Bob Sandlin

Never been on that lake and was wondering if there are any hazards to watch out for when running it? Thanks.

lots of trees and stumps.

There is a boat lane about in the middle of the lake both above and below the Hwy 21 bridge. About 100 yards before the Rail Road bridge it is open and then east of the Rail Road bridge it is open.

If you go into fly ash cove there are two humps which should be under water now. A few years ago someone ringed them with 4 X 4's so they should be pretty obvious. Other than that east of the Rail Road bridge the main lake and all coves you can run into. If you go under the 1520 bridge (near Barefoot Bay Marina) there are stumps and trees in both branches under the bridge.

There is a boat lane on the south shore and with the water now up a half a foot high you can run it. If you don't know where it is, I would not recommend it.

Thanks guys

When you say "boat lane," are these actually marked or are they by knowledge?

No, the boat lane isn't marked. You just have to know how to run it. I would follow someone if possible and plot it on your GPS.

I believe some of the old timers on that lake have said there is no "boat lane" on Sandlin. You can run down the middle between the bridges and be relatively safe. I ran it a lot when it was 11' low and will attest to there being timber in locations I never knew was there,including running down the middle.

I ran down the middle of the lake when the only ramp you could launch on at Titus County was the deep, temporary one they built justs for the drought...and I never saw any timber on the surface from the railroad bridge to Hwy 21. The lake was at 228.5, nine feet below normal, when I fished a mid-November tournament there in 2011.

There is definitely timber on either side of the "lane" down the center, but I am fairly certain there is nothing within 9-10 feet of the surface...at least...if you run right down the middle.

Once you go under Hwy 21 headed west it's a different story. There is timber right in the middle so you need to go around it.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zC6tOpn_xH_s.k5KtvRTXsKYE

Try this out. I had made a map using these coordinates a few years ago using a hand held GPS when the lake was low. I also used to use Google Maps on my smart phone back when you could actually pull up My Maps on the APP and see yourself navigating down the line. Now that they upgraded the APP, I can't do this anymore.

Luckily I got this same trail saved on my graph on the boat, as well as few other trails that I am not going to post because you just have to know them.

Notice the hard swing right at the bridge. You can cross anywhere under the bridge you want, but this spot is a little higher up and safer, but you have to turn parallel to the bridge for a little ways before proceeding. If you were west bound and you kept going straight under the bridge, you would run right into a stump field.

If anyone sees a problem on here, please let me know.

That's what I do, Randy...go under the bridge and run parallel to it to my left (south) to go around the stump field before heading west.

This map is accurate I was down there about a month ago.

Hey Randy, thanks for those lat/longs. I've entered them in my unit and if I have to go up lake, I'll follow your lane.

I have a club tournament tomorrow on Sandlin. I fished Thursday PM and all day today. I was time limited on Thursday but I caught a few. But man what a tough day of fishing today (Friday). Other than a little morning activity, under that high blue sky I don't think caught a keeper during the day. There is a lot of sterile water on this lake. Bulkheads with no grass, brush or anything to hold fish. I'll roll the dice, find a spot to start then put my head down and just pitch a worm, fluke or similar at anything looking remotely fishy for the rest of the day. But I have my doubts.