Toledo Bend Guide - July 2010

July – That is a four letter word meaning HOT! However, if you are in the right spot at the right time the fishing can also be hot.

Here are the results from a few of our Toledo Bend bass tournaments –

The Sabine River Authority (SRA) 4th Annual Crappie For Cash event (7 crappie could be weighed in and all had to be alive) was won by Brandon Guidry and Brian Simon with 10-23 pounds. The team was fishing in about 20-feet of water over brushpiles. Big crappie of the event was taken by the team of Ted Willis and C.J. Lester and weighed 2.05 pounds.

The FLW American Fishing Series Texas Division took place June 19th and pro angler Bart Blakelock caught a three day total of 66.02 pounds (15 bass) to take top honors and over $22,000. Blakelock had 23 pounds on Day 1, 25.02 on Day 2 and ended up on Day 3 with 18 pounds. I might mention that on Day 2 he caught a whopping 9.12 lunker that was Big Bass of the tournament. The baits used were shad colored DD22’s, Texas-rigged Junebug 10-inch worms and Stanley’s peanut butter and jelly Bug-eyed jigs in 18-25-feet of water over main-lake ridges.

Stephen F. Austin’s Blaze Platt and Ryan Watkins took 1st Place in the National Guard FLW College Fishing event that was held on TB June 19th. Joe Brower (Boater) took these two young men fishing for the event and they weighed in six bass for 19.01 pounds .. and won $10,000 that will be divided between Stephen F. Austin University and University Bass Fishing Club.

The 2 Of Us Couples S.E. Region held its final event at Lowe’s Creek Park June 13th with John and Christie Cure placing first with five bass that weighed 16.85 pounds. John also had a 6.69-pounds big bass of the tournament.

Fairmount Bass Club had its monthly night tournament on June 26th with Archie Bolyard taking 1st place with a fine stringer of bass that weighed 17.96 pounds. Jim Binns placed 2nd with 10.08, Gary Glende 3rd with 9.18, Dean Morgan 4th with 1.88 and Richard Bolyard took 5th place honors with 1.21 pounds. Most of the bass seem to have been taken in 14- to 25 feet of water on larger plastic worms. Next tournament will be a night fishing event July 24th from 8pm to 2am.

It was a great month for tournaments and July should be even better.

That will get us caught up on what took place in the fishing world last month on Toledo Bend so let’s look some stats and a forecast for July.

Lake Conditions: 07/4/2010 6:30 AM
Lake Level 168.42
Generator 1 Currently Shut Down
Generator 2 Currently Shut Down
Spillway Gates Closed
Current Waterflow 204

CFS Lake Level Last 9 Years on 7/04 – 2001 (171.49), 2002 (171.28), 2003 (170.62), 2004 (172.51), 2005 (168.02), 2006 (166.31), 2007 (171.55), 2008 (170.96), 2009 (170.32) This information provided courtesy of the U. S. Geological Survey

We need some nice slow rain. It sure would help my yard and it would be great to see TB add a few more feet of water before the weather REALLY gets hot. Water surface temperatures range in the high 80’s and I would rate the clarity in the southern part of the lake as clear to very clear.

Bass – Start shallow and as the sun gets up go deep. There have been some really good reports using topwater baits such as a Stanley Ribbit, Chug-Bug, Pop-R, and a clear Heddon Torpedo. A fun bait to also fish is the Zara Spook with its “walking the dog” side-to-side action. Topwater action is over fairly quickly unless you have some cloud cover, so plan to be on the water very early or late in the afternoon. Stanley Bug-Eyed Jig

Night fishermen are sacking up some really good bass fishing the main-lake ridges and humps. Baits to use include the Stanley football head jig (1/2-to 1-oz) in a watermelon, black/blue or peanut butter and jelly color. Strike King’s “Hack Attack” jig with a “Rage Tail” trailer can also be very effective.

I have had better luck recently with a Texas-rigged worm rather than the Carolina-rig, however, that can change fast so have both ready. The larger 10-inch type worms have worked well in a watermelon-candy black/blue, red shad or black/red color. Work the bait near drop-offs and expect a few hang-ups .. but also some quality bites.

When night fishing try your favorite spots at different times during the Suzanne Hennigan

night. Bass can turn on and off and you want to be sure you are in one of your good spots when they turn-on and start feeding.

I have also caught some nice bass using a deep diving crankbait in a shad color. Chunk it a few times near the edges of creeks or on the humps and you may be pleased with the results. Some of the bass are suspended and a crankbait may be just the ticket to catch a limit.

Lots of anglers take fish in deeper water and then the bass will start floating in the livewell. This is caused by the expanded air bladder and you need to “fizz” or release the pressure so the bass can swim normally. How To Fizz A Bass

Crappie: Anglers that are catching crappie consistently are the ones using live shiners and fishing them near or in brush-piles that are located in 18-30-feet of water.

Bream/Perch – Fish the boat docks. Lots of bigger perch are starting to show up and all of them want a big, juicy nightcrawler.

Yellow Bass – Starting to see lots more being caught in from 14-to 25-feet of water. My granddaughter and I caught about 75 last week but didn’t have too many of the big guys. If you haven’t fried up a fellow bass fillet you are sure missing out on some fine eating.

Catfish – Not too many reports but a few reports of smaller fish being taken on trotlines baited with soap.

See you out on the water – I will be in a red and white Nitro so wave to me and we can chat. -- JB

****I have had a number of people ask me about the vegetation that is around their boat docks and swimming area. In most cases it is not Giant Salvinia … and seems to be Alligator Weed and/or Eurasian Milfoil and Alligator Weed. See photos below … Alligator Weed and Eurasian Milfoil