January 14, 2008
Lake Ray Roberts Fishing Report
First of all I want to thank everybody who came by our booth at the Texas Fishing, Hunting and Outdoors Show. Cliff and me had a good time talking Ray Roberts fishing to everybody who would listen. Today at Ray Roberts the lake is 5 inches below normal level and water temperature is 46 to 49 degrees. Not much to report on bass fishing the last couple weeks but you can still catch them on Excalibur XR50 crankbaits in Rayburn Red color and black and blue jigs. Do not expect a lot of bites on Ray Roberts in January but a big fish bite is always possible.
White bass fishing is very good right now and the size we are catching is big. Today I checked 10 deep water winter spots for sand bass and caught fish on 9 of them and most fish caught were magnums.
We do not catch many doubles this time of year but the average size fish we catch really goes up. Most of the spots I fished were between Isle du Bois State Park and Wolf Island on the east arm of the lake.
The fish are on drop offs of humps, points, roads and ridges and the best depth so far this month has been 37 to 42 feet deep. Catching all our fish on Cotton Cordell CC Spoons 3/4 oz. Chrome with a Flies-By-Night sea green flie tied 14 inches above the slab. A couple of short hops off of the bottom and dead sticking the spoon 6 inches off of the bottom is the best presentation in cold water on Ray Roberts. The bites can be really light this time of year and a sensitive rod is a must to feel the bite. I am using 12lb. test Silver Thread Excalibur line which is copolymer line with excellent feel and small diameter. Boat control is very important this time of year to present the bait in a vertical presentation on these deep water fish. I use the trolling motor to keep us on top of the fish and triangulation of items on the bank to maintain the spot on the structure the fish are holding on. Its a great time to fill the freezer and learn how to fish deep water structure on Lake Ray Roberts.
Have fun fishing,
Tim