Have only had one trip that I fished in January. Man, where are you guys & gals? I have fished a little around my area to see if the fish were here like they should be. They have not been! The cold temps have run them out West or up North so I went after them today. I used bait and flukes to catch them. It wasn't fast, because Winter never is but I caught some nice fish in 35 feet of water. It was a bluebird sky day with very little wind and that makes it even tougher. The fish are still here and I posted a picture of todays catch for you in the photo section.

The computer and I have both had a little glitch in us, so here is a late report.
1/2/2010
Caught bait in 22 degree weather! Man was that fun. Had a trip of 2 guys and 3 tough ladies, so lures were out of the question today. Looked for fish in areas where I had been catching with no luck. Wound up on the river ledge around Cedar Mills and started catching in 48 feet of water. Not fast, but catching. After a while it was ladies break time so we headed into Big Mineral. After our break we found tons of fish but couldn't get them to hit us hard enough for a good hook set. We managed a decent box but it wasn't a great day for me. Weather is brutally cold right now and the lake temp is falling way too much. Hope we can get a warm spell at some point soon. 12 degrees out as I write this report.

12/17
Started trip around 8:15 AM with temps right above freezing and 10 mph South wind. Headed South to around the Islands where I had last caught fish. Birds tried to work North of the islands but never got going well. Went into a cove that is known to hold fish in these colder water temps. The fishing wasn't very fast but it was VERY GOOD! This cove has shallow areas with a nice area that drops off into 24 feet of water and the fish were laying in the hole. We were catching real nice box fish and some fish that ranged from 5 to around 13 pounds. We had our overs in the box already and had to release our biggest fish of the day, but not without getting a picture of it with my customers camera. We moved back to the central part of the lake to catch our last 3 fish because we needed something smaller to finish the box. Took a while fishing under the birds to get it done but we got them. Released a few smaller fish because we knew we would get the nicer ones if we were patient. Really great day of fishing and the fish are all getting larger and fatter! Time to come fish for those big ones! We fished with wildeyes of assorted colors, slabs (silver & blue), and day glow sassy shad with white heads & a yellow jig. We kept changing lures around as the fish dictated, but it worked.

Long stretch of unseasonably cold weather has changed fishing up quickly. Bait has moved out of the areas where I have been getting it and the fish have moved, as well.

Went out for a short scouting trip on 12/11 in the evening. Just wanted to see if the fish were holding in the same areas that they had been but a lot of them had moved. Caught a few fish on 5" shad and pearl colored wildeyes in 35' feet of water before it started getting dark.

Fished a trip on 12/12. There was no bait in my area of the lake so it was a lure trip only. Found the birds working around the islands and on the TX side of the Red River near the islands. Caught a few fish on the wildeyes and a few more on silver/blue slabs. Did a lot of looking around to see what the new pattern was going to be. Came back towards Soldier/Caney and had some birds working in 34 feet of water off the North Island. We were catching better using a white glow sassy with white heads letting them sink. Headed out into some 60 foot water and marked a ton of fish but they weren't very aggressive. Moved back up in the 34 foot water off the islands with no birds working but marking good fish on the bottom. We started slabbing that area and caught our best and most aggressive fish of the day there. The Winter pattern is starting so that means better on lures and long trips early in the morning to get bait. Fish are getting larger and fatter which is really good to see.

12/1 went on scouting mission for fish. My excuse to go fishing. Went with swim baits only just to see what was working. Found birds working in many areas from the North Island all the way to the Cross. With the amount of birds we were fishing under I thought we would have caught fish on every cast, but this wasn't the case. We used wildeyes and cocahoes as our lures. We fished in water from 34 feet to 7 feet deep. Our larger fish were caught int the shallower water but we still caught some nice ones in the 20 foot places. The 16 to 20 inch fish are starting to gain some weight finally but some of them are still too skinny to keep. All of the smaller fish are plump and healthy. Our first snow was this morning on 12/2, unbelievable. Not much of it, but it did snow! Going to be a much cooler week ahead and with 2 inches of cold rain the lake temps should drop and the fish become even more active. Catching is still relatively easy and should keep getting better as water temps fall.

