Camped at Hickory Creek with my son (Bobby), grandson (Carson), and son-in-law (Kevin) after a good cold front rolled through the previous night. The ranch got a quarter inch of much need rain but the roads were still drivable.

It was the first time camping for my 6 year old grandson and he was super excited! The smaller back lake provides such a great venue for a camping/fishing trip (there is even fresh water outlet by the far shelter). Such a serene setting! We had a nice visit with the Ranch Owner just after lunch on Saturday, as we were pitching our tents, and thanked him for allowing to access his beautiful property. He invited us to fish the big lake as there was no wedding taking place that afternoon.

Just after setting up camp we spied a curious armadillo wandering near the bank which provided Carson a chance to work on his hunter-gatherer skills… till the armadillo decided to book! Following that episode we started fishing the small tank. The water was crystal clear (75F) on the back lake (I’m guessing the water is down about 4ft) and the tank is still rimmed by submerged grass. Kevin and Bobby set out on the Jon boat and immediately had success fishing the channel in the middle of lake north of the island. Kevin landed a 21.5” (6lb) bass (his PB) on his second cast and followed that up with a 19” and a 17” on a weightless fluke fished like a jerkbait. Bobby caught a 17” & 16” on a wacky set up. Carson and I caught a couple of 16” bass from the bank throwing a weightless fluke above the submerged grass and on a spinnerbait where we found open pockets of water. The four of us finished the afternoon fishing from the bank on the big lake by the bridge. The highlight from this late afternoon session was Kevin hooking up with another 19” bass before settling in for a dinner followed by s’mores by the campfire while taking in the full moon & stars. Over the course of the night we were serenaded by some nearby owls and some howling coyotes.

We rose on Sunday to a 50F misty overcast morning and on the way back from breakfast in town we were thrilled to be greeted by a large bald eagle perched in the big dead oak by the bridge on the ranch. It was majestic! After a few minutes of watching the eagle we drove to the Jon boat, got set up and headed out to the bush piles to catch some crappie. We didn’t have much success (only caught one) but we did spot a huge dead alligator? turtle and then had an otter swim within 10ft of our location by the dam and play around the boat for a few minutes. Between the four of us (fishing from the boat and the bak) we caught only 6 bass (Kevin once again with the biggest at 19”) and the 1 small crappie before breaking camp and heading back to Htown.

All in all we caught 24 bass between the two lakes (culled 6 on the big lake) and 1 crappie over the two half day sessions. We had an awesome time camping and spooked 6 whitetail deer as we were departing the ranch!

The pictures pretty much sum up our experience and my grandson can’t wait till our next camping trip!

Thanks to PWF for having this property in the club!

Bob