Hello, Anglers. Both falling gas prices and temperatures have made fishing even more enjoyable recently but tournament anglers found fishing tough with numerous clear sky days with high barometric pressure. Fort Polk Bassmasters held their 18th Annual Fall Open Team Tournament September 27th with 82 teams competing. Southwest Louisiana anglers, Donnie Gill and Brannon Bennett won the event with 17 pounds 11 ounces while the team of Ross Shelly of Florien and Donnie Boudreaux of Hornbeck took second place with 16 pounds 12 ounces.
DeRidder anglers Kraig Wellborn and Jeremy Burge took third place with 13 pounds and 15 ounces. Numerous teams did not catch limits and there were a lot of limits in the 8 to 12 pound class. The bass on this day made the anglers work for everything they received. Craig Hall, president of Fort Polk Bassmasters, reported that they contribute money each year to the Ronald McDonald Houses, put on youth activities and donate to families who have suffered from tragedies such as fires.
According to Lakecaster, Hall said "We just do what we can to give back to the community." Over 250 people witnessed the weigh-in and enjoyed the activities and awarding of door prizes. Numerous local sponsors supported the event.
LAKE CONDITIONS: The lake is in great shape with stained water up north, mostly clear at mid lake and very clear down south near the dam and Island areas. Surface water temperatures range from 78 to 80 degrees and the lake level is 167.4 feet with both generators shut down. I fished a tournament on north Toledo Saturday and saw a lot of giant savinia.
Savinia is an invasive, tropical plant now in Toledo as well as other area fisheries. I did not see any coves blocked out but there were areas where savinia was choking out lily pads. We caught some nice bass in the pads so that concerned us.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: We caught most of our bass Saturday on Stanley Ribbit frogs in pads with our best bass, which went about 5 pounds, hitting a DD22 crankbait in 11 feet. We did not go to the frog until almost noon but should have gone to it earlier.
Other tournament anglers reported catching bass working a double willowleaf spinnerbait as well as heavy jigs on the outside edge off grass in 12 to 15 feet. Other reports suggested top water chuggers as well as slow-falling soft plastics such as Berkley's Gulp! Sinking Minnow and Senkos. In addition, Texas rigs are also catching bass on the outside edge of grass lines in 8 to 15 feet.
CRAPPIE: One of the best crappie reports in a while comes from Sherry Perkins who, along with husband Keithon, have a place on Six Mile Creek on south Toledo Bend/Texas side. They fished last weekend and ended up keeping 48 crappie with two over two pounds and stated that all of the fish they retained were over 11 inches long. The crappie fishing duo reported releasing several fish over 10 inches which the legal length on the Texas side of the lake. Live shiners in 8 to 12 feet depths just off the submerged grass was their pattern.
AUTHOR INFO: Joe Joslin is a syndicated columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo and Sam Rayburn. His sponsors include Skeeter Performance Boats, Yamaha Outboards, Lake Charles Toyota, Red River Marine/Alexandria, LA, Berkley, Fenwick, Abu Garcia, Bill Norman , Daiichi, Jay's Carpet One DeRidder, The Floor Trader Lake Charles and Stanley Jigs Inc. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com. and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com
