Athens — SLOW. Water clear; 58-63 degrees; 1.45 feet below. Bass are slow on deep brush out to 25 feet and scattered on deep grass out to 12 feet with jigs and Carolina rigged 10 inch ribbon tail worms. Crappie are fair on deep brush as well. Lots of undersize fish to sift through in order to get limits of keepers. Report by Jim Brack, Athens Guide Service.
Caddo — GOOD. Water stained; 60 degrees; 0.67 feet above. The bite is starting to heat up as conditions improve after cold weather and rain. For bass, throw a rattletrap, chatterbait or crankbait when you find the bait fish on your graph. For white bass and yellow bass a jigging spoon or lil George works well. This is a beautiful time to be on the lake because the bite is fun and the trees are turning red. The view is majestic out here on a lake God spoke into existence. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.
Cedar Creek — EXCELLENT. Water normal stain; 63 degrees; 4.83 feet low. Crappie are good, with fish moving up and biting pretty decent when you get around an active group. Target brush piles in 7-16 feet of water, as well as docks on creek channel swings. Minnows and jigs are both working well. Largemouth bass are good in shallow water using chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, square bill crankbaits, and Texas rigged plastics. Dock fishing is good where the creek channel swings by the dock and shad are in coves. White bass and hybrid bass are really hot on shallow flats. Fish spinnerbaits and silver spoons or slabs are really good tools to use. Lots of birds diving in the mornings and evenings as well around the flats. Report by Kyle Miers, Lake Country Outfitters.
Fork — FAIR. Water Stained; 65 degrees; 6.85 feet low. Bass fishing is slow with only a few bites a day. Suspending jerk baits are best worked over creeks and ditches in 7-10 feet. Viper XP Jigs in purple passion or black and blue are good on big timber along the edges of creeks in 8-10 feet of water. Report by Lake Fork fishing guide Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Pro. Bass are slow on Carolina rigs, dropshots, and jigging spoons in 15-18 feet of water, and squarebill crankbaits in 3-6 feet of water. Report by Jason Hoffman, Lake Fork Guide Service. Cold fronts and colder water send bass deeper and slow their metabolism, sinking lines at 3IPM+ around creek channels 12-15 feet. Try slow moving streamers and sculpin patterns. Crappie will be moving towards wintertime schools in the open water and deep pockets, beaded woolies fished with a 5 wt rod and sinking lines. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.
Hawkins — GOOD. 63 degrees. Colder weather will push bass deeper and slow their metabolism, use sinking lines with beaded flies and streamers fished slowly in creek channels. Concentrate on creek turns, structure, and deeper holes. Chain pickerel will become more active as water cools, try small fish patterns around lilies and boat houses. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.
Jacksonville — GOOD. Water lightly stained; 67 degrees; 2.23 feet below. Bass are good on rattletraps, squarebill crankbaits, and soft plastics on brush in 20 feet or less.
Lake O’ the Pines — FAIR. Water lightly stained; 64 degrees; 0.65 feet low. Catfish are fair on baited holes 15-20 feet of water using cheese bait. Crappie are slow on bottom in the mud in 12-20 feet of water biting on minnow and jigs. Black bass are slow on topwaters and chatterbaits. Report by Marty Thomas, Lake O’ the Pines Crappie Fishing.
Palestine — GOOD. Water lightly stained; 65-67 degrees; 2.42 feet low. Bass are good between and out in front of boat houses using shimmy shakers, small crankbaits and small worms, or on points with a Carolina rig. Crappie are fair in natural timber in the river channel in natural timber in 17 feet of water on chartreuse jigs. White bass and hybrids are slow trolling big crankbaits. Keeper sized catfish are good on the river over baited holes using nightcrawlers boat docks with at 6 feet of water. Report by Ricky Vandergriff, Ricky’s Guide Service.
Sam Rayburn — FAIR. Water stained; 65 degrees; 6.18 feet low. Bass are biting crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs on shallow points and backs of creeks, ledges Carolina and cranks. Crappie are migrating from brush to the creeks and in 12-14 feet of water hanging on brush and timber in 27 feet of water. Catfish 12-22 feet of water off points and creek channels chasing bait cut bait and liver perch. White bass are in the creeks and river biting small crankbaits and silver spoons. Look for this bite to improve. Continue to keep a watchful eye for floating timber. Report by Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service.
Toledo Bend — GOOD. Water stained; 60 degrees; 4.27 feet low. The water level is 167.7 with no generators running. Water temperature at the Dam is 60 degrees. The back feeder creeks are stained and muddy, and the main lake remains clear. Wind and cold rain came in this week with fluctuating fall temperatures. Captain’s tip number one, if there is a cold rainfall look for the bass to move to the mouth of the creek. Captain’s tip number two, if there is a warmer rainfall the fish will move to the back of the creek. Early in the week before the front came in, we had an early buzz bait bite. Chatterbaits are still producing in 3/8 to 3/4 ounce white, chartreuse, and red/orange skirts, slow roll them off primary and secondary points. To cover a lot of water, use a squarebill crankbait or a flat side crankbait and smaller rattletraps out to 8 feet in shad and perch imitation colors and the Rayburn red traps are still working. For deeper bass, use a jigging spoon in 1/2 to 3/4 ounce in silver with a white or yellow accent tail feather or a deep diving crankbait in citrus shad and Tennessee shad colors). The jig bite has been strong. Cast your jig to long tapering points that drop off into deep water, the best colors are black and blue, PB&J football jigs 3/8-3/4 ounce with a 3-inch matching color craw trailer, and a green pumpkin jig with a chunk style trailer dipped in chartreuse or garlic dip-n-dye. Crappie bite has been picking up in 12-20 feet on the edge of the river channels using 1/16- and 3/32-ounce Wager Baits, #46 Bluegrass, #3 Monkey Milk, #09 Electric Chicken, #10 Black and Chartreuse and small minnows depending on the cloud cover and cooling night temperatures. Bluegills are still mixed in with Crappie in the brush piles. Now that the lake is at a winter drawdown, it is prime time to go scouting for new areas for springtime fishing. Look for areas like feeder creeks, ditches, man-made structures, creek bends and undercuts, etc. Duck season opened on the lake last week, so respect each other’s space on the water. Good luck and tightlines! Report from Master Captain Steve (Scooby) Stubbe, Mudfish Adventures LLC, Orvis Endorsed Fishing Guide, Mudfish Rod Shop, Kayak Sales, and Rod Repair.
Tyler — SLOW. Water lightly stained; 60 degrees; 3.12 feet below. The bite has slowed after the cold weather moving to 25-30 feet of water. Catfish are slow on nightcrawlers. Bass are slow on crankbaits. Crappie are slow using live minnows on brush piles. Bluegill are slow mixed in with the crappie biting red worms. Report by Paul Taylor, The Boulders at Lake Tyler.
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