Hey all,

Moved here recently, have visited a few a few small park lakes around the area. Shawnee has been the most consistent for me, but looking to find new areas have been difficult. It is hard to tell off of a map whether the lakes are even worth fishing in or not. Does anyone know of any lakes in the area that are somewhat consistent or at least have been lately?

I went to the twin lakes and saw a bunch of dead carp in the north one about two days ago, had one bite and that was all. Generally throw a few senkos, spinners, baby 1 minus, etc.

Any and all suggestions are a plus.

Thanks

One of my favorite lakes is in farmersville off 380 probably 30-45 mins from that area. It's southlake park. But I recommend a boat to get out on the water. There are some really good spots for bass crappie and catfish. But only really accessible by boat canoe ect...
In the more immediate area. Bethany lakes I've heard that bread works great for the cats in there. The bass are a little tougher to catch and that lake has heavy pressure. I like fishing some of the creeks and smaller pounds Shawnee is one of my go to spots after work in the summer for a quick hour or two of fishing. I haven't had as much luck landing bass the last year or so there but I haven't tried very hard either lol. Good luck on your hunting but pretty much anywhere you see what're here will be fish lol

Appreciate it, unfortunately.. im not much for cats of panfish/crappie/perch.. If its not a bass, its not really my thing. North Carolina/Georgia/Florida.. pretty much exclusively bass fishing with some trout mixed here and there.

I will admit I understand there are trout in some lakes, assuming they are just stocked and die off? Water is way too warm for them.

Right the trout are stocked in winter and do die off as it warms.

If the cormorants, bass and fisherman don't get them haha. I doubt more than a handful of trout make it long enough to be done in by the hot water temps.

Not too many great spots in the area your talking about. You can get a fix and hook up with a few 1-2lbs here and there almost anywhere in DFW you see water that does not dry up. Every little creek, pond, canal etc. I have tried has had at least some bass in them... but for bigger fish and more numbers you gotta get out of DFW a little or fish the bigger lakes.

Good luck!

Oh yeah, check the bank fishing map stickey on here. Lots of spots on there.

Correct. Trout are stocked during the winter and those that aren't caught/kept or eaten by other fish die when the water warms up. No yearround trout fishing anywhere around here. Closest spot to fish yearround is the Lower Mountain Fork in Oklahoma.

Over the years have seen others catch Trout as late as March through April but it is not the normal to see them that late. This year caught one in the Lower Pond as late as May while testing a Tenkara Fly. Post and Video.

Makes fishing hard.The fish eat all the dying trout.
When they are full to busting they will not bite.
Fortunately the birds help clear up the trout.
Its better if you catch them all in the winter.

Spinner baits and crank baits seem to work better than senkos and brush hogs/etc around here. Is it just because I am not used to fishing trenched out lakes that are dug down deep in the middle?

Any other lakes in the area aside from shawnee that have any sort of lillypad/floating weed beds around? Been hard to find. I will try a few way up in the allen area this weekend I suppose.

Fish trap is in a pretty dumpy area too if im not mistaken?

Have you looked at the community lakes thread? I started fishing for bass in small ponds last spring. Didn't have a clue on how to catch bass or where to go to. But in the course of about a week, I read the entire thread. I think that's like 8 years of posts! Alot of the posts are about fly fishing, which I don't do, but many of the posts discuss lures and specific locations. And majority of the posts focus on Allen/Plano area but the surrounding areas are mentioned quite a bit too(McKinney, Frisco, Richardson, etc...)

In the Richardson area, you might try Breckinridge Park, Crowley Park, Duck Creek and the Twin Lakes on Campbell Road (west of Coit Road).

just FYI, north lake on twin lakes last week. I went and saw at least 20 dead carp. A few bass as well.

I have to try breckinridge again, crowley is such a small park, and duck creek I have not checked out yet.

Duck Creek has been over-fished and there's not much in there any more. Crowley doesn't have much either. Breckinridge has 2 solid ponds and 1 terrible pond. With all the warm temps, the water is 90+ and fish haven't been eating much. Have to fish sunrise and sunset to get bit.

has anyone fished the ponds in richland college lately?

