One of the great things about this time of year in Sabine County is
the influx of anglers and the buzz of activity around town when the fishing
season gets into full swing. As with each new season we see anglers from
all around the country coming to test the waters of Toledo Bend and Sam
Rayburn for both pleasure and profit. This year we are fortunate to be
the host lake of a
major tournament, the BASS Top 150 and that will focus even more attention
on the area and what it has to offer the angling tourist.
The Toledo Bend action is set to kick off this coming week with practice days beginning on Sunday and tournament action on Wednesday. We will see the top 150 BASS Pros and another 150 amateurs vying for a Pro purse of $110,000 and an Am purse of a fully rigged Ranger boat. As these guys will be in town for the next week, keep in mind that this is our chance to make them feel welcome and encourage other tournament circuits to come as well. Get out and show your support! You can catch weigh-in action over at Cypress Bend Wednesday through Saturday.
So what kind of action will these guys find while there here? Well, I’ve had great reports coming in all week of T-Bend. Water temp is warming on up with it registering in the mid 50s in many areas, and we are looking at right at a full pool of water. Fish are coming out of the two to five foot depths and from around the edge of the bushes as well around the Johnson grass. Baits are ranging from many spring time favorites including 1/4 oz spinnerbaits, wacky worms, as well as 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz Rat L Traps. Other fish are coming from a depth of five to twelve feet on top of the grass and the Traps as well as Rogues and small crankbaits were the key here.
Yet another bunch of fish are coming from ten to fifteen feet of water on the deep edge of the grass. These were especially important with the passing of the latest cold front this past weekend. When the water cooled some, a crankbait worked on this deep edge became easier to catch than the shallow fish. The pressure changes don’t affect the deeper fish quite as much as those more shallow, so they played an important role with those who caught fish over the weekend.
Sam Rayburn has also had a few reports coming in. As a matter of fact,
Big Sam saw its share of tournament action over the weekend. The Anglers
Choice Pro/Am visited the lake and turned out some really good stringers.
First place went to Orange angler Tommy Dickerson who used a chartreuse/white
Mr.Blitz spinnerbait for some success with a two day weight of over 32
lbs. Second place was Beaumont anger David Truax with a total of just under
32 lbs. and big bass of
right at eleven pounds.
Other anglers who made reports from Big Sam were saying that good fish
were indeed being caught, and from the one to five foot range in the flooded
buck brush. The bean trees and Johnson grass were also holding fish and
a 1/4 oz spinnerbait as well as a Texas rigged lizard was working on them.
If you choose to fish the banks without the grass, you’ll probably find
that
a Rat L Trap or Rogue will work also. A few fish are coming from the
main lake points on big crankbaits in ten to eighteen feet of water. Just
keep in mind that the temperature will really affect the fish and on cooler
days, try the deeper fish, with the warmer days go for the shallow fish.
While there may be big tournament action on T-Bend later this week and into next, both lakes are going to be in the middle of the fishing action for the next few months. You can believe that the season is upon us and its time to roll out the welcome mat for our visitors. I’ll be spending most of my time on Toledo this week, but you can always reach the machine at (409)579-4213 or send questions and comments by email to johnston@jas.net . I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you have a great week out on the lakes!
