his 3rd year (he moves up to the 13 to 16 age group this year. The link to the web site is below I encourage anyone who has a child that wants to fish to check it out. As you will see there will be another youth event on sam Rayburn in March also.

http://yfl.ignitionbass.com/

TxGator reply :

How did yall do Sat? We didnt weigh in a fish.

hunterfishes reply :

weighed one at 3.77lb I gave up on my flat fish on south end and ran north to canyons but never got bit. found out this morning one of the teams that stayed on the flat down south got bit late and ended up with 13lb. so I rolled the dice and got snake eyes again. story of my life LOL

TxGator reply :

Thats the way it goes. I knew of 2 spots I wanted to try, had fish on them the week before, but with the "Strong" south wind they would have been unfishable. So we were nowhere near there. Then the wind never really materialized. You take your chances thats all i is. Maybe the one in March.

hunterfishes reply :

yeah but it seems always make the wrong call I have been told over and over "never leave find to find fish" but I did it again LOL Like you say I'll try to do better in March.

Good luck to y'all

henrylewis reply :

A couple of teams caught 3 in five fingers which is bout right

back water reply :

Did not get much response from my last post requesting the condition of Raburn. I guess most are not fishing because of the weather. Anyone been on the lake?? What is the lake level, clarity, how about the grass line, what depth are the fish holding in??

Have a one day tournament on Feb. 15 on the South end of the lake out of Umphrey's Pavilion. Don't know much about the South end. All info appreciated. Thanks Backwater

hunterfishes reply :

lake level 160. 70 or so rising slowly due to light rain in the area this morning. Fished the north end yesterday had 3 solid 3lb's all shallow on traps or jerk baits (On flats with deep water close by) Didn't get any bites till the sun came out. Water temp to start early was 44.5 after sun came out by 3pm had warmed to 50.3 in back of creeks. Weather today is light rain temp in Lufkin at 12:00 pm was 43 with freezing rain predicted next 2 nights. supposed to be a warming trend begining thursday. But I would expect to find water temps only in the high 40's or maybe low 50's by Saturday. The BFL was this weekend and I believe most of the good bags (there weren't many) came from the 147 bridge, canyons & harvey creek areas but can not confirm that 100% And Mr. Newberry won that one so expect he will be tough this weekend.

back water reply :

Thanks for the info hunterfishes. Looking forward to the first trip. Been a long time since I have been on the water. I will have a couple of rattle traps tied on. one red for sure. Friday is supposed to be quite warm so maybe the water temp will get up to 50.

I read all the posts almost every day and appreciate that you like getting out on the water at such an early age. Keep a chunk'en and keep a tight line. Backwater

hunterfishes reply :

Hope the info helps We will be on Toledo this weekend, but we have one coming up on Conroe in April, and we know very little about that lake. So keeps us in mind if you hear any reports from there .

back water reply :

Live in Conroe - keep in contact when your tournament gets closer.

back water reply :

Here is the scoop with the Texas Team Trail on Rayburn today:

251 boats

39 boats with over 15 lbs.

12 boats over 20 lbs

5 bass over 9 lbs.

Winning stringer 35.14 lbs - Wow!! over a 7 lb. average - Must have found a staging area of big Mamas'

We had only 4 bites, and landed all 4 and weighed 3 for 5.38 lbs. - not good

2 came on a wacky worm, 1 on a rattle trap, and 1 on a chatterbait

water temp as high as 53 in the back of some of the creeks

There on the move, go if you can - keep a tight line

hunterfishes reply :

back water don't feel bad We fished the Ignition bass tourney Sunday and had same luck could not get a trap bite and finally backed out to outside grass on carolian rig and wacky worm caught 5 weighed 3 for 4.79 Water temp as High as 55 in back of coves but no fish in the shallows we could find, The 3rd place stringer of 15 or so did say there fish were real shallow. but we weren't in the right area I guess. I'm not sure if they were in a cove or on points though. due to foggy conditions I stayed in the 147 area and didn't run north.

back water reply :

hunterfishes: Fished a club tournament on Conroe on Sunday. We fish team in the club. There was 11 boats and only 10 total bass caught. 1 boat got on them and weighed 5 fish for 20+ lbs. We came in 2nd with only 1 fish, but it was a nice one - 7.93 lbs.

Keep up the good work

hunterfishes reply :

Backwater PM sent Thanks again

bobfrogg reply :

Hi guys, i have been reading all of your post an think its cool that no one is afraid to help ppl , thats cool. I have been fishing sam now for like 16 years an have only weigh are caught 19 lbs one time i just can't figure it out an was wondering why i have this problem cause i fish the areas you are talking about ! Any help would be appreciated .plus am looking for a bass club to join is there any?

shaneus reply :

we have a 409 bass club that we fish toledo and rayburn just had our first tourney today. i havent got to fish 1/10th of what i did last year guys sorry for the slowly developing thread.....will post after some practice for our first rayburn tourney

bobfrogg reply :

Gm everyone i was wondering about two guys that use to be on here all the time an i haven't seen any post from them in some time, can anyone tell me what happen to CATT an Fishfordollars ?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Catt still posts a good bit...check out the Toledo bend thread, he just posted today. Fishfordollars passed away awhile back. He was a great man and a great fisherman. We all miss his knowledge around here.

bobfrogg reply :

yes thanks talked with catt earlier he told me the deal, sorry to hear that i like reading his post.

bobfrogg reply :

GOING TO SAM in next few days!!!

henrylewis reply :

Headed up to Rayburn friday for a high school tournament gonna be a lot of boats up there this weekend

back water reply :

I guess you have read all the posts here and on the Bend - Good Luck!!!!!!!!

henrylewis reply :

Yes sir I have

hunterfishes reply :

Good morning everyone I am posting for my son hunter and his partner they were scheduled to fish the high school tournament on sam rayburn this weekend. but while we were prefishing last friday we lost the lower unit on our 250 (think it broke a driveshaft) I have it in the shop but not sure at this time if it will be ready. The boys are sitting in 36th place right now and could make a move up the standing with a good limit this weekend. I was checking to see if anyone knows of someone whould be willing to boat capt. for them this weekend or if there is somewhere to rent a boat for the event. I'll try anything at this point.
We will know today or tomorrow if they can get our boat ready, but was told it would be a long shot.

any help/advice would be appreciated

TxGator reply :

Man thats a tough thing to happen this time of year. Hope it works out. Id offer, but Im already booked. You might also post over on the TB thread too.

good luck

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I would, but I've got a tournament on Toledo this Saturday. You can probably find a place that rents, but I'm not positive. Good luck!

hunterfishes reply :

Thanks for the responses guys theres so much going on here in the Rayburn TB area its hard to find anyone with an open weekend but I appreciate the support

back water reply :

Wow!!! What a time to break down. I am a back seater at this moment. I'm pulling for you hunterfishes hope someone comes through for you.

hunterfishes reply :

Hey everyone we have good news Hunters partner Chase talked to his Uncle and he has rearranged his schedule so that he can boat Capt. for them Saturday. So looks like they are back on the water. I want to say thanks to everyone who tried to help from phone calls to bass pro about our boat to attempts to find a loaner boat and to Chase's dad and uncle for their efforts to get them back in the tourney.

Thanks to the guys here on the forum too we appreciate your support.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Great news! Now get out there and catch em...good luck to yall!

back water reply :

Go get e'm hunterfishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TxGator reply :

Anybody been on Rayburn the last few days, trying to decide where to go to put the boys on some fish. Wish I could get up there ahead of time, but thats not gonna happen. Supposed to Launch out of Cassell Boykins.

Thanks

Gator

henrylewis reply :

How did everyone do this weekend I caught two little ones phil (texas gator )caught two also slow day but it was fun

back water reply :

hunterfishes: I sent you a pm for your email so I could send you a copy of the latest Rayburn fishing report, but you never responded.

bobfrogg reply :

I sure could use some pointers on where to find bigger fish on Sam , would like to catch some bigger than 13 in. Any help plz .

henrylewis reply :

About8 to 12 fow

hunterfishes reply :

We had 3 at the high school event only weighed 7.75 though so another top 60 finish. The cove we were in had 17 boats in it. I think the pressure had killed Julie Creek.

hunterfishes reply :

back water sorry for the slow response have been without a computer just got the PM

TxGator reply :

Yea Julie was pretty busy, all of the fish we caught came from there. I guess no one was wanting to make a long run. One of the other guys I talked with caught their fish there and in Caney. Like us they struck out in Muddy. At least the boys caught a couple even if they didnt get to weigh anything in. Maybe next time.

Gator

shaneus reply :

fish down here in the south will be spawning now through april in some cases, try to find fish where the boats arent stacked up......it is well worth it when you do. julie creek is a well known spawning area, as are many others around the 147 bridge. you can catch fish behind people but finding your own water is where its at this time of year, ill only fish shallow during the week

bobfrogg reply :

awh so you guy are the ones that chased off my fish in Julie, I fished the Bfl sat an ran all the way there in that fog an when i pulled in there was like 20 boats there ,but i fished it any way ccause i had like 50 bites there friday an caught a 7.o lb mama in the back thought i was hung an pulled the bait an she was on the other end. Than sat we only had 5 bites in there an caught one keeper.

hunterfishes reply :

we had good fish in there too the weekend before but too many others did also. To Shaneus point I spent Saturday trying some old coves that are off the beaten path but didn't have any luck. Caught a decent keeper in caney finally, but had several boats in there. Caught short fish in the shallows. had to back out to 8' to catch the keeper. Hunter has a YFL youth tournament this weekend, but with the weather making another swing this week, not sure the fish will be moving back shallow by the weekend. Don't know what were gonna do at the moment. Plan to watch the weather and hopefully get on the water Friday to check things out. Water temp Saturday in the mid lake area was 52 to 53 on my lowrance, Its been years since I saw water that cold the second weekend of March. I also looked pretty hard this weekend and did not see any evidence of beds even started in the shallow water. Looks to me like the males haven't started to prepare for the females yet. Maybe someone else has seen something I haven't but looks like a late spawn this year to me.

bobfrogg reply :

Well I was in the back of Harvey sun. saw some areas where some faning had taken place but the beds wasn't defind, also caught a couple small males in the back on senkos , we went to 8 differant places an tried 1-10 fow with no luck i was fishing with Mike Taylor the owner of the Stump he had 3 fish for 7 lbs an finished 12 th in the ABA.Oh an a co caught a 9 lb she was full of eggs an her tail was just now had a red tint to it, all the fish i lookd at in the live rel boat the tail had no bleeding only the big fish had a little blood. so am thinking the spawn my be late this year.

ATX reply :

So I haven't fished big Sam in about a year or so but it was during the spawn and what I found was odd to me. Hopefully some of you can explain. Everybody was catching off of beds but I only found about a dozen myself. How deep do they normally bed because I was looking intently and just was not seeing many of them? I did pick up a six ponder but I was expecting to see lots of beds from the reports I was getting and just couldn't locate.

back water reply :

The Cleveland Bass Club had it's tournament on Sam this week-end out of Jackson Hill. We fish Sat., safe light until 3:00 p.m. and Sun. safe light until 1:00 p.m. The rain on Sat. held off until 2:00 so only had an hour to contend with that. It rained all night, but quit at 5:00 a.m. so that worked out nicely also.

Heavy stringer on Sat.(5 fish limit) was 13.84 followed by 13.02 and 12.74 for the top 3 - big bass was 5.92 lbs. - on Sun. - heavy stringer was 18.04 followed by 14.38 and 12.85 and big bass was 6.22.

Heavy stringer for the 2 day tournament was 30.78 followed by 27.40 and 26.69

Most of the bass came from the shallows 1-3 ft. with the favorite bait being a weightless senko - a few on spinner baits and traps.

All in all a good tournament with allot of 5 fish limits. Now is the time to be on the lake.

Enjoy - keep a tight line - God Bless

bassangler08 reply :

Hey guys it's been a while since I posted. Hope everyone is doing good, and was hoping we could go over some more Rayburn stuff. I been studying rayburn a little off and on. I found google earth is pretty awesome for part of this lake.

shaneus reply :

Headed to big Sam this morning, report when I get back

bobfrogg reply :

to Back water plz check your mess.

back water reply :

Sorry, I was golfing

henrylewis reply :

Has the spawn started yet I heard that they were in 6-8range

back water reply :

The females caught last weekend had a little pink on the bottom of their tails, but were not tore up and bloody. They were shallow and the water temp was up to 63 in some of the creeks.

henrylewis reply :

When do you think it will start back water?

back water reply :

I think it will start immediately with this next warmup coming along.

shaneus reply :

it has just started before this last cold front, I fished 5different areas and only caught 1 fish from each. One was 8# fish moved a little deeper because of the front,big one was in brush.

shaneus reply :

will tell you where tomorrow after my tournament, all fish were caught on weightless trick worm/wacky

henrylewis reply :

Yes sir

shaneus reply :

henry the fish we caught today had already spawned and were holding on grass flats.... i wrecked the fish today on santone's new siwash swin jig in 7/16 oz in the red river special.....pictures coming soon

shaneus reply :

Here are the big girls, jigs had hollow body swim baits for trailers

shaneus reply :

Also caught them on light Texas rigged June bug trickworms around the brush and bean stalks,fished around Harvey creek and buck bay

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome! What did those two fish weigh?

shaneus reply :

8.06 and 6.01

henrylewis reply :

Thank you shaneus

henrylewis reply :

Shaneus can I send you a message?

shaneus reply :

Sure

rc_horns06 reply :

Does anyone think the apparent front pushing in Friday night will push the fish out this weekend?

back water reply :

I personally do not think so. I do not think that it got cold enough. We found 63 degree water in some of the creeks a couple of weeks ago. This past front did not get cold enough to drop the temperature that much.

Keep a tight line.

henrylewis reply :

Headed up to ole sam hopin hes gonna be good to us will give report tomorrow nite

henrylewis reply :

Fished buck bay caught 4 with 2keepers biggest being about 3lbs

shaneus reply :

Can anyone tell me what or where they call the brickyard on Sam Rayburn?I have never heard of this area, maybe we call it something else.......?

hunterfishes reply :

thats a new one on me too must be up the lake I nerver heard it mentioned on the south end. Unless like you say we have been calling it something else.

TxGator reply :

It seems commen that the old timers called things by different names than we find on the maps today. I am on a quest to locate brushy creek / cove on Rayburn that I used to fish with my uncle 20 years ago. I know its west of where Letney landing used to be, and was within about 20 mins run in my old 16' flat bottom. Ive narrowed it down but not knowing how fast the boat was sure makes my search area larger. One of these days im just going to have to go cove by cove until I find something that rings a bell.

Sat was windy on the lake, but we caught 12-13 fish in shallow water. No size, biggest was about 3.5-4. At least I think ive located enough fish for the boys to catch a limit for their high school tournement this weekend. Water was 65 and stained.

arvalbutler reply :

_{Hello Everyone,}

_{I just found this site, and am on Sam rayburn and Toledo Bend a lot. I am a rookie for I cant seam to find any good fish. I dont have the know how to find fish, I am the captain for my boy's Team fishing the High school tournament, Right now they are in 77th place and would like to find some good fish for them. Fished this last weekend on Toledo Bend in six mile, we had a company tournament, only weighed in two fish that weighed 3.43, I need to join a club to get better at this, my father is a cat fisherman, always running trott lines, and me never having someone to mentor me. Please help I am so lost. I do have a ranger boat with a HDS 10 and a 7, would almost do anything to become a better bass fisherman, I am so tired of fishing tournaments where all I am doing is donating money to Castletine, Jonston, Newberry, (Danny - Steven Jonstons son), Rambo anf others. So until I learn how to fish more productive im going to stay away from Tournaments. I just love the compitition though.}

TxGator reply :

Arval, were in the same boat so to speak, though mines a Broadhead, not a Ranger, and I dont do the tourney thing except as boat captain. Read read read. Theres tons of info on here and I have no doubt that it has helped me, though full livewells are still a thing Im working for. At this point I feel that the main thing I need is more time on the water. Reading the information, and putting it to use is one thing, but just because the area looks good on a map dosnt mean that the fish are actually there. Where ya from?

arvalbutler reply :

I'm from kirbyville, and want to do so much better, I feel like a failure for I know my way around

Sam rayburn, just can't find groups of fish for the boys and what to use, I'm not a site fisherman, don't know what or how to do it really need a mentor, to show me how to be a better fisherman

arvalbutler reply :

What do we do to create cover and habitat for bass, is this a good way to win more tournaments, don't know If this would help, and or how do you locate the fish to better chances.

hunterfishes reply :

Good Morning Everyone I wanted bragg on Hunter this morning he fished the YFL tournament on Conroe this weekend and posed a new personal best 7.46lb bass which won him Big bass and big stringer.

He and his partner Chase will be on Rayburn this weekend for the High School event, but due to my work schedule we aren't getting to get on the water this week. We did have a pattern in the last tournament shallow, but it was small keepers. Hoping some bigger ones have moved into those areas for this event.

TxGator reply :

Thats a nice fish, congrats. Avryl, I was trying to find a thread on the structure vs cover that was extremly helpful, but have been unable to locate it so far. I believe there may have been a link to it somewhere in the 200+ pages on the toledo thread. Catt was pretty active in it as well and was full of good info.

Read Read Read. When we first started the High School thing, I told my boys to start reading on here, theres tons of good info. I have a lot to learn my self, I told them I wasnt very good at finding the fish, and that it would be a learning experience for us all. I think were doing better, but have a long way to go.

back water reply :

hunterfishes::: Congratulations, nice fish. I thought you were going to contact me when you were coming to Conroe. With a fish like that you didn't need my help. LOL

hunterfishes reply :

I actually sent you a PM with our email address back in march and did not hear from you figured you were like us Very Busy.

We were actually getting worried he only had a small keeper at noon and they were to check in at 1pm. we went back to a cove that we had caught small ones in a mile or so above peach creek and got lucky we had been fishing the coffee bean plants, but as we approached the secondary point he threw out away from the bean plants in a little deeper water, and caught a 3.5 as I was putting it in the livewell he threw back to the same area and the 7.46 took off with it. He was throwing unweighted flukes and had to just dead stick it, but that little cool front had backed the bigger fish off the bushes to the first drop approx 2 to 3 foot down to 4 to 5 foot. I wished we had figured that out a little sooner We were late adjusting but he still won big bass big stinger and the Major league Division so we'll take it lol we probably caught 10 fish in the bushes but only one was a keeper. Thanks for the offer too, give us a shout if we can help up this way

arva butler reply :

That's really good, guess we are going to fish points up north this weekend and hope to get onto some fish

back water reply :

Hunterfishes: I answered the PM and told you to contact me when you were coming down. I don't know what happened.

Have a club tournament on TB this weekend. I would assume they will still be shallow. We will be fishing out of Lowe's but can trailer so really don't know where we will put in. I like 6 mile, but not to many good reports coming from there. That is Shaneus home turf. He is building a cabin there, I don't know if he has finished it yet.

Keep up the good work and get all the experience you can.

TxGator reply :

When yall talk about up north are yall talking about north of 147?

shaneus reply :

okay ready for some updates finally got to spend some time on rayburn dont have any tournaments for a while.....ill start with the tournament i won a couple weeks ago. we fished northern coves out of the northwestern winds because they warm the quickest. we threw trickworms and red river special swim jigs (white) around grass, caught a few on smaller swimbaits also. i think the scattered grass had a lot to do with holding bigger fish thats where the two big girls came from. right next to the grass was some sort of channel swing or where 2 channels came together or a ditch. lots of smaller fish were on the flats in the bean bushes. i havent caught many fish from the buck brush this year. we had another club tournament yesterday and it was brutal fishing for me. tuesday the winds were 25-30 mph so prefishing wasnt very good i did cross the lake in my new basscat and it handled the 4 foot swells really good, just gotta know how to run. ( i hate public service announcements) IF YOU HAVE NOT RUN IN ROUGH WATER DO NOT ATTEMPT IT BY YOURSELF THE FIRST TIME. i grew up fishing sabine lake and have lotsa of expierence running rough water, make sure you guys new to bass fishing and boating get someone to show you the tricks of running rough water before you attempt it on your own. tuesday was the roughest ive ever seen big sam 4-5 foot swells comming out of caney boat ramp so i just prefished around there. i fished coleman bird island deer stand caney and a few other flats with no bites yesterday for our tournament. i caught one keeper on a top water frog and one on a trick worm, i didnt find a school of fish till 2 pm then went through a dink fest tring to round out my limit. ended up weighing 2 fish for like 4 pounds. went from being on top to catching 2 fish stinks, but we cant win em all.........to new tournament fishermen/women set goals for yourself at the beginning of the season. my goals this year after fishing the same club last year was/is to win 1 tournament, and to weigh in 1 fish every tournament (i scrsatched on keepers 2-3 tourneys last year). it has helped me keep a better outlook on things. ive won a tournament this year and so far have weighed in something every tourney so far........

hunterfishes reply :

Back water sent you a PM

henrylewis reply :

Thank you for the report shaneus will keep that in mind

texasoldtimer reply :

Headed to Rayburn Sunday. Are there fish on beds down south? What is the best color on flukes? Thanks for any help?

hunterfishes reply :

Good Morning everyone want to give a Rayburn update and Bragg a little too. Hunter and Chase fished the High school Regional Tournament help on Sam Rayburn Sunday. While they did not get as big a bites as they had gotten in practice, Chase did have one close to 4 and Hunter put 4 more in the livewell for 12.10 lbs it was good enough to finish 23rd out of 234 teams (not bad for seventh graders) The finish should put them around 15th place in the overall standings the region averaged around 240 teams per tournament so I'm very proud of top 15. I also want to thank Chase's dad Eddie for stepping in to boat Capt. this weekend (I couldn't be there due to work) he did an outstanding job of putting the boys on fish. As for the update they did get a few hits on a frog, but all keepers came on senko, Fluke, & trick worm (shakey head and wacky) in watermelon colors with the tail dipped. They actually would have had close to 19lbs Saturday and then had another 12 Sunday the fish were shallow 1 to 5 feet, and were clearly post spawners that were moving out of spawning coves and holding on secondary points They also caught 30 to 40 fish a day but most were 13 to 13 1/2. Good fishing everyone

TxGator reply :

Sounds like yall had a good day. Ours wasnt too bad, but fell short of the limit I was hoping for the boys to catch. They caught 4 for 10.44 and released a couple of small fish. I think they did pretty well considering the shortcomings of their boat captain. Ours were all on swim baits is shallow water, 1-2 and right up in the thick grass or in brush. It also seemed like they needed deeper water close by, when we got away from the creeks, we stopped catching. Never found any fish deeper, though the wind prevented us from trying a couple of spots I wanted to try.

