Hello, anglers.
The four-letter word for the past two weeks has been “wind.” Thank God for a strong trolling motor and a big boat. Winds more
than 25 mph are forecast for the first part of the week, with the last of the week looking slightly better. We’ll see how
that works out.
That’s the bad side of the fishing
scene, but on a more positive twist is that the fish are biting and no
matter how bad the
conditions, we continue to catch fish. However, it does take much
effort and adjustments to find fish in a fishable area while
also figuring out what they will hit between all the weather
changes.
If you wanna sleep good at night, fish with me three days straight on a wind-blown monster-sized lake. It is a challenge that
we enjoy (most of the time) and don’t expect to get much sympathy from you guys when we get to fish all week.
On a side note, I have seen some very
interesting things happening in God’s creation such as a red fox bedded
down in a small,
exposed grass patch on the lake side of the dam. I’m not sure if
the fox was trying to ambush some nearby geese or what. Plus,
we also witnessed a bass on a bed in 55-degree water when normally
the water temp gets to 60 before bass move to beds. Ideal
spawning temps are said to be from 65-68 for largemouth bass in
this part of the country.
It is a blast and a huge blessing to be outside during the changing of the seasons.
The lake was up slightly during the early portion of the week, but some of that was due to strong north winds for several
days, which will pile the water up on the extreme southern portions of the lake and dam area, which is where the published
levels are taken. The level Monday was 168.89 feet, but strong southern winds will push some of that back north.
Water temps are running 55-59 degrees
with stained conditions on north Toledo, slightly stained at midlake and
clear down
south. There’s plenty of stained conditions in the major feeder
creeks and a strong migration of fish are heading up the creeks
and ditches all over the lake.
BASS: Our biggest bass last week, 8.2 pounds, came on a Stanley Vibrashaft hand-painted series spinnerbait with sexy shad colored
skirt. The bass hit last Friday about 8 a.m. in 6 feet of water but close to a very deep drop off.
We have had three or four patterns that
we are using depending on the weather and water conditions and time of
day. When the
winds allowed, we caught bass on weightless or light-weighted soft
plastics, Rat-L-Traps, Stanley spinnerbaits and suspending
jerkbaits. For the most part, we have been fishing less than 12
feet for the past week but oftentimes our boat has been in
much deeper water.
Behind the many cold fronts we still
have been fishing shallow water but have been targeting shallow areas
that are close
to deeper ledges. Also, the more intense the cold front, the
slower we have fished. We have used the jerkbait more preferring
a Smithwick Rouge (suspending model) as well as Rick Clunn’s
series. My jerkbait rig included 10- and 12- pound test Berkley
Trilene 100 percent fluorocarbon, a medium-action 7-foot Veritas
(Abu Garcia) rod and Revo SX baitcast reel.
This set up allows the jerkbait to dive
to 3-5 feet, plus permits long casts and the medium-action rod allows
for plenty of
lure action. Finally, this setup gives plenty of backbone to fight
a big bass and enough flex to give slightly when a big
bass makes a final run close to the boat, which is where a lot of
bass are lost on a jerkbait as we witnessed while watching
the recent Bass Master’s Classic.
Another advantage of jerkbaits is that
they can be fished in windy conditions. Fish the jerkbait slowly. As
mentioned earlier
we are also using Traps and spinnerbaits in lowlight conditions as
well as windy conditions. We are using shad-colored skirts
on the spinnerbaits and our favorite Trap colors are Cherry Bomb
and Toledo Gold in the mornings and chrome-and-blue in bright
conditions. We are using 17-pound test Berkley Trilene
fluorocarbon on spinnerbaits and Traps.
On our weightless soft plastics we are
using Gulp! Sinking Minnow, Kandi Stik and Senkos and are rigging these
three ways:
Texas weightless, wacky and split-shot. If you want to use a
little bit of weight with the Texas weightless or wacky simply
insert a small paneling nail or use a Hook Angel. Google
hookangel.com for that info.
We continue to use a drop-shot, football jig (Stanley Bug Eye) and Carolina rig on the deeper ridges as there are still bass
in water 18-30 feet.
CRAPPIE/WHITE AND YELLOW BASS: The winds have prevented crappie guides from getting on the water with any regularity, but the white perch are moving shallow
and, if weather forecasts are on track, then late this week will become productive again.
Road Runners, 1/16-ounce jigs and live shiners under a cork is the pattern fished in 3-6 feet. Target the mouths of ditches
in drains the back part of creeks for the early crappie that are moving up.
There is another very productive
pattern on the south end of the lake with deep clear water where anglers
are fishing off
deep water docks and deep points with shiners after dark with
crappie lights. Look for water from 20-35 feet and fish suspended
about 14 feet.
White bass are running on the north end of the lake and yellow bass are still being caught in 25-40 feet near creek and river
channels.
Joe Joslin
is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on
Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn. His column appears Thursdays.
Contact him at 463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com or visit www.joejoslinoutdoors.com