Last Modified: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 3:29 PM

BY JOE JOSLIN / AMERICAN PRESS

Hello, anglers.
Almost ideal weather conditions have been in place the past two weeks with cool mornings and evenings and warm-up in the 80s during the middle of the day.
Some mornings have been in low 50s, which has made it necessary to grab a jacket out of my boat’s storage compartment before running up the lake to our first fishing hole. However, when the sun comes over the eastern wooded-horizon, it is soon time to shed it and put it back in storage. That could change this week and that jacket may stay on longer as a strong cold front is arriving in the lake area with much colder weather and maybe even some rain.
Even with the lake at such drastic low levels, Mother Nature continues her annual season-changing dance with new flocks of ducks, increased activity in wildlife as well as fall foliage colors showing up in the forest around the lake. On the Texas side of the lake much of the forest is part of the national forest with huge, mature trees.
Eagle Report
Last Wednesday afternoon, which was just before the mild cold-front came through, the eagles went nuts and were very active for a period of at least two hours.
They were very verbal, making all of their unusual sounds from shrieking to loud clucking and chirping, which is like no other sound in nature. They were also making repeated dives on fish and oftentimes there were two eagles at same time flying together.
I also saw another golden eagle about 3 miles from where I spotted my first one. It could’ve be the same eagle, but I don’t think so because they are very protective of territory.
An interesting eagle fact: most of the time eagles mate while flying.
Lake Conditions
Water temperatures before the front this week are 76-77 and with cold front could fall to upper 60s to lower 70s by weekend.
Both generators are off with one gate open at the spillway 6 inches and stays open 24 hours per day.
The lake level continues to recede and stands at 160.14 feet at midweek. We could see a slight rise in levels, but that will be due to strong north winds pushing the water south to the dam. Sometimes it can make a difference of 3-4 inches.
The water will return to normal levels after front passes.
North Toledo is slightly stained, midlake is mostly clear and south Toledo is very clear with visibility of 6-10 feet.
Lake Turnover
The annual ‘Lake Turnover’ is in progress, when the surface of the lake is cooled and starts to sink to the bottom and pushes the bottom water to the surface allowing even deep parts of the lake to be rich with oxygen once again.
Deep areas of the lake have been mostly void of oxygen since summer, when the thermocline was formed. The turnover wipes out the thermocline, which is an area that forms over the summer in the water column (on Toledo usually about 25 feet from the surface).
The water below the thermocline is much colder but contains little oxygen and cannot sustain aquatic life for long periods of time.
When a few cold fronts hit, the turnover begins. It has been evident as there is brown residue and bubbles all over the surface of the lake and forms a brown film on your boat and motor as well as attaching to your fishing line. All of my line and reels have a brown sheen on them, showing evidence of the turnover. It is an interesting phenomenon.
Bass Reports
We continue to catch a lot of bass by any measurement. While some clients like to keep fish, we always release the larger bass after a photo session. About half of my clients release all of their bass while some like to keep some fish.
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with keeping fish to eat as a fresh mess of bass fillets is one of my favorite things to eat.
This past week, one of our trips consisted of a dad and his 11-year-old son. The youngster was a bass-fishing addict already and I did everything possible to feed his addiction. The young angler never stopped casting from the time he got in my boat till I said “we gotta go.”
He also really enjoyed releasing the bass we caught and we had a great time together.
This week’s hot lures included Stanley’s Vibra-Wedge spinnerbaits, weightless and light-weighted soft plastics, Texas rigs, topwater, shaky head and wacky rigs.
On Stanley’s spinnerbaits we are running quarter- and 3/8-ounce versions with double willow blades with white and chartreuce and golden bream skirts.
We are working these pretty fast and often pause to let it fall on Abu Garcia’s Revo STX with 7-foot 1:1 fast gears. Seventeen-pound test Berkley Big Game line is what I am using mostly on these spinnerbaits. I am also using a medium-action 7-foot Abu Garcia Veritas rod, which is a lot of rod for the buck.
Our best-producing topwater baits have been Norman’s Pro Pops, Pop Rs, Chug Bug ans Yellow Magic, which we have been working over and around the edge of hydrilla and pepper grass.
On our Texas rigs, we are going with Berkley Havoc’s Bottom Hopper, Power Worms, Itsabug, Trick Worm and Speed Craws. On shaky heads and wackys we are using Yamamoto senkos, Bottom Hopper and trick worms.
Most bass are coming from 2-16 feet.
Crappie Reports
Crappie fishing continues to be good as reports from lake crappie guides (Covington, Garcia, Perrolin) all say they are catching medium-to-large white perch on shiners from brush ranging from 15-28 feet with 18-22 feet some of the best depths.
My Toledo neighbor, Richard Guillory, is also catching quality crappie on live shiners in brush from 15-25 feet. The white and yellow bass are migrating up all major feeder creeks. Look for them in the bends of creeks as well as on major points in the creeks.
I like a jigging spoon fished vertically to catch these fish.
Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn. His column appears Wednesdays. Contact him at 463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com or visit www.joejoslinoutdoors.com