Had the past few days off, but went out to scout and check up the fish a couple hours each day anyway. SRA website reports Tawakoni at 7.52' low this morning. Water temps on the mainlake the past few days has held steady at 55 degrees mid-day. Saw some mild schooling action under a few birds early Tuesday, but that is about all the schooling action I have seen lately. Fishing early has been tough. About 11am the fish are finally starting to gang up around mainlake points and timber. The key depth has been 20-25 feet deep. I did find a few fish suspended out deep around some loons the other day,but that pattern has been inconsistant. I have been pretty much just strolling an assassin very slow to catch fish. Today I had to downsize to a 4" to get bites. It has not been blow your mind fishing lately, but I have had between 15 and twenty keeper striper and hybrid each day. The good news is that I have found some monster hybrid each day. So fat they look like tuna Timing has been the key to catching lately. If you go out a couple hours and aren't catching much, stick with it. Tuesday they never really bit until nearly 2pm, but then it was great for a couple hours. I have a lot of openings coming up and deadsticking is starting to pay dividends. I think we are about to see some really great fishing in the next week or two.

Thanks for the report Matt. Going to try and hit it beginning of next week. See if we get wet and cold for nothing. But if we catch, it will be well worth it.

Nice report Big C! Thats about how Fast & I did yesterday! Very nice looking catfish ya got

Fished from 3 to 5 today with tomorrows customers.... They are staying overnight, so with the weather coming in we decided to hit it a coule hours tonight and hope to get a couple in tomorrow before the front. Heard it was a tough morning, so we went straight to deadsticking. Caught 6 or 8 really nice keeers right off the bat, then looked for some birds. Never found any working, but we did find a slew of short striper out deep. Caught a few more and called it a night. Hoping to see some schooling tomorrow before the front.

Well today was one of those days you get lucky enough to have maybe 3 or 4 times a year if you fish nearly every day. Today we caught and released over 100 fish. We kept every sand bass we caught and only had 25 of them. We stopped keeping bigs short of our limit because the cooler was full Mostly deadsticking deep water flats, but occasionally birds would work and we would get greedy and check them to see if hey were on bigger fish The graph looked like this for over 2 hours:



It was truly a Holy Cow kinda day. We had multiple quadruple hookups and literally left fish still biting so that these folks could still make a First Monday Trip Guess the front sparked the fire. The lake was rough, but wow what a day!

WOW!!!

Sounds like a great day, we had the same thing yesterday.

Thanks for the valiant effort to get us on the phone Matt!! I had my phone in the glove box cause of the off and on rain showers. We were down south catching ditch pickles, and that wasn't too bad either when we decided to head home. Well that's when we ran across you and about 300 diving birds just tearing up the water.
I told my buddy oh my gosh look at all those birds!! And sure enough who was right in the middle of them by himself, but Matt Cartwright and his clients!!!!

We got a few really nice ones, but my trolling motor was going dead so we did the best we could. Weather was pretty crazy but WORTH IT!!!





See ya
Mike

We may have to change the lake name to lake Cartwright.

Those are some awesome fish!!!!!!

Man that is NUTS!!!!

Nice job, Matt. I've always heard good things about you, and I can see it's true.

Awesome! You da man!

Awesome Matt!!

If you've never fished with Matt he will put you on fish and he is also a hoot to be in a boat with...

Love it when the graph looks like that! Those fish are FAT!

Nice work Matt. Good looking fish. way to put your crew on the fish.

Mike ( luv-2-fish ) Glad you got to get out and do some fishing. I went a head and took your advice and : GOT BACK TO WORK " I am on the way to work right now lol

Great report guys

Keith,you're the workenest sum biatch I've ever seen!!!!!

Dude take a break and go fishin!!!

You're more than welcome to jump on my boat any
day!!!

Have a good one!!

Mike

Great job Matt and nice report I'll bet you had some happy customers!

Man, that's impressive! Matt, you're livin' right!

Thanks Mike. At work now . Right now we are doing all the holiday ads and catalogs. It is like this every year. So after the middle of january we will slow down. Then I can get back in the swing of things.

Thanks for the offer mike. We need to definitely get a fishing trip in soon. Since it is nasty out , might as well work today also LOL! ( They called us in )

might as well!

Dayuum, Reuben said said you got into them, but I didn't know it was to that level. Great job, as always.

Thanks guys, we got lucky and just happened to be out there when it was like that. At one point I never touched my trolling motor for nearly 30 minutes. We just drifted and stayed hooked up nearly constantly. I wish I had video of the graph. It was truly amazing. It seemed as though the whole lake was inundated with fish.

dang MATTHEW

Nice job Matt.

