I know not everyone on here will agree with this post but I have to ask because I know a lot can relate. WHY DOES RAY ROBERTS KICK MY BUTT???? I know some do well there but I never have. I have fished it a lot over the years. It seems like it should be great with all of the cover available to fish.

I live about an hour away and won�t go there. When we have a tourny there I stay home. Lake makes no sense. Seems like people either catch them good or blank.

First off you must learn how to do your mapping work. In doing so you will find where the fish live. From there you will pick the spots close by that they feed on and spawn on. It takes many hours at home on the computer to find these spots. Then you have to spend endless hours on the water eliminating these spots down to the best 3 shallow water spots, best 3 mid range spots and the 3 best deep water spots.
- You will have to fish at least 60 shallow water spots to find the 3 best spots for top water and spawning areas.
- You will have to fish 60 mid-range spots to find the 3 best spots. These are slopes, drainages, funnel points, inside bends in the creeks, no nothing shore lines with deep water very close by and out and around every point looking for irregular features of each.
- You will have to fish 60 deep water spots to find the 3 best spots. These are vertical ledges, deep creek channel ledges, bends in the river channel, inside bends of all creeks and underwater humps/islands. The ones that have the best irregular feature will hold the fish and will be the first area that the fish will move to and or call their comfort zone.

180 spots doesn't seem like very much to fish. We probably have fished that many spots on many lakes. The problem is all these spots need to be fish more than once. It may be the best spot on the lake; but if you are not there at the right time of the day, you will miss the window of opportunity. It takes one full year to fish these spots at different times of the day to become knowledgeable of what the fish are relating to and their routes from deep water to mid-range and then to the shallows. Big Bass follow the same pattern and route daily moving from one ambush spot to the next. It will be a very short distance form their deep water comfort zone to the shallows. How far that fish will advance each day depends on the food supply she runs into at each of her ambush spots along that route. She will start at the steepest drop or ledge, move to her second ambush spot that may be a river tree, then to a large stump, next to a pile of rocks, then move up on a funnel point and so forth toward the shallows. She may never make the full journey each day; because when she feeds up she will quickly return to her deep water comfort zone and suspend there until the next feeding period.

The odds are greatly against us on catching big fish. Smaller fish are much more active, feed more often and travel much farther to do so. Staying on the water and finding irregular features on deep contour lines is the key. I begin my search on the 30 ft. contours on the maps.

Lake ray Roberts is a very finicky lake. First off I believe the fish numbers are down. I think it probably has less bass per acre then any lake in DFW. That being said the fish are very finicky in sub 62 degree water. It seems like when its in the 50s it is the most tough- this year you could catch them better when the water was in the 40s. At Roberts you not only have to find fish this time of year but you have to find fish that are willing to eat- This is double tough. On Saturday there was a 70 boat tournament and 7 limits are weighed in- 13 pounds got a check. On Sunday there were almost the same about of entires and another 7 limits with 9 pounds getting paid. Thats about as tough as you will find across north Texas. With all that being said the lake can be amazing as well if you get right and it can happen quick. I don't think you will find a tougher body of water in March and I def got my head kicked in last weekend. The fish are on the move and it won't be long before they start chewing much better. I also believe pressure has a lot to do with the tough fishing- you could walk boat to boat in the creeks. Good luck- She left me scratching my head as well this weekend.

I do all my fishing on RR in April and May and catch fish all the time.

Well said Barrett, after 29 years of fishing it, I learned it is the last lake in North Texas to turn on. I simply choose to go elsewhere and don't even think about going up there till April. May and June have always been the best to me.

I have to start branching out more, I fish 90% of the time on Roberts and have many zero bite days and 1 or 2 fish days mixed in. It gets very frustrating, especially when you read about guys on other lakes catching 15-20 fish per day. Roberts can humble you quickly in many ways, but I keep grinding hoping to break down sections trip by trip. It's too convenient to my home to give up.

I will totally agree with Barrett, RR, has less fish per acre then most lakes in DFW. But when RR is on, it�s a Great Lake. But it always warms up later then most other lakes do. RR should be good and warm ready for spawn by mid may...

That aint no joke. I remember prob 6-7 years ago when we had a super cold winter I caught a 7 pounder locked on a bed at the end of May.

This and Mr. Harper's post are spot on in my opinion. I am no friend of Roberts. It takes more TOTW than I have to try to find the sweet spots in that lake.
On low fish populations...Who remembers when Roberts was going to be 'the next Fork'. Never happened, never will. Again here's my opinion on why. Roberts, Lewisville, etc., generally drain from alkaline soils. Isle du Bois is situated in the Blackland Prairie and the Trinity that feeds Roberts drains a mixture of limestone and black land, all alkaline.
Fork and the east texas lakes drain sandy, more neutral or slightly acidic soils and are just more fertile. Don't know exactly why, but high Ph (alkaline) water doesn't seem to be as fertile as the more acidic PH soil of east Texas.

A little off topic but a question for Me. Harper. How do your theories apply to lakes with drastically changing water levels like Travis or Falcon?

Ray rob may be a little tough sometimes but man, it has gigantic bass in it. Always that one cast away from a hoss. I have seen several fish over 11 pounds come out of that lake.

Roberts has been my home lake for 20 plus years. The first factor is it is not a good cold water lake at all and that as you can see from everyone's post is fact! I do not start fishing it hard until at least April because it is a waste of time for the most part.

The decline or change in the way you have to fish it started primarily when they changed the MLL to 14". It had tournaments before but now the number or tournaments is crazy. The other factor has been the water fluctuation and the killing of the vegetation in the lake however that happened, grass carp or spraying or whatever it was but a lot of the grass that used to exist for the most part is gone. Tournament pressure and lack of cover for fry to hide in have caused big problems IMO.

I say go back to an 18" MLL or make it a slot lake again just to take some of the pressure off. I know Fork is a slot lake and has a lot of tourneys but that is because it is Fork. Roberts was not nearly as bad before the change and the fishing was awesome!

The good thing is there are fish that can be consistently caught once the water warms up. Rock piles are my friend, light line once the water clears and it will big time is my friend, roads and houses and tanks are my friend.

I just wait for March and April then get Barrett to take me fishing out there.....

All our South TX. lakes drop drastically in water levels. When I study the contour lines which I said was the 30 ft. line; these extend all the way to the river channel. There are Irregular Features for the fish to move to from full lake to it's lowest levels in that particular section that I have chosen. Each contour has it's own irregular features on each of the contours taking you out to the channel. Big fish simply move this very short distance to establish their comfort zone. In lakes that fluctuate Bass select the contours that allow them to move up and down as the water level rises and falls. I have found that these features are only about 10 ft. apart on the next contour line.