Reservation Number : 26690
Property Name : Heartbrand Ranch
Reservation Date : 12/09/2020 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 42/Up to 5.25lbs
Lures Used : Many

Fished Heartbrand Ranch from 8:30AM - 3:30PM. Ended up with 42 with 25 culls. The biggest was 5.25lbs and I had a couple more in the 2.5-4 lb range (probably 4ish fish). Visibility was probably about 1.5-2ft. There was some submerged vegetation but it was really not that big of a deal. I used a 1/4 oz swim jig in shad color at the beginning and caught a couple on that. I switched the color up to a 1/4 oz blue gill colored swim jig and that seemed to work much better. The blue gill swim jig was what caught the 5.25lb fish and other larger fish. I also used a Zoom Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm in Junebug Texas rigged with a 1/8 oz weight. I fished this more like a fluke, so for those reading this and thinking about what you might try it might be a good bet to use a fluke or a jerkbait (the jerkbait might get caught in submerged vegetation depending on where you fish it). I also caught a couple on a lipless crankbait in blue gill color and also caught many on the Z-man Fatty Z in PB&J/Junebug on a 1/4 oz and 1/8 oz Swing Jig head. 

The most productive lures were the Blue Gill Swim Jig, the Zoom Ultra-Vibe Speed Worm in Junebug, and the Fatty Z in PB&J and Junebug. I will outline where most of the fish were caught on a map see below. I did not really go far up the creek channels so I don't know if this would be productive or not.

Much of the lake is quite shallow and most of the fish I caught were probably in 4 feet or less of water. If I were to do it again I would focus on the wind blown shore lines and hitting the points in the direction of the wind. It got up to around 80 degrees so the moving bait bite was quite good later in the day. I would recommend a swim jig, plastic swim bait, or fluke that is rigged weedless to be the most productive (depending on weather the moving bait bite might not be as good since it got up to 80 when I fished it). You can use a lipless crank like I did but you may need to clear weeds off a lot and you may be limited to where you can throw it. If you use the club Jon boat it is not at the boat launch area but I have it marked on the map below. Note that Jon boat is a tank and is probably 14' long. It is very well built and because it is well built it is heavy. Where it sits there is a steep hill making it a work out to lift it up on the shore for 1 person. It might be a good idea if you are going solo to consider bringing a strap and tying to your vehicle and slowly pulling it up if you don't want to deal with heaving it up that hill. Other option would be to move the boat over to the launch area. I would have done this but was running short on time.