Went for 2 hours after work this morning. Nice n' quiet. Used mainly YUM 1.5" beavertails and some slab seekers and had 3 keepers 10-11", and about 5 9-9.5" fish.

Not bad I guess. Too bad I was wiped from work, or would've stayed longer for some freezer filets. Gauging depth still an issue, but most from 5-9'. Had to work for em'. Look forward to seeing some of the old crew soon, and bringing out a few invitees as well.

Hey, don't mind havin' them to myself sometimes either. LOL.

Nice BigCat! How deep are your slips and what do you have them baited with?

Right on BigCat! They're coming...

Good report Eric. I think they are fixin to load up in those slips!

Hi guys, yep, hopefully when we get a few more cold fronts coming in starting next week/beyond, the water temps will cool and some of the bigger fish will move in.

I'm about to head back out there to do some mid-morning to
lunchtime fishing (which I seem to do my best out there at that time because of the shade).

Stucky, our slips aren't very deep(maybe 11-13' in the deepest slips), even with EM just below pool a few feet (they try to keep a steady-state level on this lake because it's a staging lake for the W. Fork of the Trinity River).

We have bamboo condos, homemade condos from buckets, and a few dead cedars that are at the head of the slips. Can't say which ones produce the best, though I seem to do better by the artificial condos(wish we had sunk some willows). I also catch some near pontoon boats that aren't even brushed. It's best to keep moving and pluggin'. I have about 5-6 spots I like to rotate through.

I'll give a report back this afternoon. Later!

Sounds good! Perfect depth for winter.

Brian, it is pretty good in the cold months, fishing like 3'-6' down. Catch some big uns that way.

As for today's report, just kept the 4 nice slabs that were keepers, while I caught maybe 9 or so in 3 hours.

It was relatively slow, with sporadic action, but the ones that did hit were pretty nice size (up to 12"). Decided to leave my warm season comfort zone of plastics to use one of Skip's jigs (orange-chart/black checkerboard-orange w/flash) and did pretty well on that combo hair jig.

Ate the crappie this evening. Pretty tasty and fresh!

Nothing special, but met the founder of Gordon's catfish bait this morning, as he's moved by our arena. Nice guy, and said he'd be willing to build a cleaning station at the end of the slips. I just need to get 'little minnow' to say it's 'ok'.

Look forward to having a few TFF'ers out soon.

Nice catch BigCat! Mine is around 18 feet deep but I can fish other parts of the Marina that are in 6 to 10 feet. Those are the slips that I caught some SLABS out of during the spawn. I hope the bigger fish move in soon to my condos in 18 feet. I just put them out last week and FW and I fished them on Monday with only 1 small crappie caught. It was a weird day though. Fished with minners and didn't even catch any cats, bass, etc...Well, FW caught a black bass but that was it. Very weird for the slips to not produce anything! We think the weather has them all screwed up right now.

You guys have a little better situation with mobility on depths for changing seasons than we do, Stucky. I still manage some all year round at ours, but do best in the cool season when the hawgs are in there!

Went one more time Thursday morning, but only fished 1.5 hours and it was SLOW. 2 borderline keepers and a dink. I wasn't really into it, dunno why.

I plan on being back out there after the weekend when it's more quiet. I'll let ya know how I do.

As for new condos or brush, yes, it takes time. We found that out when we brushed our right after Christmas last year. After about a month though, they started producing and still are, but slowed down this Summer (likely due to the depth and water temp).

Hang in there!

Thanks BigCat!

Roger that. New report will be coming either Mon/Tues. Stay tuned to all members and friends.

After a 5-day fishing drought, I plan on visiting the ole establishment tomorrow(Tuesday) morning, post-frontal (as a weak cold front will push throught tonight...I'm at work and that looks like a good bet).

I'll post a report before I head to work Tuesday evening. I hope the cooler/breezier weather (than we've seen for a few weeks) helps stir the hawgs up.

Today's results: Fished 8:30 AM-11:15 AM.

First hour very slow...no fish. But wait...

Second hour and 45 mins much better. Caught about 8 crappie, 4 of them keepers, with about 2 1 1/4 lbs or slight better. Also, caught a nice 3 lb or so bass.

Red/Chart medium Rocky Top Slab Seekers on 1/16 oz head, 1/16 oz JIGUM jig (yellow head w/red flake/red/yellow tail), and firetiger color 1.5" YUM beaver tails were the 3 tickets to today's fish.

Thanks to JayDon, Matthew, and the makers of YUM baits for my success today. If I lose a jig, I don't necessarily go right back to that color/type, as I'm adventurous and tend to be creative to see what works, but that's me. Anyway, not a bad morning. Now this evening? Well, work is work, but I plan on being out there later this week and likely this weekend.

