Reservation Number : 30051
Property Name : The Bluffs of Sandy Shores
Reservation Date : 10/17/2021 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 67 - 53 culls, 12 over 14" up to 4 lbs 14ozs - 2-4+, 10 @ 2-3.2lbs.
Lures Used : Pop-R, Plopper, Fluke, SQBill, tried a little bit of everything really

Had the opportunity to be one of the first to fish the new Bluffs of Sandy Shores with my daughter Marleigh for which I am grateful.   It is really hard to develop confidence in new techniques (or just fishing generally) if you aren’t catching some fish, and a lake like this allows her to do that.

Arrived at 7:25 to 41 degree temps and 63 degree water warming to 72 or so by midday – bluebird skies, no wind at first, then a mild wind from the North switching from the South.  Water has moderate visibility (given a slight turnover and the recent rain) – probably much clearer normally. Off the water by 6:30.

Largest fish with 4lbs 14ozs and I was convinced she was going to break off 17lb power pro flouro – one of the hardest pulling fish I’ve had in some time, pound for pound she was up in there my ATG rankings.  Additional warning – the bigger bass had some teeth on them.

We caught 50+ fish that were 6-10” which was expected.  The next class up was 1.5lbs+ which is quite a jump in size but shows how well the bass are eating.

I spent quite a bit of time trolling around the lake with electronics to see what was what and explore.  I also started working on a map to mark where some of these structures are.   Once this lake fills up those big humps/islands/piles are going to fish holders for sure but might not be visible.

The concrete boat ramp is large and could likely handle any boat. The ground is relatively firm where it ends, so I imagine it shouldn’t be too hard to launch currently when you back a trailer into the water. New Jon boat available with two new oars. HOWEVER, there are some longish ridges in the lake where a bigger bass boat would need to go around (in some cases, quite a ways). Lake is still relatively shallow.

This lake is really three lakes right now from my perspective. There is the original water (orange) with depths to 13-15 feet or so and then the two adjacent sections which are 6-8 feet in depth. The area in black was the shallowest with primary depths of 6 feet and tapering to 3 feet.

There is pond weed throughout the lake. There is some milfoil (in the orange area especially), but not nearly as pervasive as the former. There are large sunken concrete tubes, stacks of pallets, and a fair amount of wood in spots. There is one section of stacked trees that once sunk will definitely be one of the largest brush piles I’ve ever seen.  The pond weed will hold the bass till it dies off and should be keyed throughout the fall to catch fish.

The area in black was turning over. Could see sections of the bottom floating on the top and a relatively strong egg smell with very little bait activity.  In my prep work, I though the baitfish will likely move into this area and the bass will follow, but I didn’t see them there today. I am convinced though that the bait fish will move into this area before too long.  Turnover on a lake like this shouldn’t last more than a couple of days and it was limited to that area.

The area in yellow had a lot of bait fish and a lot of schooling bass. The schools had all sizes of bass. Our most successful presentations were weightless flukes twitched slow and a Pop-R/wake-bait. While we fished the whole lake as best we could, the yellow area was by far the most active and productive.

Having some electronics helped a bit, but it wasn’t ‘necessary’. Any depth changes are readily seen in areas that have no weeds changing to the areas that do.

Chartreuse in the bait helped significantly – a straight green pumpkin wasn’t bit as well as two-toned baits or dipped tails.

Fish were generally receptive to lures with the exception of bigger baits (mag spook, mag draft) – underspin was better than a simply weighted swimbait, 2.8-3.8’ > than 4”+, and so on.  That may have just been the bluebird bright day and the need to downsize bit. I did get one bass the size of my mag spook on said spook, which is always funny.

You can throw stuff that dives with trebles in spots, but they held tight to the weeds today, so the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze in that regard. Some fish were very shallow with one of the 4lbers coming very close to the bank (less than a foot off an ambush point).

Overall, I was happy with the day as it wasn’t ideal conditions per se, but my daughter was able to catch 20 fish in 4 hours with some decent ones mixed in.

Thank you so much to PWF for another special day with my daughter Marleigh and to the lake owner for opening up what will be one of the best private lakes in North Texas!