Check those licenses before they expire
Published 6:21 pm Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Joe Joslin / Special to American Press
Hello, anglers and outdoor fanatics.
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Again, another reminder to Louisiana anglers and hunters: our fishing and hunting license expire June 30.
Also, because July 4th comes shortly thereafter, make sure you have your license prior to hitting the lake because there will be numerous game and fish officials on the lake making sure everyone is obeying Louisiana and Texas laws, and not just fishing licenses but also checking for those who abuse alcohol.
Texas hunting and fishing licenses are good until Aug. 30.
Lake conditions
The lake level was 171.22 feet with both generators running 24/7 and one gate open at the spillway.
Water temperatures were running 86-87 degrees on main lake and 88-89 in coves.
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North Toledo was stained, midlake was slightly stained with south Toledo mostly clear with some stained conditions in the back of major feeder creeks such as Housen Bay and Six mile and Sandy creeks.
Fishing report
BASS: With the lake level falling, shallow holding bass are getting easier to pattern. On shallow bass in 2-8 feet — mostly in 4-6 feet — we continue to use wacky rigs, Texas-rigged creature baits and square billed crankbaits.
Our deep patterns continue to be drop-shot, deep-running crankbaits and Carolina rigs. We are running deep-diving crankbaits and Carolina rigs in the same areas we use dropshot. We are also catching a few bass on chrome-and-gold half-ounce jigging spoons.
On our square bill crankbaits we are using Berkley’s SquareBull in black chartreuse and black silver. If its low light I use black chartreuse; if it’s bright a use black silver. These run about 4-6 feet which make them perfect with the depth we are fishing.
On our wacky rigs were are using Berkley’s The General and Senkos. On The General I like pumpkin party and pumpkin. With the Senko I like watermelon blue flake and mad melon. On my wacky rig I like to use 10-pound monofilament test, 2/0 Fusion Aberdeen hook, a spinning reel and a 7-foot-3 medium-action spinning rod. This allows me to catch up when the bass comes straight towards me and the medium-action rod allows me to set the hook with a solid hook set without breaking off the 10-pound line.
We continue to catch bass on traditional drop-shot rigs fishing vertical with a 10-pound line, No. 2 2 Fusion drop-shot hook with a 6.25-inch Bottom Hopper in Ike’s morning dawn. On our deep water crankbaits we use DD22 Bill Norman which run about 18 feet when using 12-pound fluorocarbon test. My favorite color with clear water is sexy shad.
On jigging spoons I like 15-pound monofilament with a medium-action rod so when the bass jumps it will have some flexibility to keep from pulling the hook out of the bass’ mouth. You will lose some bass on a jigging spoon, but the medium-action does help.
Our Carolina rig has 17-pound fluorocarbon on both the leader and main line. My leader is 18-36 inches and my favorite baits include a 7- and 10-inch Power Bait and a 6-inch Power Lizard in green pumpkin.
Every soft plastic I use I take a chartreuse “Spike-it” pen that is loaded with garlic. This increases my confidence a bunch as either bass love the garlic smell or it kills our scent. I will not cast a soft plastic without first using the pen.
CRAPPIE: Guides George Jeane and Tater Reynolds said the bite is still very good.
“One day you will catch 150 and the next day 80,” Jeane said.
Eighty crappie is a great day in my way of thinking, and when you clean that last No. 80 crappie, you will be glad to be finished cleaning slabs. They continue to be fairly deep at 25-30 feet with live shiners the best bait, but some were being caught on whiteperch jigs with blue body and white tail and red body and chartreuse tail.
Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn. His column appears Wednesdays. Contact him at 463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com or visit www.joejoslinoutdoors.com
Toledo angler Ray Morrow with a trophy bass that hit a Texas-rigged creature bait.
