Reservation Number : 23811
Property Name : Cody Ranch Hart Lakes
Reservation Date : 04/10/2020 PM -
Total Fish/Sizes : 8@15-17", 28@10-14", 12@8"
Lures Used : weightless fluke

Sam and I fished Upper Hart Good Friday afternoon, second time here.  We initially struggled as the usual hot spots were choked with filament algae (snot grass) and we couldn’t even get a TxRig senko to come through without stringy snot on every cast.  I’d guess 75%+ of the shore and shallow water is unfishable due to this algae. We finally figured out a weightless fluke on a 5/0 seemed to be a little more able to snake through the slime, and we got along better after that.  The slime will go away in late-May or June, but it’s a hassle at the moment.

We landed 36 total, top 8 fish released were 2-3.5 lbs, and 28 culls at 10-14 inch. We caught the majority pretty far from shore in 3-4ft water.  We thought about shifting to lower Hart mid-afternoon, but we could see from the dam that Lower Hart had even more slime, so we stayed on Upper.  I think the fish are maybe just starting to spawn as most of the culls were still ripe with eggs.  Water temp was 60-64deg, and vis was about 1ft.

One more comment, this lake needs a pretty serious cull, as there are too many small bass and the bigger fish were all on the skinny side (not getting enough food). Pics below.  We caught another dozen of 8” bass not included in the tally, and threw them in a bucket, and fed to the raccoons far out in the bushes. Too small to fillet, but the coyotes, crows, and raccoons should enjoy.