Toledo Bend Guide - Fishing Report May 2010

Windy, Windy, Windy! I am ready for all of this wind to stop. However, if you can time it right when the wind isn’t howling the lake can be absolutely beautiful.

Let’s hope for a decrease in wind and an increase in rain during the month of May.

Lake Conditions: 05/10/2010 6:30 AM Lake Level 170.36 Generator 1 Currently running 5hrs. 4pm. - 9pm. Generator 2 Currently running 5hrs. 4pm. - 9pm. Spillway Gates Closed Current Waterflow 204 CFS

The recent cool front sure did feel good and cooled down the lake somewhat. Last week I saw surface temperatures from 68 to 74 degrees and I would rate the clarity of our water in the southern part of the lake as clear.

Bass - You can get in on some pre-spawn and post spawn action on this part of the lake. There are still quite a few bass on beds but I am starting to see more and more bass out on the main lake ridges and humps .. and some of these fish are big and hungry. Last Monday I took a 7-pound 7-ounce bass on a 5/8-ounce Texan jig that had a watermelon skirt with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer. The fish was chunky and just a beautiful bass. Good color selections are also black/blue and green pumpkin. Strike King RageCraw

You will hear a bunch about the new Texan jigs in the near future because many changes have been made and the bait is one of the best on the market. Great skirt colors, and a selection of very strong hooks (even red) make this one of the jigs to have on the other end of your line if you are lunker hunting .. especially during the upcoming McDonalds Big Bass event which will be on Toledo Bend May 21-23.

Anglers who are on the lake early can get into some good spinnerbait and buzzbait action and the best colors have been chartreuse/white, white and Toledo Gold. I have had best luck on the gold and silver willow leaf blade combo, however a few guys fishing the Louisiana Top 6 caught their fish using white blades.

There is still a good bite using a Creme Wacky Stick-type bait but you have to really fish the bait slow. At times we have had to downsize from the normal 5" size to a 3 1/2-inch size bait. Best colors have been watermelon, watermelon-chartreuse and watermelon red.

Topwater action is starting to pick up with the Pop-R and other small chugger type baits producing best. The key is to fish the bait s-l-o-w. The bite on a Creme "FishFrog" and Stanley's "Ribbit" will just get better and better, and with the abundance of grass in the southern part of the lake this type of fishing will really be fun. Suzanne Hennigan with 10-pounder

Suzanne Hennigan loves the Pop-R as indicated by this 10-pounder she recently caught. Go Girl!!!!

Sage anglers will keep a Texas and Carolina rig handy during the upcoming months. The Texas rig will be very effective near the grassy edges and when you have a slight chop on the water. I use a larger slip sinker and big worm when probing the edges of the creek channels and humps. The Carolina-rig is a bread and butter bait for many anglers and it can be fished from the shoreline out to 30-feet or more.

If you haven't tried a Carolina-rig you need to because it can really get the bites required when the fishing is tough. Best colors are the watermelon-red, watermelon-candy and camo. I have had a couple of folks say they are starting to catch some good bass on deep-diving crankbaits, Jason & Michael Nevels

Crappie: These guys are here one day and gone the next. I caught up with Michael and Jason Nevels last week and they were catching some really nice fish on small Road Runners and tubes .. but most of the bigger fish were coming on minnows. It was a slow bite but they were getting 12-15 per trip and many were real "slabs". The fish were taken from 14- to 24 feet and many of the fish were suspended over the deeper water. Some reports are also coming in on crappie being taken along the outside edge of the grassline.

Catfish -- Not many reports but the ones I have received say that lots of smaller cats are coming in on trotlines using soap for bait.

***Late Breaking News - I just received a note from a friend in Louisiana and here is the scoop -- A lady fishing in a kyak on 40-acre Valentine Lake last night caught a bass that weighs 15.8 pounds. The fish was 27-inches long and had a 25-inch girth. The bass had some slack in the belly so had probably already spawned. Valentine Lake was stocked with 4,087 bass in April 2000 and threadfin shad in 2003. Louisiana College students have helped sink artifical reefs into the lake and it has been limed and fertilized on a regular basis. A 13-pounder was caught two years ago and was weighed and released back into the lake. More information and pictures as they become available. WOW!
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Update - Huge Bass Caught from Kayak

Here is Regina's account:
Thursday, May 6, 2010, at 8 PM, I caught a fish of a lifetime. I have fished Valentine Lake in Gardner, La for many of years. I would have never guessed that a fish of this size would be caught out of this lake. Someone pinch me! That Thursday, my friend, Lisa Alexander and I took one of our many kayak fishing trips to Valentine Lake. We started fishing around 5:30 PM that evening. There were at least three people including a man fishing from the pier not too far from us. Lisa and I fish the southwest end of the lake because of the grassy shallow areas which I call a bass haven. Around 7:45 PM, I was watching the top of the water for any movement and notice a very big swirl on the opposite side of the Lake. I continued to watch and noticed that the swirl happened again in the same location. I decided to give it a few cast before going in for the afternoon.