Would you mind telling me why your thinking post spawn? I was thinking the opposite, that they were up there either about to start or just starting. I didnt see any obvious signs on the fish that they were finished. Maybe im not looking for the right things. Perhaps its the area of the lake too, we were in the san augustine area within a few miles from the park.

hunterfishes reply :

Well it could be the area they were in they were up lake near the 147 bridge so the spawn could be in different stage in your area down south.

I also make that assessment due to the location of the fish they were about halfway back in the coves along flat banks with a little secondary point or bar. the fish seemed to be moving out not into the coves, also they caught lots of small bass in the backs of coves that appeared to be male bass guarding nest.

I'm no biologist and could be totally wrong but that was the impression I got form their waypoints and their description of how the fish were caught.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Congrats to the yall! Thats awesome! 15th place out of 240ish boat...aint nothing wrong with that. Sounds like postspawn to me too. I know on Toledo, pretty much everything north of Lowes is post-spawn already.

Catt reply :

Great job boys & Capts!

Y'all dead on about the post spawn

TxGator reply :

OK your making that decision by the areas then, not neccesarily physical signs you were seeing on the fish. I was thinking that there would be bloody fins or fin damage maybe following the spawn. Our fish seemed to come when there was deeper water near, I was thinking that was possibly due to the fluctuating temperatures weve been having this time of year, that they would want that escape route.

Sounds like i need to go spend some more time over around the 147. When we fished out of Castle Boykin, i saw some pretty water that was new to me as Ive never really spent much time up there.

Has anyone ever tried in the extreme north end of san augustine. Up around the bridge. Sure looks fishy from the highway, but it looks pretty shallow on the maps.

Thanks

TxGator reply :

Sounds like i need to go spend some more time over around the 147. When we fished out of Castle Boykin, i saw some pretty water that was new to me as Ive never really spent much time up there.

Has anyone ever tried in the extreme north end of san augustine. Up around the bridge. Sure looks fishy from the highway, but it looks pretty shallow on the maps.

Thanks

henrylewis reply :

Happy easter everyone

texasoldtimer reply :

Spent Good Friday and Saturday on Rayburn. Friday we were in San Augustine flats and had a limit of small ones on C rig in 5-10 foot water. Saturday we put in at Caney and fished main lake points up to Mud and over to Coleman and Norris. Again a limit of small keepers on C rigs. Not a single fish over 3 pounds either day. Big girls must be in post spawn recovery. Maybe the ones up north are eating.

henrylewis reply :

Hunterfishes did yall make regionals?

hunterfishes reply :

Morning Henry Yes Hunter and Chase did make the finals, they ended up 13th overall. The limits they were able to catch in the last 2 tournaments helped move them up into top 15. How did you do? they should be posting the overall standing in the next few days on the Setex web site.

Hunter is off to fayette County lake for a YFL youth tournament tomorrow. didn't get to practice but hoping the bite will be similar to last year.

He is leading the angler of the year standing in the 13 to 15 yoa division so needs a good limit to hold on.

Are you fishing McBass. Good Luck if so and be careful there will be lots of boats on Rayburn this weekend.

henrylewis reply :

No sir we didnt & no sir im not fishing this weekend

hunterfishes reply :

Sorry to hear that Henry, The region is planning on being even bigger next year so I'm sure you can take what you learned this year and do well next year.

We didn't do to well at Fayette either. It's a slot limit lake so they had a board tournament (where you mark the lenght of the fish you catch on a board they then convert to weight) hunter had 7 but couldn't get over about 17 inches for the biggest. converted to 11 pounds, but on Fayette if you don't have 15 lbs plus you end up like he did 6th place. Thats why they call it fishing. We move on to Livingston on May 31 so hopefully he can do better there.

Good luck to you and stay in touch

henrylewis reply :

My grandpa use to live on livingston theres a cut that we aleays fished but I cant find it on the map ill try to find it and let you know

Catt reply :

Great job y'all

Hunterfishes, top 10!

Y'all had a 6th, that's holding your own, that's difficult lake.

back water reply :

Hunterfishes: Will probably fish Livingston in May - let me know if you find that cut.

hunterfishes reply :

Thanks If anyone has some ideas for Livingston we would appreciate it we have done real good on Livingston and we have done real bad, Livingston in May does worry me. Hunter is currently in the lead for angler of the year in YFL major league division so he needs to at least catch a few fish there and at Rayburn in June.

Catt reply :

FYI: McDonalds Big Bass Splash Top 10

9.81 Crawworm

9.63

9.27

9.15 Senko

8.78

8.75 Sweet Beaver

8.42 Mann's Jelly Worm

8.37 A-rig

8.10 Jig

8.04 C-rigged lizard

back water reply :

Hunterfishes: When are you fishing Livingston???

henrylewis reply :

Catt did you fish the big bass splash?

Catt reply :

On 5/1/2014 at 10:26 AM, henrylewis said:
Catt did you fish the big bass splash?

Nah! I like keeping track of big bass & what they were caught on.

Aint fished a McDonald's in 4-5 yrs

hunterfishes reply :

we fish Livingston May 31 just in time for a summer pattern LOL

back water reply :

hunterfishes: Will prefish Livingston tomorrow and a 1 day tournament on Sat. - Will send you a PM on Sun. or Mon.

texasoldtimer reply :

Weighed in a 7.15 in McDonalds last weekend. Caught her 15 minutes into the tourney Friday morning. Top water in 2 feet of water. Lots of fish moved up feeding in early morning on some main lake points. I heard winner caught his in 2 feet in late morning after having making passes through same area without a bite. Just happened to be their when she moved up. I know a couple 6 pounders were caught in 10 feet on 10 inch worms. Had over 20 fish a day in our boat the first 2 days. But Sunday was tougher with the 30 mph wind. Only 5 fish that day but couldn't fish our best areas.

henrylewis reply :

Good luck hunterfishes catch some good fish

hunterfishes reply :

_{Thanks Henry}

_{I am working and they are fishing with Chase's uncle. They had a limit today but it was small (around 10lbs) last I heard they were in about 40th place but still had a good many to weigh in.}

henrylewis reply :

What was big bass and who won

hunterfishes reply :

Rambo and his partner won I think a 9 something was big bass took over 19 pounds for 2 days to get a check.

Hunter and Chase never got their top water bite Sunday Morning and only picked up three on the flats on Carolina rig. Had 15.09 total and ended up in 70 place. they were in the top 50% of the field in their first year and only 7th graders So I am Really Proud of them. And Thanks to Chase's Uncle, Tom Webb for covering for me and being their Boat Captain.

Now its off to Livingston for the next YFL event on May 31st Hunter is leading the division for angler of the year and hope we can get on a bite there. Looks like it may be a summer pattern by then.

henrylewis reply :

Good luck

TxGator reply :

Yesterday was a good day. My father in law and I fished from sunup to about 1. Had 2 just under 4#, one just under 5#, a 6#, and my new best a 8#. On flukes mainly but a couple on wacky. Couldnt get a strike on anything else. I did see a couple swim around my top water lure, but wouldnt strike. Caught a few other fish that were too small and a couple that were barely legal. They all came from 10 - 12' on points.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome! That's a 27lb sack!!

TxGator reply :

It was definitely my best day on the water as far as big fish goes. We've caught more fish overall but not of that quality. Guess the stars just lined up right or maybe we found where they dumped the McDonalds fish lol. The 8 had a red hook in its jaw, I guess who ever had stuck her didn't tie a good knot. The hook looked to be in new condition so I assume that it had happened pretty recently. I've got it stuck in my hat, its my new good luck charm.

back water reply :

Way to go TxGator - an excellent stringer on any given day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

henrylewis reply :

How you do hunter?

hunterfishes reply :

Not too well Henry Livingston was very muddy from the rain and all we caught we a bunch of white bass. The 0 put him 2 points out of the AOY lead with the last tournament on Rayburn on June 21st. I'm hoping we can have a good tournament there and maybe get back to first, but its gonna be tough. Thanks for checking though.

hope we can find a big bite out on the breaks I think you can get a small limit shallow but not sure the big weights are up in the grass.

henrylewis reply :

Good luck this weekend hunter

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Good luck man!

bighed reply :

Gent's I'm headed to Rayburn this weekend to fish as a non boater in my club tourney. I've only fished this lake a couple times and that was 2 years ago when the water was low. I've not found much for current reports on the www so I thought I'd ask here. Not looking for anybody's honey hole since I'm in the back seat but can anyone give me an idea of what to expect when i arrive? Is there any morning topwater bite going on? What water depth, structure/cover, presentation is working right now? Please feel free to reply by private message if you prefer. Thanks for your time, bighead

bighed reply :

As a follow up, there was a strong early bite fishing anything that could be pulled through vegitation. The bite was fair a little later in the morning switching to c rig on flats in 12-20" adjacent to the river channel. Once the sun was up high it became fairly difficult to get bit at any depth althought there were fish schooling on the surface at times. Caught zip fishing humps and points on the main lake. 24 anglers from my club fished 2 days. Three biggest fish were under 6 pounds and all came shallow.

garrettmraz reply :

Hi I have never been the Rayburn before, and I decided to go in late July. I was wondering if anyone is willing to help me figure out where to start. Thank you.

ATX reply :

Start and finish in 5 fingers and you should be able to have a nice day.

ATX reply :

The lake is really big so I would get a map and fish the closest area to where you are staying.

garrettmraz reply :

ok thanks

henrylewis reply :

Anyone been fishing lately

shaneus reply :

Got to go do some fishing this weekend with Skeeter Don, graphed lots of fish on main lake stuff just couldn't get them to bite. Sunday was spent fishing the attoyac branch of Sam rayburn, I had a little more luck of moving shallower and flipping vegetation

SkeeterDon reply :

It was great to Fish big Sam again this weekend. Hooked up with Shane and his brother and we took her on and she was stingy and did not put out. Sunday was a little better for sure. If they can keep that lake constant, then I know what to do for sure, shallow flipping bite, probably my favorite way to fish.

henrylewis reply :

No report

Texas Pride reply :

I dont have a boat but i fish alot of the shores around rayburn several parks and boat launches i was wondring if any one had any spots yall recommend

pbrussell reply :

I've got a buddy who has a tourney down on big sam this month. Anyone wanna spill some info on what's been going on?

Texas Pride reply :

Must be a tournament this weekend all the motels around south end of the lake and jasper are full of bass boats and the stump restraunt was completly packed not a parking spot left

henrylewis reply :

Headed up for highschool tournament going to be 370 boats for tournament hope to be on some fish

Texas Pride reply :

I havent been fishing at the lake in two weeks which is 14 days to long.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Finally got on Rayburn for the first time. Caught 30 fish, best five 22lbs today. Only caught 2 good ones, a 7lber and a 8lber. Fish were on piles in 15 ft.

fishcaller reply :

Bass f you don't mind me asking what part of lake was you on?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I launched at cassel boykins

TxGator reply :

Soon as hunting season is over I need to get up there. Gotta try to find the boys some fish for the high school tournament. I do not normally fish this time of year, so its gonna be a challenge.

Gator

roblo reply :

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie on this forum.

Have read several post an enjoyed what I read, especially w/o all the negative response you seem to have on other forums, just something about Big Sam, most locals don't care to share Anything.

To each there own.

I enjoy reading others advice they are willing to share, an don't mind sharing what little I know.

My boat stays at my camp, so Big Sam is usually the only lake I fish, at times I venture over to the Bend.

IMO they are both Excellent lakes, structure, grass, woods, creeks ect.

I ramp at Harvey Creek, an 90% of the time fish that area.

Black Forest, Indian Creek, Hog Branch, Harvey, 147 Flats.

My biggest hang up, and something I really am going to work on this next year, is getting away from the shallow water. Trying to save up for a decent graph, and start fishing deeper water.

My Dad always seemed to fish shallow water, an caught some nice fish in the hydrilla an backs of creeks,

But I sure have read where y'all seem to be doing good out deeper at certain times of the year.

Hope I can gain some info from y'all thru out the following weeks months years ect.

Just fished Indian Creek, but headed back towards the back instead of working my way towards the lake side.

Truth be told, got skunked!! Not ashamed to say it, that lake can be great one day, and brutal the next.

And as y'all all know, the wind can be a "small" factor! Lol

If I can be of any help, please ask away

I'm sure hoping a newer graph an advice on here will help me catch a few more.

Happy Holidays Everybody

Sorry so long, just trying to introduce myself to a fantastic forum!

fishcaller reply :

Roblo I just started fishing big Sam and it seems to me every thing I read the fish are caught shallow.. I've been in buck Bay Area. Fished deep didn't do no good went shallow and caught some in grass/pad mixture.

roblo reply :

Fishcaller, what was you using in the grass/pads to catch yours on?

I really got hooked on "frog" fishing several years ago, an will throw a ribbit frog year round, more productive with water temp a little warmer though

fishcaller reply :

I was throwing senko's and flukes .

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Rayburn definitely fishes shallower than Toledo, but don't think all fish are shallow. Majority of tournament,emits are own out deep still from what I gather. Get a good SI graph and start graphing looking for piles and channel swings.

hunterfishes reply :

If your just fishing for numbers and decent keepers ( you will get a good one from time to time) yes Rayburn can be fished shallow year round (Hydrilla Bite), but since the drought a few years ago a lot of the quality fish are caught on brush in 15 to 25 foot of water except for a short time in the late winter spring when they all come shallow for the prespawn and spawn. Now having said that this year may be different because we have the most Hydrilla I have seen in several years. Will this change rayburn back to a predominantly grass pattern lake? I don't know myself some of the other guys on here would probably be able to answer that better than me. But like Bass_Fanatic said a good graph on the points will help you locate the brush piles but be careful some of the folks who put them out get a little upset with guys raiding them.

fishcaller reply :

That's what I need to do is ride around and just look lake over with graph . People shouldn't get mad they know it's gonna be found.i put some on the bend in spot nobody ever fished now can't go by without seeing someone there it's gonna happen

shaneus reply :

sorry for waiting so long on posting, I am guilty of reading the e-mails about yalls posts and not checking the forum....a couple of key observations I am proud of: we have no b@$$holes here like on texas fishing forum. We all help one another out, IT'S WHAT THIS THREAD WAS CREATED FOR! none of us are aspiring pros except maybe FANATIC ;-)

shaneus reply :

Another thing to be mentioned about the lake itself someone mentioned, after the drought the fish that lived on some of the key areas of the lake left those areas. They now reside around brush piles and structure rather than cover adjacent to these same areas. I used to catch 30+# stringers around deer stand and after the dought............nothing.........but I've found some of the fishes hiding spots

SkeeterDon reply :

I confess, I have been doing the same thing as Shane, reading the emails and then not getting on here and posting. Rayburn can be picky and finicky for sure. A good si will help you find those brush piles. Just start scanning and have you a buoy marker ready, pop a way point, turn around, idle back by,drop a buoy and then use a 1 oz jig to confirm your finds. When I am search, I am not looking for bites, just piles that's all, as you do this, you will get more experienced with what a pile looks like and then will not need to test it.

What's up Shane, give me shout and lets catch up.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 12/31/2014 at 3:08 AM, shaneus said:
sorry for waiting so long on posting, I am guilty of reading the e-mails about yalls posts and not checking the forum....a couple of key observations I am proud of: we have no b@$$holes here like on texas fishing forum. We all help one another out, IT'S WHAT THIS THREAD WAS CREATED FOR! none of us are aspiring pros except maybe FANATIC ;-)

I'm a pro in my own mind, but that's about it!! Lol!! I'm gonna get my butt handed to me in Basschamps this year, but gotta start somewhere.

SkeeterDon, are you fishing basschamps this year?

roblo reply :

Y'all are right about the graphs, si/di ect.

I'm needing to purchase new graphs, read tons of stuff on both Lowrance an the HBird.

Leaning toward Lowrance, the spotlight scan really got my attention, without having the big

system mounted on tm for the 360 deg with the bird. But, wow it is sharp too

My concern is, I'm kinda tough on my tm at times lol

I'm aware this is like a ford or Chevy subject

BUT.. ....

Could y'all throw me some pro's an cons about them.

Haven't seen the si in action, spotlight scan or the 360, just you tube vid's

If I should have posted this in another topic, feel free to move it.

Thanks in advance

PS an you hit the nail on the head about other forums (TFF) not much there

shaneus reply :

I am going to look at Garmin the next time I buy graphs, I think they agree leading in the si technology right now!

roblo reply :

Thanks for your response

I've read some about them too, a guy on the other forum posted some pics of the new 2015's coming out shortly.

Sure looked a lot clearer to me.

Trees looked just like trees in the si, but again, that could just be me, lol

Technology sure has came a long ways!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Can't go wrong with any of them. The new Garmins look great along with the Raymarine. I use Humminbird. I like the Humminbird SI better than Lowrance and the mapping is WAY better IMO. Lowrance has better sonar.

SkeeterDon reply :

Yep, fishing Basschamps Central, since I live over here. Might hit up one of the East tourney's, not sure yet.

On another note. I do have 2 - 1199's for sale. I am upgrading to the Onix 10 touch screens. These were purchased 2/27/14. My units should be in towards the end of the month. If you are interested shoot me a pm. If you want them now they are $1800 ea, if you wait till mine come in they are $1700 ea. $500 non-refundable deposit will hold the unit.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Holler at me if you fish one of the east division tournaments. I should be able to fish all four.

SkeeterDon reply :

I will do that. PM me your number again, I had to switch phones.

roblo reply :

I'm a machinist, 95% oil field work, waiting to see what happens in the next month before I pull the trigger for my fishing toys, lol

Been hearing mixed results, have to wait it out.

Better safe than sorry

Thanks for the replies, and best of luck on those tourneys

TxGator reply :

Hey Don, do those 1198's come with memory chips just drippin with Rayburn information. If so, I might have to try and talk my wife into it.

Gator

SkeeterDon reply :

Now TxGator, if it came with rayburn information, then you would not learn how to use the unit. But it is easy to use though and soon your screen will be filled with gps waypoints.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I went today...sucked it up. 4 fish that weighed 11lbs. Fished deep most of the day with no success, moved up to 10ft and caught all four fish.

roblo reply :

Was they in the hydrilla?

I went the day after Christmas, was tough for me, but did catch a couple on the edges of the hydrilla

Was fishing around the 147 bridge

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Yea I was close to the bridge. 2 fish were by bushes and 2 were in hydrilla.

roblo reply :

Anybody been on Rayburn in the last couple days?

If so, you do any good?

How much did the lake come up after that good rain?

Thanks

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Wouldn't mind getting a report. The lake goes off limits for me Monday.

roblo reply :

"Off limits"?

That don't sound good.

I have a camp close to the ramp at Harvey. Probably be late Feb early march before I get back on the water. Plenty of chores to do, never a dull moment, lol

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fishing Basschamps next weekend so this week is "off limits" for all participants.

roblo reply :

I got ya!

I don't fish any tourneys, good luck with yours.

Let us know how the lake was an how you did

Thanks

shaneus reply :

Fanatic your on a pretty good pattern from everything I've heard from lots of different people.....

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Good to know Shaneus. Thanks. I plan on sticking to it and hoping it produces a couple big bites

roblo reply :

Any fishing reports on Big Sam?

