B.A. Steinhagen
FAIR. Water stain; 55 degrees; 1.04 feet below pool. Very few anglers on the water. Expect fish to start pushing shallow as the water warms.
Bob Sandlin
GOOD. Water stained; 50 degrees; 0.60 feet above pool. Water clarity has been 1-2 feet in northern coves. Wind has been pushing bait along banks at the first half of coves. Fish are schooling up under bait, and can be caught with Alabama rigs, spinnerbaits, spoons, and underspins. Docks in 10-12 feet of water are also good with squarebill crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service. Look for small male bass around sandy banks in mouths of coves. Small streamers and craw patterns should produce bass. Crappie and catfish should be moving shallow when the weather stabilizes, wooly buggers should work well. Slow-sinking small fish patterns might work well. Clousers on sunny rocky shores might draw a strike. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.
Caddo
SLOW. Water stained; 58 degrees; 1.59 feet above pool. Water temperature is staying around 58 degrees, but should jump into the mid to upper 60s this week. The bass bite is about to be on fire with the warm spring forecast. Water level is at a good point to get in some backwaters throwing flukes and senkos around the trees. On windy days stay with a chatterbait or spinnerbait and just hit as many trees as you can, remember to throw the bait past the trees and swim the bait beside the tree versus throwing at the tree because that will spook the fish. The full moon should trigger some nice catches of big females. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.
Conroe
GREAT. Water stained; 59 degrees; 0.01 feet above pool. Catfish are good on baited holes from 10-50 feet deep, and drifting creek channels and wind blown flats. Bass are plentiful in shallow water with rattle traps, chatterbaits, swimbaits and soft plastics. Crappie are a bit fickle on and off in 12-22 feet of water. Report by Bradley Doyle, Bradley’s Guide Service. Hybrids can still be caught near river channels and flats in 33-39 feet of water deadsticking, but it is going to depend on the water temperature. Switch to live bait or jigging once the lake is consistently above 58 degrees. Always wear your life jacket! Report by Mike Cason, Fishical Therapy.
Fork
GOOD. Water Stained; 57 degrees; 0.10 feet below pool. Water temperature is 54-59 degrees in most places. Shallow bite is good all over the lake with chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, senkos, and flukes are very good in 1-3 feet. Squarebill crankbaits are good in 2-4 feet on flats and near ditches. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Catching small bass shallow with baitfish streamers. Larger females will become more active as warm days continue around structure and brush. The crappie should be moving shallow and Wooly buggers can be a good choice. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Lake Fork water temperatures are headed upward, hopefully for good this week. There are tons of prespawn crappie and some active spawning fish. You can find fish shallow in the afternoons and that should get better all day long this week. Lots of fish are still to be found in the 6-20 feet range. This week there were numbers of roaming crappie not relating to structure. Hand tied jigs, soft plastics and minnows all will work now if you get the bait close to the fish. Recent rains still have the north ends of the lake muddy or stained, so you need to focus on getting bait right on fish. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.
Houston County
SLOW. Water stained; 59 degrees; 0.34 feet above pool. Fishing patterns are similar. Expect fish to begin transitioning to shallow water to stage for the spawn. Target bass with Carolina rigs and rattle traps. Crappie can be caught with jigs or minnows.
Lake O’ the Pines
FAIR. Water slightly stained; 55 degrees; 1.34 feet above pool. Water clarity has been 1-2 feet in northern coves. Wind has been pushing bait along banks at the first half of coves. Bass are schooling up under bait, and can be caught with Alabama rigs, spinnerbaits, spoons, and underspins. Docks in 10-12 feet of water are also good with squarebill crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits. Some bass are related to grass hitting shad and bluegill colored bladed jigs. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service.
Livingston
GOOD. normal stain; 55 degrees; 0.60 feet above pool. White bass are in the creeks and should be for the next few weeks spawning. Harmon Creek, White Rock Creek, Rocky Creek and Kickapoo Creeks are all good spots. Rattle traps and squarebill crankbaits work great. Report by Michael Richardson, Lake Livingston Adventures.
