Toledo report

[Basshuntr]

Robert and I went out Sat, caught 10 keepers and one short fish......Shallow on various baits....from daylight till about 2pm.....Robert was smoking'em on a Spinny bait, but it's a secret combo/color

[desotorad]

I caught 10 out of Converse with 5 keepers. Used a spinner bait to find them then caught the better ones on a lizard. Wind made thing tough though.
dc

[BlazerFAN]

We went to the Bend Easter weekend. I launched my boat Friday afternoon and it stayed in the boat house until I put it back on the trailer Sunday morning. The wind was howling and the lake was as rough as I have ever seen it all weekend. I thought it would calm down in the morning and evenings so we could get out on the lake. It never did and it actually snowed Saturday afternoon. I was disappointed. My uncle showed me some likely spots on the map and told me what specific baits and techniques to use and I wasn't able to fish them.

[yammerhammer]

I WENT THE FRIDAY BEFORE EASTER A CAUGHT 9 FISH ONLY 2 WERE KEEPERS
I FISHED ARNOLDS BAY AREA IN TWO TO SIX FOOT OF WATER USED A WHITE
SPINER BAIT 1/2 OZ WILLOW LEAF BLADES AND CAUGHT 1 ON A FLUKE

[toledo bend jim]

I know everyone is hammering the south end of the lake but believe you can catch more fish mid-lake. Really good grass and humps in the Blue Lake area. Not on top of the humps but off to the deeper sides. A crank, c-rig, or wacky will get the job done. Good luck TBJ

[fishin couillon]

Went to the Bend today. Caught a sunburn on my face cause i lost may hat on the ride. Fished Six Mile, Mill Creek areas. We ended up catching about 5 apiece biggest was 3 1/2 lbs. by me They came on TX rigged brush hogs, crankbait, and lipless crank. Enjoyed the day. Will be back out there in June.

[jasonb01]

Me and my wife and son are going to Toledo Bend for the first time the last week of this month for Memorial Day. We are staying at the South Toledo Bend state park. Will I need to venture far from the park for some good fishing? Is it easy to get lost out there?

I have been strictly bass fishing for only about a year now. Any advice on what sure fire baits I should be sure to bring? My wife loves to catfish. Night crawlers should do the trick for her right? Thank for any advice.

[Bada$$Bullet]

Jason,

Basshuntr, Robert and I fished that area 3 weeks ago. We fished the coves and creeks on the La. side and the bass were in the hydrilla in 8-20' of water. We threw carolina rigged lizards (wat./red) and DD-22 crankbaits. I'm not sure about the catfish though. The water is clear as hell on the south end. Also, try topwater in 0-5' early in the morning. I hope ya'll do good. Let us know!

[jasonb01]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rocket MaN &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Jason,

Basshuntr, Robert and I fished that area 3 weeks ago. We fished the coves and creeks on the La. side and the bass were in the hydrilla in 8-20' of water. We threw carolina rigged lizards (wat./red) and DD-22 crankbaits. I'm not sure about the catfish though. The water is clear as hell on the south end. Also, try topwater in 0-5' early in the morning. I hope ya'll do good. Let us know! </TD></TR></TABLE>

[Wormy]

Here is my report from the splash.....

We fished north of 1215 on a 15 ft drain with scattered hydrilla from 0600-1100 each day. Not a fish before 0700 and nothing after 1100, guess we should have went jig pitching in the heat of the day.....anyway here it is

Day #1 Mostly DD22 and 3/4 oz spinnerbaits slow rolled. Best 5 around 15-16 lbs
with the biggest fish 4.81 on DD22. They tend to hit it after you pulled it away from the grass

Day#2 Same 2 baits as above but they quit hitting them around 0900. Partner swithced to C-Rig with Netbait and started waxing my a$$ so I changed to that. They quit around 1100. Best 5...14-15 lbs..it was brutally hot this day. Not a breeze
blowing.

Day #3 Would not touch the DD22 or spinner. Caught 4 fish on C-rig and 1 on a
3/4 oz jig...4 keepers in the bunch. Left for home around 1200. Looks like we should have weighed a couple of those fish in the early hours. Was such a long run
for us up where we were fishing.

[stratman201]

I just got back from the bend and this weekend was the worst fishing trip have ever had there. There were a million boats on the water fishing was very tough. I think there was just too much pressure on the fish with all of the big tournaments in the past week.