How's the lake look after all that rain, haven't been that way since Christmas weekend?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fishing was tough today. Had 308 boats show up for basschamps. I came in 13th with 16.12lbs. Should have had a little more, but that's fishing. Caught my fish deep. Not too bad for only my 3rd time to ever fish Rayburn lol

roblo reply :

Sounds like you did pretty good, congrats!

13 out of 308, this time of year, was excellent in my standards!

Was the lake full?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Yea, looks to be close to pool. Water was a little more stained than it was 3 weeks ago.

SkeeterDon reply :

Great finish on Rayburn for sure. Tough to beat 36 lbs, dang that was a sack for big Sam.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

They said they had over 25lbs in the live weep in the first 30 minutes!

SkeeterDon reply :

yeah, and that would have won it for them right there. To bad we can't find out what they were doing, sure would like to know.

fishcaller reply :

Big Sam been kicking my tail . I made need to move location been fishing south end bear creek buck bay shallow and deep . Only catching a few small fish. Gonna try go back this weekend try again ain't giving up

roblo reply :

Fishcaller, please let us know how you did over the weekend. Northern coming in, always kills me. Sure makes it tough for me, some people still catch fish.

Sure would like to know there secret, lol

90% of the time I fish shallow water, need to make myself learn the deeper water technique.

Probably be a few more weeks before I get a chance to go over there.

Best of luck fishing guys

Really enjoy this forum over others, y'all keep up the good post an let us know how you did.

I can catch decent fish one weekend, go back the next weekend, an it's like a whole different lake, lol

But it's an awesome body of water, that's for sure

fishcaller reply :

Roblo didn't do nothing 2fish both caught in the 15-20' range tried shallow couldn't get a bite . I heard 30pds won texas team trail .

roblo reply :

Yes that's what I heard. A-rig and c-rig in 14-16 ft

Healthy stringers that's for sure

Thanks for posting your results

DrewMixon reply :

hello gents of the 'Sam Rayburn endless thread'. i'm new to this site (please feel free to read my intro on the intro page or look at my profile).

i have poured over this thread like a mad scientist gathering as much knowledge as possible about lake Sam Rayburn as you guys have generously shared.

i'm coming from Florida to fish the lake the last week of February for a kayak tournament and am learning as much as i can before i get there.

my options are wide open as far what part of the lake to fish--i can launch from any public location and i fish out of a Hobie pedal drive kayak, so my range is about 16 miles over the course of a tournament day, and i can handle open water pretty well. i fish in the Gulf and Atlantic frequently so a lil bumpy is do'able. anyway, i mention all that in the context that i'm not 'stuck' fishing backwater or a spot near a ramp.

while i absorb your vast knowledge on this site, I'm soaking up some of the popular spot names and how many of you fish them. of course we all have our favorites and i'm no different. but, i like to be versatile i will punch all day one day, toss soft plastic till my arm hurts the next and gladly work an offshore point with cranks if need be. i'm certainly not the master of all, but i'm open minded and not a one-trick pony.

one thing i do notice about many of the reports is the use of lipless crank baits. i think there is even a rat-l-trap tournament on the lake? we have one down in FL as well.

there is one rule about lipless crank baits in my area…."any color will work as long as its gold". as such, my inventory of lipless baits is pretty solid in the gold colored category. i'm wanting to make an order of a couple of different sizes and colors but would enjoy hearing your opinions on that. i don't want to buy all reds if silver and black is all they eat.

i greatly appreciate all the sharing you guys have done on this thread and humbly await your replies about trap colors.

cheers

drew

Bass_Fanatic reply :

They don't make a Raybirn Red trap for nothin...make sure you buy some Raybirn red and Toledo gold (which is more of a red) in 1/2 and 3/4 oz sizes.

Wesley reply :

Fished Rayburn this afternoon, water temps around the 147 bridge were 60-62.

Caught a few slowly working t-rigged creature baits.

roblo reply :

Wesley, was that temp shallow or main lake temps.

It has been some nice days.

I'm gonna try an get over there not this weekend but next.

I usually fish same area, always launch at Harvey.

It's close to my camp.

Thanks for the report

roblo reply :

Wesley, was that temp shallow or main lake temps.

It has been some nice days.

I'm gonna try an get over there not this weekend but next.

I usually fish same area, always launch at Harvey.

It's close to my camp.

Thanks for the report

Wesley reply :

On 2/12/2015 at 10:30 AM, roblo said:

Wesley, was that temp shallow or main lake temps.

It has been some nice days.

I'm gonna try an get over there not this weekend but next.

I usually fish same area, always launch at Harvey.

It's close to my camp.

Thanks for the report

This is just off the 147 bridge and canyon areas so pretty close to main lake temps, did not go into the back of any creeks to see temps there.

roblo reply :

Thanks Wesley

I fish Indian, Hog Branch and shallower water way to much. Always have.

Hopefully I can get a nice graph soon, but in the mean time, think I'll start off in deeper water, need to make myself start fishing deeper.

Hear to many good things at times.

Thanks Wesley for the info.

Wesley reply :

Today just north of cassel boykins the water was down to 57. I caught 5 or so flipping a lizard into the shallow brush, a guy I talked to at the ramp said he caught them good on traps.

Wesley reply :

Fished the American Bass Anglers Divison 10 tournament. Won 7th place and Big bass with 12.40 total and a 7.98 kicker.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome fish Wesley! Congrats

roblo reply :

Good looking fish, Wesley

Thanks for the info

An congrats

Wesley reply :

Oh and that was a new Personal Best fish for me, previous was a 7.87 on Toledo. Still looking for that DD bass.

Was rainy yesterday but we still caught them shallow on Slow worked senko's. Talked to a few people who were catching on spinnerbaits. The water temps were 58 around the 147 bridge. The coming cold front should knock that down quite a bit.

fishcaller reply :

Wesley has the water cleared up any? Fished up there weekend before last for first time didn't do anything flipping bushes but did catch a few on a-rig . If weather permits headed back this weekend

Wesley reply :

Its still stained in the areas I have been fishing. The canyon areas are a little more dirty than south of 147 but not bad.

fishcaller reply :

Thanks wes . Maybe this rain want mess it up . I want go a Little further north and look around. But gotta go slow no boat lanes don't want tear up my boat .

Wesley reply :

Water is 56 and stained right now where I was fishing. There are some nice fish in 4-8 foot of water waiting to go up on beds.

wrp75951 reply :

Fished this evening. Caught 8 bass. All on a trap. Depth 3-8 ft.water temperature 53-54.

Wesley reply :

Fished this afternoon, wind was howling!!! Got a few strikes on the trap but couldnt keep a hook in them.

Talked to a guy who was catching them flipping the brush.

Saw a boat that lost thier prop, make sure to check your prop nuts!!

fishcaller reply :

Just wondering if there any good fishing above the deer stand area?

roblo reply :

Sounds like y'all been doing ok.

Anybody going this weekend, please let me know the main lake temp and the shallower water in coves please.

Still getting fairly cool at night, Texas winters, lol

Good luck out there!

shaneus reply :

i think im heading to rayburn monday to fish ill report back to yall........hotter water and temps in the 70's and a FULL lake! should be about the right time to hit em on the trap around the bridge. been going farther north and catching some fish no monsters. im going to take the shorter drive to cassels and launch there and fish around the bridge....

Wesley reply :

Run just north of cassels and hit the canyons. Nice fishing there!

shaneus reply :

i had someone pm me asking for some identifying way points for common terminology used in bass fishing ans what things looked like.......please correct me if i'm wrong but this is my opinion. it took me a long time to learn the terms and identify correctly so i thought it would be a good learning experience for everyone here on the forum i've included links to navionics...

ditches are "drains" to bigger water. when the lake was low you could see ditches when it rained where the water funneled and ran to the body of water these are usually around flats, rivers are main waters before impoundment, flats are well flat ha ha ha. creeks have a beginning and a end when people say creek channels bends its bigger than a ditch but not the river, but usually runs to the main river and intersects it and is a major highway for bass..... and a point is well a point, a ridge is a ridge......

river:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.313079,11z

mouth of ditch:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.304904,11z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.301760,11z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.298167,11z

mouth of creek/intersection:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.294645,15z

end of creek:

http://webapp.navion...-94.300879,14z

flats:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.295545,13z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.301048,13z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.308645,13z

points:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.290948,12z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.341025,11z

ridge:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.283613,12z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.214332,11z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.208762,12z

shaneus reply :

when you click on the links, do not click anywhere on the map EXCEPT the zoom buttons and it will take you to the correct position......if you click in the map first it will screw it up.....

kking reply :

Good post Shaneus! A lot of times people take for grandee that everyone knows the terminology. A lot of good information on this site. I prob will be asking a few questions along. I have only been there once but looks to be a Great Lake.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 3/2/2015 at 7:12 AM, kking said:
Good post Shaneus! A lot of times people take for grandee that everyone knows the terminology. A lot of good information on this site. I prob will be asking a few questions along. I have only been there once but looks to be a Great Lake.

Keith?

Hookn1 reply :

I have not posted much on this site, but with everything that I have learned and picked up from here and there, I figured I would share my first Rayburn experience from this past week. Of course the weather wasn't optimal, but the fishing was good. I fished shallow below 12 and fished deep, 20 to 35 feet. I found fish in both, but it seemed the deeper fish where more willing to bite. I landed fish on Chatterbaits, drop shot, crank baits and Jigs, with the 6th Sense Crank Baits and 3/4 and 1 oz jig and pigs in watermelon and crawfish colors being the most productive. Water ranged from 49 to 51 degrees. I found most fish on structure toward the end of points, creek turns, and inside drains. I fished the Veach and 5 fingers area. I was also fishing in a kayak and was very appreciative of the sportsmanship of all the boaters around, I found everyone to be courteous and respectable in regards to proximity boundaries. Being from La, the boaters have accepted the kayak community over time for the most part, and in Tx it appeared to be the same respect. Thank you all for the information shared on this site, it has been priceless for me over the last few months. im having a little trouble getting the files small enough to upload, but here are a few. I didn't weigh any fish, caught measured, took pics and released them. They ranged from 16 inches to just over 24 inches, with a couple 22ers in the mix.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome report and awesome fish Hookn1! I found a lot of fish in 35ft of water scouting Friday, but didn't fish em. Hopefully it was all bass!

Hookn1 reply :

Unfortunately I found them two days in a row pre fishing for a tournament Saturday, I also found them Friday in new areas and left them for tourney day. When Saturday rolled around, all the deep fish I found were small. I did end up hooking on drag ripper, but ended up getting wrapped around something during the fight and broke off 50 lbs braid after about 10 seconds of back and forth with her. She was a brute based on the depth finder reading, and a heartbreaker for sure. Most fish caught in the tournament were caught on brush hogs and chatterbaits in around 8 feet of water along grass lines. I stayed deep all day and ended with 8 fish landed, but only finished 12 out of 50. Being my first trip to the area, and given my pre fishing results, I had a blast and made memories that will last a long time. Thanks again for the info. AND, if anyone knows anything about Kentucky Lake, I will be there in two weeks for my next event. Never been to it either.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Hookn1, I sent you a PM. And I wish I could help out on Kentucky lake, but I've never been there either. Everything I hear though this time of year is to throw a hogfarmers arig in deep water close to spawning flats!

kking reply :

On 3/2/2015 at 11:37 AM, Bass_Fanatic said:
Keith?

Yeah. It's me. Trying to learn a little bit LOL

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Lol...I need to learn ALOT!

wrp75951 reply :

Fished this evening. 5 bass to 3lbs. All on carolina rig brush hog green pumpkin dyed tail. Depth 10ft to 13ft. Watet temperature 51.

Catt reply :

Great job shaneus!

Awesome reports

roblo reply :

Excellent post Shaneus, full of great info.

And great reports, thanks for posting them.

Saturday is not looking too bad, I might ease that way myself.

If so, I'll report if I have any luck!

Texas Pride reply :

I will be fishing from the boat dock beside umpray pavillion tomorow what yall think i should use i know im useing a rayburn red craw rattle trap because me and a few others have been tearing them up on that thing

bigfish2 reply :

Anybody going to be out on big Sam this week ? Im finely going to be heading down tomorrow afternoon for about 8 days and can't hardly wait.

wrp75951 reply :

Caught 3 bass this evening. All on a carolina rig green pumpkin dyed lizard. Water temperature 52. Depth 10ft to 13ft.

krb017 reply :

It's great to see everyone helping each other out. Very cool. I will be fishin on Saturday and can't be more excited! If anyone has any pointers, let me know. I plan on starting on points and hitting grass as it warms.

roblo reply :

I did go to my camp last weekend, it's close to Harvey Creek.

One of those trips where it seems everything goes wrong, lol.

Had water well problems and didn't even put the boat in the water!

Going again tomorrow, an if the good Lord wiling, hope to fish sat an sun.

Weather looks like it will be great, maybe the fish will bite?

Good luck everybody

fishcaller reply :

Fish must bei biting good on rayburn no time for reports

Tonto reply :

Hello all

new to the forum. Got a house up at Rayburn. We try to get up there as much as possible, but that usually only means 2 weekends a month at most. This past weekend was brutal for us. Water was so muddy and filled with debris from all the rain earlier in the week and the lake rising. The wind on Saturday afternoon also didn't help that.

Fished up near Needmore Point and in that general area in some areas that usually do well. Lots of boats on the water, but seemed to be pretty little action based on what we saw and heard from others.

Just wanted to say I really appreciate this thread and reading it. Even though I've fished throughout my life, I have never fished enough to dedicate a good portion of time to truly learning the craft. As I start to do that more, these threads and this site is a fantastic place to share ideas and talk fishing, especially at Rayburn.

back water reply :

Welcome aboard Tonto:: These two forums are very active and informative. T. Bend more than Sam Rayburn. It seems there are more of the locals that fish T. Bend. I am from the Conroe area so don't get up there to fish that much but always give a report when I do. Catt, Shaneus and quite a few others keep us pretty well informed on the Bend, And Shaneus has a whole bunch of experience on Sam. Keep tuned in and you are sure to learn allot. Keep a tight line!!! Backwater

wrp75951 reply :

Rayburn has been good to me. Caught one between 8 and 99lbs on a trap Saturday.Went back and fished Sunday evening.Saw fish making commotion in the bushes. Ended up catching 20 or 30 on a wekweightless senko. Hitting it again tomorrow evening after work.

wrp75951 reply :

9lbs sorry

krb017 reply :

Fished this past weekend on Saturday from 8-1, and it was slammed with boats. We did ok and put 8 in the boat but lacked size. Biggest was 3lbs. I didn't see much action from other anglers and all the guys I spoke with only caught a few as well. Caught them cranking points, carolina riggin, and flippin.

fishcaller reply :

Gonna try make it over there this weekend if it don't rain. And I sure hope it don't . I like hearing all these good reports which end doing better north or south?

krb017 reply :

On 3/18/2015 at 12:21 AM, fishcaller said:
Gonna try make it over there this weekend if it don't rain. And I sure hope it don't . I like hearing all these good reports which end doing better north or south?

looks like its going to rain, unfortunately.

back water reply :

We, the Cleveland bass club has a week-end tournament this week-end. Fri. an 80% chance of rain, 100% on Sat., and 80% again on Sun. Temp. 65 on Sat. and 69 on Sun. The wind doesn't look too bad though, Sat. out of the E-NE at 5. and out of the N at 6 on Sun. The lake is at 166.46 or 2.06 off of full pool. Be safe - bring your rain gear - and keep a tight line.

roblo reply :

I made it to the camp Friday night.

Had a lot going on, didn't get on the water till 8:30 sat morning,

have never seen so many boats in the area I was at before, around 147 and Harvey.

Fished two hours an went back to camp to finish up on water well.

Didn't catch any fish, was fishing shallow, I'm thinking the water temp was around 53.

Couldn't fish my spots because all the boats.

Went back sat evening about 5:30, wind was kinda rough. Fished shallow again with no luck.

I'll be back not this weekend but the next, water temp should be warmer. Maybe I can snag a few?!?

Good luck everybody

Stay safe

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I'll be back on Rayburn April 2 and 3rd for the basscat owners tournament. Can't wait to try and sight fish out there!

roblo reply :

You should hit it pretty good Bass_Fanatic,

I'll be back the 28th for the weekend.

Water temp should be in our favor, lol

henrylewis reply :

Will be up there not this weekend but next for the high school tournament hope to get lucky and catch a good limit

roblo reply :

henrylewis, how many teams is there going to be?

Sure wish they would have had that back in the day when I was in school.

I think it's a great thing for the younger guys an gals,

Wish y'all the best!

Be safe

fishcaller reply :

Roblo I stopped by last time and watched these young fishermen they had over 370 teams if I remember right . I wish they would had it when I was in school myself

henrylewis reply :

376 boats with us so like 700 kids

kking reply :

They were having a high school tournament at toledo last weekend. It was good to see all of the kids pumped up! I hope it remains strong

roblo reply :

Yes indeed, that's a very good thing for the youngsters

Sure would've kept me out of a lot of trouble, lol

Wish all of them the best of luck!

henrylewis reply :

Anyone fishing this weekend?

roblo reply :

Not this weekend, I'll be there next weekend!

Looks like they'll be plenty of water, lol

Wesley reply :

Been concentrating on toledo this week. Going to hit rayburn sometime this week.

Wesley reply :

In the last fee days six fish over 10 were caught on toledo bend. Its on fire right now!!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fish are on beds! Buddy of mine caught a 10lb 13oz off a bed Friday.

roblo reply :

That's some nice fish, still hunting my DD!

They already moved to the beds on Rayburn?

I'm sure gonna try my luck this coming weekend

What's a good bait an color to use?

Plastics, senkos, spinnerbaits an jigs?

Thanks for any advice

Y'all have a good day an good luck!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I'm a big fan of the big bite baits war mouth for bed fishing along with a dropshot. Alternate between the two and you can get most fish that are locked on the eat one or the other.

back water reply :

Cleveland Bass Club had 22 members fish Rayburn this past week-end - Heavy stringer Sat. was 11.72, big bass was 6.28, 36 bass caught. But man what a horrible day, rain ALL day. Sun. heavy stringer was 9.92, big bass was 5.29, 32 bass caught. They are shallow. plastics and chatter baits did most of the catching.

Keep a tight line!!!!

roblo reply :

Thanks Bass_Fanatic, and back water, I bet last Saturday was a rough outing in the rain.

Glad y'all caught some fish, and thanks for the help.

I'll post back first part of the week an let y'all know how things went.

Thanks again

Rob

roblo reply :

Thanks Bass_Fanatic, and back water, I bet last Saturday was a rough outing in the rain.

Glad y'all caught some fish, and thanks for the help.

I'll post back first part of the week an let y'all know how things went.

Thanks again

Rob

kking reply :

On 3/2/2015 at 1:29 AM, shaneus said:

i had someone pm me asking for some identifying way points for common terminology used in bass fishing ans what things looked like.......please correct me if i'm wrong but this is my opinion. it took me a long time to learn the terms and identify correctly so i thought it would be a good learning experience for everyone here on the forum i've included links to navionics...

ditches are "drains" to bigger water. when the lake was low you could see ditches when it rained where the water funneled and ran to the body of water these are usually around flats, rivers are main waters before impoundment, flats are well flat ha ha ha. creeks have a beginning and a end when people say creek channels bends its bigger than a ditch but not the river, but usually runs to the main river and intersects it and is a major highway for bass..... and a point is well a point, a ridge is a ridge......

river:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.313079,11z

mouth of ditch:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.304904,11z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.301760,11z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.298167,11z

mouth of creek/intersection:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.294645,15z

end of creek:

http://webapp.navion...-94.300879,14z

flats:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.295545,13z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.301048,13z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.308645,13z

points:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.290948,12z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.341025,11z

ridge:

http://webapp.navion...,-94.283613,12z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.214332,11z

http://webapp.navion...,-94.208762,12z

Having trouble with these links. When I click on them navionics goes to my home location instead of the links. Any suggestions?

shaneus reply :

river:

31.223681,-94.313079

mouth of ditch:

31.229979,-94.304904

31.231593,-94.301760

31.231669,-94.298167

mouth of creek/intersection:

31.212877,-94.294645

end of creek:

31.253219,-94.300879

flats:

31.234613,-94.295545

31.236457,-94.301048

31.238426,-94.308645

points:

31.223505,-94.290948

31.222512,-94.341025

ridge:

31.228870,-94.283613

31.136981,-94.214332

31.112143,-94.208762

shaneus reply :

heres the coordinates to look on google earth, web app doesnt do coordinates anymore for some reason, or i havent figured it out yet

fishcaller reply :

How's the water looking ? Is anybody seeing fish on beds?

roblo reply :

What do y'all think this little cool snap we have gotten today, how will it effect the fishing?

I know it's not a massive front, but the barometric pressure changing, just curious how it will effect things

Thanks

Rob

Tonto reply :

Fixing to get up there tomorrow afternoon and fish tomorrow Saturday and Sunday. Weather looks fantastic the next few days.

kking reply :

Any reports? Heading there Tuesday. Last I heard it was almost six foot high.

roblo reply :

The lake is a little over five ft high.