I was fishing with a weightless worm, Zoom, Mag II plum. I cast out several times and on the fourth cast, she took it immediately. When she took it, it was like I caught something other than a fish. I was thinking an alligator at that moment. I started yelling at Lisa to come and help me. I didn’t have time to think, I could

barely hold the rod and reel in my hands with all the jerking of my kayak. When I got it closer to the kayak I noticed the eye ball of fish underneath the thick grass that she had went through. I reached down into the water to grab her mouth and I felt a little frightened. Suddenly, I realized what I had caught. I pulled this

monster fish into the kayak without flipping it, unbelievable! I held on to her with a death grip until my friend Lisa pulled up beside me. She couldn’t believe her eyes and I was so much in shock that I could say anything. After figuring out a plan to get her in, Lisa tied our kayaks together and made it to the pier where a gentleman helped us put her into my large storage bin of my kayak. It took us at least half and hour to get our kayaks loaded up and head back to Lisa’s house.

I called my Dad, and both of my brother-in-laws, they didn’t believe anything that I was telling them so I gave up on the phone calls. We got back to the house where I placed her immediately into an ice chest of water. She was barely alive. Lisa took her old meat scales and calibrated a bucket and found her to weigh 16.25lbs at that

time. We called Lisa’s dad, which was a retired wildlife and fishery employee and gave us some names and numbers. We then called our good friend, T.W. Thompson, the commissioner in Alexandria, La. I immediately took the fish to the Mayor’s house. Approximately ten people were present and making phone calls to try and find certification. It was close to 10:30 PM by that time she was weighed at Kroger’s in Alexandria, La, weighing her at 15.88 LBS.

Here's Lisa's account:

Regina Womack and myself took our kayaks to Valentine lake yesterday after work.. we go regularly and always catch a few.. but this is what we left with last night.. .she caught it right as the sun was setting in her

kayak... I was about a hundred yards away when she starts yelling.. "OMG.. OMG.. OMG!! Lisa come over here quick.. come help me .. OMG OMG OMG so I paddle over just as she hauls this BIG SOW into her lap... Regina was holding on with both hands to the bass's mouth and shaking like and earthquake... it was over 16 pounds last night.. but official weight after losing some.. 15.88 lbs.. will be number 2 in La State record books.. omg.. what a night!!!! Both of us purchased kayaks from your establishment and have had many many good times and experiences with them!! Her's is a Native.. Mine is a Wilderness Tarpon.

See you out on the water -- JB

MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010 Huge Bass Caught from Kayak Valentine Lake Bass

Email from Lisa Alexander about a fishing trip that she and friend Regina Womack took with their new kayaks to fish in Lake Valentine up near Alexandria. On the trip, Regina caught a near-state record Largemouth Bass. Here are two accounts of the event. Here is Regina's account: Thursday, May 6, 2010, at 8 PM, I caught a fish of a lifetime. I have fished Valentine Lake in Gardner, La for many of years. I would have never guessed that a fish of this size would be caught out of this lake. Someone pinch me! That Thursday, my friend, Lisa Alexander and I took one of our many kayak fishing trips to Valentine Lake. We started fishing around 5:30 PM that evening. There were at least three people including a man fishing from the pier not too far from us. Lisa and I fish the southwest end of the lake because of the grassy shallow areas which I call a bass haven. Around 7:45 PM, I was watching the top of the water for any movement and notice a very big swirl on the opposite side of the Lake. I continued to watch and noticed that the swirl happened again in the same location. I decided to give it a few cast before going in for the afternoon. I was fishing with a weightless worm, Zoom, Mag II plum. I cast out several times and on the fourth cast, she took it immediately. When she took it, it was like I caught something other than a fish. I was thinking an alligator at that moment. I started yelling at Lisa to come and help me. I didn’t have time to think, I could barely hold the rod and reel in my hands with all the jerking of my kayak. When I got it closer to the kayak I noticed the eye ball of fish underneath the thick grass that she had went through. I reached down into the water to grab her mouth and I felt a little frightened. Suddenly, I realized what I had caught. I pulled this monster fish into the kayak without flipping it, unbelievable! I held on to her with a death grip until my friend Lisa pulled up beside me. She couldn’t believe her eyes and I was so much in shock that I could say anything. After figuring out a plan to get her in, Lisa tied our kayaks together and made it to the pier where a gentleman helped us put her into my large storage bin of my kayak. It took us at least half and hour to get our kayaks loaded up and head back to Lisa’s house. I called my Dad, and both of my brother-in-laws, they didn’t believe anything that I was telling them so I gave up on the phone calls. We got back to the house where I placed her immediately into an ice chest of water. She was barely alive. Lisa took her old meat scales and calibrated a bucket and found her to weigh 16.25lbs at that time. We called Lisa’s dad, which was a retired wildlife and fishery employee and gave us some names and numbers. We then called our good friend, T.W. Thompson, the commissioner in Alexandria, La. I immediately took the fish to the Mayor’s house. Approximately ten people were present and making phone calls to try and find certification. It was close to 10:30 PM by that time she was weighed at Kroger’s in Alexandria, La, weighing her at 15.88 LBS. Here's Lisa's account: Regina Womack and myself took our kayaks to Valentine lake yesterday after work.. we go regularly and always catch a few.. but this is what we left with last night.. .she caught it right as the sun was setting in her kayak... I was about a hundred yards away when she starts yelling.. "OMG.. OMG.. OMG!! Lisa come over here quick.. come help me .. OMG OMG OMG so I paddle over just as she hauls this BIG SOW into her lap... Regina was holding on with both hands to the bass's mouth and shaking like and earthquake... it was over 16 pounds last nite.. but official weight after losing some.. 15.88 lbs.. will be number 2 in La State record books.. omg.. what a nite!!!! Both of us purchased kayaks from your establishment and have had many many good times and experiences with them!! Her's is a Native.. Mine is a Wilderness Tarpon.