Pineywoods Region Week of May 8, 2024

B.A. Steinhagen

GOOD. Water stain; 70 degrees; 0.33 feet below pool. The lake continues to be high due to the recent rains. Catfish are biting in the shallows on cut bait and prepared baits. Largemouth bass can be caught on Texas rigged worms and crankbaits.

Bob Sandlin

GOOD. Water stained; 64 degrees; 0.52 feet above pool. Crappie are good in brush piles 20-25 feet with minnows or jigs. Sand bass are excellent at Blowhole with spinnerbaits or rattle traps. Catfish are excellent in 2-6 feet of water in flooded brush with worms, cut bait cheese bait. and bass are good at Blow Hole using chrome rattle traps. Report by Marty Thomas, Lake O the Pines Crappie Fishing. Bass are good on shallow points chasing the shad spawn with Texas rig worms, crankbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, or flipping into flooded bushes. Report by Mike Stroman, R & R Marine. Bead heads and clousers should work well for bass around retaining walls and boat docks. Streamers in and around grass and brush will draw a strike. Look for crappie around brush and shallow banks, small wooly buggers are excellent. Bream are building beds and are aggressive. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.

Caddo

FAIR. Water stained; 61 degrees; 1.61 feet above pool. Caddo Lake water level is coming down after the April floods. A strong current is flowing from Lake O’the Pines, so the river and flats near the river are stained. The best bite will be in clearer water near Clinton or on the main lake. Bass are holding extremely tight on trees while the water is falling and very slow to bite flukes, senkos and light Texas rigs. It will be that way until the lake stabilizes and fish move out in the grass and in the pads. When fish move to the grass and pads use frogs, buzzbaits and swimbaits. When the water is stained use june bug or black and blue colors, and when the water is clear use watermelon or watermelon red. The lake is really turning green now with flowers starting to come up all over the lake so it’s a beautiful time to come enjoy this majestic lake that God spoke into existence. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.

Conroe

GOOD. Water stained; 75 degrees; 0.34 feet above pool. Lake Conroe is temporarily closed due to recent flooding. Until we can get out on the water this is what we believe the fish will be doing. Catfish should be staging to spawn after the water settles. Look for structure holding bait. Largemouth bass have been good. There were still some beds during the last full moon. Report by Brad Doyle with Bradley’s Guide Service. Hybrids are in 17-28 feet of water on flats or humps, jigging slabs, swimbaits or minnows and shad. Crappie are in 11-21 feet around structure and timber using plastics, hair or minnows. Always wear your life jacket. Report by Mike Cason, Fishical Therapy.

Fork

GOOD. Water Stained; 70 degrees; 0.41 feet above pool. Bass are fair early morning on topwaters and frogs around grass. Bass are good on shaky heads at the edge of grass in 3-5 feet, or Carolina rigs on points and secondary points in 5-8 feet. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Black bass are in a post spawn pattern and aggressive. Top waters are excellent in the shallow grass, streamers are working in the shallow banks. Crappies are shallow catching them on the edge of banks, small fish patterns like wooly buggers are a good bet. Bream are excellent in the shallows, wooly buggers and small poppers should bring a strike. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. The crappie fishing on Lake Fork has been up and down this past week with the heavy rains and big winds. We had super muddy conditions in areas where we had creek runoff pouring in. It took a few days for the water in those areas to clear back up enough for the bite to pick up. We are finally seeing some black crappie loading up on certain laydowns and docks. If you find the right ones you can load the boat quickly. Seeing a few brush piles in certain areas loading up with white crappie. You can still find white crappie on timber in 10-18ft and we should see more moving out deeper over the next few weeks as all spawning comes to an end. We did see a lot of roaming open water fish as well this past week. Maybe this could have been due to the heavy mud and silt in the water. The crappie may not have needed to get on cover even with the bright sunshine with so much in the water stopping the light penetration. When you find crappie in the clearer water the bite has been good. Hand tied jigs in natural minnow colors are working great. Blues, grays and greens are working in the clear water areas around mid lake. Dark green and orange and dark green and chartreuse was working in the muddy water areas. Soft plastics will produce well in similar colors. Minnows are always a good bait to go to on Lake Fork anytime of year. The catfish are on the move into shallow areas either getting ready to spawn or chasing shad spawning. Good reports on fish being caught around the grass. We are set up perfect for that bite this year with the lake being back up to normal pool. You can still find some fish in the timber in 10-25 feet along creek channels. Look for early morning or late evening roosting birds and fish in those trees. You will need to bait the fish out with cattle cubes or sour grain. Any prepared catfish bait will work on the deep or shallow fish. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

Houston County

GOOD. Water clear; 67 degrees; 0.99 feet above pool. Crappie made a big move to deeper water brush piles, standing timber and power lines in 12-15 feet of water this week. Crappie can be caught on minnows. White bass started feeding at night around docks with lights. White bass are biting beetle spins and super spoons. Largemouth bass frog bite has picked up. Largemouth bass are good in 1-7 feet of water with frogs, wacky worms, weightless Texas rigs, yum dingers or swim jigs. Report by Colan Gonzales, CG’s Just Fishing Guide Service.