Which makes the area they spawned in last yr, about 6-8 ft of water now. And getting to the "shallow" water now, is tough, at least the area I usually fish.

Water temp varies, main lake 58

Back part of creeks 60-62

I have noticed that around 64 or better, is the magic number, to get them into a better spawn.

That's just me though, could be wrong.

The few fish I caught, still had eggs

Maybe this next full moon will get them going a little better.

It was tough fishing for me, bluebird skies after that little front on last thur.

Fished fri an sat, only caught a few.

Caught one on a ribbit frog an the others on a jig

Good luck

roblo reply :

I did hear they was catching them with a tex-rig lizard

Didn't work for me, same as the brush hogs, I tried them both. May have just been in the wrong spot??

Tonto reply :

roblo pretty much had it right for us as well.

Being up 5.2 feet over the weekend, all the spots we wanted to seek out were significantly deeper water due to the lake being up so high, and that made it a lot tougher to get into the shallow stuff in certain areas.

That being said, we did ok and caught a few small fish in some grass up near needmore point, and then down south in some coves there seemed to be a decent amount of fish back beyond trees if you could get your boat back in there. Spent a hell of a lot more time fighting the wind on Sunday than we wanted. Ours were caught on some Watermelon Senko's, and another soft plastic as well.

The fish are there, but it just wasn't as good of a weekend as we were hoping. Now I may not be able to get back up to Rayburn until the 18th of April. Really hate to miss the next 2 weekends. The water temps are perfect for some great fishing. Now that the lake level is settling in, as long as there's no big rain, it should be good fishing.

Good news about the rain is that being up 5.3 feet in March bodes really well for the summer, in case we have a dry spring.

If you can get shallow, get SHALLOW. That seemed to be where most of the action was across the lake based off what we heard.

TxGator reply :

The boys fished the high school tournament saturday. We caught 30 or 35 fish, 20 of which came from a small area in 12' of water. Of those 20, only 4 were keepers and barely legal at that. But having 4 in the box by 8:30 was nice. Moved to another area and began picking up a couple of better ones but they were scattered and hugging real tight to cover in 7' or so. They got their 5th fish, and I had to release a 3.5-4# since I had caught it. (I threw up in a hole they had already fished.) Water temps were 62-65 through out the day, water clarity was pretty stained. I think all our fish came off worms and brush hogs.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I'll be on Rayburn for the BCB owners this Thursday and Friday. Haven't been out there in awhile. I know the water is way up, I'd appreciate any help anybody can offer as I won't get to prefish at all. Going blind and hoping to get lucky!

bullet20 reply :

I went last fri. To get away from toledo lobi,went out of Harvey and north,not much was happening.Water dirty and high.2 small bites all day.

I'd stay south, heard water was better.

roblo reply :

I was fishing out of Harvey, last weekend also.

Maybe try south as Bullet20 said

Good luck Bass_Fanatic

Let me know how things went

Will be after Easter weekend before I get back over there

Take care

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Well, just got back from the basscat owners invitational. Didn't do so well. Had 3 fish for 10lbs on day one with a 7.02lb big fish. Got a good check for big bass day one. Figured I needed 25lbs+ to have a chance of coming back to win on day 2 so I stayed 15-32ft deep all day and only managed 1 fish. The fish have spawned out already, but apparently haven't made the move deep just yet. The water is super high and most fish caught in the tournament was caught in the flooded pine trees. Seemed like the bigger fish were a little deeper (still shallow IMO) from about 6-8ft.

kking reply :

Fishing was tough for sure during the basscat tournament. I caught a lot of small fish shallow. Found a few beds but they weren't locked on them. Great time though. I can't wait to actually see it a normal level to learn it some more. Caught most of mine on flukes and spinnerbaits. Good luck to anyone going. I didn't look at a gauge but I think it may have been starting to fall a little. Lot of fish caught fishing parallel to the bank line in 7-10 foot of water.

roblo reply :

Thanks for the reports, seems like when the weekends rolls around, the weather throws us a curve ball. Small fronts, rain or bluebird skies!

That's part of it I suppose.

roblo reply :

Anybody been fishing Big Sam??

TheRichInc reply :

Fished a club tournament Saturday. Came in first with 15.68lbs. Caught fish all day long. Look for haygrass and Shad and Bingo. Don't really matter what you throw as long as it looks like a shad. Example (here is a list of baits I caught more then one fish on Saturday.) Magnum Yellow Magic, Willow leaf spinnerbait, Colorado blade spinnerbait, floating rapala, suspending rapala, 3.8" Swimbait, 1/2oz swimjig, 1/2oz jig, series 5 Stike king crankbait.....all in shad color or a variation thereof. Caught probably 40-50 fish all day. Lots of keepers in the 2-3 pound range. Lost one about 6lbs at boat that would have put me closer to 20lbs. Good luck

shaneus reply :

flipping black/blue plastics looks to be good around the black forrest right now.....

http://www.flwfishing.com/news/2015-04-12-top-10-baits-from-sam-rayburn

http://www.flwfishing.com/news/2015-04-13-top-10-patterns-from-sam-rayburn

shaneus reply :

these pros give away all the little things like this.....

http://images.flwfishing.com/images/00/01/52/000152633_original_1024x1024.jpg

Bass_Fanatic reply :

That's the first time I've seen a beaver rigged like that. Looks like beavers dominated Rayburn

fishcaller reply :

Can somebody tell me where easly flats are I've looked on map and haven't found it

shaneus reply :

Look on the branch furthest east. Easley flats are almost as north east on the lake as you can go, there is an old road running through the flat,

shaneus reply :

And devils Ford creek empties into it..... devils Ford creek is where 96 crosses Sam rayburn

fishcaller reply :

Thanks shaneus I'll check it out

shaneus reply :

CUMARA:
original black series:
2x 7'7 heavy fast =125ea
1x 6'3 heavy fast =100ea
1x 6'3 medium medium fast =100ea

new red series:
1x 7'2 medium heavy extra fast =215ea
1x 7'2 medium heavy fast =215ea
1x 7'2 medium fast spinning =215ea
1x 7'11 medium heavy fast crank =225ea
1x 7'11 heavy extra fast =225ea
2x 6'8 medium heavy extra fast =210ea
1x 6'8 medium heavy fast =210ea

CRUCIAL:
original cork handle:
1x 6'6 medium fast =100ea
1x 7'0 medium medium fast =100ea

new eva foam handle:
1x 6'8 heavy fast =125ea
1x 7'0 medium medium fast =125ea
2x 7'2 medium extra fast =125ea
1x 7'2 medium heavy extra fast =125ea

shipping is not included.....can meet at toledo or rayburn or ship for 15$ extra will combine shippinf for multiple items
text me or email me or message me please calls sometimes wont go through and i dont have voice mail set up yet.....all rods are in great condition......can send pictures upon request

Bloodandguts reply :

Fished veach yesterday. Caught 22, most 14" or better. Largest 3.6#. Key was to be in 4-6 feet. Trees clumped together, especially if there was grass, seemed to have fish. If you caught one in an area, you caught five. Black/blue senko, t-rig, 1/32 ounce wt.

Also caught a few in Coleman's.

roblo reply :

I didn't fish the big tourney last weekend, does anybody know how many ppl or teams that was in it?

Did hear about the man giving the boat away to the gentlemen fishing from the dock, you surely don't see that outstanding gesture very often!

My hats off to him, an hope the other fellow gets to enjoy the rig.

I'm going to Rayburn this weekend, try an finish my water well issue at the camp.

But hopefully I'll have the time to get out on the water, I'm guessing the backside of the spawn is still happening, an the others are in post spawn stage??

It's been several weeks since I've been on lake, all or any info is greatly appreciated

Thanks

Rob

Tonto reply :

I haven't been out there in a month or so either. Hoping to be on the water early tomorrow morning.

fishcaller reply :

Fish must be biteing good on big Sam nobody got time give no reports

Wesley reply :

Have not had much luck on rayburn lately.

fishcaller reply :

Went and watch setx high school fishing tournament yesterday and all I can say is what a great thing these people and parents are doing for these young fishermen and women .

fishcaller reply :

Went and watch setx high school fishing tournament yesterday and all I can say is what a great thing these people and parents are doing for these young fishermen and women .

roblo reply :

Yes sir, that is a great thing they did by starting high school fishing.

Sure wish that was going on when I was younger!

Excellent thing indeed for the young men and women today!

C-Rigger reply :

First post but I have been reading this forum for a while now and the info is great! Would like to share my recent trip to Rayburn today. Stayed deep all day caught around 25 fish with a few 3 lbrs and lots of small spots. Had 2 bass over 7 pounds with my pb of 8.13 and all keepers coming on a C-Rig.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome day!! Congrats on a new PB!

BassinHog reply :

C-Rigger,

When you say deep are you saying 12-15-25? Reason I am asking, we fished this past weekend and will be doing so again this weekend. We looked deep, 20-25' and didn't see much. Fished it as well with no luck. May be that we didn't fish with confidence, but were a little confused. We caught several in the 12' range, but 2#'s were about the best we could manage. When you look out right now at the ridges and humps you have to add 6-6.5', so a 9' hump right now is in 15+'.

Bass,

Would you be shying away from the 20-25' water right now with the lake so high. The grass also seems to have taken it on the chin on many of our normal grass holes in the main lake. Sure is an awful lot of water right now and really has us a little confused as last year was really the first year we spent on the lake. Just like C-Rigger experience, our feeling is that most of the big ones have moved off somewhere, just not sure what depth we need to be targeting.

C-Rigger reply :

Thanks bass _fanatic! BassinHog, even with the lake level so high I caught everything away from grass in 13 to 23 feet. It seemed like I caught more fish with a hard bottom near deep drops. Tried fishing reaction baits couldn't get a bite and had to fish really slow with soft plastics.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I haven't been on Rayburn lately, but the fish on Toledo are in that 20-25 ft range close to the creek channels. I wouldn't imagine Rayburn would be much different.

BassinHog reply :

Bass & C-Rigger

What do you consider their predominate food source at that depth? Crawfish, shad !!!!! I would think the bream would be spawning closer to the bank. Am I correct or way off base? The shad spawn was going on for sure this past weekend, not sure if it will still be going on, but my thoughts were that they would be following the shad around. Do they spawn at those depths or just on the shallower humps?

BassinHog reply :

What I meant to say was "Do the shad spawn at those depths or just on the shallower humps"?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I don't think the shad spawn at those depths, but there are plenty of schools of shad out here. If you find good structure in 20-25 ft with bait present, there will be bass!

BassinHog reply :

Bass & C-Rigger

Another questions that I always struggle with. If your catching fish pretty consistent but the size is 13" to 2.5# max fish and really nothing any bigger and your tournament fishing. Do you stay there thinking you will eventually get the bigger ones to bite (if they are even there) or do you pull out to deeper structure looking for the bigger ones. I always find it hard to pull off of biting fish, but when size matters I struggle to get myself to move. What would you do in this scenario? Are the big ones mixed in there with them just less active or are they in the same area but a little deeper?

C-Rigger reply :

If you are in a tournament I would move to deeper water looking for some big bites. If you are leaving fish you know are there you can always come back later if the deep bite doesn't work out.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I agree with C-Rigger, I'd move, I've notice more times than not if there are big fish present, I will catch them first thing. If I've caught 10-20 small fish and need better size I'll move, but not far. Look for the next breakline. For example, last February I was fishing a tournament on Toledo. Pulled up to my first spot which was 15ft right next to a major creek channel and caught about 12 fish real quick. They were all good fish, 3-5lbs. I had 20lbs in the boat, but was having a hard time culling since they all looked the same. I ended up moving a little further off the ridge into 25ft and caught a 10.2 kicker. Weighed in 26.5lbs (my best individual tournament stringer to date) and won because of the move. The key is, don't move far, big fish are gonna be close by.

BassinHog reply :

Thanks Bass & C-Rigger

Feel much better prepared for this coming week's tournament. Headed out this afternoon. Pre-fishing Friday & Sat. Coaching a couple of high school students (who have just graduated) one of whom is my son. Have been doing this for a few years but about to get kicked out of the boat. Thanks for all of your help and will not shy away from the 20-25' water this week. Lake is almost 8' above pool and probably will be by tomorrow.

C-Rigger reply :

Anybody know of any small tournaments coming up? Looking to fish a few, possibly some benefit tourneys if available and don't know of any. Thanks.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

It's not on Rayburn, but on June 20th I'm helping pit on a little tournament over on Toledo. Check it out in the Toledo Bend thread.

henrylewis reply :

I will be up at the lake next weekend should I fish shallow or deep and if deep about how deep

roblo reply :

I'm a shallow water fishermen, an it's good at times.

But after reading yalls post an comments on here, I really need to invest in a good depth finder an make myself get away from the shallows.

I enjoy reading all of y'all's tips an advice for fishing deep structure and ledges.

All of which I hope to learn in the near future.

I don't fish tournys, just love to be out on the lake, peaceful and stress free!

My dad always fished shallow, and that's what I learned. We would snag a few good ones here an there, but the deep bite sure sounds like the way to go, especially this time of year.

Thanks for sharing all the experience you guys do!

Excellent reading material

Have a good day

Rob

Tonto reply :

We had a pretty good weekend out there. Cleaned up in the grass at about 13 foot depth throwing into it a bit shallower, then just dragging senko's through that grass. Anyone else been on Big Sam lately?

fishcaller reply :

Fished sat in all the wind done good on jigs early on points then went shallow with senkos caught a lot small fish

henrylewis reply :

Fished all weekend in 15 to 20 fow throwing deep divers Saturday caught a 5.66 which was the big fish for us and some legal fish but nuthing to brag about. Sunday couldn't find fish till late in day big fish for Sunday was a 3lb in the same dept

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Whose fishing the Texas shootout next weekend?

txbass1 reply :

My partner and I will be there. Btw, hilarious post on TFF ***atic.......made my morning. Those cats get their feathers ruffled pretty easy. Well done.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 6/24/2015 at 10:56 PM, txbass1 said:
My partner and I will be there. Btw, hilarious post on TFF ***atic.......made my morning. Those cats get their feathers ruffled pretty easy. Well done.

Lol, can't believe those guys thought I was serious!

Catt reply :

On 6/24/2015 at 10:56 PM, txbass1 said:
My partner and I will be there. Btw, hilarious post on TFF ***atic.......made my morning. Those cats get their feathers ruffled pretty easy. Well done.

Which is the reason I'm no longer a member of TFF!

SkeeterDon reply :

I will be there to toss my lures around this weekend. Hope to see you out there.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Wish I was going to be there, but I won't make it. I ought it was Saturday, but once I realized it's on Sunday I'm out. I'm a pastor at a church, so Sundays are pretty much off limits.

txbass1 reply :

On 6/25/2015 at 12:24 AM, Catt said:
Which is the reason I'm no longer a member of TFF!

Hey Catt, I was on here quite a bit a few years ago before Jack passed away. Just started lurking again a few weeks ago. Sure miss Jack....I know you guys were pretty tight there the last little while. Hope you're doing well.

Tonto reply :

Anyone heading up to Big Sam for the holiday weekend? It'll be kind of weird with no Island to party on as Rattlesnake is pretty much completely flooeded still

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Anybody doing any good on Big Sam?

roblo reply :

Was over there last weekend, caught several on a rage blade, frog and jig/craw trailer.

In about 10-12 fow

Only had time to fish fri and sat morning for a couple hours.

Wanted to do some night fishing, but mowing an cleaning fence lines at the camp wore me out.

It's good an warm out, that's for sure.

Let us know how you do!

And good luck to you

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Haven't been out to big Sam in about a week. Me and my brother are going out Saturday morning and just wondering how some other people have been doing.

roblo reply :

Anybody been fishing Big Sam?

It is a little warm during the day, lol

Haven't been myself, just like to hear what's going on.

Thanks

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went this morning from 6-1030! They are generating a lot of water and the lake is dropping fast. Started out early fishing offshore and the bite was very slow. Only caught four small largemouth and got on some of the biggest sand bass I've ever seen. Caught all my fish on a 6xd, and yes it is hotttt!

roblo reply :

Thanks for the report Red_Ranger

Have to go that way this weekend to mow,

If the weather is right, may go a couple hours in the mornings.

You think since the lakes dropping fast, that has something to die with bit?

It does on the smaller lakes, not sure about the bigger lakes

Thanks for sharing

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I can't put my finger on it. I think it has to do with fluctuation of water level. The lake came up really fast and now it is dropping really fast. At first I thought maybe the shad haven't moved out and are keeping the fish in the shallow cover, but I've been marking big balls of shad on my graph but not schoolers. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right areas, it's really starting to get frustrating though! Good luck on the trip Roblo and be sure and give us a report.

roblo reply :

With the water dropping, now we are left some ramps that are in really bad shape, at least the one I use at Harvey Creek park.

It is extremely bad, an since the forest service took the park over years ago, not sure if it will get fixed or not.

It's about 2 miles from my camp, convenient as all get out!

I'll be going that way after work this Thursday, will get back on here an leave some kind of report, hopefully a good one, lol

kingmotorboat reply :

So just out of curiosity what are good strategies and areas for January here. I've never fished here but will be here in.January

Red_Ranger04 reply :

January-Febuary are usually the coldest months here in East Texas. On big Sam in January I usually have a lot of luck with a football/structure jig being fished fairly slow in deeper water, I also like fishing a trap to. I try to target creek channel bends or ledges with timber. Went out today from 4 til dark, fished main lake points with flooded hay grass. Didn't slay em but didn't do to bad, caught ten with two being in the three to four pound range. All fish were caught on Texas rigged zoom ol monster and strike king recon worms in June bug and red bug.

roblo reply :

Hey Red

Not to bad at all, about how deep was you fishing?

Good Lord willing, I'll leave tomorrow after work, would like to fish Friday morning for a little bit. And then again late evening till dark.

Thanks for the report

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I was fishing in 10-15 fow Roblo. Good luck, let us know how you do!

roblo reply :

I was able to get on the lake a couple times over the weekend, it was nice an hot, that's for sure.

Caught several small bass, 12-15"

Only fished a couple hours each time, had a lot of chores to do at the camp.

Bluebird skies an very little wind made it tough for me.

I need a nice graph and then force myself to get off the banks, lol

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Thanks for the report Roblo. I grew up fishing big Sam and my dad has always been a bank beater so naturally that's how l learned how to fish. Up until roughly 2-3 years ago that's all I did was beat the bank and now that my confidence is strong offshore I have no problems trying to figure them out off the bank. I by no means have deep fishing figured out but I have gained enough confidence to do it. When you start marking fish on your graph and catching the fish you mark it's truly addictive, I love doing it. Like you said, you need a decent graph to get good at it though. I still have enough will power if it's not happening offshore I will ease closer to the bank. Deep cranking has become my habit, I can't hardly put down the 6xd and dd22. Gonna go out Tuesday and Wednesday night and look for a fat girl, I will report back and let yall know how I do.

roblo reply :

My dad fished that lake an I grew up fishing it a lot, not as much as I wanted. He is like your dad, loved the bank/shallow water. And he has caught some nice fish, but during the dog days of summer, seems to me, if I was a fish, I would be headed deeper just for the cooler temps.

Confidence is the key word you mentioned, an a quality graph. Can't amagin seeing some fish deep, and then being able to catch them. That would be awesome!

A few more months thinking about getting a nice graph, leaning toward a HDS 7 touch combo.

Would like one at console an one up front, not sure yet.

Any suggestions, Red?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went night fishing last night and only caught 3 smaller fish, I fished til around 2 am. Went back again this evening and caught several small fish, only 2 would have been keeper size. Roblo I would say a good 2d and dsi graph would be good. I have a lowrance 7hdi and I'm happy with it. With that being said lowrance and hummingbird have always been the ford and Chevy of fishing graphs. I must say Garmin and raymarine make some really nice graphs. Buddy of mine is running garmins and if I ever win the lottery that's what I'm gonna put on my boat, jmo.

roblo reply :

Yes sir, I have priced the garmins,would take a winning lottery ticket to put them on my boat too, lol

The pic is really nice though!

May try a little night fishing myself next weekend or maybe next good moon.

Weather permitting

Take care

roblo reply :

Anybody do any good over the weekend?

Red, you been out lately?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out today(Monday) from 7 til midnight. While I only caught three fish one of them was 9 lbs. All the fish I caught were before dark, can't seem to get them to bite at night. Caught the nine around 8 pm and it was well worth the trip.

roblo reply :

Very nice fish!

Congrats Red, that makes fighting the heat worth it.

You in deeper water around structure?

Seems like there is still lots of bass in the shallows too.

Again dude, nice catch

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome fish Red! Congrats!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Thanks guys, she was a beautiful fish. God was good to me for giving me that one bite, was very grateful. The fish was 26 inches long, I feel that if it had been fed up or full of eggs it would have definatly been over ten. I was just fishing the outside grass line of some flooded hay grass with a Texas rigged curly tail worm. The fish was in roughly ten fow.