Went there last week, caught one LMB in about an hour of fishing. Didn't have worms on me though so I was real limited in where I could fish on the pond with all the growth under the water.

Ponds in plano and Allen are not any good now , they fished great before people started posting the locations. Unless you want to waste your time I'd hit a lake because your chances are much better there. I'm not just saying this and I'm not trying to throw you guys off. at all my spots I've been lucky to catch 2 fish the whole day pond hopping when I previously would catch 5-10 per pond ... I literally bought a boat because I was tired of driving 20 minutes to strike out over a whole year. I haven't fished ponds in frisco Mckinney prosper or Celina now that I have a boat but they look really good. Try to enjoy them before they're also fished out

is it "free" parking? as in is it just public parking or students only parking?

I agree. Bethany Lakes in Allen just had a big fish kill in the big pond in the past few days. alot of floating dead fish and on the bottom also. I suspect the lake turned over and there was no oxygen. Lake is very dirty now and alot of black [censored] floating around.

There are some good ones in Frisco just gotta look around for the ones with structure and or vegetation

This topic regarding Richardson/Plano area, my area, makes me want to fish the lakes, then transport what I catch to the ponds near me...at night!

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I have been catching some nice LMB at Warren Sports Complex. Anything chartreuse or crawfish color. Both are dominate in the lake. LOTS of grass so you would be better off using something weedless. I normally just use a weightless senko and run it on top of the submerged grass.

Has anyone fished the white rock creek by Anderson Bonner Park near medical city off of 635?

any luck?

Try Towne Lake in McKinney, just off Hwy. 75

I haven't fished it, just went down there to look at it once. I didn't really see anywhere with easy access to the creek for fishing. I did see some good size bass swim by though, so there are definitely fish in there. Let me know if you find some good spots to fish. I work near there and I've been looking for a good lunch time fishing spot.

I went the other day. there is a little "trail" down to the creek near the second parking lot from 635. current was super strong. Fished for about an hour along the creek(good amount of bank to fish from) and nothing. I saw no action at all on the water.

That's good to know that there is a trail there. Maybe the current was too strong since we've been having some rain? When I went there it was very calm and the water was crystal clear.

You can also try the spring creek nature area in richardson. It's near Braeburn and Plano Rd. I parked on Braeburn right next to foxboro park then walked under Plano rd. You'll start seeing a bunch of little trails leading down to the creek. I saw tons of fish there this last spring. Unfortunately I didn't have my pole. I actually saw some HUGE carp. there was a school with about 10 carp all easily over 12 lbs along with about 20 little carp. Also saw several bass swimming around. You just have to go explore and find the little paths down to the deeper pools in the creek. I need to get back out there and actually try to catch something one of these days.

Gig,
You walked west, under Plano Road over to the cement bike/walking trails and saw all those fish?

Did you see anything in Fox Creek that went under Braeburn on the East side of Plano Road?

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Well its not really a trail more like a opening down to the creek. some jumping may be required.
the way back up is pretty easy too just need to climb some rocks. they are not high though. doesnt take that much effort.

Yes, I walked west under Plano Rd. Once you get past Plano Rd, there are a bunch of little trails that people have made down to the creek. I didn't try going to the east side of the park. That creek looks pretty shallow though so I don't know if there would be any decent fish in there.

I bike ride over there regularly, this is on the cement trails behind the Samsung building, but I've never fished there. It might be time...

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I used to fish the ponds at Richland Junior college. caught a bunch. have not been there in MANY years though

Ive gone there a couple times with no luck. theres a lot of "algae"(?) in the water on west pond so after each cast you need to clear your lure.... at east pond all i saw was a TON of turtles that will swim up to you thinking you have food... havent caught anything. I think i have gotten 2 bites in the 5 times ive gone out there(couple hours each time).

