Hello, Anglers. This past week was an unusually pleasant week for late July as cloudy conditions with a few thunderstorms helped to keep daytime temps in the upper 80s and low 90s which are several degrees below normal highs. The fish population also seem to enjoy it as they were, for the most part, cooperative. We also enjoyed our customers which included two different trips with dads and their sons spending time together fishing. One day featured an 11 year old and another a 14 year old. Both of these young anglers fished hard and caught their share of the fish.
LAKE CONDITIONS: The lake level is 169.30 with both generators running four hours weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. Water temperatures have fallen to mid 80s but more sunlight and higher daytime temperatures this week may have them moving back up to upper 80s.
Various sections of the lake are still fighting the tropical plant, giant salvinia with both spraying as well as with the new weevil control method. Patroon Creek is one area fighting the evasive, floating plant as well as the 1215 and San Miguel areas. Heavy rains in portions of the upper lake have contributed to more stained conditions but for the most part, the lake's water condition is good-to-excellent.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: The moon is big this week and with full moon on August 5(Wednesday) there will be and increase in the number of night anglers and night tournaments. Up and Coming Outdoors will host an open team night tournament on Toledo Bend Saturday, August 8 out of Pirates Cove Marina located on the Louisiana side about 4 miles north of the dam. Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the site with entry fees $115 per team which includes big bass. Fishing hours are 7:00 p.m. to 3 a.m. with two weigh-ins for big bass at 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. which will get those big bass released and back in the lake. A great idea! For additional info go to www.fishabt.com.
SUBMERGED GRASS 101: Daytime patterns were improved the past week as cloudy conditions improved the shallow and mid-depth patterns. The top water bite improved as did the spinnerbait and soft plastic patterns on the outside of the main grass line. I get a lot of questions about the outside grass line with anglers wanting more info about where it is and how to fish it. What I am describing is the grass that is, for the most part, submerged so you do need your electronics to see how it runs. Currently, on the south end of Toledo in such areas as Six Mile, Mill Creek, Housen Bay, Toro Bay and Indian Mounds the submerged grass grows out to about 12 to 16 ft. If you get deeper, the grass stops growing or is very thin.
There are a few places in very clear water where the grass might grow out to as deep as 18 ft. The deeper grass is almost always hydrilla however, there are lots of pepper grass and milfoil growing as deep as 12-13 ft. The neat thing is that the grass line is pretty consistent and is about the same in Housen Bay as it is in say, Six Mile. It will not grow as deep in water that is not clear. Fish will, many times, hold on the outside part of that grass line very close to where the grass begins to grow so the angler will want to work those areas. Of course, there are times when bass will get on top of the grass as well as bury in it, depending on weather conditions as well as seasonal habits of bass.
When winter approaches, some of the grass will die off and the depths as well as the density of the grass will change so anglers will need to spend time on the water to keep current with these. We will give you a good bit of info 12 months a year concerning submerged vegetation on Toledo and Rayburn but these is no substitute from time on the water. There, I've just given you yet another reason to spend more time fishing. This past week we caught over 75% of our bass working the outside edge of the grass lines with a variety of soft plastics on TX and Shaky rigs.
We fished Berkley Power Worms, Berkley Wacky Crawlers/Shaky Worms as well as Trick worms with top colors being watermelon candy, candy bug, watermelon and green pumpkin. We also used several size hooks, weights as well as line. We get lots of e-mails about the specifics of our rigging so our TX rigs with 7 inch worms we use 2 and 3/0 Daiichi Offset while on the 10 inch versions we use the 4 and 5/0 Daiichi and XPoint brands.
These are hooks with a high carbon content which allows the hook to be lighter/thinner without sacrificing hook strength for a better hook penetration. Our line was mostly Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon and Big Game in 10, 12, 15,17 and 20 lb test with weights from one-eighth to five-eighth ounces, depending on wind conditions and depth. Hope this helps and have a great time fishing.
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 Lake Charles and Stanley Jigs Inc. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com. and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com.
