B.A. Steinhagen
FAIR. Water stain; 85 degrees; 0.26 feet below pool. Mayflies are hatching, so expect some topwater bass action. Bass are fair on soft plastics in the cuts, or with frogs over grass. Crappie are fair with jigs in flooded timber. Catfish are fair on juglines.
Bob Sandlin
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 85 degrees; 0.59 feet below pool. Channel catfish are fair in 25 feet of water on baited holes with stink bait. Crappie limits are possible in 25 feet of water on standing timber with black and green jigs. Channel catfish are fair in 25 feet of water on baited holes with stink bait. White bass are fair at night in the lights with a white spinnerbaits. Report by Joey Crews, Lake Bob Sandlin Chubby Chaser Guide Service. Black bass are chasing shad and bream. Windy retaining walls will produce marauding bass. Try topwater baits in a fish pattern and streamers in a Bream pattern. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Bass are excellent, especially late afternoon. Water clarity is good with 3 feet of visibility. Schools are suspending in 10 feet or less on main lake points on the north side of the lake, and points east of the railroad bridge. Use an Alabama rig, walking top water. Shaded walls next to points with bladed jigs or small swimbaits have produced bigger fish. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers.
Caddo
GOOD. Water stained; 80 degrees; 0.04 feet below pool. Bass are still in transition from the summer to fall pattern with fish schooling all over the lake. Topwater patterns like pop r, frog, spook, fluke or buzz baits should all work at daylight on the main lake around pads and grass matts. Go to a light Texas rig worm when sun rises. Target river cuts and turns with a dropshot, shaky head or shad color crank bait and you should get bit. This is a beautiful time of the year to come visit this majestic lake that God spoke into existence. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.
Conroe
GOOD. Water stained; 84 degrees; 0.66 feet below pool. Catfish are good all over with improved catches of keepers after the water cooled. Target catfish in 10-30 feet of water on catfish bubblegum, liver, worms, and punch bait. Bass are good early and late in shallow water and offshore midday on structure and ledges. Crappie are still poor but some can be caught on structure 12-25 feet. Hair jigs have been out producing plastics. Report by Brad Doyle with Bradley’s Guide Service. Hybrids have been scattered in 13-24 feet with some whites mixed in, some are trolling with a deep diver and a pet spoon trailer, others are using slabs from Bradley Outdoors to jig for them. Always wear your life jacket and stay hydrated in this heat. Report by Mike Cason, Fishical Therapy.
Fork
GOOD. Water Stained; 81 degrees; 1.62 feet below pool. Shallow bass bite is good early to mid morning around grass and smaller points in 2-4 feet with topwaters, flukes, or shaky heads and minus 1 type crankbaits. Carolina and Texas rigs are good on points and humps in 10-14 feet near drop-offs. Smaller baits catch numbers, but big worms will catch bigger bass. Crank baits such as DD 22,XD 5,XD 6 still fair, but have slowed down during the full moon. Best places are long points and over or around road beds in 15-20 feet. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Bass are aggressive on top water and shallow. Windy banks can provide schooling action so be ready with a small top water or streamer. Catfish are shallow around boat houses. Bream are excellent in the shallows, wooly buggers and small poppers should bring a strike. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. The Lake Fork crappie fishing continues to be excellent as we head into fall. You can find fish in a very large range of depths from 12-40 feet. Timber still has some great white crappie if you cover water and pick off those fish. Brush piles are holding decent numbers with a combination of white and black crappie. You can find black crappie on underwater road beds and bridges. We should see more and more black crappie on the tops of timber in deeper water over the next month. Minnows are a great bait but we did catch fish on small hand tied jigs this week. Soft plastics will work and that bite will get better as water cools off. The catfish bite is on fire in 18-28 feet around timber along creek channels. These fish are following bait migrations and will load up under your boat as you begin to fish. They will even elevate off the bottom as they load up so you can fish up and down the water column to find the larger fish. Use any prepared bait of choice to catch this fish. Using some cattle cubes or sour grain will attract and hold even more fish. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.
Houston County
SLOW. Water stained; 85 degrees; 0.05 feet below pool. Fishing patterns are consistent, but this should change as the weather begins to cool. Sunfish are good. Crappie are slow on minnows and jigs. Bass are slow midday, with the best bite in the morning.
Lake O’ the Pines
GOOD. Water stained; 90 degrees; 0.25 feet below pool. Water is stained and visibility is around 1 ft north of 155 bridge. Bass are good in the grass near the islands or off the points with a creek channel running on the end of the point. Bluegill colored flukes, creature baits will produce bites. Big fish can be caught with a black hollow body frog on top of matted grass, or a buzz toad along the edges of matted grass. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers.