All takers are welcome to call or PM me if you want to fish for 2-3 hours (unless they're killing em', which I wouldn't go that far to say that...I don't like staying real long).

Later...

Hey where's the thanks Brian for turning me on to the firetiger yums??? Just kidding. Glad your catchin em!

Ha ha! Yeah, well, thanks buddy. Remember though, I already said I thought that color was killer and had already considered ordering it, but you confirmed me to go ahead and do so.

Another YUM color I've done well on (outside the chart/flake), is the red shad with chartreuse flake in it (on their website as well). I got some white/chart tail and watermelon seed, but they're 2" and will wait to use them when fishing piles, bridges, or trees out of a boat (whenever that happens again...LOL).

You need to come out sometime Brian. Hell, bring Anthony with ya. I've told Slab, Stucky, and FishWhisperer they're welcome out anytime too, as are many others. Just holler sometime.

Hmmm...I bet those YUM firetigers and red shad w/chart would kill em' at Texoma.

Sure I'll be headed out for a short, mid-morning trip, before the final day 7 of this evening string (Yes!). I'll report as usual afterward. I'm out...

Thursday morning was very slow and don't know why. I couple of borderline keepers around mid-morning, then just one dink through just before Noon.

Though I had planned to go out this afternoon/early evening, will likely wait til this tomorrow/Saturday, as I have in-laws visiting.

**Note to self: Continue to avoid weekends at all costs**

Took my son out for a few hours in the afternoon Saturday and got him a couple of perch, and caught a few crappie which I tried to get him to reel in, but as you know, when there's just a tad of slack, off they go. Oh well, we enjoyed the time together.

Too bad some bass fisherman took it upon themselves to pull into any slip they felt compelled to (yes, even the one we were fishing in). This kind of behavior just blows me away. He pulled out after a kind exchange.

I'll stick with the weekdays if at all possible. Still a nice time with my boy and took a few cell camera pictures for my back ground on the phone.

More reports later this week once this storm system blows through.

Hey Big Cat!
Thanks for the response to my inquiry about E/M. I went out today and fished boat docks and slips. The docks were all closed up; looked like for the year. I caught three or four small crappie and a dozen green crappie. Them stupid green crappie would not leave my minnows alone. I have a question as to private docks and slips and the proper fishing etiquite. Is it ok to fish the outer edges? I did not go into any slips as I think this is private property. But no one was on any of the docks and I would not approach one if residents were on them. The wind was absolutely horrible the last two days and yes, there are alot of rude bass fishermen. Nothing that a big rattle trap in their area won't cure. ha!ha!
So, seriously what is proper etiquite around docks and slips this time of year? Thanks

craftsmanbm,

Yes, you are correct sir. It's public domain to fish slips, as long as your not getting off on them or docking your boat in a private(paid for slip) to fish. So yeah, you can cast into slips and all that, and that's totally legal and cool with slip owners and renters.

However, if you notice a slip renter fishing a particular slip, my learned etiquette over the years that was taught to me by many older than myself, is to move on to another slip to cast into, or if on a bank, don't come rushing right up next to someone once you've noticed they've landed a nice fish.

If there's one way that will piss most fisherman off, is doing some of those things.

I believe the way you're approaching things is proper and in good taste, so FISH ON and good luck to you!

Wish more fishermen, particularly those of the well-to-do bass mold, were like you.

Of course, other posters on here will have varying mileage on their interpretation of etiquette. This is just solely what I was taught and do follow as I've gotten older.

Finally going in the morning after almost a week. Report forthcoming...

Good luck BigCat.

Went out the cubicle last night and only 1 keeper were caught. The nite bite has been slow to say the least...

Stucky, thanks. Yeah, I generally will evening fish mainly in the crux of the winter season, when sunset/evening arrives early and fish the late afternoon.

Otherwise, I much prefer mid-morning-early afternoon, maybe early morning in the late Winter/Spring(spawn), just because I'm more "into it" and I like and do better in the mornings. Just a personal "thang" as they say.

I'll keep you posted...

Yeah, me too man. When I fish after dark, and I know I have to leave soon I don't concentrate as much. I need to work on that. I have learned to fish during daylight and haven't had much success at night fishing. Without the confidence on colors, depths and techniques, I second guess myself at night which I hate.

Cool.

Well, must've sleep-walked when loading my car this morning (took 1/2 day off work since I was non-operational). Got there and had my tackle/jig box, but no poles.

One of those days. Just came home. Working an evening shift Friday for a guy since he's going out of town. I'll go tomorrow morning. That's life...(brain fart)