Lake O' the Pines

GOOD. Water stained; 71 degrees; 5.48 feet above pool. The lake is 9 feet high proceed with caution boat lane poles are only showing 12 inches, normal stick out of the water about 10 feet. Crappie are good in standing timber across from the Alley Creek area in 25-30 feet of water with jigs or minnows. Catfish are excellent in 2-6 feet of water with worms, cut bait or cheese bait. Catfish are shallow throughout the lake as they gear up to spawn. Report by Marty Thomas, Lake O’ the Pines Crappie Fishing. Bass are good with catches up to 8 pounds flipping into flooded bushes with creature baits. Report by Mike Stroman, R & R Marine.

Livingston

SLOW. Stained; 67 degrees; 0.60 feet above pool. Water clarity is muddy. White bass catches are possible in 10-13 feet of water on secondary points. Catfish are good on the bulkheads. Report by Michael Richardson, Lake Livingston Adventures.

Martin Creek

GOOD. Water stained; 75 degrees; 0.04 feet above pool. Bass are fair fishing over the hydrilla with weightless senkos and wacky rigged worms. Larger fish are on deep brush off points with deep crankbaits and shaky head rigged worms. Crappie are good on deep brush in 25-30 feet of water using shad colored jigs and minnows. Catfish are good in 5-15 feet of water on clay or hard bottoms on nightcrawlers and live bait.

Nacogdoches

GOOD. Water stained; 68 degrees; 0.98 feet above pool. Bass are good on 6 inch glide bait, dropshots, medium diving crankbait on offshore channel swings. A frog is very effective right now in shallow vegetation. Reports of good catches of catfish with cut bait. Crappie are excellent on brush and standing timber with chartreuse crappie jigs. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.

Naconiche

FAIR. Water slightly stained; 74 degrees; full pool. The water level is just above the stumps with more rain in the forecast, so navigate with caution. Some bass have situated themselves near the roadbeds and some are starting to gather, suspended, over the deep creeks. The underspin always gets bit, but do not be afraid to throw a +1 jerkbait in these situations. With the water starting to warm, a faster twitch presentation can find some good fish. Crappie population is good. Catfish are slow. Report by Eric Wolfe, NacoTack Fishing Services. Largemouth bass are excellent on topwater frogs, large ribbon tail soft plastics, and dropshots in 12-15 feet of water. Crappie are excellent using chartreuse jigs on brush and standing timber. Catfish are slow. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.

Pinkston

GOOD. normal stain; 74 degrees. May is one of the best times to fish Pinkston. Largemouth bass are good in numbers fishing the deep water on the south end near the dam with 6-8 inch flutter spoons, dropshot and spooks. Topwater frogs are good in grass near the dam. Black crappie are fair on natural colored crappie jigs and minnows. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.

Raven

GOOD. Water stained; 71 degrees. Lake Raven is temporarily closed due to flooding.

Sam Rayburn

GOOD. Water stained; 74 degrees; 0.08 feet below pool. The lake is on the rise due to runoff. The water is off colored midlake. Bass are on points and deeper water with Carolina or Texas rigs. The frog bite is picking up bass in shallow lily pads and brush. The spawn is finally finishing up with a few still on beds. Crappie are primarily on brush with a few shallow spawners in cypress trees. Catfish are good in deeper water channels with cut bait, minnows and worms. Some catches of big blue catfish. White bass are schooling on points biting minnows, jigging spoons, and small crankbaits. Report by Captain Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service. Lake is full pool with the water rising on average 1 foot every two days. There has been a large wave of fish, pushing shallow following bait. Target bass on grass, bushes and standing timber using topwater frogs, small swimbaits, and swim jigs. Offshore bite is still productive in 15-22 feet of water, but the fish are scattered at the moment due to changing water levels. Report by Captain Hank Harrison, Double H Precision Fishing.

Toledo Bend

GOOD. Water slightly stained; 75 degrees; 0.52 feet above pool. The lake is high and there continues to be an Influx of water flowing in so the floodgates remain open. The main lake is stained. The wind has been high, so it has been hard to stay out there on these fish. Bass are good with lots of action on top water baits for the first hour of daylight. Once the sun rises over the trees, time to back out either in front of the flooded bushes or 8-10 feet of water with wacky-worms, light Texas rigs and shallow running crankbaits. There are a few fish on deep main lake points and ridges in 12-18 feet with Texas or Carolina rigs, and big crankbaits. Crappie bite if off due to the high water and current. A few fish can be caught on brush, but the best bite has been on docks in 8-12 feet of water with jigs and live bait. Report by Stephen Johnston, Johnston Fishing.

Tyler

FAIR. Water stained; 72 degrees; 0.61 feet above pool. Bass are fair in all depths on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and trick worms. Crappie are fair in 16 feet of water on brush piles with minnows and jigs. Bream are good on red worms. Catfish are fair on liver and stink bait in shallow water grass and rock lines. Report by Paul Taylor, The Boulders at Lake Tyler.

Welsh

GOOD. Water stained. 77 degrees. Welsh is a power plant lake and is primarily fished in the winter months so there are few anglers on the water.

Wright Patman

GOOD. Water stained; 74 degrees; 2.73 feet above pool. Crappie are loading up on brush tops all over the lake. Crappie are biting best on points with minnows and jigs. Catfish have slowed down, but still can be caught with range cubes, blood or cheese bait. Report by Jerry Gennings, local angler and guide.

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