Those are some round fish!

Wow, thats a crazy pic on the graph. Hope my graph will look half that good this Friday!!! Matt, all your fish pics look the same...

...the same as in

Yeah, just as soon as the wind lays up I'm back on the water This nasty weather usually turns them on. I'm afraid the bluebird skies may put a damper on it the end of the week though.....

wow nice job MATT

Hunting has sucked I want to go fishing!

Gonna give it a shot tomorrow?

Yes, I will be on the water every day till Monday.....weather providing

Hello,
I am looking for those who fish Lake Tawakoni quite a bit......
Looking for Anglers interested in providing a very brief lake conditions update from time to time? (or whenever you fish the lake)?? It takes only a couple minutes for an update. The update is mainly for fellow TX Anglers who are inetersted in fishing the lake, but aren't near the location to keep up with the current condtions.
Please e-mail me if you would be willing to provide Lake Tawakoni update(s) at: amyb6284@yahoo.com
Your help is appreciated

Nice fish Matt how did you do today with the blue sky's and post front ?

Now John you would not be fishing for information would you. That is a no no right.

Reel Fisher Girl, you're in the right place for those updates!!

And welcome!!

Raymond, Sunday? Weather looks good.

I even thought about following someone who knows how to fish
to texoma!

Tawakoni continues to be pretty good. Haven't had any days like last Saturday this week, but most days are yeilding 30-40 hybrid and striper a day. Had one off day after the deep freeze hit. Monday was pretty slow, but the rest of the week was an exercise in patience. The fishing will be really good for a couple hours if ya wait it out. If you come out and dont have success early, take a break and hit it in the afternoon. They will bite at some point each day. Haven't had any log donkey mules lately, but are catching a lot of solid fish. Every fish caught this week was deadsticking various color Assassins from www.moestackleshop.com . Some days they want it still, other days just barely bumping the trolling motor along. Just takes a lot of graph work and experimenting to figure it out. Just make sure you have fish on the graph and dont be scared to try something crazy, it just might work! Martin aka ATM97 was kind enough to let my son Blake come along with us today and as luck would have it, Blake whooped me pretty good. Martin did as well. Wasn't really fair though, I had to run the trolling motor and battle beautiful weather. Finally warm enough today to take my gloves off and snap a picture





Thanks again Martin for letting Blake tag along, he's wrapped up in a leapord skin snuggie right now drinking a Dr Pepper

Matt, was that you I saw Friday close to the dam?

Nice fish Martin/Matt...

Need one of those deadsticking lessons down here on Palestine.

I had the pleasure and honor yesterday of fishing with Matt and Blake Cartwright's Guide Service. I know alot of you have fished with Matt but let me tell you a few things about the young Blake Cartwright. First of all the kid is tough. I know I was cold yesterday morning and I never once heard the guy complain. You can tell he is ready and willing to fish in any conditions. Secondly, the kid has got skills. He had 3 fish in the boat before either Matt or I got our first. Finally, you can tell he has fishing guide blood in his veins. At one point he had caught 4 in a row, and when he stuck his fifth one he slides over toward me and tries to give me his fishing pole. "Here you can reel it in if you want." Quite humbling to have a 12 year old try to give you his hooked up fish. And while Matt and I did rally, I still think Blake edged us out for most fish and big fish. Matt, I think he earned that snuggie and Dr Pepper...and gets to keep his Man Card. And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say if you keep working him hard someday yall could be one of the best father/son guide teams in texas.

And on a final note, thanks for the ideas for the Christmas wish list. I got home and told my wife all I want for Christmas is a variety of Dead Assasins from Moes Tackle shop and a rubber mallet from Home Depot.

Looks like Twak is good 2! Mite want to hurry on the Dead Assassins? They are going pretty quick at those "giveAway" prices??? Nice fish pics!

Rubber mallet info pls. and thx.

Not to steal the post but to beat on the side of the boat. I call it sandbass boogie. It works a lot of times. I knew a guy named Glade Reed that used it in the mid sixties.
Johnny

Nice job Blake and Matt!! We got zeroed today, and I mean ZEROED!! Wow that's my first in quite some time.

I guess I should have beat the carp out of Raymond's boat with a rubber mallot,
couldn't have hurt. Fish were just not eating today. We fished 8 to noon.

It was more than chilly.

I have met Blake at the last 2 Tawak tourneys. He always places very well in the adult division. This young man can fish.