Tonto reply :

Great fish, Red!

Unfortunately it has been a while since I've been able to make it up that way. Hope to be out there in about 3 weeks. I have been tracking the water. Last we were up there was when it was right about at its highest in June, and it has fallen like a rock since them(go figure, the rain stopped).

Will be nice to see Rayburn at regular depths again, and I hope I can get on a few fish when we're out there.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

The water level on Rayburn has been really jacked up this year. I can't seem to find any fish in deeper water. Hopefully if the water level starts lining out the fish can get in a pattern. I always try deep water fishing but have been having to go to shallower to get bit.

bassarmy7 reply :

Does anyone have any updates on how sam rayburn has been fishin this week

roblo reply :

Anybody been fishing big Sam lately?

Gonna go to the camp and mow, and do chores

Will try to at least fish the mornings.

Any suggestions is greatly appreciated

This ol'boy can use all the help I can get!! Lol

bassarmy7 reply :

On 8/20/2015 at 9:03 AM, roblo said:

Anybody been fishing big Sam lately?

Gonna go to the camp and mow, and do chores

Will try to at least fish the mornings.

Any suggestions is greatly appreciated

This ol'boy can use all the help I can get!! Lol

Foshed there the 15th. They were hittin topwater in the morning and a few on medium depth cranks. Come the afternoon we caught a few on some texas rigged worms flippin some grass

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Been meaning to get on here and give a little report on fishing just have been busy. Went out and fished last wedsday and Thursday. I believe the cooler nights have really helped the fish group up, they are chasing shad like crazy in very large schools. If you can get on a larger school you can really have some fun. Been fishing from caney to julie creek and have caught the fire out of them. In the mornings I have been throwing a medium diving crankbait( bomber ff shad ) on the flats of main lake points and about 9am the fish become less active or move following the shad. In the evenings I would throw a curly tail worm ( Kriet worm ) to edged of the grass on main lake points and catch them good til dark. Haven't got into any bigger fish, the two days I fished the biggest would have went about 4 lbs! I had a blast though. I will be going out Monday evening and might do a little night fishing, will report back. Hope this info helps.

Tonto reply :

Thanks Red. We're headnig up this weekend. Obviously the lake will be crowded, but hopefully we can get em early in the morning.

Ripping lips reply :

I'm headed to Rayburn this weekend for first time. We're staying at harvey creek cabins. Any suggestions on areas to hit, productive baits, etc...

Thanks.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Ripping lips I would suggest targeting main lake points and fishing the exposed grass lines. The fish that are chasing shad are really grouped up and following big groups of shad. If you can find a group of active schoolers it can be really fun. I fished yesterday evening and into the night til about 0130. I picked up a couple between dark and midnight but from midnight til 0100 they really turned on and I caught 10-12 fish within that one hour window then they just shut down. All the fish I have been catching lately have come on a Texas rigged curly tail worm on the edges of the grass. Hope this helps, good luck!

Ripping lips reply :

Thanks red. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

roblo reply :

I was up there two weekends ago, found the fish schooling chasing shad towards the bank, in 6-8 fow. Whites an blacks mixed, was a lot of fun, biggest around 3 lbs.

That was closer to dark, maybe an hour before sunset.

Mornings had real good luck throwing a Stanley top toad, ribbit, in the grass. Caught several early then they shut off.

I fish out of Harvey, mud creek is good fishing,

Good luck

roblo reply :

Hey Red

Haven't been night fishing in a while, last time the bugs about carried me away, lol

What's your secret with that??

Y'all have a great day!

Rob

Ripping lips reply :

Also for a first timer on rayburn, how difficult is navigating? I heard when water is this high it's not bad. Any areas to avoid?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Roblo as far as the bugs are concerned I like to use the OFF deep woods! It contains a lot of deet so it works really well after the initial burn, I also wear a long sleeved sun shirt and that also helps keep the skeeters at bay.

At night I usually know where I'm fishing pretty well so I turn all my graphs off, the dimmest of light will attract bugs. The last couple of times I have been out after dark it wasn't the bugs I had to worry about, it was the bats!!! The slightest of noise created by the rod or bait they will go crazy over, I was throwing a chatterbait and the bats were just swarming me.

Rippinlips I don't know where you will be putting in at but on the main lake the only area I wouldn't run would be the Black Forest area which starts at mud creek and ends right before caney flats. You can run it but you just need to run on one side or the other, meaning follow the bank on either side of the lake. Just keep in mind to keep your distance on the big main lake points as some of them do come out a good ways. North of the 147 you just have to use good judgement and pay attention to the visible timber.I would suggest getting a good topography map of the lake. Hope this helps, good luck!

Ripping lips reply :

Thanks.

I have a navionics chip that shows the boat cuts and trails but I keep hearing how nasty It can be if not familiar with area. Im staying and launching at harvey cabins. I'll just have to keep my trails on graph and play it safe.

roblo reply :

Wow Red, I've seen bats at the camp there, around the security lights. Never thought about them bothering you on the lake like that!!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Roblo I think it's the vibration the bait was making and noise the guides produce as wind goes through them!! They get vicious in attack mode, lol!

roblo reply :

Red, I sure will keep that in mind the next time I'm out after dark!

Thanks for the warning!!

Knats and skeeters flying around, a person just wouldn't expect that, lol

Might have to fish a jig, really slowwww and quite

lol

roblo reply :

Matter a fact, I had a chance to work today, so I jumped on it. Was going to the camp, just gonna put it off till next weekend. Plus it shouldn't be as much boat traffic, hopefully they'll be a few bass left in there, lol

I enjoy fishing the fall, an it's getting close!!

Y'all have a nice day

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Roblo I'm off this weekend but I avoid Rayburn like the plague on holiday weekends. Heck I avoid Rayburn every weekend during the summertime, I work the DuPont schedule so I get a lot of days off during the week. Come hunting season I get to the boat ramp and I'm the only one there, you should the smile on my face( ear to ear)! Fall is also one of my favorite times to fish Roblo. I seriously think that Rayburn is starting to turn over, fish are starting to group up and chase shad and are getting harder to locate. They are calling for lows to be in the mid to low sixties next week, it's getting close!!!! I'm ready!!!

roblo reply :

Red, I was born an raised in Orangefield. Worked that 12 hr rotating shift at Cloeren for years. Moved to Brenham in 97' work at MIC Group, machining oil and gas down hole tools. Always fished Big Sam, have a camp real close to Harvey Park. Would love to live closer, just to fish mid week. But like you said, deer season opens, might see 1-2 trucks at the ramp, if that.

The fall is the best part of the year for me, just never seems to last long enough lol.

Good Lord willing I'll be at the ramp Friday morning

Can't wait

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I have to work this week but I will also be at the ramp Friday morning hopefully! I will let yall know how I do. Let us know when you catch ol' Bessie( or give us a report )Roblo, lol!

roblo reply :

With the lake level back to normal, or a hair low, anybody been seeing the hydrilla on the surface yet?

Just curious!

roblo reply :

Well Red, I went out Friday morning, was throwing a top toad back in the flooded grass, second cast I drug out a 6 lb or better along with grass an everything else. 2-3 ft from the boat he came out of the water an spit the hook out.

When he blew up on it, he swam toward the bottom, never set the hook. Surprised I was able to drag him 15 or so yards through all that thick stuff.

When I got over having my head up my ___!

I did end up keeping 4

Biggest a little over 4 lbs.

Caught one on a swim bait hooked weedless close to the grass.

Being overcast made fishing a lot better for me.

Went Saturday morning didn't keep any.

Went again this morning and was able to catch two more on the top toad. 3 an a 4 lb'r

Love that cooler weather, fishing should get better an better!

Y'all have a nice day

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I finally got her, my first DD!! 10lb 4oz caught today at 500 pm!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 9/15/2015 at 8:21 AM, Red_Ranger04 said:
I finally got her, my first DD!! 10lb 4oz caught today at 500 pm!

Stud!! Congrats man in the DD! Give us some details!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Thanks, it was really unexpected! I was flipping hay grass over around deer stand area with a strike king rodent when she bit. It was close combat for sure, right at the boat. I had to lip her about three times because she still had a lot of fight left in her. I'm still in shock, I've been fishing Rayburn my whole life and that is the biggest bass I've ever pulled out of there. I've definatly got the fever now!

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Congrats!

roblo reply :

Way to go Red!

Very nice bass, yes indeed

I'm still chasing my DD, it's fun chasing! Lol

Congrats

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Yes Roblo my lifelong chase is over! I'm gonna start chasing my teener now, lol. I must say when that fish came out of the water for a little head shake my heart almost stopped( especially with a mouth like that).Something I will never forget!

shaneus reply :

that is awesome! I haven't to got to get on the water in 2+ months. I am still waiting to catch a DD on public waters...

Red_Ranger04 reply :

2 months with no fishing? I would die! If I go a couple of weeks without hitting the water I start having withdrawal. Hope you get back out there soon, I think Rayburn is in great shape right now!

roblo reply :

2 months is a good stretch, I have to work this weekend and next.

Hopefully I'll get back over there after this rush job is done!!

Rayburn does look good now!!

Skeeter_bug reply :

Has anybody been to Rayburn in the last week?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out last Thursday Skeeter_Bug! The fish are in the grass, the ones that are not in the grass are chasing shad in massive schools all over the lake. It's no problem to go out and catch 50+ a day, finding ones with any size is what's challenging. I got on several schools of fish throughout the week and could catch as many as I wanted but fish over 2 pounds are rare in those schools, I was catching the schoolers on a chrome rat l trap and a yellow magic. The bigger fish I caught were in the grass and holding tight to cover. The fish in the grass I caught were all caught on beaver style baits. Surface water temps were close to 80 in the mornings warming to mid to high 80s during the day. We are looking at some steady cooler nights coming up in the forecast and I think some stellar fishing is going to be kicking off within the next couple of weeks, Big Sam is looking great and I think this fall/winter is going to produce some giants. Hope this info helps!

Skeeter_bug reply :

Thank you for the update, I have one more week offshore and i'll be home for 14 days. When I get there the fishing is on again lol.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Safe travels sir, let us know how you do!

Skeeter_bug reply :

I will, I plan on going around the Canyons/Deer Stand area. But I'll give an update.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Canyons and Deer Stand are both fishing strong right now. The top water bite in the canyons is good right now and the grass at deer stand is holding some quality fish. I fished most of last week and every trip produced a fish over 5 pounds. I'm gonna go out wedsday and Thursday and I will let yall know how I do.

rc_horns06 reply :

Heading to the lake tonight and going to fish for a few hours tomorrow morning before heading to Rayburn Country for a golf weekend. I will be launching out of the black forest/bayou village boat ramp. Any suggestions on where to try out? Is it worth running up to Harvey Creek/Deer Stand/Canyons compared to trying out Caney area?

kking reply :

On 9/15/2015 at 8:21 AM, Red_Ranger04 said:
I finally got her, my first DD!! 10lb 4oz caught today at 500 pm!

Great fish! Congrats

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out Wedsday and Thursday. Both days fished morning til mid day or so. Did really well on pop r( yellow magic) in the mornings and flipped hay grass after the topwater bite stopped! Wedsday bite was much better than Thursday, idk what happened Thursday. Hooked up with a 7lb 4 oz stud on the yellow magic wed morning. post-55298-0-97127900-1443269672_thumb.j

Catt reply :

Redneck Bubba Bass

Red_Ranger04 reply :

What's a redneck bubba bass Catt???

Catt reply :

Any thing over 6#

roblo reply :

Red I'm gonna try and head that way thurs night.

Hope the weather cooperates so I can get the boat wet!

Maybe I'll snag me one of those "redneck bubba bass" lol

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I hope it does to Roblo, I will be on the water Friday morning. Gotta work Thursday night but Ive got an itch I gotta scratch. Just waiting on that fall pattern to start up! Roblo the yellow magic has truly been magic for me in the last three weeks putting some really nice fish in the boat. Good luck to ya and let us know how it goes!

Skeeter_bug reply :

I fly in from offshore tomorrow. I'll be on the water Wednesday morning. If I catch anything I'll let y'all know. I've been fishing the south end. I'm going to move up the lake a little bit this time home.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Skeeter_Bug the topwater bite is on! 10.3 was caught on a frog in a anglers quest tourney this past weekend. Good luck, keep us posted!

roblo reply :

I really enjoy frog fishing first thing in the morning.

I have a couple of those yellow magics, sure will give them a workout too, thanks for the advice, Red!

Good luck to you this weekend, you too Skeeter!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out Thursday and Friday. I think the "cool" front that blew in Thursday night did have a effect on the bite. Thursday I had a good day catching some nice fish with the biggest going right at 6 1/2 lbs. Friday however was a different story, wind was blowing pretty good. Caught some fish Friday but nothing like Thursday. I was flipping beaver baits to the hay grass and throwing the hollow body frog, I did catch some nice fish on the frog.

roblo reply :

The wind was blowing Friday, I caught some solid fish on my big toad, ended up in the back of a creek, out of the wind throwing a havoc kraw under the brush. Got a few an a few hung me up, they was hitting it as soon as it hit the water. Biggest one 5 lbs

Saturday evening was good, the frog bit came alive, lol

Tonto reply :

Heading up this weekend. How's Canyons/Deer Stand holding up? Still pretty good? I might try and get up that way.

roblo reply :

Anybody get a chance to fish Big Sam the last few days?

Hopefully I'll get my boat wet this coming Friday morning!

Got the fever, lol

Big Sack reply :

Fished the ROC this weekend, Deer Stand and Jackson Hill, 14# both days. We caught a lot of fish but couldn't manage to find any big ones. Baby Brush Hogs and Senkos in the bushes. A few came with white swim jigs and a couple on frogs. The winners had 48# two day total with jigs and deep crank baits off deep brush piles.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Roblo fished Big Sam today. The bite was tough for me today, but after seeing the ROC results somebody has been catching them. I seen somebody snagged one over 11 pounds, wow! I guess they found some good brush piles with quality fish. probably gonna go back out weds or Thursday, I'll let yall know if I do any good!

roblo reply :

Thanks Big Sack and Red

Bet ya that 11 lb'r had my name on it, lol

That's a big toad for sure!

Looks like this coming week will be a little cooler in the mornings, maybe that will help some

Thanks guys

bcody reply :

Hello Gentlemen.. I frequently read over at "wanna learn Toledo Bend?", so I decided to come check you guys out.

For the first time in like 8 years, I'll be heading to Sam Rayburn this weekend. Since I haven't been there in forever, I'll probably try and stick to one or two area's while I'm there.

Where in the heck is "deer stand" and "canyon's" you guys are talking about?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Hello bcody, canyons is the area right behind Monterey park or directly across from cassels. Canyons is a very good area to fish but it is very popular, there is a lot of brush and flooded hay grass to fish. Deer stand area is the main lake point across from Jackson Hill. I heard that Jackson hill area has been fishing strong to. If you fish the canyon or deer stand use caution because the lake is dropping fast and both areas have underwater hazards. Both of these areas are labeled on navionics, if you don't have a unit just download the navionics app on your device and bam you got it. Hope this helps, good luck!

fishcaller reply :

Where is Kickapoo creek at?

bcody reply :

On 10/13/2015 at 12:21 AM, Red_Ranger04 said:
Hello bcody, canyons is the area right behind Monterey park or directly across from cassels. Canyons is a very good area to fish but it is very popular, there is a lot of brush and flooded hay grass to fish. Deer stand area is the main lake point across from Jackson Hill. I heard that Jackson hill area has been fishing strong to. If you fish the canyon or deer stand use caution because the lake is dropping fast and both areas have underwater hazards. Both of these areas are labeled on navionics, if you don't have a unit just download the navionics app on your device and bam you got it. Hope this helps, good luck!

Fantastic.. Thanks for the reply. I think I am staying more South, so if the wind is bad, that run may not be the best for me in my 18 1/2' boat. But we'll see.

FROG11 reply :

Anyone been on the water this week??

roblo reply :

They close all the boat ramps on Rayburn?

Or is everybody taking care of that honey-do list?

I was there last weekend, Friday did fairly good in the flooded grass both morning an evening.

Saturday tried the same thing an all I could catch was a few dinks!

The fish was there chasing shad, they just didn't want anything I threw at them!

Going to try to head that way this coming weekend, weather permitting.

Glad we're getting this rain an not that massive hurricane they got over there.

That was a monster!

Take care all, an let's hear some reports please!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out this past Wednesday and did ok in the grass but the fish are definatly scattered. I'm hoping the storm will bring the lake up a little and move some fish up. That is definatly a giant of a storm. Plan on getting back out there when the rain moves out and will report back then.

roblo reply :

Yeah the lake is a little low, not sure how much rain they got that way.

With the cooler rain and small front, should drop the water temp, hopefully the bass will start getting in that fall pattern.

I wanted to head that way this coming weekend but may have to wait until the next one.

I'm sure the weekend I don't go, that's when the big girls will bite, lol

Good luck Red

Y'all take care

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I haven't been on here in a while and got to do some fishing this past week so I figured I would give a little report. I got to fish tues-Friday. First couple of days I tried fishing shallow flipping grass and throwing frogs, the flipping bite on big Sam is almost non existent right now. The frog bite was decent, boated several nice fish in the 2-5lb range but as we all know watching giant bass come up and swipe at the frog and not taking it can be demoralizing. I swear I had at least 4-5 fish in the 8lb+ range just come up and blow up on my frog and not take it, truly heartbreaking. After wearing out my frog spots I figured I would try go chase some fish in the deeper water. I targeted mouths of creeks and flats going into them. They key was to find the shad, if you can find the shad the bass were close by. I caught several nice fish Thursday on deep diving cranks but nothing like Friday. Friday I got on the water with overcast sky's all day. Got on a group of fish with the 6XD and absolutely wore them out, like a fish every cast wore them out. All the fish were caught on the 6XD in gizzard shad color, hope this info helps.

roblo reply :

Red I've been checking in here to see how you've done, sounds like you had a good time.

It's kinda funny throwing a frog, some days you can boat them, the next day your pulling out your hair!

Could be dead wrong, but seems with all this cool rain and the runoff the lake will be getting, should have the shad in the creeks eating the plankton associated with the fresh water running into the lake. I haven't had time to go that way, but I am this coming weekend, weather permitting.

Thanks for the report

My wrist is not like it used to be, cranking a crank bait would wear me out, not the fish, lol

Take care

If I do get a chance this weekend, I'll come back an report

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I got to witness something today I feel is worth sharing with you guys. I pull up to the boat ramp( Monterey Park) today to load up the boat and see tpwd truck pull up. I'm wondering what is going on. They are returning the 13.3lb sharelunker that was caught Monday. They could not use the fish because it wasnt a pure Florida strain bass. So any ways they are returning the fish to the angler that caught it. He backs down the ramp to release the fish and holds it up for us to take some pics of the giant fish and says he is going to keep the fish for a skin mount. So he puts the fish back in the cooler and drives off. His fish, his decision. Congrats to the lucky angler on the fish of a lifetime, just thought I would share.

roblo reply :

Thanks for sharing that Red

Congrats indeed to that guy,

That is a fish of a lifetime!

Skin mount, replica mount

His fish his decision is right

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

That's an awesome fish! I don't see why it has to be a pure strain for TPWD to keep it. It has the necessary genes to become 13+. Most crossed animals are better than the original. My humble opinion.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Tpwd say that pure Florida strain largemouth are 18 times more likely to produce fry that will reach the 13+ pound mark. I kinda would think that if the fish is a bass that's 13+ enter it into the breeding program, what could it hurt!

roblo reply :

I read somewhere that the Florida bass grow a lot faster than the other bass, not sure if that has a role with the tpwd deciding they didn't want that bass.

A 13 lb bass to me, is a monster!! Don't matter if native or Florida!

A fish of a lifetime for sure!

roblo reply :

Well I finally got over to the camp, was able to fish a few hours Friday and Saturday.

Caught some dinks, just wasn't able to get anything going my way. That's the kind of relationship me and Big Sam has, it can love me one day, and hate me the next!! Lol

Just being able to get out on the water is a great feeling, yeah a big bass would be great, but...

Maybe next time

Y'all have a great day

An I hope you have better luck next time your out fishing

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Yup Rob sometimes just getting out there and enjoying the lake is simply worth the trip. I got to get out this past Sunday and do a little fishing. Got on the water about daylight and caught some smaller fish on a chrome trap. Then I picked up the frog and started working the tops of grass and edges of hay grass, then big momma crushed it! She weighed 8lbs and bit a boo yah poppin pad crasher and was the only fish I caught on the frog all day. Fished to a little after lunch and caught some small fish here and there on Texas rigged plastics and the chrome trap. The fish are really scattered and finicky. Talked to a local guide Lynn Atkinson at the ramp last week and he said he had been catching some smaller fish and that the bigger fish hadn't been very active lately.

roblo reply :

That's a nice fish Red

I believe that little front that came in last wed or thur had something to do with the bite.

