Reservation Number : 30813
Property Name : The Bluffs of Sandy Shores
Reservation Date : 12/30/2021 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 21 total 8-2's, 2-3+, 3-4+, 1-5lb, 1-6lb, 2-7+lbs
Lures Used : Whopper Plopper, Chatterbait, T-rig worm, FLUKE, Flashy Underspin with swimbait

The Bluffs of Sandy Shores

21 total bass (7 or more fish lost on bad hooksets)
4 culls (dinks under 14”)
8 – 2+
2 – 3+
3 – 4+
1 - 5
1 - 6
2 - 7+

Biggest was 7.84 lbs and 22 inches long.

What Lures worked:

Whopper Plopper – Trout Pattern
Zman - Chatterbait – Gold blade – Chartreuse head – Shad Body
T-Rig – Watermelon with Chartruese Tip SENKO
T-Rig - Baby Brush Hog – Green with gold and black fleck
Zoom 7” MAGNUM SUPERFLUKE – Smokin Shad color – weightless. Just EWG hook and the big fat fluke.
Flashy Underspin with Big Bite Baits – 5” Cane Thumper – Reel Shad color
T-Rig - Bass Pro Shops – Tournament Stik-O – 7” – Black with Blue Fleck

What didn’t work:

T-Rig – Crawfish – Brown and Red
Chatterbait – Brown and Red
Jig – Blue/Green – with Brown Creature trailer

Quite simply put – amazing day and birthday gift. This place is going to be hard to get into during the Spring and Spawn seasons. PWF member Thomas (Tommy) Reyna and I landed the perfect day to hit his property. Brisk morning temps with the expected high to be in the 70’s and 8 mph winds. We arrived shortly after 7:30 AM. Sunrise picture was taken at the boat ramp at 7:40 AM. Boat was right next to the ramp, roped off to a green metal stake/pole. Once finagled out of the wet sand, we were loaded up and, on the water, roughly after 8 AM.

The boat ramp is very nice and easy to back your vehicle down to the boat. There is a nice parking area at the top of the ramp with a porta potty. Hopefully that stays after they are done with their construction. Very convenient to have on the property. Note to future visitors, go through the cattleguard, and turn left after the porta potty. There is a sign pointing to the boat ramp. I made the mistake of turning at the first porta potty. Getting out with the sun going down was tricky, so remember how you drove in.

Water temps were 65/66 degrees depending on time of day and location on the water.
Most fish were found holding near the bottom or suspended a foot or two off. 8ft of water or less. Usually in the tall grass. A few were in the wide-open middle. The rest were caught just off of the banks on the sand wall and many islands.

We caught fish nearly all over the lake. There was not one area that was a hot spot. If I had to choose the highest probability to catch fish, I would say around all of the islands. Surprisingly the wall of trees and the palettes didn’t produce any fish for us. They look like prime locations. We didn’t graph any bass there and didn’t get any bites other than a couple of hang ups.

Ok detailed story time. First two fish came off of the whopper plopper and superfluke. Along the right side just before hitting the log wall. Fishing was slow and steady. Roughly 1 fish every 30 minutes. This was from 8:30 to 11 AM. After 11 AM things slowed down a bit. I didn’t catch another fish until about noon. This was a slightly funny story. We had used the last two islands closest to the sand wall to kind of stop the boat. We had caught a couple of fish around these and decided to stop and fish them for a bit. Tommy cast to the other side of the larger island. He was using his chatterbait and hooked into a good one. Unfortunately, it got close to the sand bar and shook off. It looked like a 6+. We fished that side for a bit to try to catch the bass. No luck. So we decided to push on and come back later. When we came back Tommy focused on the side where he caught the bass and I cast at the smaller island. T-Rig BPS Stik-O black w/blue fleck. Well, I hooked into one and we guess it was the fish he lost. It was 6 lbs even. Time stamp on the photo was around Noon. We trekked all over the lake and I didn’t get another decent fish until about 1:20. Next nice fish was just before 2PM. Then things slowed down.

I dropped Tommy off at the boat ramp as he needed to head into town to run for food and supplies. I fished from the ramp for a bit with no luck. Decided to get in the boat and fish close to the ramp. Picked up a couple of 2+ lb fish on the right side of the first island in front of the boat ramp. Then Karma hits. I get a hit on the worm halfway between the island and the boat. It was just one tap. I set the hook and the bass shot to the right. I had it for a few seconds before it jumped out of the water. It was big bertha! …..and that was it. She spit my worm and swam away. I literally was sitting in the same position for about 10 seconds with my jaw on the floor. I was shocked. I had lost the big one. Now, I thought “ok this is where I will bring Tommy when he gets back and he will break his PB”.

Tommy gets back and we scarf down some burgers and tots from Sonic. Get back in the boat and we hit that island. Nothing bites. So we go on our merry way and keep on fishing. Fast forward to sun setting hours. So we start fishing our way around the islands heading back to the boat ramp. We hear/see a huge breach and crash at the opposite end of the big island and start fishing our way there.

Boom Tommy gets a nice 3 pounder. Then I am just hitting the shoreline and bring in my go to BPS 7” Black with blue fleck Stik-O T-Rig. About halfway up the island I get a tap. Just 1. I slowly pull up on my rod until I feel no movement. HOOK SET! Off to the races boys. This fish darted and pulled my rod down. Started stripping line. BREACH! It’s a big one Tommy get the net! Oh boy we are on for a long fight. Under the boat, down into the grass. Finally I pull it up to where Tommy can net it. Grass and all. 7.84 lbs and 22 inches my second largest bass of my life. Picture time and quick release. By quick I mean I had barely put her in the water and she bolted with a big splash of water that hit both of us. Sun still setting, we hit the last island before the ramp. I am thinking here we go, Tommy is going to hit the big fish that got away earlier. I tell him to send it. He gets another backlash, these had been a problem for him throughout the day. I fish to the right edge of the island to get away from the zone I previously hooked Big Bertha. Two to three twitches away from the shoreline and BAM! One Tap! Rinse and repeat. Hook set and off to the races. In this moment I thought “no way it’s another big fish”. It breaches the water and I yell BIG FISH! Inside I am having this horrible feeling that I am catching the fish that I wanted Tommy to get. I should have handed off my rod. But she dove under the boat and brought my rod nearly all the way under. I hit the button on my spool because my drag was not set correctly. I do this on big fish to make sure I don’t get a line snap. Same events occur and she swam under the boat and around it trying to get away. In the end, Tommy does another perfect net job and has the biggest smile on his face. Jeff you are not going to believe this. He puts his hand gently on her side and she is taller from belly to back than his hand. She’s a fat girl that ended up being over 7 lbs. I can’t remember the exact decimal numbers because I am just in shock that I have just caught back-to-back 7 pounders. Two heart pounding long fish fights.

That was it. No more bites and we felt it was great to leave on a high note. Plus the sun was almost down and it was time to get off the property anyway. So we packed up and went home.

I have been in the club for three years, patiently waiting for the big fish I had been expecting from the club properties. In my last two trips I have caught three 7-pounders and my new pb of 8.65 lbs at Double A Lake. Four fish over 7 pounds tells me that patience pays off.  Either I am the luckiest guy in the world right now or we are just hitting those Fall Bass I keep reading about. I wish I had more time and money to fish. Just harder on a teacher salary. This was Tommy’s birthday gift to me, and I know where we are going for Tommy’s birthday.

Get your butts to Terrell - The Bluffs of Sandy Shores. Bring patience and your “A” game. We missed about a third of the total fish we caught. We could have pushed 30 fish with better hooksets and not taking a break.