Arrived at dawn and was greeted by a beautiful view of a full moon setting towards the west and a crimson sunrise strengthening in the east over a very full, mirror lake. Couldn’t wait for the sun to appear as it was a brisk 42F. Several deer were scattering around both banks of the lake and the curious cattle started to wander in my direction, as I unloaded my truck. I even was fortunate to have an osprey make several passes during the morning session, apparently surveying the scene.

I started by throwing several different topwater’s from the south bank at 6:30am with no success…fish were breaking at the surface but no takers, just one or two bumps. Switched over at 7:30am and fished chartreuse and white chatters (one with a chartreuse paddletail and one with a white curlytail grub) and had immediate success, walking the bank from the mouth of the southern tributary all the way down to the dam. Nearly all of the bass hit within 10ft of the bank, just outside of the submerged weeds. Bite was constant till 10am with 15 LMB landed (12 between 12-17”, an 18” and 19” and the biggest of the day at 21.5” weighing 5lb). I also tried a shallow CB, a spinner and a shaky head with limited success.

By the time the morning bite diminished the ambient air temp had started to warm up to 68F so I grabbed a quick snack/drink and launched my kayak in anticipation of even better fishing (the skies were finally becoming overcast and a little south breeze was kicking in) on the rest of the tank. The water temp in the main lake was 61-62F and 58F in the two creeks (which probably explained why I had zero success fishing the latter). In spite of my optimism, I only caught 7 along the length of the north shore between 10:30 – 2:15. Chatters were still the preferred presentation but I duped a few with a shallow CB. Same deal, all strikes within 10ft of the shore. Tried a number of other presentations (jigs, t-rig, Carolina, dropshot, wacky, spinners) with no takers. I also fished the entire length of the dam including targeting the drain with no action. Saw a few in the middle of the lake suspending at 8-10ft but could not get a bite.

Decided to wrap up the day fishing from the south bank and paddled in at 2:30pm. I am happy to report that Mr. Stanley rolled up, as I was stowing my kayak, and we had a nice chat. He was recently released from the hospital and he shared that his surgery was successful and he is back in the game! We chewed the fat for a while and then he was off to buy groceries!

Fished from the south bank for the last hour. Tried the chatterbait and shallow CB setups with no success. Switched over to a t-rig with a grn pumpkin finess worm and promptly caught 5 small bass (12-14”) during the last 30min. Loaded up my gear and departed for Houston at 4PM after catching 27. Wished I could have stayed till dusk as it appeared that a topwater bite was starting to turn on up towards the mouth of the southern creek.

All in all a great day of fishing, landing 27 in all.

Happy Holidays to all!

Bob