I went over to that Spring Creek nature preserve in richardson today, but didn't see anything bigger than a few inches. I guess the good sized fish may have moved on for the fall. I don't know enough about their seasonal patterns to know. Anyone have any other good places to try?

If you were fishing Twin Lakes in Richardson this weekend what type of lure would you use this time of year?

I would use a purple and gold one because the fish love LSU colors.
Geaux Tigers!!

Yellow shirt, purple britches
Geaux to h*** you sons of.....

Any game at Death Valley is great but Ole Miss/LSU on a fall Saturday night is special. Good luck!

Chatterbaits do well there and sometimes spinnerbaits. You could try some crankbaits as well.

So I hit up Twin Lakes in Richardson last Friday. I fished the south pond. I was just fishing.... no catching! I threw out a dark colored chatter bait, light colored spinnerbait and a few casts with a popper. I did not get any bites. I did see someone else catch a bass. We were on opposite sides of the pond so I didn't ask what he was fishing with. I got to the pond around 5:30 and fished until about 7. I fished mainly on the southern most end of the pond. There was A LOT of algae/moss. I had to clear my lure of moss almost every cast.

Any advice?
Should I move out to more open water to avoid some moss?
Should I of gone with a more light colored chatterbait?
I am relatively new to bass fishing so any help is appreciated!!

Thats a good set up to bring with you to a pond. I would reccommend having a spinning reel set up with a finnese rig like a weightless senko, drop shot, wacky rig or texas rig. As for colors, black and blue with fleck for stained water/ watermellon red or green pumpkin for clearer water. If the fish aren't biting what you were throwing, then go with finnesse...or if they arent biting then they may not be there:p

I fished the south pond once myself, and with no luck. I was also on the south end of the south pond by the pump. This was probably early Spring 2015. I had a buddy who mentioned later that there are bass in both ponds, more in the south pond, bigger in the north. I can't confirm, but I'll give them a go soon.

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Thanks for the responses. I have never fished a senko. Just cast it out and slow steady retrieve? I read somewhere saying they saw a lot of dead fish in the north pond recently...

Again, I am pretty new to bass fishing but why would you go dark bait with darker water? I would assume opposite so I am ready to learn! ha

Dark water, dark bait. Easier to see.My 100% go to bait in ponds with any grass is the weightless senko.

Fishing a senko style bait is one of the key baits in bass fishing, at least in my opinion...The reason you want a dark bait for stained water is because to the fish it creates a more distinct profile or silohuete. I always reccommend a black or deep purple bait with blue or blue/green fleck.

As for how to fish a senko, you can rig it on a worm hook as weedless and either have a bullet weight or no bullet weight, AKA Texas Rigged. You can also rig it wacky rig, carolina rig, or drop shot rigged. It is a versitile bait that can mimick a wide variety of prey that bass are familiar with.

Another thing I love about senkos is how you can skip them across the top of the water to either get under structure, or to just entice bass to a top water bite.

^^Yep, what he said^^

OleMiss11: Another bait that I will always have on for a pond is some sort of top water bait. I like to use these baits to feel out an area quickly to see if there are any active bass. If there are some bass, but they dont get hooked on the top water, then I switch to a finesse bait to try and get'em. Some guys like to use a chatter bait, buzz bait, or a spinner bait for the purpose of checking an area quickly, but I like a top water bait.

My preffered top water is a hollow body frog with the skirted legs trimmed down and with one shorter than the other. This bait can be thrown and dragged through heavy cover and not get caught up. Plus it can be burnned across the water or slowly walked.

My other two top water baits for pond are a spook or some style of popping bait. I like both of these lures to have a trailing trebble hook with a feather pre-tied. These baits can be worked similar to a frog, but do not handle cover well as they can get snagged or caught up.

The reason I mention these baits is because I will generally fish ponds in early morning or in evening time when top water can be more effective. Of course if the conditions are right during the day for top water then you can use them.

I have fished bethany a lot recently. I saw someone say there was a fish kill, I did see that. But, I also snagged a few 3 or 4 lbers since. The smaller lake in the back seems to be dead now. I had a few bites, but most likely bluegill.