Gotta love watching that blow up on the frog, nothing better

fishcaller reply :

hows the big pond fishing ?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out today and yesterday. Two days of fishing and only about ten small fish to show. I have thrown the book at them the last couple of days and got nothing to show for it. A rigs, tx rigs, jigs, traps, 6xd, and even jigging spoons and just couldn't figure anything out. I know it's not but it's almost like the lake is turning over the way the fish are acting. Here I am saying how poor the fishing has been but Castledine and Cecil way in over 60 lbs of fish in a two day tourney.

fishcaller reply :

Red I read that all I can say is wow what a sack . I wonder if they are fishing north or south

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I don't know what they are doing but it's nothing new, those guys are always on em. I fished out of caney tues, fished caney area, veach, Coleman, covered a good area. I fished out of Monterey weds, fished the canyons, Indian, hog branch, and all around Harvey. I'm just at a loss for why the fishing isn't any good right now, unseasonable warm weather maybe?

fishcaller reply :

Word I'm hearing is find brush piles near deep water. Was hoping to get over there this weekend but weather looks like a wash out.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I hit several brush piles in the 10-20 foot range the last two days i fished and didn't get a whiff. I might not be able to get back out until after the first, maybe they will be biting then.

Skeeter_bug reply :

Anybody catching anything this weekend?

shaneus reply :

hey guys im still working lots of over time and hadnt got to fish much, i created a facebook page for current fishing reports and pictures today so go like and join toledo bend / sam rayburn fishing reports. i have three days off monday-wed this coming week! i will report back to yall! on here and face book

roblo reply :

I went out this last weekend, carried my dad, bad conditions for me. Cold front blew in an the dreaded blue bird skies, I seem to struggle with those two conditions every time.

Fishing was tough, stayed shallow due to the wind, only caught a few small fish using plastics.

Had a good time visiting with my dad, and I thank the good Lord he is still able to get around an enjoy the outdoors and soak up the peaceful surroundings that nature has to offer.

Wish that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a safe and blessed holidays

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Merry Christmas to y'all as well! I fished yesterday and struggled bad. Caught 9 fish and none over 3lbs. I stayed deep all day and never found em grouped up anywhere. Water temp was 61, so I think they are still scattered. Need a couple of good cold fronts to pull em out and stack em up IMO.

Gary Sparks reply :

Well new member... 2 weeks ago I had a 24lb stringer (8lb kicker)... been on solid fish.... last weekend had 17 but lost a 6+ which would have put me over 20 again... brushpiles 20ft +and radical dropoffs... from 22 to 35 seem like the best bite.... photo to add some truth... be there Saturday hiding from that SE wind again...

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Awesome fish Gary. I need to find some like that for basschamps in a few weeks lol. Looking like I should be back out there Wednesday. Good luck and let us know how you do Saturday.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out Christmas Eve day and caught 15-20 fish all were in the 20-35 ft range. There was a few fish 3-4 lbs mixed in but most of them were small. I will agree the fish are scattered. Hope everybody had a blessed Christmas!

fishcaller reply :

Got to hit big Sam last Thursday done real well even with high winds, biggest was little under 6 but caught around 20. Fish seem to be scattered water temp was 59-60 Can't wait to go back

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Got to get out this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday I did pretty good, caught 15-20 fish. Fished out deep part of the day targeting main lake ridges and humps in 18-35 foot using Carolina rigs and football jigs. The other part of the day I went shallow flipping and pitching shallow cover(grass mainly), and picked up several nice keepers including a solid 6 pounder.

Wednesday however was a different story, the wind picked up and was a little more cloudy. Doing so well the previous day shallow I headed to the bank and started flipping and pitching, the fish were few and far between and much slower than the previous day. The last couple of hours of the day went out deep and caught 5-6 small fish. Hope this helps.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I caught 6 fish today, 2 being 5lbs. All were caught out deep. I flipped shallow for a little bit but never got bit. Gonna be back at it tomorrow.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I don't think the fish know what the heck is going on with this crazy weather we are having. 75 degrees one day, 35 the next. You can catch fish right now but the fishing is just funky right now, hard to get on a pattern and stay on one. I wish the weather would stabilize so the fish can settle in or head out for the winter migration. This weather is crazy!!

roblo reply :

Thanks everybody for the advice. Going to try it Thursday-Saturday. I'm sure I'll start out shallow, I'm more confident with that. But will try to ease out if nothing going on.

will report back, hopefully with good info, lol

Wesley reply :

http://www.basschamps.com/results.cfm?tournament_id=235&type=team&yearSelected=2016

The winner is a member of this forum. Congrats man, thats a nice stringer.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Thanks Wesley. We had a great day. Our fish were caught in 15-20 ft on almost everything we threw. I haven't fished Rayburn much, but it has produced some big ones for me the few times I've been there! What an awesome fishery!

fishcaller reply :

No big Sam reports ?

jacob2000 reply :

We have a HS fishing tourney this weekend, not as familiar with Big Sam as Toledo. Any advice?

roblo reply :

I heard the tournament last weekend was won in 15-20 fow on c-rigs

im more of a shallow water fishermen, you can catch some around the flooded grass, but not any size for a tourney.

i need to force myself to fish offshore, may have to go with a guide for pointers. Never tried that.

good luck with your tourney

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

I'm right close but trying to learn The Bend. Hadn't been to Big Sam since probably 1993 maybe. I loved it then and hope to return soon so I can answer some questions on here. Until then, good luck.

roblo reply :

How did the HS tournament go?

y'all get on some nice fish?

fishcaller reply :

There was 473 teams and I think 22 something won HS tournament. I like what they're doing for the young people.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Little more than 25 lbs won it, they say they caught all their fish on c-rigs in 9-12 fow. They also had a 9 lb kicker.

fishcaller reply :

Has anybody used preacher rays boat ramp if so how is it was thinking of trying that area of lake . Never fished the Black Forest area

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Preachers is a good ramp, very protected and good area. The whole area is good fishing from mud to caney.

jacob2000 reply :

One of the teams from my school got 2nd place with 22 ish lbs. We did decent enough, caught quite a few on a 6xd or 8xd (can't remember) 8-15 fow. Lost 2 fish over 5 pounds and the lure lol. But overall a fun weekend - the weather.

fishcaller reply :

Thanks red

fishcaller reply :

Well didn't make it to Black Forest ended up staying on south end caught around 15 fish with 7 keepers nothing big. Maybe next time be able to get up that way

Red_Ranger04 reply :

There isn't anything wrong with a 15 fish day any where you go especially in February. I heard that fishing on the south end has been picking up. Most of the tournaments are being won mid lake around 147 area. I think the fish are grouped up right now and if you come across one of those schools( which I have not been able to find) you can have the trip of a lifetime. I'm curious to see what the fish are gonna do with this warmer weather were looking at.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Well I took my mom and my little boy out on Big Sam today. Didn't pull up to our first spot until shortly before 1pm. Fished until dark and boated over 30 fish with the biggest being about 4.5lbs. My mom was throwing a Carolina rig and I was chunking the old rat l trap. Fished mostly shallow water casting to the flooded hay grass, I would say most of our fish come from the 5-12 fow range. Thought I would share with you guys how we caught them today, they were chewing pretty good!

Wesley reply :

Sounds like yall had a good outing Red_Ranger!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went back out again yesterday to do a little fishing. Fished a different area and found some water temps up to 63 degrees, wow. The trap bite is really starting to pick up, guy at the ramp said he was catching them good on jerk baits also.

Coley Persons reply :

I miss this lake I been in Utah for six months and now in Kentucky. I was in Jasper during Christmas holidays and visited the lake a few days but still not enough. And I miss fishing it's driving me crazy

Texas Pride reply :

That last post was me It logged me in through my Facebook. It's been awhile since I been on forgot how the login worked.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Well, I hope you get to fish soon. Big Sam is calling me too. I feel ya, my brotha!

roblo reply :

Got out this past weekend for a couple times, caught several on the red trap, being bluebird skies and bright sun, went with the chrome trap with blue/green back, they was hitting it a lot better. Also did fair on a black 6" lizard with blue tail. All in all had a nice weekend, biggest only around 4 1/2 lbs but had fun!

these warmer nights will help that water temp jump up fast, fishing should only get better from here

BLGarrison reply :

My little brother and I plan on fishing the fingers and that area Saturday. I just love that area and its grassy views. I have always had good luck using a grass punch rig with pb&j skirt. I would really like to learn some new tactics. Maybe learn how to fish with a spinnerbait in the grass or around stumps. Any tips to try this weekend just to become a better fisherman and catch more than one or two?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Fished the canyons and popher area today. Boated somewhere around 20 fish. I was flipping bushes with a beaver style bait, caught a lot of smaller buck bass with a few around 3-4 pounders mixed in. Big girls should be moving up any day now!

roblo reply :

BLGarrison, this time of year the lizards and baby brush hogs do real good, senkos are good year round. The rattle trap around the grass or hydrilla is excellent. Red rattle trap should catch you a few.

good luck, let us know how you do!

jmag1764 reply :

new to rayburn where are the canyons and popher area

does the buck bay area hold good bass this time of year

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Buck bay is a very good area. The canyons are just north of the 147 bridge, after you come under the bridge the lake will split and the area to the left is known as the canyons. The arm to the very left of the split(the creek) is know as popher creek. If you have a smart phone I highly recommend downloading the navionics app, it is a really good tool on and off the water. Hope this info helps, good luck out there!

henrylewis reply :

I hate to ask but can someone captain me and my partner this weekend our captain is out of town working and we can't fish with out a captain if interested please text me at 4097499899 we will pay for gas in truck and boat thanks in advance

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 3/2/2016 at 10:34 AM, henrylewis said:

I hate to ask but can someone captain me and my partner this weekend our captain is out of town working and we can't fish with out a captain if interested please text me at 4097499899 we will pay for gas in truck and boat thanks in advance

Someone help this guy out! I would love to captain y'all, unfortunately I have prior family obligations this weekend. Good luck finding someone.

Catt reply :

On 3/2/2016 at 11:24 AM, Bass_Fanatic said:

Someone help this guy out! I would love to captain y'all, unfortunately I have prior family obligations this weekend. Good luck finding someone.

X2!

Wonderful young man!

oufaninks reply :

I'm taking them. Have talked to Henry and will meet on the ramp Sat AM for a practice day. Friends did favors for my late son when I was unavailable. My turn to return the favor to someone.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Sounds like they are in good hands! I tip my hat to you, Sir!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Got to hit Rayburn today and found some nice fish. Probably caught 30+ fish. Got on a trap bite early in the AM and went flipping later in the day. Had one of the best days I've had in a while, best five would have went well over 20lbs.

jacob2000 reply :

We have another hs tourney on Sunday, so I'll report about it Monday. Anyone got any tips or know if they are getting on the beds yet?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Water temps are there but I still don't think the big girls have made the move yet. It's getting close, there might be one here and there but it hasn't busted loose yet. I spent two days this past week very shallow looking and flipping and caught a lot of bucks but no bigger females. Find green hydrilla and hit it with a trap, can't go wrong doing that. Hope this helps!

henrylewis reply :

oufaninks I want to thank you for being our captain this tournament means a lot to us

bighed reply :

Going to hit it next week on Thurs and Fri on the way to my tourney at TB. Ill post up a report for ya

BLGarrison reply :

We went yesterday morning, had good luck with the red rattle and watermelon red magic senkos. I caught a few on a watermelon red creature bait flipping into bedding areas. The backs of creek channels and grassy points where hot with the trap. Im trying to devise a rig that will excel on getting the bedded fish to bite. Im thinking a white fluke or anything that looks like a minnow, I watched them ambush large bait schools all day long. Any tips on how to rig something up for them?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Small a-rigs usually work really good. Research the double fluke rig, I have had really good luck on it when they are chasing shad. If you get fish that follow the rig back to the boat but won't commit try downsizing to a fluke Jr, this also works well from now until fall. Hope this helps!

jmag1764 reply :

Thanks Red_Ranger04 fished Buck Bay yesterday and culled 5 fish to 3 lbs thanks for the info on Buck Bay

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Nice to hear jmag1784, there have been several tourneys in passed years won out of buck bay. What were they eating? Several reports saying the big girls are starting to pull up!

jmag1764 reply :

I was using a senko wacky worm in watermelon red and fishing along the edge of the brush. I young man near me was using a lizard ( same color and same place ) and caught a couple of really nice fish. I now have lizards and just waiting on the weather to pass

oufaninks reply :

On 3/5/2016 at 12:14 AM, henrylewis said:

oufaninks I want to thank you for being our captain this tournament means a lot to us

It was my pleasure hosting you and Shane. Hope you had a good time and learnt a little more about bass fishing. It's a sport you can enjoy all of your life. My best to your and your future endeavors. Hope to see you all again sometime. Hope you got some pictures I took.

TxGator reply :

oufaninks, I would like to thank you as well. I have been Henry and Shanes captain the last couple of years. Unfortunatly I am now having to work out of town. Looks like you had them on some nice fish.

Gator

BLGarrison reply :

would any of you be interested in fishing Rayburn with me Saturday. My goal is to learn a little bit about my electronics and just learn more about how to fish in general. I have a 18 foot tracker center console and a good trolling motor. All you'd have to do is come and fish with me. I'm just looking for some guidance and wisdom.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

BLgarrison I would love to go fishing but can't afford to take off work. Surely someone on this forum would take you up on a free trip to the lake! Good luck buddy!

oufaninks reply :

On 3/2/2016 at 11:58 AM, Catt said:

On 3/8/2016 at 9:38 AM, TxGator said:

oufaninks, I would like to thank you as well. I have been Henry and Shanes captain the last couple of years. Unfortunatly I am now having to work out of town. Looks like you had them on some nice fish.

Gator

X2!

Wonderful young man!

We had two good days fishing. Boys were good to deal with and wanted to learn. Obviously not everyone fishes the same way so I showed them how I do it Doesn't mean I'm right, just my way. They can remember and use what they think will work for them. Good young men, wish them much success!

jacob2000 reply :

So we had our HS tournament last Sunday, and we caught close to 30 fish, just couldn't find ANY big ones. Still got 5 keepers and culled one but only finished w/ 10.34 lbs. We fished buck bay and near boggy branch, trying to keep the boat in 8fow or so. We fished towards the bank for the majority of the morning, then tried some shallow humps and underwater points. All we caught fish on was plastics, granted we had a lot more patience with those than hard baits. I used watermelon red trick worm Texas rigged, my partner and captain used wacky worms of similar color. Winning team finished with 23 something pounds, big bass was 8+ caught by a friend from my school. I think the big girls were still a little deeper, but we may have not been in the right spot for them to be up shallow. Hope this helps any of yall

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I'm debating on fishing champs this weekend. Water is gonna be high and muddy, not my thing for sure! Anybody else gonna be out there?

BLGarrison reply :

I was thinking about fishing but not in Bass Champs. Way out of my league. I'm guessing flipping and pitching cover with big baits will be a go to move. Any other advice on high muddy water? Or areas to target/avoid on Rayburn with those conditions?

BLGarrison reply :

Offer still stands if anybody would like to go out with me and try to catch a few

shaneus reply :

im going to make a trip to rayburn next week sometime

roblo reply :

I'll be out there Monday, how much rain they get?

an how much on the north side?

jmag1764 reply :

How bad will all the water effect rayburn. and how long does it take for the water to clear up. Didn't know if it takes months or just a few weeks, I fish in the Buck Bay and Mill Creek area That's all I have learned so for.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

In years past it was a matter of days and the water would start to clear, but with the lack of hydrilla in the lake it will take that much longer. In East Texas the spring weather usually brings heavy rainfall and high muddy water comes with it. The water was already stained prior to the heavy rainfall we just got so I can't imagine how muddy the water is now. So in a nutshell, if you plan on fishing Rayburn this year bust out your flipping gear and learn how to catch em in high muddy water. Long range forecasts are predicting a warm wet spring, good luck out there!

BLGarrison reply :

With that being said how would one initiate the process of learning how to fish high muddy water. As this is a learning page. My thought was dark (black blue) rattle jigs and flipping big creature baits. Maybe a bead on it for the clicking. Targeting hard bottomed or Sandy gravely banks. And of course buck brush. What do you think? Other tactics that you guys have had good luck with. Maybe areas to target and areas to avoid.

Tonto reply :

Going to get up there next weekend to introduce some friends to the lake. Saw that the water level has gone from near pool to +3.04 in the last 36 hours.

With the amount of rain they got up there I expect that to rise even more in the coming days. Hopefully it'll level out.

Any tips for fishing muddy, high water level? Has the recent warm snap been enough to move a bunch of fish to shallower water?

Last year after the big rise during spring we fished real shallow when it was about +5 feet and did pretty well, but that was the end of March.

Plan is to go float into some "yards" in some coves and get behind the trees in the shallows if the fish are there, but if not I suppose we'll play with some brush and grassy areas in Little Tiger Creek or fish right off the grass in the coves in the areas past Needmore Point.

I'll take any advice from anyone who has tips for fishing in the muddy, flooded conditions.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I would start flipping bushes(or buck brush), I like flipping beaver style baits in black/blue or green pumpkin. Always keep rate of fall on your mind, I usually start with a half ounce weight and downsize according to what the fish tell you. Another good bait a lot of people forget about is the weightless senko, it catches fish big and small. Hope this helps, good luck out there!

BLGarrison reply :

If the water shows 3.5 above pool do I adjust my depth finder to show that? I have a lakemaster card.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

By adjust depth finder are you referring to depths on your maps? As far as I know all mapping such as contour lines, and lake geography, etc is set to when the lake is normal full pool. If the lake is say 2 feet above pool and your fishing a ledge with a beginning contour line of 8 fow just add the 2 fow to it and it's 10 foot.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fished Champs yesterday. Didn't weigh my fish but they were somewhere around 10-11lbs. It was a struggle for most people. 307 boats and it only took 21lbs to win. We flipped bushed for hours with very little to show for it. Ended up backing out to 9ft and caught quite a few males on a dt10. All my deep stuff was shot with the muddy water.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Were they biting moving baits or soft plastics Bass_Fanatic?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Most of the guys who got checks were flipping, but couldn't get bit doing that. I caught about 15 fish on a crankbait, just no size.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

300+ boats and 21 pounds won! You know it's tough!!

roblo reply :

I went out for a couple of hours this morning, caught a couple of dinks.

they sure have more room to hide, I flipped brush with craws, senkos. Threw traps and loud looking spinner baits. Kinda windy where I was, decided to go back to camp an get some chores done. Try an regroup lol

will be back this evening, hopefully

jmag1764 reply :

What is Champs. Is it just on Rayburn

Red_Ranger04 reply :

It's bass champs tournament jmag1764. No it's not just on Rayburn they have tourneys on several different lakes.

jmag1764 reply :

If Rayburn gets to flood pool will they lower the level back to 164 MSL or just keep letting out slowly over a long period till it gets back to regular pool level How bad does the high water affect the fishing

If you were trying to learn just one lake which lake would you choose Sam Rayburn or Toledo Bend

jmag1764 reply :

Do they have any bass clubs on rayburn that have low entry fee tournements

BLGarrison reply :

I am planning on launching at boykins tommorow. Has anyone ever got an early morning frog bite?

jacob2000 reply :

Going out tomorrow morning to fish new parts of the lake for us. Low is 43 degrees and I'm assuming all the rain still has an effect on clarity, sounds like it might be tough. Gonna try by 5 Fingers and veach, any tips on techniques or what to look for in these conditions?

BLGarrison reply :

Fished from 10 to 6 today. Caught 3 fish. Two on crawfish colored rattle trap in 8 feet and one on green pumpkin seed brush hog in less than a foot. All around pophers creek. As I'm getting ready to rap it up three very nice guys start wade fishing in there back yard where I'm fishing. They catch five fish in two minutes. All on tx rigged senko style baits. I was ashamed of myself. They even offered me a hook and a worm. Guess I'll learn how to fish that way. Look forward to going again soon

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

No reason to be ashamed. That's there back yard bud. They know what's going on for years. Kee fishin' and good luck

roblo reply :

That's the best way to learn, nice folks like that helping out there fellow fishermen!

A senko worm can be rigged several different ways, an all are deadly at different times of the year. They have videos on this site about rigging them, great info. I've been catching on them in 2-6 fow back in the flooded timber an brush. It's a great bait!

good luck, and never feel bad about learning the hard way, I've been there! Lol

BLGarrison reply :

My biggest issue is that I can feel anything with them. I know it's about rate of fall for the Dennis and that's why they are so effective. I just have a hard time with it

The senkos. Not the Dennis. My phone autocorrected

roblo reply :

BL, it does take a bit of getting used to it, especially without a weight. You have to leave a little slack in your line, not a lot. watching your slightly slack line helps, but when mine is dropping from the cast, I'll twitch mine. Couple different reasons, first it's to get all the slack out of the line, lightly feeling my senko, I know I don't have to wait for a lot of slack to be taken out when it gets hit.

Second, a lot of the time a bass will hit it on the fall, with a very light twitch, I feel I have a better chance of feeling the strike.

