I didn’t know it could rain that hard – except in the midst of a tropical monsoon - I haven't seen it rain that hard since Vietnam! The rain started just as I left Highway 19 and turned east toward Sulphur Bluff, but didn’t crank up in intensity until I arrived at the ramp at 6:30. Oh, my gosh, but it poured! I waited in the car while the rain continued at a pretty constant rate until almost 8:30.

Unfortunately, my little boat’s drain plug is in the front, and the only thing I had with me to bail out my little pond boat was a turkey baster – the kind with a rubber bulb on one end. By 10:00, I had squirted enough water out of that thing that I could fish with fairly dry feet. It continued to rain, but lightly, until around 10:45. The lake was high, with water up into what is normally dry grass….but I saw absolutely no fish activity in those newly-flooded shallows.

I started at the dam, throwing topwater baits, to no avail – only one strike, which I missed by trying to set the hook to soon. It wasn’t until shortly after 10:00 that I boated my first bass of the day, a 2-pounder. I caught fish pretty consistently, but except for two on two consecutive casts on a crankbait, they were about 45 minutes to an hour apart. Two were dinks, and 3 were just under 14” in length; those were harvested. I was able to land 10 fish over 14”, but the heaviest only pulled the scales down to 3-06. They were all strong fish, as is the norm at Timber Lake.

The water temperature climbed from 86.8^° to 88.6^°, and then dropped back to around 85^° before I stopped fishing at 8:15. Visibility was only about a foot except in the main, open water part of the lake, where it was about 2.5-3 feet. A pretty good topwater bite started around 4:00 and lasted until I stopped fishing at 8:15. At that time, clumps of live, floating coontail coveredabout half of the lake’s surface. I have no idea what caused it to detach and float, but it made it difficult to use a surface lure.

What worked:  Pale green chatterbait, unweighted, wacky-rigged Senko in black/blue flake or green pumpkin/black flake; a T-rigged, black/blue flake 10.5” Ol’ Monster Worm; a shad-patterned Bomber Fat Free Shad Square Lip, a shad-colored Whopper Plopper; hollow body frog; a baby bass ½ oz. Yellow Magic; and my old purple Mister Twister Lunker Buzz II.

What didn’t:  Creature baits, tandem spinnerbaits, Rattletrap, Ribbit frog, swim baits

Posted By: Tom Dillon