[Ratltrap]

11/18 spent about 3 hours on the water mid lake around Hwy. 21 bridge to Carrice Creek. Top water baits shad colored with props in the choppy water around shallow grass beds on the inside and outside grass lines. 1/2 ounce Chartreuse and white - gold willow leaf spinner-baits around the outside grass edges, several blow ups on Chartreuse and white buzz baits around the grass. Caught a few on a chartreuse and white frog around the grass. Lots of cloud cover today, air temp about 70 degree and water temps 62 to 64 degree on the main lake. Water color was slightly stained with visibility on the gold leaf spinner bait to about 2 feet down. We also had about an inch and a half of rain last night and this morning so the lake may have been on a small rise. Last week Monday 11/12 I hacked away at a few good keepers around the Bugg Island area by flipping 1 ounce black with green speck jigs and black green craw worm trailer, I had 2 big girls on that the 80 pound braid and the 7 1/2' Avid flippin stick wouldn't turn. Fish I was able to boat were between 3 to 4 1/2 pounds, water temp was 68 last week so water temps are on the steady decline. Lake level today was right around 167.70 with no scheduled power generation in the near future. Not many boats on the water, if you have never flipped big jigs in the grass now is the time to do so,

[Ratltrap]

Sunday afternoon, Mid Lake area, water temps 48 to 52 degree, water clear with 4 foot visibility. Best baits were Chrome Blue Rat-L-Traps and Riverside 8" yellow straight worms. Rat-L-Traps worked best in the mouth of the creek channels to about the first 100 yards back into the creek, the I switched to the yellow straight worms around the shallow grass beds. Monday the 14th I went out to hunt the bid fish and after two hours I gave up on the deep water around the grass beds in 12 to 20 foot of water, not a bite on worms, or jigs. I went shallow and found the mother load in the last hour an a half on the flats around the Highway 21 bridge. Shad colored small jerk baits and Lake Fork Special 1/2 ounce Rat-L-Traps, caught close to 20 fish with several over the 4 pound mark. Great evening on Toledo Bend. Water was a bit warmer as it was a steady 52 degree on the flats, just enough to bring the fish shallow. I had hooked up on one bass on a Swimmin Image bait that was well over 7 pounds but it got me down in the grass and straightened the hooks, oh well next time

[TMATTE]

Thanks for the update, sir.

[Burnham]

I HAVE NOT BEEN ON TOLEDO THIS YEAR, BUT I'LL TELL YOU WHERE I'VE CAUGHT EM THE PAST THREE YEARS. GO TO THE MOUTH OF HOUSEN GET ON THE RIGHT SIDE FIND THE OLD ROAD BED AND THROW A 1/2 RAT-L-TRAP IN THE COLOR #502 (IT CAN'T BE ANY OTHER COLOR) TRUST ME. JUST FAN CAST UNTIL YOU CATCH ONE THROW A MARKER BUOY OUT THEN YOU CAN CATCH THE FIRE OUT OF EM WITH A SHAKEY HEAD IF THEY QUITE JUST PICK YOU BUOY UP AND DO IT AGAIN. WE HAVE CAUGHT OVER 50 IN A DAY DOING THIS. IT WILL WORK ALL YEAR LONG. I HAVE NEVER CAUGHT MORE THAN A 15LB SACK THERE BUT ITS A HELL OF A WAY TO GET A QUICK LIMIT.

[RonnieF]

Sunday, sunny and beautiful. Mid-lake by the river channel, caught a few on suspending jerk baits. No luck on rattle traps. Also fished at the Indian Mounds. Caught a few at the mouth of coves.
Monday, windy and overcast. 8 total caught, 6 woulda been keepers, biggest 3.5. Not a whole lotta boats, but i'm sure that will be changing soon!! Suspending jerk baits worked the best for me anywhere from 4-10'.
Good luck and i should be back up there next week,
Ronnie

[fishin couillon]

I will be taking me a day trip to the south end in the near future.

[210SP]

It was very rough this last Thurs - Sun. Winds were 15-25 most days. Fishing was slow. I caught a 5lb 9oz on a watermelon seed lizard and several on same color senko's. Pattern seemed to change day to day between fishing 9-12ft and shoreline catches. Bass Haven Resort was not a good place to stay. We had many problems with the cabin (no A/C and broken windows when we arrived).

[Cajun Skeeter]

I had similar results last week at Toledo Bend with the fishing changing every day. It seemed like our best days were when the weather was nasty. Like you said, one day deep then the next day shallow.

Frontier campground wasn't any better than Bass Haven. It's probably our last time to stay there.

[Ratltrap]

Tonight I decided to go hit some spots in deeper water since last night my shallow water bite never happened. Got on the water about 5:45 this evening and fished till dark. Fished south of teh Hwy. 21 Bridge south of the pipeline in the deep creek channels and ditches with Jigs and worms, Jigs didn't work at all but I managed 9 keeper fish from 1 1/4 pounds to about 2 3/4 pounds. Nothing huge by any means but this all happened in about the last hour of daylight in about 14-16 foot of water. Kept the boat in 8-10 feet of water and actually found some nice hydrilla in the creek bottom starting at 12 feet and going out to 16 feet. Used a Bass Pro Shops 12" curl tail worm in June-bug with blue glitter, 6/0 offset shank hook, 20# test green mono line and a 1 ounce Tungsten weight. The key was to keep the boat in the 10 foot of water, on the flat and cast past the edge of the grass line out into 17-18 foot of water, which was the outside edge of the grass in the creek bottom, they would hit it just before it would hit the bottom or just as I pulled it up into the edge of the grass mat. I had several fish pull off as when they would grab it they swam into the grass and they would just pull off. It's been a while since I have been on a great worm bite like this one, I will have to try this pattern next time I'm out just to see if it holds up.