I know how ya feel with the young man....mine did it to me on a regular basis.....AND STILL IS ....keep him on the water ...can't get in any trouble in the middle of a lake....ATTABOY BLAKE.....AND POPS TOOOOOO

Thanks guys! Ya, Blake is coming right along.

Yaffe, that was me, TallBaldGuy and buddy Scott. We started to come over and ask if it was you but we weren't sure. Sorry bout that. Next time swing by, it'd be nice to meet you.

The fishing is pretty good right now. Today looks killer out there. I decided yesterday I was going to Mill Creek to crappie fish today, but man I'm starting to think maybe I oughta check up on Twok. Cloudy, mild, no wind????? Why dont I have a trip today

Yep same here. Saw Blake and his younger sister went beyond their asked duties and helped out a bunch on their own at the sand bass tourney, the Friday night, without adult supervision....while their dad was somewhere else telling lies fish stories....

Great kids!!!

We had a lot of help last year setting up, I saw my chance to

Ya'll have fun today, I'm going out to Twok to break in a brand new 22' Skeeter Bay

Could that be a WelchOlicus Boat! Y'all have fun!

Goodness gracious!

Well it's always fun to break in a brand new boat, but today we didn't get much run time in on the motor at all! Have no idea how she rides or handles, we slowly made our way to the first stop and caught fish there and one other spot till pretty much time to go in! Started out catching sandies and then figured out the big boys were just out a little deeper. Not really and loons or gulls working today, you just have to find the thick clouds of bait and work your way around with the graph until you find where the bait breaks up and you mark a couple fish. Then hold tight to that area. Caught all fish on a drop off from 30-40 feet deep suspended. All fish caught on various color and size assassins and jigheads from www.moestackleshop.com . We caught about 50-60 fish today. The hybrid are as fat as Ive seen in years! I have a lot of openings coming up and the fishing is really getting on a consitant pattern now. Call me at 214-415-0166 if you want to go fight some mean Twok bigguns! Thanks, Matt!

WelchOlicus Boat


Dale with a good one


Jeff with one of our doubles


Big fish of the day

That's sure looks like close to a 10 or over to me Matt!!

BAM!!! Nice report, and nice pics.

Nice Fish Nice Boat!

Wow, very hefty hybrids!!! Those two guys look like the guys we were fishing next to when my nephew and I was on Matts boat last month.

You just got a new boat, is that another one or someone else's? Either way it looks sharp.
I figured Jeff would be bass fishing, he must be coming over from the dark side.

Oh nice fish too.

Did you really get a new rig?

Nice to see Dale & Jeff let Matt catch 1 Nice looking boat Jeff. Got an Xmas Box on the way to you and Dale!

Happy Holidays!

That is Jeff Welch's boat. Just took her out on the maiden voyage with him. I might steal it from him a time or two, it is a sweet ride! Also will be avaliable to buy Fall 2012

you're the man, dude.

Not sure abt that...the topic says he's a "Guie" and I believe thats french for a "happy" guy??

There ya go Todd, fixed it for ya

Bout to head out to Twok, looks like a nasty striper day Did not striper fish yesterday, just went and played with these

U coming out the closet with another trash fish

Nice one though

is that the Striper Champs boat ?

StriperChamps, thats an idea......hint hint

Had a fun morning dead sticking with Fastguy this morning. The temps dropped and rain set in, so we wussed out and left them biting. Caught around thirty or so in two hours of fishing. This bad boy tipped the scales at 14#! Best one ive caught in a while! Twok is game on!

Nice Rig!!

Great fishing with you this morning, sorry I didn't get a better picture of the fish, it was huge.

Sounds like y'all were on them guys!

Hey we need the rain, just kinda puts a chink in the chain while you're trying
to fish!!

Keep an eye on them, I'll be out there shortly!

Mike

Another day of mayhem with AaronZ and buddy Rodney on Tawakoni! Had about 40 hybrid and striper and almost 2 limits of sand bass. All fish caught on various assassins and jigheads from www.moestackleshop.com . Still have lots of weekdays open around Christmas. Call me if you want to give Twok a try! 214-415-0166 Thanks, Matt!

Hey TBG and buddies, I can take off Wed. Wanna ask Bill, Mike, Austin, DoubleDee, Frank or anyone else to do a slaughter fest trip with Matt like we did last December? That was my best freshwater catching trip for size and number!! Lets do that again!!

I am going down to Houston Friday so Wed is good for me. Tue may work also.

I can do Wednesday

Fished with Skip Wayne, son Julian and FIL Steve today. Had another great day. Caught fish steadily all day long. Filled a 3 man limit of stripes and hybrid, with a bunch of sandies, and countless throwback hybrid. Twok is still fishing great!