Martin Creek
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 61 degrees; 0.10 below pool. Bass are good over the hydrilla using bladed jigs and swimbaits, spinnerbaits and redbug worms. Crappie are good fishing brush and laydowns in 15-25 feet with minnows and pintail jigs. Sand bass are good in the discharge area off points in 12-14 feet with small jigging spoons. Catfish are good in the discharge area with live and cut bait. Report by Hambone Guide Service.
Nacogdoches
GOOD. Water stained; 58 degrees; 0.03 feet above pool. Largemouth bass are excellent in 3-5 feet of water on stick baits and bladed jigs. Crappie are excellent roaming in large groups on brush piles in 5-10 feet of water with chartreuse jigs. Catfish are fair on live minnows or cut bait. The water clarity is muddy. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
Naconiche
GOOD. Water slightly stained; 58 degrees; 0.50 feet above pool. Bass are good with a few 5 pounds possible on Alabama rigs and large glide baits. As always, natural shad imitations get bit, but dirty water might require bolder colors. Rip a chatterbait through the top of grass to land the bass prestaging there. Crappie population is good. Catfish are slow. Report by Eric Wolfe, NacoTack Fishing Services. Largemouth bass are excellent with green pumpkin wacky rigs up shallow, or light Carolina rigs. Crappie are slow while fish are in a transition. Catfish are slow on live minnows around fishing docks. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
Pinkston
FAIR. normal stain; 58 degrees. Largemouth bass are good on small swimbaits and wacky rigs in 5-8 feet of water. Crappie are slow on live minnows. Catfish are fair on cut bait. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.
Raven
SLOW. Water light stain; 55 degrees. Fishing is very slow, with no reports of any catches across the board. Water conditions are rough and the lake is stirred up due to strong winds this week. Cool morning temperatures and warm afternoon temperatures are in the forecast for the next week, so fishing should improve.
Sam Rayburn
SLOW. Water stained; 58 degrees; 1.73 feet above pool. Bass are slow to move on spawning beds while water is coming in, and water is being released. Bass are in the creeks, points and pockets staging in near spawning areas in 8 feet of water. Flipping the outside hay grass and buck bush rattle traps will land a few bites. Crappie are moving to creek pockets, and catfish are transitioning to creek pockets to spawn. Few white bass on points in the creeks hitting rattle traps, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. Report by Captain Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service.
Toledo Bend
SLOW. Water stained; 60 degrees; 0.70 feet below pool. There are more anglers on the water as water temperatures are now 60 degrees. Lots of bass on the bank spawning or in prespawn. The bite will especially be good with the full moon. The shallow bite has been best with wacky worms, senkos, Texas rig lizards and if wind is blowing. They will still eat spinnerbait or chatterbait. Deeper fish can be found on main lake points in 8-12 feet with a Carolina rig and football jig. Crappie are picking back up in the backs of the creeks with roadrunners and tube jigs. Bends in the creeks have been the best place to hold the bigger crappie in 6-8 feet near shallow flats. As water warms the action will continue to improve. Report by Stephen Johnston, Johnston Fishing.
Tyler
GOOD. Water normal stain; 60 degrees; 0.30 feet above pool. Crappie can be caught as shallow as 2 feet with jigs or minnows. Bass are staging in drains and areas leading to spawning flats weightless plastics, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. Report by Holton Walker, Holton Walker Fishing.
Welsh
FAIR. Water stained. 60 degrees. A few reports and anglers on the water.
Wright Patman
SLOW. Water stained; 55 degrees; 5.31 feet above pool. Expect the bite to improve and fish to push shallow. Catfish are fair. Bass are slow, but should be staging to spawn. Crappie are staged on brush in 8-12 feet getting ready to spawn.
