Toledo Bend Reservoir Fishing Report
for
March 4, 2009
Hello, Anglers. Last week provided some of the best fishing on The Bend so far this spring and the next several days looks like more of the same. Unfortunately, weekend anglers were greeted with the arrival of a strong, early-spring cold front late Friday night. As area anglers woke up early Saturday to the buzzing of their alarm clocks, the next thing they heard was howling wind gusts outside of over 30 mph which continued into Sunday as well. For the most part, we had beautiful, warm weather all week while most anglers were at work and then a big weather change for the worst on the weekend.
Mother Nature, at times, seems to have a sense of humor by arriving with brute force about the same time many fishermen load their tackle and hitch up their fishing rig. In the spring, we usually have a cold-front about every 5-7 days and I have seen the times where these hit repeatedly on weekends. If my memory serves me correctly, during spring 2007, we had 6 week-end cold fronts in a row. Maybe weekend warriors will get a break this week.
LAKE CONDITIONS: For the first time in over 7 months the lake level is above 168 feet as current readings are 169.2 feet. Some of that could be as a result of strong north winds pushing the water toward the dam. Even so, water levels are decent and steady during the current spawing season which is crucial to healthy reproduction of fish in the Toledo fishery. Another reminder, especially during the spawn, is to practice catch and release of female bass over 3 pounds. Water temps have fallen slightly with the front from 60-63 degrees to 57 to 59. These will rebound by later this week.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: Several patterns are working currently with those from 1 to 10 feet being the most productive. We caught our biggest bass on secondary points going into drains and ditches while working the outside edges of grass in depths of 4 to 8 feet. However, we caught our higher numbers of bass in the back one-third of coves/ditches. Multiple lures have been successful with the basics such as spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, wacky worms, TX and Carolina rigs all catching bass.
A light (one eighth ounce)Carolina rigged Power Berkley Lizard and Senko are super as is same with a light Texas rig. We also are catching bass on Stanley's three-eighth ounce Icon spinnerbait in white/chartruse skirt and Bill Lewis's Rat-L-Traps in red craw, Toledo Gold and chrome/black. We are working these over and along the edge of drains as well as grassy ridges. A wacky rig is super right now with a variety of soft plastics. We are wacky worming Berkley's Wacky Crawlers in both 5 and 7 inch versions, Berkly Sinking Minnows and 5 inch Senkos in watermelon/green pumpkin, w.m. red and w.m.blue flake.
FISHING STORY: The largest bass that I have heard of during the past seven days is a 12.2 pound largemouth which was caught by Coy Walters who has a lake house in Indian Creek located just above the dam on the Texas side of Toledo. Walters, who has to live with the fact that he is my brother in law, was fishing a wacky-rigged Senko in about 8 feet of water in the mouth of Toledo's Mill Creek when the big bass hit. Mill Creek is located on the Texas side about three miles north of the dam. He was using spinning tackle consisting of a 700 Series Abu Garcia Cardinal spinning reel and 7 ft. Fenwick Techna med-action rod with 10 pound test Berkley Big Game (sound familiar?). The hook was a 3/0 Daiichi Round Bend Worm Hook.
Walters stated that the big bass took lots of drag but headed out to deep water where he was able to slowly wear the big fish into submission. She did come to the surface but was so heavy she did not come completely out of the water. Walters said the fish was so big that when he first saw her he thought she was a carp. The lucky fisherman put the bass in the livewell and went back to his lake house and had neighbors weigh her and make photos of the beautiful bass. She was weighed on two different scales including one of my Berkley Digital scales which are very accurate.
He then took her back to Mill Creek and the exact spot where he caught her and released her. I was not with him when he caught the trophy as I had guide customers and we were in the Six Mile area at the time. We should have been in his boat! Walters stated that he had fished almost three hours without a bite when the big bass ate his wacky rig. We can all learn from this as there is no way of knowing what the next cast will bring so keep casting your bread upon the water. It could come back with a big return. Walters said he was not interested in getting a fiberglass replica in the lunker programs but wanted to release the bass exactly where she was caught. Good job brother in law!
CRAPPIE: Crappie are moving to more shallow areas as I witnessed about 5 boats in both Six Mile and Mill Creek catching crappie on the edge of drop offs in about 10 to15 feet depths. They were using crappie jigs and spinning tackle.
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.
Guide Joe Joslin