That being said, russell creek on mcdermott, the other day I caught a very nice bass right before sunset. Nice lake, the only issue is there are so many people there that will ask you questions, talk nonstop, etc etc. I don't mind, but as fishermen, I know sometimes we all like to just go out for a therapy session and fish.

I will try and post a picture if I can figure it out.

I have had majority of my recent success with a weedless baby brush hog watermelon with red flake. A few on whacky senkos as well.

Anyone else been having success?

And lastly, if you see a tall guy with a girl fishing with him, thats me. Come say hello! I don't know many people here, would be nice to grab a beer with someone aside from my wife ( )

great pictures! I used to live right next to Russell Creek but have recently moved!

it is a beautiful park, and definitely family friendly. I was surprised at the amount of bigger bass in there. I see a few people fishing there at times, but not many.

Caught a nice bass around the same size at Breckenridge right before dark.. much less consistent there though. Also had a snake bite on a baby brush hog right before complete darkness. That was enough for me to leave because he followed it right to the bank.

That being said, curious about that.

Saw a guy light a snake up with a little snake pistol there one evening, is that something tpwd would rather we do considering the foot traffic at those types of lakes or was that guy just being a little trigger happy

FYI, put a head lamp on at night and walk the banks. Lots of crawdads. Put them on free lined and catch some nice bass. Hard part is avoiding the turtles.

I believe discharging a firearm would be highly discouraged by Plano parks, TPWD, and Plano Law Enforcement.

crawdads at russel creek?

thanks for the info, figured they wouldnt want you to unless the snake is coming after you in the rare case.

Nice catch at Russell creek, I know what you mean about people stopping and talking. It's been a while since I fished that park since I moved up to Sherman. I still work in Frisco and will fish ponds before or after work. I tried this one pond yesterday off Preston and Wade Blvd on the North West corner and killed it in 30 min. It was from 6-6:30 last night and caught 8 bass ranging from 10-15in and it was all on a good ole yellow magic....there were two other guys there that walked over and were just amazed at me pulling in a fish after every 5th-6th cast.

I am assuming you are talking about that wishbone shaped lake? I will go check that out after some football today. Going to head out somewhere.

Yea, it is in the shape of a wishbone. You can park at the BB&T parking lot and walk over to it. There is an office building that is closer, but I like the access you get when walking from the BB&T. The main pond is fed by two sides that are raised up about 4ft, kind of like two upper ponds. The main pond has the bass. If you are going later in the day like closer to 5:45-6 I could meet you there. Just PM me and we can meet up.

sorry managed to miss this post. I will message your my phone number. We went up to the sports complex and my girl snagged a beauty. I will post it in a moment.

nice fish!

Ahhhh yes, the good ole warren sports complex. Only fish there evening times, thats when I have caught the most and best fish. During the morning is ok, I don't like going during the day since you get the same problem at russell creek with a lot people stopping and talking. I went there during the day on one of my first times there and I had two kids following me around the pond asking me all these questions and wanting me to help with there fishing gear. Now I am all for helping young anglers, but just wasn't in the schedule that day:P

Did you get measurements on that lunker your girl caught? It looks like a decent size bessy in the picture.

There are some new/young ponds up in the northern frisco/prosper area that are promising as well. I also enjoy hitting up the ponds near the Childrens Medical Center since they have ponds as well as White Rock Creek running through there.

Beautiful park, not as bad in regards to people there. Less foot traffic if the junior football games arent going. Definitely an evening spot, but I love the view up there during the day so we got up there around two.

Surprisingly enough, we caught about 30 in the last 2 hours. About 5 for the first couple. I had a man with his two kids using a crappie jig looking thing and 80lb test, surf casting reels, huge bobbers, etc follow us around for a bit to watch what we were doing. Imitation is the best form of flattery i suppose.

As for that lunker, it was just over 8. It looked as if it had just eaten a ton or was pregnant (i dont know anything about spawns here yet so that puzzled me a bit). Either way, it almost took my wife into the lake with her! We saw multiple bass around 5 and up right before sundown.