Fishing on 11/27 was not what I wanted. Weather changed again with winds switching to South with no cloud cover and barometric pressure not good. It was obvious that smaller fish could be caught on bait easily, but we were looking for some nice lure fish! We started under birds catching a few small ones out in 58 feet of water. We headed to MANY areas of the lake at every depth you can think of. I just wasn't having any luck finding those lure fish we were wanting. We finally had to drop bait in the creek that is producing every trip drifting bait from 28 feet up to about 19 feet. We got hit very easily this way producing smaller fish that were fat. The nicer box fish were still skinny and not much meat on them. We need colder water so the big fish will come in and let us catch them. Good day of fishing, just not what we were planning on doing.

11/24 was a WINDY day! We moved around trying to get out of the wind and fish with lures. We had a little better luck with the lures than we did hiding from the wind. Unfortunately, we didn't find any good sized fish with lures or bait. We did catch the numbers but not the quality. We fished water from 3 feet deep around the islands and dropped bait in 38 feet of water and then drifted bait in the 20 feet water. It was a good trip considering the weather with North winds gusting to 25 mph.

11/25
Weather was a lot more cooperative today! Light winds out of the North instead of the hurricane. Had 2 dads and 3 kids today, so we just dropped bait in 33 feet of water and started catching immediately. We only had all 5 rods in the water 2 times on this trip without having a fish on! Great fishing with the kids and it was a new experience for them. Good morning of fishing for the kids!

11/21
Fished artificials and bait today. Fishing with a Dad and 7 year old today. Went looking for birds and throwing lures to start out. Birds really started up in deep water around 8:30. We used 3 and 4 inch wildeyeys on them and pulled a mixed bag from small fish to some 24 inchers. The 7 year old was ready to go do some bait fishing after a while so we headed into the creek. It was a slam dunk there, again, catching fish like crazy. Fish are getting healthier and it should be a great Winter fishing season!

11/20
Fishing with bait only today. Went right into the creek channel that I have been fishing for several weeks and it is still stacked with fish. Fished 28 feet of water up to 8 feet of water catching fish all of the way. Didn't have the size fish today that we had last weekend, but still caught some nice fish with our over 20" fish.

Fishing was great over the weekend. Started 11/14 throwing lures in some 23 feet up to 6 feet water in the back of a creek. We hooked up with some smaller stripers and some really nice sand bass! We used some slabs on them, as well, with some results. Moved into another creek and started drifting bait from 28 feet to 6 feet with real good hook ups. We released quite a few small striper and had some pretty good box fish. Didn't get any larger fish today.

11/15 was still good. Had weather coming our direction and didn't want to get caught in it because of having a 5 year old on board with his Dad. Went into my drifting creek and got the bait down early. I knew it would start out slow and that is what we wanted. We wanted the young guy to enjoy the trip and have time to take it in. Well, it worked out that way. We drifted in the creek starting at about 28 feet and would drift up close to the bank in about 6 feet. Caught a small fish on our first hit, and I never throw the first fish back. I think I might be throwing my luck away. Second fish went about 12 pounds! Slowly kept catching some really nice overs and some smaller fish, throwing back most of the smaller ones until we got a box of fish. Good Fall fishing!

11/11/09
The weather caused some changes yesterday, as the wind had switched to the North. Only had 2 areas of birds work in my part of the lake all morning. We only caught a couple of good box fish out from under them and threw back many small ones. Covered some water trying to find some good fish and wound up back in my area in back of a creek just drifting bait. Our drifts were in 23 feet of water working up into 6 feet. All the larger fish were caught in the shallower water drifting bait. We caught all of our over 20" fish and some really nice box fish mixed with some of the smaller ones. Our largest was about 12 pounds and several more in the 4 to 6 pound range. If you look at the photos, you will see that the fish we are catching are starting to get larger each day. Looking forward to my next outing!