Reservation Number : 31018
Property Name : Heartbrand Ranch
Reservation Date : 01/29/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 40; mostly 2-2.5#
Lures Used : chase baits and soft plastics

Ron Dupree and I arrived at beautiful Heartbrand Ranch and found clear skies, a light breeze, 26 degree air temperature (forecast called for 36 degrees), and 50-51 degree water.  Ron made his first cast from shore while I was still unloading the truck and landed a 2.5# bass. While he couldn’t repeat that with his next cast, he went on a tear for the next 1.5 hours, landing 14 2-2.5# bass.  He had the perfect chase bait while my similar (but not identical) one only enticed five or six. Once in the club boat, we circled the lake and caught a bass here and there but didn’t find any concentrations or a very strong pattern.  There was no visible chasing activity to key into and fish were hard to find on the fishfinder.  Nothing was caught on soft plastics. All the fish were very light colored (silvery) due to lack of submerged vegetation or cover and were full-bodied but not yet pre-spawn fat. In the afternoon, chase baits were almost totally ignored and soft plastics were the choice. The bass had moved to mid-depth water but not the deepest.  Three times we observed what appeared to be a school of fish pass under the boat on the fishfinder and on twice these occasions a worm dropped straight down resulted in an immediate hookup. Unfortunately, we were unable to track these roving bass. We ended the day with 41 bass, the largest about 3.75#, and only one harvested.

The lake is almost full and has 18”+ of visibility with lightly stained water.  Water temperature never reached 52.

In addition to the resident cattle, we were entertained by the (loud) geese, numerous wild turkeys, and a large herd of deer.

Despite the cold start, it was an enjoyable day of good January fishing at a beautiful property.