Toledo Bend Reservoir Fishing Report
for
January 14, 2010
A freind of mine Joe Joslin
January 14, 2010
A freind of mine Joe Joslin
Hello, Anglers. Have you caught your first fish in 2010? Ya gotta get that done! This week might be slightly more friendly for you to do that with warmer air moving into the area. However, rain may be coming with it.Frigid cold temps has slowed our on the water schedule but I have been looking at several new award winning products from the latest ICast competition.
NEW TOOLS FOR 2010
ICast is a trade show organization that meets each year where all the major fishing tackle companies bring their newest and best products to be displayed and judged. We'll mention a few of those that received recognition.
The first is TransOptic which is one of Berkley's new line products, This line captures UV rays to change the line's color to a high-visibility gold above the water yet is transparent beneath the water. Pretty cool, huh? The line is well-suited for anglers who are line watchers yet fish clear water where high-vis lines are not ideal. It has superior knot strength, high abrasion/shock resistance for those who set the hook with zest. TransOptic was named the best new line at the 2009 ICast show and comes in sizes from 4 to 25 pound test. The line is priced slightly higher than regular mono but not as expensive as fluorocarbon. I really like to use this line when fishing weightless soft plastics when fish will strike the lure on the fall.
Another ICAST product was Abu Garcia's Revo Toro Winch. Ever since Abu Garcia introduced the Revo series (2007) it has been very popular with new models added each season. The Revo Toro Winch has six ball bearings, a larger spool for more line and a bait clicker for salt water users. It also comes with an enlarged handle for more heavy cranking and gear ratios from the slow and powerful 4.6:1 up to the faster 6.4:1. A final product is in the electronic field by Lowrance. Winning first place this year in the electronics category is the Lowrance HDS 10 which is very similar technology to high-definition television but applied to seeing what is under your boat.
We all remember the huge difference from regular to HD t.v. The same is true here. In addition, reviews indicate that the unit renders incredible detail in bright sunlight (a problem with many earlier units). Also pleasing many anglers is the fact the HDS 10 offers several built-in cartography options for mapping. The technology in fishing electronics has exploded.
LAKE CONDITIONS: The lake level is falling quickly as it fell about 3 inches over night and now stands at 170.2 feet at mid-week with both generators running 24/7 until further notice. Water temps are running from 46 to 49 degrees and should move upward slightly with weather forecasts trending warmer. North Toledo is stained, mid-lake is slightly stained and south Toledo remains clear. All major feeder creeks have stained conditions especially in the upper regions but clearing as you get closer to the main lake.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: Deep and slow would describe my advice in a nutshell to fishing on my favorite fishing hole. There are several methods to get a line tightened with these seldom seen current conditions but require some planning, patience and persistence. However, planning a fishing trip is one of the highlights of the big picture and fishing an area thoroughly is one of my favorite things to do. If you haven't fished in a while you will find the lake conditions very different. If you fished in the late fall or even before Christmas the variables have changed. An example would be water temperatures as I pulled one of my columns dated December 9 (only 4 weeks ago) and saw the surface temps were 59 to 61 degrees which is a huge difference(12-13 degrees) from current readings. One thing this does is to move the bait as shad will try to move deep to minimize some of the impact that cold has on them. Shad are also very fragile and there is always a die-off of shad as water temps fall and this is why the jigging spoon is a good lure in the winter as it mimicks a dying, fluttering shad. Like any predator, a bass will seldom pass on an easy meal. I have my own spooning set-up which I have mentioned here before and we continue to fish the jigging spoon and drop-shot rig in depths of 25 to 50 feet. Top spoon choices are from 1/2 to 1 ounce and favorite drop shot plastic is Berkley's 5-inch Wacky Crawler in watermelon, green pumpkin and w.m. candy. My hook is a #1 and 1/0 XPoint Wide Gap. We are also fishing DD22s (Norman's deep diving cranbaits) along edge of deep grass as well as over ridges. On my cold waterr trips a Texas rig and jig-n-pig have also been on my rods. Top jigs are Stanley's SwimMax and Bugeye (football style).
CRAPPIE: The best crappie report I have heard this winter came from the Holly Park Marina which is located near the Chicken Coop. A recent report had one boat landing over 100 crappie with shiners and another boat had 60 on jigs but they were fishing in the creek near The Coop called Patroon Creek or Bayou. Several other anglers caught 25-30 in same area. The group catching 100 reported breaking ice to get to their area to fish. The only good reports off the river came from Huxley Bay further north of The Coop.
