I became friends with a country boy named Jimmy Bison. His home place was on the edge of the Sabine River. He opened a small launch and rented aluminum boats and had some food right where the mail road entered the lake. He went with me in my boat and we toured the area and he pointed out where his mail box was, the bridge on the road with a culvert. The minnow pond behind their house. A slough where he used to squirrel hunt. His neighbors house and barn along with some other really cool stuff. He would say "You see that big ole oak tree there? That is where we hung our tire swing."

Hears a tip: My lay down stretch for big bass was NS 6 runs between San Patricio and EW 15. About 100 yards north of EW 15 on the East edge it dropped from 5 to 15 to 20 to 25. I go em in the deeper in Dec-Jan and the shallow drops in Feb-Mar. Also idle your boat on the west side of NS 6 going north and weave in and out and you should still see some of those massive log piles. I will never forget seeing hundreds of boats pounding the bank in February catching small male bass while we were sitting in 20 ft 1/2 mile out catching giants. I used to see eggs laying on those big oak limb s in looking down at submerged limbs in out in that deep water. I don't believe those big bass left the area. I think the lived there year round.

By 77 Clunn had been fishing Bass for 3yrs. Did you mean 67

Sorry I was wrong on Rick's first tournament. This 69 year old had a senior moment. But he was there and did ask me what kind of water I was fishing. He did not want to know where or what I was catching them on. He was a stand up guy. I had a 75 Bronco back then and I had to pull most everyones boats out because of the ice on the launch. PU's couldn't do it.
If you ever are in Shreveport, stop at the Hickory Stick BBQ on Youree Dr (HWY 1) and ask Linda Petree about John Lee. Her late husband was my fishing buddy and he always had a nose for big bass. She can vouch for me on these stories. We could right a 600 page book on it.

Great post. Thanks. What is a mail road? Dirt road?

Wish i could have fished it back then.

It was a country road the mail man drove down to deliver the rural mail to folks. Imagine the structure...bridges,, culverts, ditches, curves, hilly etc. Great for bass they use the ditches to travel to and fro

I wish each and everyone of you could have fished with me.
God Bless all of you!

I will start posting some of my stories on here from time to time. You might find them entertaining.

Went to Toledo for the first time in Late October this year. Mainly fished around 6 Mile. I really liked the area.

Wow!!!
Thanks for sharing - great story and info!

If you want to hire a guide, I would recommend my friend Harold Allen. He knows the lake probably as well or better than I do. He is about my age. Fished BASS for years. Always had the fastest boat on the tour. He is a big bass fisherman too. He is expensive but well worth the money. He is a character to. I remember one tournament in February I was in the third flight and hauled it to a hump in deep water. I arrived just in time to see him boat a 9 plus pounder which was big bass of the tourney. He said to me. "First flight pays off!

My biggest bass came from Housen bay at 12:05am and it had a LPWD tag in it. Love that lake! Great info, thanks!

I went to work for Skeeter as marketing director in 1990. Ken Burroghs was president at the time. Thats when the 20 footers were developed and the 200 came to be. Thats when we started the NFL tournament which paired professional football players with state, national and pro team members. It was out of Morgan City LA on the Atchafalaya Basin. It was a fun time seeing some of these guys who never fished before. I will never forget Ken and I were heading from the hotel to the ramp to help out when we passed this big guy sitting on the side of the road with a tackle box and fishing rod in his hand. We stopped and asked him if he needed a ride. He responded with yes, I partied to much last night and missed my ride this am. Turned out it was Mean Joe Green.

At the weigh in Randy White reached in his bag and pulled out a 3 ft gator! Now Randy is a good fisherman and he was not about to zip. He did not get to weigh it though.s