clove,

I stopped holding the working man's Ts because I had a stroke over Christmas 2017 I would still be doing it, if my health would allow me, but I think I need at LEAST another year, maybe two, to get better. Sorry about that. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck. Respectfully,

Thad Rains

the lake has changed for one reason or another over the years doesnt sound like for the best. when it first opened there were a lot of big fish caught out of it an it took some of the pressure off of fork in the spring. if someone would post the weights of what it takes to win a tournament out there this would be helpful to demonstrate what kind of fishery it has become since the stocking of spots.

Media had two tournaments there this spring. One in March and one in May. It took 26 pounds to win the March tournament and about 8 pounds to get paid. It took 21 to win in May and again roughly 8 pounds to get paid. Both events had just the one big bag and a dramatic drop off. I think those 8 pound bags that got paid were both 4th or 5th place which was last check. I wouldn�t exactly call that stellar fishing.

Thad,

I dont think anyone is saying that you cannot catch a good bag of fish on Henry or that a handful of fisherman cant.

A lake in which only a handful of anglers can consistently catch quality fish simply does not qualify as a "good" lake IMO.

Every lake will have locals that can flat wear them out, and that is certainly true with Alan Henry. But most lakes give up more than 1 quality bite to average fishermen that put in time on the water.

I dont consider myself a great fisherman, but Ive done fairly well since Ive only been fishing waters with more than 10'of water in them for about 6 years (from South Louisiana). I had not caught a bass over 5 lbs until I started fishing in Texas.

Ive had my boat for about 4 years now and have gotten to fish several lakes, but have spent far more time on Alan Henry than all other lakes combined.

My biggest fish on Alan henry is 7.6 lbs. Ive caught 4 others that were over 4, no other fish over 5lbs.

Ive fished Eagle Mountain once and caught a 5 lber.

Ive fished OH Ivie probably 6-8 times. Ive caught an 8, 2 over 6, and too many to count over 5.

Ive fished Hubbard Creek 5 times and have caught 1 over 8.

Ive fished PK for bass maybe 3 or 4 times and have an 8.8 on that lake.

Ive fished Amistad 4-5 times and lost count of how many 5 lb fish ive caught there.

Ive fished Texoma 3 times and have an 8 lber on that lake.

I think the most interesting part is my 7 biggest fish were caught using 7 different techniques. Maybe it was luck, i like to think I can usually figure out a decent bite.

Ive caught fish from 1' out to 40' and I primarily fish deep on Alan Henry.

I probably fish Alan Henry 2-3 times a week in the Spring and Summer, yet I have 1 quality bite on the lake.

My best day on that lake was 3 18.5" spots.

Im also not saying anyone should not fish Alan Henry, there are some giants on the lake, I have seen them. I will continue to fish the lake because I like the challenge. But if I do get lucky and catch a 15 lber, Im not gonna tell everyone it is an amazing lake.

I think everyone is saying we just need to be honest about the lake. One may have as good of a chance to catch a DD on that lake as many others in the state, but your odds of catching a 20 lb sack is extremely low. Heck a 15 lb sack is pretty rare.

I hope you are recovering well and I would love to fish with you again some day.

Guys are smashing them on Buffalo Springs lake right now.

Sprigsss Very well put!!! I can complain about LAH all I want but she gives me 3 great months out of the year and then i go elsewhere to catch fish the rest of the year! I think the state record bass lives there. I�ve seen her.

clark3 I know guys that catch 20lb sacks walking the dam at buffalo. It�s got some footballs in it. There is so much food for them to eat out there. I like it bc of the jig bite.

Ha, she gives me 2 decent weeks a year. Typically June, post spawn fish in 20-25�. Only time of the year I can seem to pattern them on structure.

But still enjoy every minute on the lake that I�m not taking waves over my bow from the wakesetters.

I like a challenge.

