Hello, Anglers. Things have quieted down following an onslaught of anglers and boaters Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day weekend each year is usually the first major coming out days for boaters and water skiers as schools have concluded and water temperatures have warmed. The weekend actually turned out better for fishing than for water sports due to cool temperatures and lots of clouds. Boaters and travelers did face a gas pump price increase just in time for the long, holiday weekend. How convenient! Hopefully, these trends will not continue through the summer vacation season.
TACKLE/BOAT EQUIPMENT THEFT UPDATE
Readers may remember an article I wrote several weeks ago regarding theft of tackle and boat electronics from fishing rigs around the Toledo area. These incidents are still occurring and are also not just confined to Toledo.
Anglers from the Rayburn area are having the same problems as a major theft incident of tackle and equipment was reported on the west side of Rayburn off highway 63. I even received a report from Lake Fork which is a lake that numerous southwest Louisiana anglers fish on a regular basis.
At Fork, thieves pulled boats out in the middle of the lake where they stripped them and left them floating in the open water. However, on the south end of Toledo, I have not heard of another incident in several weeks. Local authorities have increased patrols in these areas and anglers and local residents are on alert for suspicious behavior.
LAKE CONDITIONS: Lake levels at mid week are 171.6' with one generator running (update). South Toledo is clear, midlake is slightly stained to clear and north Toledo is stained to slightly stained. Submerged grasses, especially pepper grass all over the lake and hydrilla on southern one half, are growing rapidly. As lake levels fall and aquatic vegetation increases the next few weeks, the bass habitat at depths of one to twelve feet will greatly increase and expand.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: Cooler and cloudy conditions over the weekend improved fishing to almost the level prior to the last cold front. The shallow bite especially improved for bass with top water presentations leading the way. Top water poppers were some of the best offerings during the first hour of light as well as late afternoon. It was also good during cloudy periods all through the weekend. Some topwater favorites of Toledo regulars include Frenzy Poppers, Pop Rs, Chug Bugs as well as Yellow Magic with shad patterns and tail-feathers on the rear hooks seem to help, especially under calm conditions.
Also, another trick is to change out the front treble hooks of your favorite topwater plug and replace with a set of Daiichi Bleeding Red Treble hooks which seems to help trigger strikes, especially when action is slow. This also works on crankbaits. On my topwater baits and mid-sized crankbaits, I use Daiichi's #4 and #6 size (the smaller the number the larger the hook on treble hooks). On DD22s(big crankbaits, I use a #2). On worm hooks, it is the opposite with a 3/0 bigger than a 2/0 etc). I'm not sure why, that's just how they are identified.
Texas and Carolina rigs continue to be our bread and butter producers as well as wacky worms in low light conditions. We continue to target points and have had good success targeting less obvious points, most of which are submerged totally or partially making them less exposed to fishing pressure.
Crankbaits continue to produce some bass for us with DLNs (Norman's Deep Little N) and DD22s (Deep Diver) are the baits I have tied on my crankbait rods.
Deep water jigging is also catching bass as more bass are showing up on deep humps and ridges with football designed jigs ideal for this pattern. I like Berkley Gripper Series of jigs as well as Stanley Bug Eyed series. Drop shot patterns are also catching bass with depths of 15 to 30 feet the are I have been fishing.
CRAPPIE REPORT: White Perch/Crappie guide Butch Perrodin reports fishing is improving and he has had several catches of over 50 crappie fishing brush in depths of 16 to 20 feet. He stated that he tried the shallower areas but bream would get his bait before a crappie could get it so he moved deeper. His deeper holes, where branches are at 20 feet were holding better fish. He even caught a 4 pound bass on a live shiner. The deeper depth also got rid of the bream.
AUTHOR INFO: Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo and Sam Rayburn. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com. and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com.