AUTHOR INFO: Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo and Sam Rayburn. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com. and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com
NEW TOOLS FOR 2010
ICast is a trade show organization that meets each year where all the major fishing tackle companies bring their newest and best products to be displayed and judged. We'll mention a few of those that received recognition.
The first is TransOptic which is one of Berkley's new line products, This line captures UV rays to change the line's color to a high-visibility gold above the water yet is transparent beneath the water. Pretty cool, huh? The line is well-suited for anglers who are line watchers yet fish clear water where high-vis lines are not ideal. It has superior knot strength, high abrasion/shock resistance for those who set the hook with zest. TransOptic was named the best new line at the 2009 ICast show and comes in sizes from 4 to 25 pound test. The line is priced slightly higher than regular mono but not as expensive as fluorocarbon. I really like to use this line when fishing weightless soft plastics when fish will strike the lure on the fall.
Another ICAST product was Abu Garcia's Revo Toro Winch. Ever since Abu Garcia introduced the Revo series (2007) it has been very popular with new models added each season. The Revo Toro Winch has six ball bearings, a larger spool for more line and a bait clicker for salt water users. It also comes with an enlarged handle for more heavy cranking and gear ratios from the slow and powerful 4.6:1 up to the faster 6.4:1. A final product is in the electronic field by Lowrance. Winning first place this year in the electronics category is the Lowrance HDS 10 which is very similar technology to high-definition television but applied to seeing what is under your boat.
We all remember the huge difference from regular to HD t.v. The same is true here. In addition, reviews indicate that the unit renders incredible detail in bright sunlight (a problem with many earlier units). Also pleasing many anglers is the fact the HDS 10 offers several built-in cartography options for mapping. The technology in fishing electronics has exploded.
LAKE CONDITIONS: The lake level is falling quickly as it fell about 3 inches over night and now stands at 170.2 feet at mid-week with both generators running 24/7 until further notice. Water temps are running from 46 to 49 degrees and should move upward slightly with weather forecasts trending warmer. North Toledo is stained, mid-lake is slightly stained and south Toledo remains clear. All major feeder creeks have stained conditions especially in the upper regions but clearing as you get closer to the main lake.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: Deep and slow would describe my advice in a nutshell to fishing on my favorite fishing hole. There are several methods to get a line tightened with these seldom seen current conditions but require some planning, patience and persistence. However, planning a fishing trip is one of the highlights of the big picture and fishing an area thoroughly is one of my favorite things to do. If you haven't fished in a while you will find the lake conditions very different. If you fished in the late fall or even before Christmas the variables have changed. An example would be water temperatures as I pulled one of my columns dated December 9 (only 4 weeks ago) and saw the surface temps were 59 to 61 degrees which is a huge difference(12-13 degrees) from current readings. One thing this does is to move the bait as shad will try to move deep to minimize some of the impact that cold has on them. Shad are also very fragile and there is always a die-off of shad as water temps fall and this is why the jigging spoon is a good lure in the winter as it mimicks a dying, fluttering shad. Like any predator, a bass will seldom pass on an easy meal. I have my own spooning set-up which I have mentioned here before and we continue to fish the jigging spoon and drop-shot rig in depths of 25 to 50 feet. Top spoon choices are from 1/2 to 1 ounce and favorite drop shot plastic is Berkley's 5-inch Wacky Crawler in watermelon, green pumpkin and w.m. candy. My hook is a #1 and 1/0 XPoint Wide Gap. We are also fishing DD22s (Norman's deep diving cranbaits) along edge of deep grass as well as over ridges. On my cold waterr trips a Texas rig and jig-n-pig have also been on my rods. Top jigs are Stanley's SwimMax and Bugeye (football style).
CRAPPIE: The best crappie report I have heard this winter came from the Holly Park Marina which is located near the Chicken Coop. A recent report had one boat landing over 100 crappie with shiners and another boat had 60 on jigs but they were fishing in the creek near The Coop called Patroon Creek or Bayou. Several other anglers caught 25-30 in same area. The group catching 100 reported breaking ice to get to their area to fish. The only good reports off the river came from Huxley Bay further north of The Coop.
AUTHOR INFO: Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo and Sam Rayburn. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com. and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com