And when the senko is falling from the cast, by lightly twitching you change up movement of the fall. If a bass is watching it and thinking about hitting it, a sudden change and quick little movement of the bait usually results in a strike.

now this is how I taught myself to use this weightless, I'm sure other ppl have there best way also.

theres no right or wrong way, just have to try a few and you'll automatically go with what you feel is better for you.

fishcaller reply :

Fished sat evening couldn't get a pattern going fished flooded timber and outside grass line caught 1on senko rest on craws had a couple in 4 pound range I would say caught about 12 altogether .

LipRipper12345 reply :

Second time ever fishing the lake was friday and sat, front pushed through friday night with rain and winds. Fished small cove in harvey creek only catching 2 fish flipping brush hogs in 8-10ft. Also fished very back of Veach, caught fish about 8 fish flipping bushes and trees in about 6ft of water. Caught about 10 fish all together about 2lbs each and picked up 2 fish a little over 4lbs.

fishcaller reply :

Hoping to get back on big Sam this weekend.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went out Monday and dedicated my time to strictly fishing shallow flooded cover. Bites were few and far between and very slow fishing, caught most of my fish flipping shallow cover with jigs and beavers. Here are a couple of nice ones from Monday!

roblo reply :

Nice fish Red,

i got on the water Sunday evening late, was able to get two solid hours of fishing in. Caught 3 decent keepers. Fished mon and tue and just couldn't get on them. Was fishing flooded areas the whole time, senko, craws and lizards. Even tried my frog, had a blow up, but that was it!! One day there on, and the next is totally different, at least for me! Lol

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Yeah Rob, I accidentally ran into a few good ones! The bite is really tough right now, I fished from daylight until 300 and caught 8-10 fish. I've been throwing the frog at them to, they will swirl on it or just blow up on it and not take it.

roblo reply :

Yeah Red, it is getting tough for me too. I'm headed that way mid week, I'll chunk some plastic at them. Still waiting on them to inhale my frog! Lol

It don't get any better than that!

fishnhunt reply :

We caught lots of good fish Monday fishing watermelon red senkos weightless dipping tail with chart. Bigger fish we caught were out side the grass line in 8-10 ft of water. We caught 2 that went close to 5 lbs and 8 others that were between 1 to 3 pounds.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Fished a small benefit tourney today out of cassels. Had a decent day, but just couldn't get on any bigger fish. I did have a nice kicker though(7.5lbs). Couple of guys weighed in a 30lb bag, they weighed in a 10 and a 9 and said they were caught on back to back cast! Didn't get any info or details on how they were caught but I'm guessing they were caught out deep!

fishcaller reply :

Went sat for a few hours big Sam kicked my tail caught a few small Red eyes couldn't find no big fish tried deep and shallow

wrp75951 reply :

Fished this past Thursday and Saturday evenings.Caught fish on split shot rig fluke.Outside of hay grass.Been kinda slow for me.

Riley pipps reply :

My first tournament is SETX highschool was Dec 5th. We finished 12th out of 490 teams throwing traps. We had 14.38lbs . Our second tournament was feb 6th, we finished 12th again out of 470 teams. We had 16.88 throwing swim jigs. We had another tournament March 12th and we finished 123rd out of 400 or so teams. The bite was tough but we kept grinding. We had about two 4 pounders. Fishing weightless senkos with 11.38lbs . That was before the water came up. The bite has been really tough. But we have a SETX tournament this Saturday and was wondering if anyone has heard anything about the fish?

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Went fishing this past Friday and caught 50-60 fish between flipping, frogging, and senkos. Biggest fish was right at 4 lbs! The frog bite is coming on strong! Did catch a hungry bullfrog to, crazy!

Riley pipps reply :

Finished the setx tournament this Saturday. Ended up with 11.29 lbs and 76th place out of 480 teams. We were using weightless senkos throwing off the hay grass and pulling it back. We didn't even move the senko. Most of the time we would reel in our slack and have a fish. Tryed a frog early in the morning and didn't get a bite.

Riley pipps reply :

Still sitting in 18th for angler of the year, out of 490 teams. Lake has been pretty tough but I heard the frog bite has been on fire. Would like to go up there and try. If anyone needs any info about the lake right now. I'm willing to spill info.

backmk42 reply :

New to the forum just moved up by the lake from htown I like reading what's happening out there and maybe I can help also. Past weekend Pitched and flip baby brush hogs watermelon red in the canyons caught 2 in the trees and 5 on the outer brush biggest was about 3lb... flipped a purple lizard with dipped tail and ran a lipless craw color along the edges but the brush hog had the bites

backmk42 reply :

any tips for this weekend i signed up for one day in the bass splash hoping to get lucky and catch a fat girl. i cant decide on where to fish as i know all the well known locations are gunna get hammered. any input will be appreciated

Riley pipps reply :

Just got word that the Booyah poppin pad crasher has been hot. Use a natural color.

On 4/22/2016 at 12:39 AM, backmk42 said:

any tips for this weekend i signed up for one day in the bass splash hoping to get lucky and catch a fat girl. i cant decide on where to fish as i know all the well known locations are gunna get hammered. any input will be appreciated

I would try a regular size brush hog in water melon red and throw it in the grass. I talked to Corey rambow and he sayed the fish are stacked up in the grass. Or throw a watermelon red senko weightless. In the GRASS. If you need anything else.

backmk42 reply :

Fished the bass splash Saturday I stayed south in the Sandy creek buck bay area trying to avoid a mess of boats in more popular locations but it was still a boat show lol caught 6 in the 2 to 3lb range on watermelon red brush hogs hitting brush in about 5 ft and caught 2 on a black poping frog runing it over grass tops a 4 and a 4.5lb. all fish caught within the first 2 hours of fishing after the sun got up bites where hard to come by the 4.5 had me in 11th for a bit but soon got bumped out o well it was fun and a nice day

Riley pipps reply :

On 4/22/2016 at 12:39 AM, backmk42 said:

any tips for this weekend i signed up for one day in the bass splash hoping to get lucky and catch a fat girl. i cant decide on where to fish as i know all the well known locations are gunna get hammered. any input wil

On 4/24/2016 at 10:59 PM, backmk42 said:

Fished the bass splash Saturday I stayed south in the Sandy creek buck bay area trying to avoid a mess of boats in more popular locations but it was still a boat show lol caught 6 in the 2 to 3lb range on watermelon red brush hogs hitting brush in about 5 ft and caught 2 on a black poping frog runing it over grass tops a 4 and a 4.5lb. all fish caught within the first 2 hours of fishing after the sun got up bites where hard to come by the 4.5 had me in 11th for a bit but soon got bumped out o well it was fun and a nice day

Did the brush hog work? I haven't talked to anyone but I heard a girl caught a 12.4 but idk what she caught it on.

backmk42 reply :

Yea they worked the bite was soft but it put the majority in the boat

roblo reply :

Anybody been on Rayburn this weekend? Haven't had time myself, but sure like reading what y'all guys have been doing.

Will make it this coming weekend, hopefully! I'll let y'all know how I did. Is the frog bite hot??

wrp75951 reply :

I have been doing decent on a split shot rig fluke,on outside of hay grass.Also when sunny,fish were in hay grass on a frog.

roblo reply :

Thanks wrp

i really like seeing them inhale that frog!!

roblo reply :

Well I was able to fish some Saturday morning and went back later that evening. Caught a few on my frog, nothing over 4 lbs. Had more blow ups than strikes. I'm thinking I need to learn more about fishing off shore, have very little experience at this.

Any an all info or tips would be very much appreciated!! Good luck an let us know how you've done out on the water!

Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers out there!!

Riley pipps reply :

I have an SETX tournament this weekend. Pre fishing Saturday, and tournament is on Sunday. Anyone been on the water lately?? But wish me luck!

Chuckfu reply :

Was up last weekend. Caught one close to 6lbs on a Senko in the hay grass.

Frog bite for me was slow only caught two keepers. One on a pad crashes and one on a ribbit.

Picked up one on a white spinner bait as well

All our fish were on points.

backmk42 reply :

Where have the fish gone I've fished last weekend and some during the week in all I have caught 8 fish nothing to write home about..trying the early morning bite shallow with frogs and pitching an assortment of bait from senko to brushhog to creature catch very few on those early then try it deep on main lake looking for bait of points and structure I've caught 2 out there I'm just guessing there's no more fish in Rayburn lol I'm feeling frustrated on my deep fish ability I usually post a picture but it's embarrassing

roblo reply :

I was able to fish Friday late evening an into the night some, caught some on senkos in 6-8 fow, the frog bite for me turned on around dark, in the flooded grass. Nothing big, 4 lb'r biggest one. Caught 6 total.

Sat morning hung a few on my trusty top toad ribbit frog, to me, that frog gets it done. Again nothing real big, but a blast. Then noticed they was busting the water on the outside of the grass, tossed my yellow magic at them an the top water bite continued for awhile. Caught several fish, only carried 4 home, the wife an a couple grandkids wanted a fish fry. Really enjoy that top water action, and now is the time of year for it.

Headed back Wednesday if the weather looks a little better.

hear Toledo had a little pressure last weekend, lol

Tonto reply :

Heading out this weekend. Obviously being a holiday weekend the lake will be packed, but hoping to get some early morning and late evening fishing in. Going to go to my usual grass spots and throw senko's, then late evening I'll try some top water in the shallows. Yellow Magic usually works for me out there, maybe a frog or two.

Can't wait to get out to Rayburn. Hoping the weather stays away.

roblo reply :

Yeah Tonto

seems like most ppl fish early morning and stay till about 3-4:00 that's a lot of fishing. I have a camp up there, I enjoy a few hours in the morning, then the evening till dark has a lot less boats. I used to fish all day, but with the grass growing and chores to keep up, plus the late evening bite is great at times.

good luck an let us know how you did! Hopefully I'll be up there, if you see a white skeeter with a guy that looks like he's struggling catching bass, wave, that's me!! Lol

hope everybody has a safe an happy Memorial Day!!!

roblo reply :

I stopped yesterday at the bait store in Zavalla, the lady that runs that place is really nice an a fisherman/women herself. She told me they have been doing good on the Spro popping frog. Didn't have one, I'm a ribbit-top toad guy. But I bought one an several other things.

I had a blast with that frog, caught several nice keepers, only two dinks, but hands down I believe it out fished my top toad.

i added a new frog to my arsenal, lol. The bluegrass senko worked wonders too. Now I'm dealing with the rain and wind. Hopefully I'll get a chance in the morning before my propane man comes out to fill bottle at camp.

Yall be careful and good luck!

fishcaller reply :

I went out trying to locate some deep fish couldn't catch nothing but Little Kentuckys where is all the big fish gone tried shallow only small fish there too .

fishcaller reply :

Went out again same thing had good time catching the Kentuckys must of caught 25

roblo reply :

I'm headed over there Thursday after work. Guess I'll start shallow, should be plenty of water, lol.

may c-rig some a little deeper, would like to find some bigger fish myself. Are they in any kind of summer time pattern that you noticed, fishcaller?

fishcaller reply :

Not that I noticed roblo . I believe this weather has them messed up. We got some blow up early on frogs but they just wouldn't conmitt to taking it . Then backed out on deeper points and had good time with Kentuckys.

Riley pipps reply :

Fished this Sunday. Had roughly a 22lb bag of our best 5 fish. But the championship is this weekend. Going pre fishing Thursday and Friday. Tournament is Saturday and Sunday. Wish me luck!!

roblo reply :

I was able to catch a few on frogs, nothing big though. Then started flipping lizards and brush hogs in the flooded brush an grass. Caught a few more doing that, biggest one around 5lbs.

With the higher water, seems a lot more fish is still shallow, IMO

good luck with your tourney, should be a Hot one!

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Good luck!

Solid1 reply :

Been catching loads of 3+ bass mid lake anywhere you can find good hydrilla with a creek channel nearby. Went this past weekend and the lake got the best of me. Really wanting to focus on the offshore bite this summer. Any advice on locating schools of fish is greatly appreciated.

dwatts2010 reply :

Gonna Try to get on some offshore fish this Saturday. what depth of water have yall been catching them in?

Riley pipps reply :

So tournament didn't go as planned. Pre fish I ended up catching roughly 15 lbs. by myself. Me and my partner split up and he went up north and didn't do any good. So tournament we fished my spots and after day 1 we were sitting in 38th place. Day 2 was a worse experience. The top water bite was on. I missed a 5lb and 3lb at the boat. My partner missed a solid 4lb up in some buck brush. We ended up with 14.84 on the second day. Lost our spot in the money. But if y'all need any info on how I've been catching my fish. Feel free to ask.

fishcaller reply :

need some help on fishing deep on Sam I've been looking around on some ledges and humps but can't seem to find no deep water fish maybe I need head more north been working south end trying learn the lake

Riley pipps reply :

There is a good underwater hump that runs right bye a creek. I've killed the fish there before. But I haven't checked it out in a while. It's right off of Indian creek.

roblo reply :

Ok guys, I'm off all week and headed to Rayburn for a few days, of coarse most of my time will be doing chores around the camp, but if I was to sneak off a couple times to bass fish, where they at?

most of them deeper? I need all the help I can get, Thanks

Riley pipps reply :

On 7/5/2016 at 7:37 AM, roblo said:

Ok guys, I'm off all week and headed to Rayburn for a few days, of coarse most of my time will be doing chores around the camp, but if I was to sneak off a couple times to bass fish, where they at?

most of them deeper? I need all the help I can get, Thanks

Well the water temp is very warm. I would fish deep. Try 30-20 ft of water. Try dragging a Carolina rig or throwing a 10xd or some sort of deep crank. Wouldn't even hurt to try a big spinner bait or a spoon. But I'm going up Saturday. Just got a new sponsor so I'm going to get some pictures with there stuff. But yes I would try deep. Water temp is very hot

Riley pipps reply :

Went out today and caught them in 20-25ftw

roblo reply :

Thanks Riley

im headed that way today, hopefully I'll get a chance to fish in the morning.

roblo reply :

Well Riley, didn't get to fish any, had to fix a couple water pipes. Always something!! Thanks anyhow for the info. Hopefully two weeks all I'll have is mowing an can squeeze in a trip on the water

Riley pipps reply :

Yeah true. I leave Sunday and I'm going to be there for a whole week. Gonna be so hot! But I'm in New York right now fishing for smallies

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Well I haven't been on here in a while but have got to get a little lake time in the last couple of weekends. Last weekend I won a small club tourney with a little less than 13 lbs, ten boats fished it and only 4 teams weighed in and the bite was tough! Went out today with the wife and wore out some quality fish. I caught 6-7 fish over 5 pounds, my biggest five would have went 25-30lbs. With the lake dropping like a rock I would have figured the fished would have moved out but went with my gut and started shallow frogging and flipping! Caught a couple nice ones flipping but got on a solid frog bite by 8 am and wore em out!

roblo reply :

Welcome back Red

looks like an excellent day fishing, you sure those ain't the wife's fish! Lol

im headed that way after work Friday, will let you know if I have as much luck with my frog as you did

thanks for the info

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Funny you say that Rob, my wife was with me and she just couldn't believe how big the fish were and how many! It was fun for sure! If only I could do it in a tournament, doesn't ever go that way on Saturdays though!

fishcaller reply :

How's the fishing going on big Sam ain't seeing no reports hope that means everybody busy catching fish . Hoping to get back up there soon .

tmac521 reply :

There the week before last and the frog bite is still good around the hay grass. Since the lake went back to normal pool and now about 1 foot low the green hay grass is everywhere. There is also a lot of schooling bass around the grass and actually all over the lake on points etc. Had the wife with me so I let her catch plenty of schoolers with a couple of 3 pounder mixed in most of the time we were there. Graphed out deeper 25 ft. range several places and there was not much going on out deep. Did catch one here and there out deep but never more than one in a location and not very big. That's why we spent more time shallow.

fishcaller reply :

I really don't know big Sam that well been jumping around from mid to south end not much on north, but i want to start constratring on one end of lake what do y'all think be best end north , mid or south and why

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fished Rayburn is morning. Had 2 good fish wrap me up on a frog in the willows. No bites on the outside hay grass, but got a few way back up in the gnarly stuff. Then I went deep and found quite a few fish. They were hard to get to fire up, but we managed to do decent. Our big fish went 8.43lbs. Most fish were on main lake ledges in 18-22ft caught on a Carolina rig and drop shot.

roblo reply :

I went out Wednesday morning, nice overcast skies, got on a decent frog bite. Caught 3 real quick, biggest 5 lb, others was 4 and a 2 1/2

i stayed shallow an caught a few more keepers on a senko and a craw.

Wormaster reply :

Went out Saturday and had a good day. My fishing partner (wife) and I put 9 fish in the boat, all were caught in 5ft or less. Three fish over 3.5. The biggest one (6.5lb) was caught in 2.2 feet of water. All were caught with a 10" zoom worm. TX rig

roblo reply :

That's a nice haul wormaster. I'm heading that way next week, a buddy wants to fish some. I'll start shallow for sure, haven't learned the off shore stuff yet. It's been an unusual summer, I've caught nice solid fish shallow all summer. It's easing into the best time of year for me, love me some fall fishing!!

SwimminAJig reply :

Hosted a tournament this past weekend out of cassel Boykin. There were some nice stringers weight in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were 19.22, 18.10, and 17.86! Big bass was 7.89. Personally I didn't catch very many. I started at the island in Mud caught my first within the first 5 minutes on a frog and missed another right after on a frog. The rest of the day was pretty much just me throwing what ever I could think of and not getting a bite. I moved from Mud to Peckerwood, Bird Island, Hog, Indian and finished at the back of cassel Boykin. Needless to say I didn't end up weighing in my 2 fish I caught cause I knew 3 other teams that had a limit. Any tips for this fall would be much appreciated!

shaneus reply :

hey guys go to the facebook page and look at all the rayburn reports. they have been tearing them up till 10am on frogs! toledo bend / sam rayburn fishing reports

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Had 18lbs flipping and frogging this morning by 9 am. Had a blast!

roblo reply :

Very nice fish Red!

im on my way over there now, gonna fish a few days. Glad to hear the frog bite is still good!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I saw your report on Facebook red. Congrats on a great day

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Thanks rob and fanatic, I'm just tournament cursed! 18lbs really isnt that good but considering how tough the bite has been it was a fun morning!

Red_Ranger04 reply :

What's the fish doing on Rayburn? Shallows bite is hit and miss and so is the deep bite. Am I missing something or do they have lock jaw right now?

txsuperman reply :

headed to rayburn tues-thursday for first time ever. Need some help. Gonna stay on west side of lake. Thanks in advance

txsuperman reply :

Fishing is slow. caught Fisher from 2 ft to 25 ft. bigger ones deep on c-rig. nothing over 4lbs. no frog bite

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I'll be there tomorrow thru Saturday.

Red_Ranger04 reply :

I have been reading a thread on another forum that I'm not a member of and it's about whether a 20 lb bass could be taken from a Texas lake. While I'm reading this a lot of people are commenting about how the trout population is why the bass get so large out west! I agree 100% about the trout! IMO I think the chances of catching a 20 lb bass in public waters in Texas are slim to none but not completely unrealistic! Me and a buddy of mine were fishing this past Friday and starting seeing these huge schools of something, couldn't get close enough to see it! Then off in the distance a huge bass comes out of the water busting on these schools, we put the trolling motor on high and head over to see if we can hook this giant! So when we get over there we start cast at this school of something and then I snag whatever this school is! It's the biggest gizzard shad I've ever seen in my life! They are huge! I just wanted to share this with y'all to see if I just seen something amazing or over exaggerating, but to see a bass feeding on these giants!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I saw some of those shad too in Veach.

I I ended up finishing 5th in the Keith Combs tournament today with 24.05lbs. Had 30lbs on, but lost a 7 at the boat and had another huge fish break me off. Fish are scattered everywhere, but all my weight came deep.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Nice job BF! Congrats.

txsuperman reply :

Fished all week last week. 1st time on lake. Found fish from 1ft to 30 ft. Yellow magic shallow early worked best. But you had to work it painfully slow. Subtle twitch, then let it sit for 5 seconds........that's when they hit. We did good in indian creek, halfway up on right. Also found fish just outside mudd on the left in a little pocket doing the same thing. Lots of fish schooling, but had to hit them in the head. Late in the day we found a few schools on ledges by the canyons on 10in worm in plum. Biggest fish was 4-5lbs.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Headed that way in the mornin' if I can find an out of state license. Hadn't been in over 20 years. A lil rusty lol. It will be a nice change of scenery.

Dink2 reply :

Every Fall we head back to the Piney Woods with life-long friends for our annual fishing/camping trip. We went to back to Rayburn for the first time since 2009. Since we live north of Dallas, we have to "pre-fish" using Texas Fishing Forum and BassResource.com, and always appreciate the tips and recommendations received. We spent Tuesday-Friday (Nov. 1-4) on the lake, so I thought I would return the favor and post how our trip went.

