ello, Anglers. Many of you reading my fishing reports also fish several lakes in Texas lakes. As a reminder Texas hunting and fishing licenses expire on August 31st. to renew them call Austin, TX at 1-800-895-4248. You will need a drivers licenses and a credit card. You may also go online at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/.
Well, looks like we will have some tropical storm conditions for the next few days. To come down on the safe side I am doing this report a day early just in case the power fails and Internet crashes.
LAKE CONDITIONS: The lake remains in great shape and water temps have fallen 3-4 degrees in the past couple of weeks which has improved fishing as a whole, especially the shallow patterns. Temps are running from 83 to 87 degrees with north Toledo slightly stained, mid lake is mostly clear and south Toledo is very clear. According to SRA info one unit is running weekdays from 3 to 5:30 p.m. with the lake level at 168.75 ft. msl(mean sea level).
FISHING REPORTS: We still have the "big three" patterns working which are shallow grass(2 to 6 feet), mid-depths (8 to 16 feet) with subtle drops plus the deep patterns from 15 to 30 feet. We caught fish on all three depending what time of day as well as the weather conditions. Top water, spinnerbaits and weightless soft plastics worked in shallow water early and late as well as during cloudy/rainy situations. As the lake has dropped a little there is a bunch of visible grass on the southern 1/3 of the lake and more and more bass are starting to use this habitat which is mostly from 1 to 10 feet.
The outside edge of the grass is running from 12 to 18 feet and this area is also holding bass who are hitting soft plastics presented in a number of techniques. Pitching a jig, pitching a worm, TX rigging, wacky worm, weightless
Tx rigs all have been producing on the outside of the main grass line with the first 2-3 hrs of the day producing the best. However, with the moon on the increase, the morning bite is slowing down so look for the late-morning and noon times to improve. There continues to be a deep bite in 15 to 30 feet with main lake ledges and drop-offs areas to target. We have caught bass deep using DD22s, TX rigs, Carolina Rigs as well as football jigs.
CRAPPIE/YELLOW AND WHITE BASS: The crappie bite is still best on green brush tops in 20 to 28 feet with live shiners and also jigs. Bridges, for those crappie anglers without brush tops, are a good second option. Those crappie anglers fishing under bridges are also catching yellow bass as well as white bass. Yellow and whites are also schooling with black bass all over the lake but especially along major feeder creeks. There is so many shad and a lot are starting to move up creeks. Good fishing and watch the weather! God Bless.
AUTHOR INFO: Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo and Sam Rayburn. Website http://www.joejoslinoutdoors.com/. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com
