Reservation Number : 33432
Property Name : Hickory Creek Ranch Lakes
Reservation Date : 08/07/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 40 up to 5.62 lbs; 7 harvested
Lures Used : Chatterbait, TX-rigged craw, light Carolina rig, Beetlespin, fluke

Well, this well-managed lake quickly out-delivered results from fishing a large public water lake on the day before. After just a few casts, Ron Dupree landed a nice bass from shore after a violent topwater explosion. It took me a little longer, but we enjoyed about 45 minutes of topwater, lipless crankbait, and chatterbait action as the sun rose and the heat and humidity set it. We loaded up the club boat (the boat stand that Wade built is great at keeping critters, ants, and water out of the boat) and set out. We had immediate success in the shallow SE corner (the one with the lure-eating submerged timber) and caught a few in front of the dam and near one of the brushpiles. As we continued to circle the lake, the western shoreline delivered many bites on craws and flukes but mostly smaller bass.  The island area was uncharacteristically unproductive.  We moved around quite a bit all day searching for a sustainable pattern but it was more of a “one here and one there” day.  The brushpile nearest the dam probably delivered the most bass. Unlike prior reports, crankbaits didn’t deliver this trip with various plastics (craw, worm, fluke), chatterbaits, and Beetlespins ruling the day.

The lake is down almost 2 feet but vegetation is minimal.  We walked the bank around the back lake for about 30-40 minutes and caught 4 bass but nearshore vegetation is thicker there and boat-fishing would likely have been more productive.

We left late afternoon having landed 40 bass and harvesting 7 bass. There was a nice size distribution with Ron landing a 5.62# on a craw and me landing a 5# on a chatterbait.  We also had a handful of 3.5 – 4# bass.

This was another fun trip to a well-managed lake and we were pleased with the results, particularly since the lake had been fished hard twice in the previous four days.