Reservation Number : 22970
Property Name : BlackJack Ranch
Reservation Date : 02/16/2020 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 150 / 1.5-5.5# / 70 harvested
Lures Used : anything but a frog

Ron Dupree and I fished beautiful BlackJack Ranch on Sunday the 16th from 8:15 till 5:00 and caught 150 bass.  While the total number is eye-catching, the great thing about the day for us was not so much the number but the fact that we had consistent "catching" to go along with our "fishing".  We've all had those days that we fish hard but don't catch much and it was fun to spend a lot of time with tight lines and bass jumping.  

We arrived to lifting fog and a mirror-like water surface.  We slowly caught about 20 bass from the pier with a mix of worms, moving baits, and topwater until a little breeze prompted us to get in the boat and fish the outer weedlines.  The morning conditions were heavy overcast, light breeze, and 56-degree clear water.  We kept moving and found bass in many locations but none near the dam, none on the brushpiles, and none in the shallow end. We used a variety of baits and seemed to catch fish on almost anything (except topwater) as long as it wasn't black or pink and it wasn't worked fast. (Squarebill, jerkbait, chatterbait, spinnerbait, deep diving crankbait, popper, torpedo, jig, creature bait, drop-shot, shaky head, wacky worm, texas-rigged, lipless crank) A high percentage of the bass were 11-14" and harvested but there were plenty at 16-17".  Even the smaller bass pulled hard for their size.  Ron caught a 5.5# and another just a little smaller while my best was closer to 4#. Recognition goes to Ron that he outfished me all day.  The skies cleared for about 2 hours in mid-afternoon and the fishing really slowed down (lots more fishing than catching).  The water temp eventually reached 58. Clouds rolled back in for the last hour and the bites started coming again.  Of note was that there was very little visible chasing activity; everything was taking place deeper below the surface. We left before any evening topwater bite because our hands were sore and we had already had such a wonderful day.

It was a memorable day at an outstanding property.  We are thrilled that we are able to fish here again.  The water is warmer and the bass are hungry!