Livingston
GOOD. slightly stained; 89 degrees; 0.65 feet below pool. White bass are great on roadbeds in 6-16 feet of water hitting Duck Tracker slabs. Report by Michael Richardson, Lake Livingston Adventures.
Martin Creek
GOOD. Water normal stain; 90 degrees; 1.33 feet below pool. Bass are good with red bug worms working the edge of the hydrilla. There are schooling bass along the county line road with best bait the 1/4 ounce chrome rattletrap. 6-8 XD crankbaits on deep brush. Crappie remain excellent in standing timber and brush piles in 25-30 feet of water. Minnows are the go to bait. Catfish are still being caught on jug lines with live bait in water above the thermocline. Fishing water depth that no thermocline is present. Reports given by Hambone guide service.
Nacogdoches
GOOD. Water normal stain; 82 degrees; 1.26 feet below pool. The clarity has improved to 4 feet of visibility. Largemouth bass are excellent with 3-5 pound fish being caught on small swimbaits and topwaters. There is a lots of schooling action. Crappie are excellent on 1/16 ounce white crappie jigs. Catfish are fair on live minnows and cut bait. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
Naconiche
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 82 degrees; 0.00 feet full pool. Much warmer temperatures have increased the surface temperature so this destabilizes the fish. They cannot decide if they need to stay or go from their typical summer haunts. Expect the next two cold fronts to drop the temperature down to the mid 70s before heading further down to set off the fall turnover. Keep an eye on the thermocline. This tells you the exact depth to present your offering. Even over deep water, do not go below this line. The square-bill crank 5 feet depth got the most bites over the weekend. If you find them hugging the bottom in 8-10 feet, dragging a Texas rig Mag-worm can be effective. Crappie population is good. Catfish are slow. Report by Eric Wolfe, NacoTack Fishing Services. Largemouth bass are good on topwaters and swimbaits. Crappie are excellent on brush and standing timber in 10-15 feet of water on 1/16 ounce white crappie jigs. Catfish are fair on cut bait in the fishing pier area. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
Pinkston
FAIR. normal stain; 82 degrees. Water clarity is clear. Largemouth bass are good on large or small swimbaits, and dropshots in 10-18 feet of water. Crappie are excellent on 1/16 ounce white crappie jig. Catfish are slow on live minnows or cut bait. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
Raven
FAIR. Water light stain; 85 degrees. Crappie are fair on minnows and artificial grubs. Bass are fair on soft plastic artificials. Catfish are fair on worms fished off the bottom. Bluegill are excellent at the boathouse dock on crappie bites and worms.
Sam Rayburn
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 85 degrees; 0.61 feet below pool. Bass are schooling on points biting Carolina rigs. There is topwater action in the grass in the morning. Crappie are fair on 27 feet on brush piles with minnows over jigs. Blue and channel catfish are fair in 24-27 feet of water on cut bait and minnows. Report by Captain Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service. Lake level is holding steady, but expect the lake to drop to 5-7 feet low to continue to work on the dam in the future. Fish are in all stages of the transition. Target bass with jig head minnows and forward facing sonar. Bass are suspended at the mouth of creeks and on offshores flats chasing bait. When bass are schooling on the bottom cast a Carolina rig, dropshot, and shaky head. There is an abundance of shallow fish and this pattern should continue through the fall. Target the hay grass and flooded bushes early in the morning to catch bass chasing bait using a chatterbait, swimbait or frog. Report by Hank Harrison, Double H Precision Guide Service.
Toledo Bend
FAIR. Water normal stain; 82 degrees; 4.08 feet below pool. Bass fishing has improved, but forecast is showing lots cooler temperatures so this may slow the bite. Shallow fish coming on topwaters and chatterbaits, most of these fish coming on main lake points and in back of creeks. Mid range fish are coming on Texas rig and mid running crankbaits in 8-12 feet of water. There are a good number of fish schooling on some main lake ridges and half way back in creeks, as the water cools back off this week, these fish will really get going better. Good numbers of deep fish, action is good just not that many good ones, most are small to 14 inches. These fish are coming on Carolina rigs, big crankbaits and dropshots. Report by Stephen Johnston, Johnston Fishing.
Tyler
GOOD. Water normal stain; 84 degrees; 0.73 feet below pool. Crappie are good with minnows on brush in 16-20 feet of water, and off the barge. Catfish are fair to good in 10-16 feet of water liver and nightcrawlers. Bream are good on red worms off the barge and throughout the lake. Bass are fair on topwater baits, crankbaits and spinner baits in 4-12 feet of water. Report by The Boulders at Lake Tyler.