Yea Oboe, that pond gets a lot of football, socer, and big softball tournaments....It always amazes me what some people bring out to fish with...but hey, thats what we can help them out with. I had this one guy at a pond once with what looked like a 8' salt water casting set up and was throwing at least an 7" swim bait..Also one time I was at the sports complex there was a guy in waders that went out about 5-6feet from the bank near the creek channel of the pond and was fly fishing. Didnt see him catch anything, but I think he was practicing cause it looked like he spent most of his time fixing his line.

And thats a great size bass, most likely fat on bluegill and baby turtles, feeding up for the winter. Spawning will happen in spring time when waters are around 60 degrees and remain stable around that temp. Right now the bass will feed up in shallows on bait fish and etc..

My daughter and I fish Warren Sports Complex a lot. Bass fishing is great in the late afternoon on a bluegill pattern. Chartreuse spinners or Senkos have been my best baits. LOTS of crawdads in this pond too. We catch them at night then throw them out from the pier free lined and catch some nice bass. Largest we caught was right at 9 about 3 years ago during the Summer. Free lined a crawdad in the cove area and a bass smashed it. Also caught a 12 lb blue cat at night on a cut bluegill by the dam.

This is my blue cat http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/11862121/Re:_Community_Lakes#Post11862121

Little update; LFreeman and myself hit up Herman Baker and Waterloo pond yesterday for a total of almost 6 hours of fishing, and only caught two fish each that were not even worth measuring....Despite the lack of luck, the weather was awesome and the time was good to just get away from it all...Now this morning, we hit up one of my prefered ponds in Frisco off Preston. He caught two and I caught one, but that was only over less than an hour. They werent huge, but def bigger than what we caught yesterday. The weather has deffinately effected the bite though

I fished Warren sports complex in frisco last week. No bites on spinner bait or a chatterbait but did get a few hits on a popping frog and top water popper. I saw a guy catch a decent fish on a chatterbait. I saw about 5-6 fisherman come and go while I was out there.

i hit warren sat morning and pulled in my pb off a spinner bait. only had 2 fish in 2 hours though and froze my arse off!

let the daughter hold it since she braved the cold

I fished at Oak Point Park/Plano today, and didn't catch anything. There were two other fisherman there, around 2:30 pm on, and only 1 person caught 1 bass around 4:15.

I left and went to the little Crowley pond off Lookout Drive near Jupiter/Richardson. There were 2 other men with kids fishing, and nobody saw a hint of any fish today.

Oh well IN65, better luck next time.

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Hi all. I went and fished Russell Creek (for the first time) this morning at about 7am. There were some older Asian people doing what I think was Tai Chi, but they were being incredibly still. They were bundled up, cause it was pretty stinkin cold, and something about it made me want to do it with them.

Anyway, I was able to snag a few. One on a white spinnerbait. Then I gut-hooked one on a senko, while I was picking out a bird's nest (the winds were pretty high). Luckily I was able to use my (horrible, cheap) BPS pliers to work the hook back out, and it lived. Then finally one on a crankbait. All in all, a pretty good day, considering how low my expectations initially were. The senko fish was the biggest--probably 1.5 lbs., but none were really worth taking a picture.

Also, IN65, I feel like Oak Point is such a tease. That place looks SO fishy, but I've never had any success out there.

I'll cross Oak Point off my list and try Bob Woodward next, then Breckenridge.

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I've fished Shawnee Park and caught 1 bass there. I've also fished Stoney Hollow and caught multiple descent bass there. It's a little deeper and has access all the way around. If you willing to venture that far, it was worth it to me. I haven't fished it in a while but I stopped by to check it out over the weekend and the water level was up and looking good. That was before the rains yesterday too.

Anybody have any luck at breckenridge park in Richardson? I fished the long skinny lake under Renner Road and then that lake right behind it. Not a single bite... Fished a chatterbait, spinner bait, shallow crank bait and popping frog.... No dice.... Any luck there or what would be a good spot close by?