Reservation Number : 23059
Property Name : Hickory Creek Ranch Lakes
Reservation Date : 02/23/2020 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 100 / 25 harvested / 14-18"
Lures Used : squarebill, stick worms, chatter bait, beetle-spin

Ron Dupree and I fished Hickory Creek Ranch on Sunday the 23rd from 8:30 - 6:15 under heavy overcast, moderate breeze, and intermittent heavy mist/light drizzle.  Recent rains have refilled the lake and most of the previously visible stumps and brushpiles are now covered.  Water temp was 53 degrees. We only fished the big lake. We started catching bass quickly but found that we would only catch two or three at any location before we would have to move the boat and re-anchor.  The bass came from deeper (8 feet) and shallower (2 feet) water without a good pattern so we did a lot of fan casting.  Baits that worked best were shallow-running squarebills, wacky-rigged stick worms, and chatterbaits.  Most fish were caught near the dam or the shoreline opposite the pier and they ranged from 13" (harvested) to 15-16" (the norm) with a few 17".  The fish were noticeably heavier with larger bellies than during our last trip a month prior.  After lunch the heavy mist / light drizzle really picked up but we were still catching some fish on our third circle around the lake.  At 4PM we decided we were done with the chilly wetness and packed up, having landed 53 bass and a few big crappie.  After a quick conversation with the landowner (surprised we lasted as long as we did) we got in the truck and headed out celebrating a very successful day.

This is where things got much more interesting.  The drizzle had finally stopped and we decided to stop and bank-fish the shallow wind-facing shore for a few minutes.  We had fished this from the boat several hours previously with little luck. What followed was a little less than two hours of fast-paced action.  We landed 47 more bass from a small area of shoreline including both of our biggest (18") bass of the day.  All were caught on a chatterbait or beetle-spin.

Outstanding day at a great property!  As an added bonus, we got to watch a bald eagle collecting nesting material from the ground and transport it into  tall pine tree neat the dam.  Beautiful!!