Thanks sprigsss, sorry I was coming off so hard headly I am just tired of everyone bashing the lake, especialy when I know there are good fish on it and in it. Everyone seems to want to bash it because it doesn't produce SAL any more, but that is NOT my expectations I enjoy fishing the beautiful lake and guiding on it. I am not mad at it, though, like some of the people that post here seem to be. I accept that lake as it is and deal with it, not try to FORCE my way of fishing to them, but letting them tell me what they want. CONGRATS ON ALL YOUR GREAT CATCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been fishing since 1993 and only have 10 8 lb bass to my record. 2 9s and an 11-8 out of Lake Lewisville. It IS still a jem to us out here in West Texas and I can HOPE it gets better, or I can do something about it, so I am trying to work with some people to help the old lake. Dunno if it will, or not, but we can only try. Catching 5 to 7 lb fish and putting them into AH may seem futile, but we try anyway. Thanks for straightening the record out. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

All I know is that I have had much better success on other area lakes. AH is just closest so I fish it more. Often times I�ll hit another area lake early and hit AH on the way home to Lubbock. I have had some good days on AH but they are certainly few and far between. Very discouraging as I feel I�m a pretty competent angler. Me and my fishing buddy always joke that AH always has an asterisk after it. Whatever normally works for most lakes won�t work at AH.

I think what is most frustrating is the spot to largemouth ratio. I�ll catch about 10 spots to every one largemouth. Now I will also admit I�m not the best deep water angler. I need to probably slow down and work on that more.

Thad I�d love to have you join me sometime and get your personal advice, tips, techniques. I don�t work so I have a lot of free time. Message me and we can work something out.

The only public ramp on the lake charging 30 friggin dollars per day to catch a few small spotted bass was the icing on the cake for me. Thad, I totally understand getting frustrated about people regularly bad-mouthing a home lake. I live in a dump of a town. I know it's a dump, but I still get tired of people bad-mouthing it because I do live there. And, I don't think people are claiming that you don't know the lake or how to catch fish there. Hopefully the TPWD survey is evidence that the state is hearing the complaints and intends to invest some more energy into evaluating and reviving the lake. That would be a great pursuit because AH truly is one of the more unique and scenic lakes in the state.

I say throw a few more pump stations in and drain it.

Thad, sorry to hear about your stroke and prayers for you for a full recovery!
I still view AH as one of my favorite lakes, it fishes hard but is a beutiful body of water that we don't see in West Texas. Even though fishing is not what it once was, I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning everytime I pull into the parking lot. Partly from having great memories there and partly because I know the potential of what that next bite may be, caught my PB there, 11.2 and have had on two that I know were SALs. Busy with life, cost of gas, time it takes to drive there and back in a day, and I just haven't made it up there as much as I used to, but keep up with fishing reports and still have friends that fish the lake on a regular basis. If I lived closer, I would continue to buy the yearly pass and consider it a membership in a semi private lake. Hope it makes a big comeback, but without the support of Athens, I don't think we will see that happening in the near future.

Yea I went the other day and I couldn't believe it had gone up to that much either. Just not worth it anymore. Damn shame. My son caught a SAL out of it in 2005. Have some great memories there. But it has some serious problems right now. The fish I caught were skinny and sickly looking. At least she's still pretty. But she's getting too rich for her blood these days.

2 bass boats and tow vehicles wrapped in Rapala logo made a stop here I believe in May on the way to an Elite Tournament. They fished for about 2 hours. Seth complimented the lake as he thought it was pretty easy to pattern. He caught a 5lber and others. This is a finesse lake that fish`s like a river. Wind and current positions these bass on 20 to 35ft ledges and drops. As far as putting in more pumps, to pump the lake dry, that is Lubbock`s choice not a person that is afraid to put their real name up. The lake was built for a water supply for Lubbock. Many of us that fish a lot believe if the lake would drop to 20+ foot low for 2 or 3 years and then fill back up the fishing would explode just as we have seen has on other lakes. Good Luck PS forgot to say buddy and I fished from 4PM till dark and caught several fish. All were extremely healthy spitting up 2-3in. shad.

So I am taking my daughter there in about 2 weeks. She just wants the line to tug no matter what size of fish. So how would you recommend to fish to catch a lot of fish (spots I assume) and where?