Wedneday works for me if you havent filled theboat up yet

Aaron Z (azstriper)

Man we hit a few spots nailed some nice Hubrids, as Matt always does he found them and it was GAME ON until my arms were tired!!

Very cool, AZ, a deadsticking pardy with Lakeguide is always a blast!! Got your txt

Looks like a great day.

Boy, I sure would like to get out before this front hits, but the wind keeps building. I bet it is game on right before this front

Don't let a little wind scare ya. It didn't stop the fishermen on Perfect Storm.....and they were yankees.

I wasn't scared, but I kinda thought the kids would be miserable out there. Had to cancel today as well, guess why.......WIND!!!!!

Wednesday is here...what WIND u talking abt ???
Picking up DoubleDee at 7 and C Ya at 830!!!!

Yep we whacked em good today!! Perfect time of the year for size and numbers!! Wooohoo!! THANK YOU Matt!!!

Gotta take wife and son out for dinner, will post pics tomorrow!!

Nice Todd!! I've been lucky enough
To see a few of those beasts y'all caught.
Sound like you guys had a great day!!

Can not wait to see more pictures. Congrats on a great day Guy's

A short report and some cool pics from our trip yesterday. AZ bailed out on me but friends DoubleDee and Doug joined me for the LakeGuide adventure.

We got to our first spot around 9, it was brrr cold early with temp in the 30's. DoubleDee started out with the hot hands and boated 4 bigguns before any of us. Which was awesome to see cuz the doctor finally gave David permission to fish after many treatments for his herniated disc and David's last time on a boat was back in August!

We caught fish steadily at almost all the spots, in 40 ft, drifting in 0-4mph winds, glassed surface At each spot, Matt would do his caveman magic "fish call" and us boys would hammered the fish

Had our limits of hypers by noon and did CPR the rest of the day Most/all fish caught deadsticking the 4" assasins, suspending from a few cranks off bottom to mid way. We had several striper and hybrids up to 8 lbs. And some bloated twok magnums to fill Matt's 1000 qt cooler

Pics for show and tell:

David with the first fatty hybrid. And a nice striper shortly after.



Friend Doug caught some good fish also. He caught a 12 lb striper with Matt last December.


DoubleDee with double fish on!!


Yours truly caught a few



Here's the glassed water I was telling yall about.


And a few more from LakeGuide's Fishing Adventure!!




We had a blast! Its always fun fishing with Matt. Thank you again Matt!!!

Twok is a special lake and there are some quality guides on that lake and Matt is one of them. Now is a good time to go and deadstick lots of bigguns guys.

yeeeehawwwwww

DoubleDee I injoyed the day you was in my boat lets do it again and we can let Todd come to. Glad y'all wacked'em Matt is the Man. Matt I will be calling you soon!

Todd, thanks for posting the pics of our trip with Matt! If you are interested in catching big fish, book a trip with Matt now. Yeah, it's cold this time of year but don't be a wus, you will forget about it quick as you pull big fish in the boat all day. I can't believe how many fish Matt put us on all day long. Matt is a great guy who will keep you laughing and teach you how to not only catch fish but also how to "read" the water and graph to make your trip a real learning experience. Doug and Todd hammered the fish big time with different sized flukes. All my fish were caught on the same jig head with a chartruese fluke. Ask Matt about his rod-busting huge hybrid that he was able to get in the boat when you see him. Unfortunately, we did not get a pic of this one. Thanks Matt for another fantastic trip! Pat, I look forward to a day on the water with your crew in the future. Thanks!

You guys are fish catching machines!

wow looks like y'all had fun congrats

WOW Todd. Ya'll had another Fantastic trip. Thanks for all the great pictures. Merry Christmas

Matt lets me run the "miracle machine" when I fish with him.

mr. cartwright,
your skills are impressive
good seeing ya again.
Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year!
I am one of the old, old school guys. Info is great, just remember who your friend are. Crappie fishing is great on Cedar Creek right now. Big ones! Hybrid fishing is also pretty good!

WOW! Smitty in the TFF HOUSE! Crappie on Pet Spoons? NICE!

WOW!! I just ran out side to see if the sky was falling...Jimmy Smith posting on TFF...hope the world's not coming to an end...at a boy Jimbo!!

Jimmy knows Dec 12 2012 is near. Nice seeing you yesterday Joe! I over heard Matts phone conversation your group hammered em also, Joe!!

Jimmy, I was looking and asking around if you were out yesterday but you fished further South. You will never catch up with David Lee's post count at the rate ur going!!

Jimmy you should have called, we could have ran over to Jimmy Legrandes.