Hello, Anglers. We had a bunch of Toledo regulars on Sam Rayburn over the weekend fishing the 25th McDonald's Big Bass Splash where they registered a record breaking 7551 anglers to fish the 3 day event. Larry McNeese of College Station, TX and his 10.90 bass won the huge first place prize worth $250,000. Louisiana anglers also did well with second place going to Joel Villali of Pollock with a 10.55 and $100,000 in prizes.
Jimmy Buxton of Livonia placed third and took home $75,000 with his 10.46 trophy and fourth place winner, Herber Rusk of Boyce, caught a 10.09 pounder worth a whopping $50,000 prize. Rounding out the top five was Kelvin Russell of Quitman, Tx with a 9.80 which gave him fifth place and a smooth $25,000.
Other area Louisiana anglers also took home cash including DeRidder's Steve Rhea with $1500 as did Bobby Hamiliton of Leesville. Tim Merriman also of Leesville won $1400, James Thompson of Iowa and Clint LeBoeuf of Sulphur won $1200, Bryan Mills of Kinder netted $1100 while $1000 winners were Shannon Gill/DeRidder and Randy Moss/Sulphur. Numerous other local anglers won lesser amounts.
TOLEDO CONDITIONS: Local heavy rains, up to over 8 inches in some areas, have lakes on the rise with Toledo's level at 172.11 and both generators are running 24/7 until further notice with a high discharge rate of 14179 cfs (cubic feet per second). All major feeder creeks are heavily stained to muddy with north Toledo heavily stained, mid lake stained and south Toledo clear on main lake with off-colored conditions in back of feeder creeks. Water temperatures are from 66 to 69 degrees. Boaters should use caution as rising lake conditions and high winds have floating debris scattered everywhere.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: Bass are still being caught on a variety of lures and patterns as well as various depths. With rising water, there are bass in 1-3 feet depths that can be caught on spinnerbaits, light Carolina rigs, weightless soft plastics and at times a buzz bait, plastic frogs (Stanley Ribbit and Berkley Batwing) and even on top water. Top water patterns are improving, especially in the late afternoon.
Mid depths (4 to 12 feet) also currently hold a lot of bass with a Carolina rig also working on inside grass line in 4-6 feet as well as the outside grassline in 8 to 12 feet. Shallow crankbaits (Baby Ns) and Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps are also catching bass over the submerged grass in 4-8 feet. Wacky rigs are doing really most days with Berkley's Wacky Crawlers and Shaky worms as well as Senkos all in both 5 and 7 inch versions.
As more post spawn bass leave the shallows a decent pattern is also developing on deeper points and ridges in 15 to 25 feet.
A Carolina rig, Texas rig, Football Jig (Berkley Gripper and Stanley Bug Eye) as well as deep crankbaits are producing better each week. Drop shot patterns are also catching bass in 15 to 30 feet. On drop shot rigs I am using Berkley Wacky Crawlers (5 inch) and Fineese worms in both in watermelon, green pumpkin and watermelon candy.
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, The Floor Trader Alexandria and Lake Charles, Extermatrim Exterminating, Inc. and Stanley Jigs Inc. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com. and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com