LODGING/BOAT RAMP/RESTAURANTS: We stayed at Dixon Cabins just outside of Harvey Creek Park (3 minute truck ride from the boat ramp). We stayed at Dixon Cabins over the years and recommend it if you are looking for a cabin and fishing mid-lake -- and especially if you are putting in at Harvey Creek. Clean, spacious cabin with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and fairly easy access with your boat. Old man Dixon passed away and now it's his son that runs it. I think there is only a couple of cabins that are used to rent out. Harvey Creek boat ramp has really deteriorated over the years (been putting in there since the mid-90's when I was at SFA). However, it is still a usable 1 lane ramp -- but really dark, which makes it hard to launch before daylight or after the sun goes down. I have always loved that little road thru the forest and into Harvey Creek Park. We were disappointed to hear that Catfish Junction and the Mexican food restaurants (both in Broaddus) went out of business since our last trip in 2009. We ended up eating at Bear's Country Diner, which was very good - especially the catfish and had great service.

FISHING: Lake was down 3'. Water clarity was average most places, except the actual Harvey Creek cove which was very stained. Water temps were 75-77 (a little warmer than we expected). Overall the bass fishing was very good. Our boat (2 people) averaged about 30-35 fish per day. Most fish were *** pounds with a few in the 4-6 pound range. Our Top 5 would have been 17-20 pounds each day.

We love throwing TX-rigged worms, but we just couldn't get on that bite. The hydrilla wasn't near what its been over the years, so we struggled a little there. Where we found hydrilla, we found fish. I got a lot of pre-trip reports about the fish relating to the hay grass (which was new in the lake since we've been), but we either don't know how to fish it properly or the fish just weren't there. If there was hydrilla next to the hay grass, then game on. Same for the lily pads. No fish unless there was hydrilla near them.

We primarily fished the Harvey Creek area, which for us is defined as Indian, Hog Branch, Harvey Creek, Bird Islands, and 147 Bridge. The best advice I ever got for Fall fishing was this.... break the cove down into 3 sections (top/main lake, middle, and back/mouth of creek... then determine where the shad are, as the fish will follow the shad to the back of the cove, then back out to the main lake when it gets colder. Being the first week of November, we thought we would find the shad and bass in the back of the coves. However, we caught 90% of our fish in the middle of the coves. That helped a lot, as each time we fished a different area, we just eliminated 2/3's of the cove and focused on the middle third. We would drive the boat about 30% into the cove and start fishing at the first point we could find. The fish were either on these secondary points or just on the backside of them -- fish those areas really hard.

In the morning, we did really well on Yellow Magics. The bass were destroying that thing. By the end of Day 2, they knocked off all the paint on one side of my lure, but they kept hitting it - so I kept throwing it If it stayed cloudy midday, or even when the sun dipped behind a big cloud, they would hit the Yellow Magic all day long.

If the sun came out, you had to go down a little. Our best lures midday were a rouge (we were using chrome/blue back and gold/black back and they hit them the same, so not sure color mattered) and also a watermelon or pumpkin seed fluke and sinko with a small split shot weight.

All fish on the Yellow Magic, fluke and sinkos were caught throwing up tight to the bank and working it out 15-20 feet from the back. Again, focus on points and anywhere with hydrilla. For some reason, the better fishing side of every cove we hit was on left side. Most likely because it had deeper water nearby.

On the last day, we got into a crankbait bite behind Bird Island. There are several humps back there and the fish were stacked in there. Most fish were caught on the side of the humps in approx. 10 foot of water using crankbaits that swam about 5-6 feet down. I side-hooked 2 really nice size catfish in there as well that I thought were HUGE bass before I finally fought them to the boat. Got my heart racing...lol. Fish the crankbait slow. Crank it really hard 6 or 7 turns to get it down, then fish really slow. Most of these fish were 1-2.5 pounds, but there were a lot of them in there. I wish we would have found this spot earlier in the trip, as it was a great midday place to stop. We also caught fish on the corners of the 147 bridge on the crankbait.

Alright, my fingers are hurting from all the typing. While I gave some details that will help, I didn't give all the exact specifics. If you are headed to Rayburn and want more info, shoot me a PM with your cell number. I'm glad to help out.

Tight lines,
Alan

Red_Ranger04 reply :

Nice report Dink2!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Finally got back on Rayburn today. Fished from 10-5. Caught 31. Top 5 a little over 20lbs. Also dropped 3 good fish. One felt like a monster, but wrapped me in a pile and couldn't get her to swim out. All fish were caught from 12-25ft.

Joshybadnames reply :

Fishing Rayburn for the first time tomorrow or Wednesday. Launching from Mill Creek. Like to the fish the grass (Florida native). Can anyone point me to some good hydrilla/hay areas near Mill Creek? I have a slow boat and my club tournaments launch from there in the future so I'd like to get comfortable with something near to it.

Adamsnyder reply :

Fishing tournament this weekend and need the most help we can get.. any ideas where and what the fish want?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fishing champs?

Acefishing18 reply :

I'm new to this whole forum thing so I might need a few pointers HA. I'm in college and heading to Big Sam this coming weekend and have never even seen the lake. I'm planning on launching from Cassels-Boykin and looking for a few pointers to get me on some fish. Not looking to travel too far but am willing to go anywhere to catch fish.

shaneus reply :

what size boat are youin acefishing? there are 4 good areas close to the boat ramp..... julie creek, bird islands, canyons and deerstand

Acefishing18 reply :

I'm in an old 21ft ranger

Adamsnyder reply :

No high school bass fishing tourney

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Honestly, I'd fish shallow this weekend. Warming temps and good grass means most bass will be up there. Chatterbait and traps

Adamsnyder reply :

thank you

jacob2000 reply :

Posted just now · Report post

So we have a HS bass tournament on Rayburn, tomorrow, and does any one have some tips or maybe suggestions as to where to launch or a general area to start?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I fished basschamps on Rayburn today. Finished 10th out of 397 boats with 21.28lbs. I fished deep, but most of the checks were caught shallow. I never found a single school of fish all day. I had to just slow down and methodically fish each spot to pick up a fish or two, only got 6 bites all day.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Congrats.

Them college boys are whackin em!

shaneus reply :

Got to go out on Sam rayburn Monday to try a few new areas. Caught a few fish from 6 ft to 20 feet with no real pattern. Blue bird day with lows @35 and highs @75 caught them on Carolina rigs and crankbaits..... beats working though, water temps were around 56

Ohio Archer reply :

Be careful out there when the winds come up...

http://www.itemonline.com/sports/outdoors-anglers-fight-for-survival-after-boat-sinks-in-tournament/article_8cc1f13f-7c14-5eeb-98b2-878bf54e537f.html

Team9nine reply :

@Catt Not sure if you guys have seen this old Al Lindner Rayburn video he posted, but thought I'd share just in case. Neat footage from back in the 70s.

Old Rayburn video footage

-T9

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

I went Saturday to duck the Bass Champs on The Bend. Only been twice recently. Where is the grass??? Please tell me. Pm me if you don't want to tell the world...please

SharkmanDMM reply :

Hey guys, I've been following your thread for a while and finally signed up because I'm finally gonna make it out to Rayburn next month, early March. Anybody been out recently that knows what pattern they are in? Water temp, clarity mid lake.

Also good places to stay and eat near Jackson Hill would be helpful, I'd appreciate it. It's been warm recently and I'm not sure where to focus my attention with one day of practice before my next tournament. Thanks in advance

Wesley reply :

There is grass in Canyons, Deer Stand, Harvey Creek, Veach, Caney, five fingers, and just about any creek in the south end.

Tonto reply :

Was able to get up and fish Saturday morning. We cleaned up in little farmers cove. Fishing both shallow and deeper towards the entry into the deeper part of the cove.

Caught em on rage craw & senkos-any of the watermelon with red combos in 3-5 fow.

Caught a couple in 8-10 fow, including a real nice size one throwing some random swim and crank baits in the middle. But the better action was 3-5 fow around the grass.

Heading back up this weekend and will likely get 3 or 4 trips out there so we're gonna try that, then head up to Veach and that area and see how it's hitting.

Bloodandguts reply :

Headed up to Big Sam this weekend w family. Probably gonna drag the boat. Any ideas of where to fish--not location, just terrain: deep, shallow, etc. what kind of pattern y'all see there this time of year.

Thanks

Happy Easter

Tonto reply :

Front coming through this weekend so that'll scramble em but I'd say start looking 3-5 and depending on part of the lake, real shallow.

Bloodandguts reply :

Fished this weekend.

friday: fished coleman's, all the way back. Decent top water bite on top water: chugbug and ribbits (black-blue)-fished grass edges. Later switched to WMC flukes- fished hydrilla flats adjacent to creek channel. Caught 15 there, biggest 3.18. Later in day fished 8' hump at dam. Caught 5 there on Ned rig (wmr).

sat: launched at Jackson hill and fished islands between launch and bridge. Picked up 7 on spinner baits and 6th sense MVMT 80x live thread fin shad. Moved to Indian creek and fished the point there in 6-8 fow with no luck. Then on to mud creek and caught another 6 on fluke. Fish seemed to be off hay grass about 40 yes, on the edge of submerged hydrilla. Wind horrible!

sun: temp 50 and blowing out north. Back to colemans. No topwater bite.

fished the creek edges in back. Flukes again. Caught 11, biggest 3.94 and broke off a 5+; don't know what happened, the fish exploded and inhaled the fluke, set the hook and line snapped. Rod didn't have a chance to bend. I had just tied on a fresh hook. ???

All flukes fished weightless.

bassarmy7 reply :

Hey guys thinking about coming over to rayburn to kayak fish any recommendations

shaneus reply :

i would out in at jackson hill or cassells boykin

lots of good areas to fish around there

Weaver2c reply :

I've never fished Rayburn but have always wanted to. If I put out at Ewing Park, what should I do/where should I go? I'd really like to try to do some pitching and punching mats. But the main focal point is to catch bass. Any pointers will be greatly appreciated.

Tonto reply :

Anyone been out to fish Big Sam lately? I'm sure the bass are slow, but any tips are appreciated. Looking to get out there one of the next couple of weekends.

Joshybadnames reply :

Any shallow areas I should checkout within earshot of mill creek?

roblo reply :

Hello all

ive been away for awhile, hope that don't happen again.

really enjoy reading all the post on here, good info and like to see ppl sharing

what they can to help out others!

have to do some work on my camp next weekend, hopefully can get on the water a couple hours late Saturday evening and fish till dark.

will start off shallow and see what's going on. Be going out of Harvey ramp, fishing that area of lake, has the frog bite or trap bite picked up yet?

will report back

have a great day

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Glad you're back. Hopefully, I'll make a trip next week and will give a report.

Hollywood82 reply :

Hey everyone I have a couple of maps that list a Whippoorwill Cove ramp but then I cant seem to find any info on the ramp. Is it a private ramp? Its in the back of Lucas Creek. Thanks

shoepick reply :

I know where it's at and have used it a few times. Dont know if it's private but not the best

Hollywood82 reply :

looking for launching a kayak to get me closer to where I want to try to fish

shoepick reply :

Then you should be good

Hollywood82 reply :

Thanks Shoepick

Hollywood82 reply :

So anyone have a updated fishing report?

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

No. I can't afford the out of state license right now. Sad times.

Frstexas reply :

Is anyone still using this thread? Big Sam is thriving, just had a 13.06 caught in 10' of water on a watermelon red J-Bug Carolina Rigged. Had some good luck in Veach Basin a couple weeks ago caught numerous 2 lbers and few in 3-4 lb range. Caught a 6 lb 5 oz on a magnum trick worm green pumpkin color fished wacky style over grass 7' water. I'm working right now but will be fishing the Big Bass Splash on the 20th and 21st. Best bet will be drains and ditches leading to spawning areas, there should still be some post spawn fish in these areas by that time. Be safe and God Bless!

Catt reply :

@Frstexas nice Hawg ????

Aint seen or heard from @shaneus lately!

ETX92 reply :

Anybody have any suggestions for Veach Basin where and how to start learning to fish it? We primarily fish North from Marion’s Ferry to the 147 and we do a lot of flipping brush in dirty water and normally do well. We decided to run south yesterday and it kicked our butt! The combination of cleaner water and grass EVERYWHERE was kind of overwhelming. We finally ended up catching a few on a jig and Jerkbait off the end of a point but didn’t have a whole lot of luck overall. I’m not wanting anybody’s spot certainly just more what type water to target and what depth situations to look for? How do you flip that haygrass down there? I didn’t feel like my bait was making it to the bottom. If someone would rather PM that’s no problem.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

A little late, but I fished Rayburn this past Friday. Boated over 150 bass on drop shots, spoons, and blade baits in 32-34’ of water. Roadbeds, creekswings, and hard spots held big numbers. Not a lot of size but did have 2 over 4lbs and my top 5 would have went about 19lbs. Lots of fun!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Brought my son back with me to Rayburn yesterday to let him in on the action. We boated 70 and had well over 150 bites. Its hard for a 6 year old to set the hook in 34' of water lol. We had a blast and have memories that will last a lifetime. Same patterns, roadbeds and creek swings.

Catt reply :

@Bass_Fanatic More than anything that's why I fish!

I have a 12 yr old grandson I'm raising, he keeps me working hard to stay head.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Been on Rayburn exclusively for a couple months now. We’ve had some great days! Thursday we boated 94 bass and about 20 whites. The fish are starting to move into prespawn stuff so we are moving with them. Still fishing deeper water, but closer to spawning flats. Arigs, Crigs, and a dropshot

Dirtybaybassin reply :

Sounds like your really excelling on this lake. I’m new to the forum but have been fishing the lake for years. We’re headed up next week/weekend Sunday through Tuesday to get ready for the rat-l-trap tournament if anyone wants to get together. I’ll also be up there the 18-20 for the tourney.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 1/8/2019 at 10:59 PM, Dirtybaybassin said:

Sounds like your really excelling on this lake. I’m new to the forum but have been fishing the lake for years. We’re headed up next week/weekend Sunday through Tuesday to get ready for the rat-l-trap tournament if anyone wants to get together. I’ll also be up there the 18-20 for the tourney.

Better get you some 3/4 and 1 oz traps. The grass is DEEP with the lake being 9’ high

Bass_Fanatic reply :

It’ll be interesting to see who figures it out for the FLW tour this week. I’ve been on a very specific pattern, but man it’s turning up big numbers and size. I feel if anyone else gets on it, 25lbs a day is doable.

Dirtybaybassin reply :

On 1/9/2019 at 10:15 AM, Bass_Fanatic said:

It’ll be interesting to see who figures it out for the FLW tour this week. I’ve been on a very specific pattern, but man it’s turning up big numbers and size. I feel if anyone else gets on it, 25lbs a day is doable.

Yea it will be cool to watch and don't worry ive already got a box FULL of em. im not even sure if ill bring my 1/2 ounce lol. hopefully we can figure something out in a few days. we were on a good amount of fish 2 months ago but I started working a lot of OT for the end of the year and haven't been in a while.

Dirtybaybassin reply :

Well, it was very interesting to say the least. Fishing this lake 10” above pool is very interesting. A lot of fish are being caught on the inside/shallow edge of the grass. We did not find that bite however. Almost all of our fish (15 or so) were caught out on main lake points or on points leading into a creek. Drop shots and Carolina rigs are what we caught em on but also caught a few in the 10-16 fow range on a swing jig.

Robert3 reply :

Any new reports with the water being so high?

RonnieS reply :

The Corp of Engineer site shows all but one ramp closed. Anyone know of a place to launch?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Cassel boykins is open

kingmotorboat reply :

I've got a tournament out of Rayburn Saturday launching out of Cassell. First time on lake. Somewhat flying blind. Probably gonna stay in and around the cove

RichF reply :

I'm taking a short family vacation to Rayburn in a couple weeks and plan on doing a little fishing with my dad, sister, and brother in law. I know the lake is still super high. Any pointers would be much appreciated!!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Look for bare spots between the bushes and grass. Hardspots seem to be holding good fish

RichF reply :

Are most of the ramps still closed due to the high water? I can't seem to find a current list online.

Cougar2 reply :

On 3/1/2019 at 5:27 AM, RichF said:

Are most of the ramps still closed due to the high water? I can't seem to find a current list online.

Yes, Cassels Boykin and Public are both open though.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

Here is a list. Courtesy of Outlaw Outdoors.

Scot Ferguson reply :

How's it going y'all? Hope y'all can possibly help me with a few questions. I'm staying on Toledo Bend next week.....and was thinking of going over to Rayburn to give it a shot for a day.....maybe 2. Never been on the lake before. From where I'm staying it looks like the closest place I could fish Rayburn would be putting in at Townsend park. Looks like alot of timber and little cuts around there.......that is looking by satellite view. Is this a decent area? Don't wanna waste my time if there is a better area close by. Not looking for yall's secrets.......just wanna have a chance at some decent success to catch a few. Any help GREATLY appreciated!!!!!!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I would suggest putting in at Mill Creek Park. You won’t have to go far to find fish. There is hydrilla, bushes, cypress trees, etc all close by

Scot Ferguson reply :

On 3/13/2019 at 9:59 AM, Bass_Fanatic said:

I would suggest putting in at Mill Creek Park. You won’t have to go far to find fish. There is hydrilla, bushes, cypress trees, etc all close by

Thanks for the advice!!!

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

My camper is on Six Mile at Toledo. Now that the landings are open again, you have many choices. I usually go to Five Fingers, San Augustine, Mill Creek, Caney, and the one on the side of the road in Ayish. Plenty more options. I'm pretty sure they're all good.

Wesley reply :

Rayburn has been tough for me lately but my last trip out there landed me a tagged bass from 2018. I didnt even realize that you could get something from last years tags and ended up with $500 cash, a pair of Costas and a new Falcon fishing rod. Not too shabby for a $100 entry fee to fish on two lakes!

Catt reply :

@Wesley Great job!

Excellent program ????

Kidflex reply :

Late report, fished Rayburn Sunday after fishing Toledo Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Rayburn was good to us. Took some buddies that have never been to this lake before and they were pleased by the end of the day. 2 boats, 40 fish total. We launched out of sandy creek. And within 5 min started wearing them out. I got a 6.6 lber and 5.5 30 min apart from the same area. My buddy got an 8lber at the end of the day.

Wesley reply :

Nice! Looks like it was a good trip for yall

Dark Halo reply :

New Here, Been fishing Rayburn for the last few years but could use any help and advise from any of the more seasoned Fisherman. I want to get in to some of the local Tournaments being it is only 30 mins from the house. I did register for the Big Bass Splash, but I've haven't caught anything over 6lbs yet.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

The bass fishing is good, but the white perch fishing has been off the charts. I’m doing some white perch trips if anyone is interested. 12-20’ with brush seems to be the key.

RonnieS reply :

A co-worker showed me a pic of a very nice limit caught out of San Augustine Park last weekend. Said he caught about 30 fishing grassy banks. Haven't heard about any deep.

kj21 reply :

Does anyone have a fishing report for rayburn?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Fishing is slow, but big ones are finally moving in brush piles. You can catch some school fish in 18-22’ on points and ledges also.

kj21 reply :

On 9/17/2019 at 2:11 AM, Bass_Fanatic said:

Fishing is slow, but big ones are finally moving in brush piles. You can catch some school fish in 18-22’ on points and ledges also.

Any word of a shallow bite?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 9/17/2019 at 11:13 AM, kj21 said:

Any word of a shallow bite?

I haven’t talked to anyone shallow. I’d imagine there is a decent frog and squarebill bite though

RonnieS reply :

I will be on Rayburn this weekend. 1st time since October. Anyone have a current pattern.

shoepick reply :

I found to catch bass you got to be around the grass

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

I’m glad you found some ????

Bass_Fanatic reply :

I caught 166 today on Rayburn. PM me and I’ll give some info, just don’t want it public for the world to see.

RonnieS reply :

Thanks for the info!

Bass_Fanatic reply :

Was back on Rayburn yesterday. We boated 72 bass. Caught some on shallow points with a trap and some out deep in 18-22’. Big fish was a little over 6lbs. The lake is fishing as good as I’ve ever seen it right now.

Jonasty reply :

I want to go this spring. What month would be ideal for catching a lot of fish?

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 1/10/2020 at 5:18 AM, Jonasty said:

I want to go this spring. What month would be ideal for catching a lot of fish?

April should have a good topwater bite, but May is absolutely my favorite time for numbers.

Jonasty reply :

Thanks. Would early April be a good time for the spawn and topwater?

It looks like my vacation may be March 19-22 so I may have to go sooner than April.

Lil Joe The Grinder reply :

It’s almost always good there. Those days should be good. Good luck.

Bass_Fanatic reply :

On 1/11/2020 at 3:39 AM, Jonasty said:

Thanks. Would early April be a good time for the spawn and topwater?

It looks like my vacation may be March 19-22 so I may have to go sooner than April.

You will catch fish in March. If you want to fish down the bank with a senko, jig, Spinnerbait, etc that would be the time to go. In May it will be more of an offshore deal, but you can catch 50-100 everyday

Jonasty reply :

Great! I will update everyone on the results

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