Hit two of my favorite old haunts Saturday afternoon after work(actually got off at 3!) Was on water by 4:30'ish. Fished till dark. Found some sandies, crappie, and largemouths. First stop, Frazier Dam. only 3 keeper sandies, 3 or 4 throwbacks, and one brief battle with a rather large hybrid striper. Then on to Helmet Lake. 6 bass(4 of them dinks) and 3 really nice crappie.

Frazier dam, with my buddy and home depot customer Carlos



Elm fork/Frazier dam sandies



Helmet Lake crappie



Carlos with the big crappie of the day:


Mixed bag Helmet/Frazier crappie, bass, sandies



Elm Fork White ready to spawn:



Gonna get real good, real soon! Elm Fork Sandies and lost hybrid on 2 inch white curly tail grubs, on 1/8th oz UNPAINTED jig heads.

Blacks and crappie from Helmet on Blue Fox rooster tail knockoffs.

Went back on President's Day and in less than one hour of jig/bobbering, got these keepers:



Gave em a break on Tuesday, stopped by Wednesday for about 45 minutes on way to evening job, and got these, plus 3 throwbacks, also jig/bobbering:



Then Thursday stopped by on way to evening job, with a TFF'er bud, and we only caught two, one of them an absolute monster crappie. I am not posting pic of that one because my buddy took the pic and he'll post it if he wants to. His was at least 13 inches and mine was considerably larger and longer.

All fish caught monday-through thursday came from Helmet Lake.

Rudy

Where do you park the car there?

Tonight's rain will mess things up

Actually the river had a strong flow today but not overwhelming, I could see it from the freeway bridge, and it looked fishable. I opted for Helmet Lake, and found some dandy slab crappie.

Nice fish. It's getting that time of year!

The bite goes on

Helmet Lake, Monday afternoon, between 5-6. Jig/bobber, jig 14-18 inches under bobber, in roughly 1-4 ft of water. To give you persepective, the smaller fish measured 11 inches. 2 came it at 12, and the biggest one at 13 inches.




No females yet, just big males. Haven't caught a throwback yet.

Slowly but surely building a stash of fillets for lent.

Rudy

nice catches

Nice slabs.

Awesome thread. Thanks for sharing.

Nice fish.

Could someone tell me where is frazier dam.

Helmet is still productive:









Total 3 bass, 3 crappie, lost 3 more crappie. Big ones. Red/charteuse jigs under bobber, Rooster Tails for the bass.

RUDY WTG! Niiiice Fiiiish I see the old standby strikes again!!

Bonz, when you ready to hit it, we do it!

Awesome post and some super fish. Good job.

Love this thread. Nice fish.

Just curious, where is helmet lake?
Not seeing anything on google about it?

Added a Familiar spot, so now its the Trifecta! Bachman yesterday afternoon, the rip rap at the foot of the Love Field Runways. LMB in the 4 lb range on a Yellow/white rooster tail. No pic because phone/cam in car and too lazy to go back and get it.

Frazier dam:


As is usually the norm with river fishing and tail race fishing in particular, there is a virtual smorgasbord of fish to be caught. To wit:

15 inch egg laden sandie!:





A hefty freshwater drum, or as my country folk friends( I am originally from Waxahachie, ya know! A Gaspergou!



How about a LARGE Gizzard Shad:



Chartreuse, and White 3 inch Curly Tail Grubs, 8th oz. UNPAINTED jig heads

On to Helmet:

Back to back casts, identical twins, hugging shoreline, no more than two ft from shore in about 2 ft of water. Red/chartreuse hollow body plastic jig, 14 inches under a bobber on a 16th. oz UNPAINTED jig head:





Finally, what I went to Helmet for, first female of the season for me, and rather egg laden. 13.5 Incher. Same spot as where I caught the bass, same rig:



Water level at Frazier dropping as i fished it. Rocks near shore that were about 10 inches below the surface had the tops sticking out when i left. The water line along the concrete wall of the dam was perceptibly slanting downward.

Still had a great time, and fishing was slow, but no small fish caught!

Rudy

Nice fishing! That crappie is big and fat.

Thats some good angling right there.......

Is night time fishing better than day time there?

No. Pretty good daytime, mostly late afternoon to dark