On a cold and over cast Friday in February I decided to fish a small lake of around five hundred acres, Lake Pinkston. Nestled in the piney woods of East Texas in Shelby County it once held the state record on largemouth at 16.60. I launched my boat at the east boat ramp as normal and slowly idled through the stumps toward the main body of the lake. I was the only boat that launched from that ramp so far and wondered what the day would hold as I motored along. I decided to try some pockets along the south edge of the lake. My first pocket produced a few small bass up to about a pound and a half right up next to the bank. The next pocket I tried produced about the same and I thought I might be on to something. I cranked up and moved to a spot that I thought might be holding some better fish where the creek channel turned almost right up along the bank and a secondary point. I tried the same weightless fluke that produced in the two other locations but nothing, notta. I tried my Texas rig along with a few other things but still nothing. I moved up into a small pocket close by and started throwing the fluke again, bam I had another small one, then two more. Later I returned to one of the first two pockets I had fished earlier and picked up a couple more small ones, then called it a day. These weren't the size of fish I was looking for but they were better than nothing and fun to catch. No one else that I talked to was having much luck at all that day. The next day I was back on Pinkston and tried my fluke again in the first two pockets as the day before except one thing. I knew that the fish were all small from the day before so I decided to move out from the bank in hopes of some larger fish. I killed my outboard about a hundred yards out from the point that marked the edge of the first pocket with the wind at my back. I dropped in my trolling motor but thought I'd slowly work my way around the point and into the pocket. Nothing around the point but then as I got about half way back into the pocket in about 10 - 12 ft of water I had my first bite. She took it hard and gave a good fight for a 2 & 1/2 pound fish. I never moved my fluke when I'd cast it out it simply slowly fell. Within ten to fifteen minutes I had managed to land four nice fish with the largest being 4 & 1/2 pounds. Everytime I got a bite, I had never moved the bait, it was on the initial slow fall of the weightless fluke and it was in deeper water than the day before. The next day I was back looking for something even better and while idling through the stumps a big fish blew up just ahead of me but to the left a bit. I instantly killed my engine, went to the front and dropped my trolling motor. I turned around and picked up a rod with a rogue that I'd tied on before leaving the house. I didn't catch anything from that first blow up but did on the next one. I threw my lure past the feeding fish and by the second jerk then pause, the fish was all but mine as I fought it to the boat. I made several other casts in the general direction but no strike came. I couldn't believe this was the only fish on a feeding frenzie so I held my spot. It wasn't long before a good one blew up the surface back behind me but out of casting range. With my trolling motor on high I moved in that direction, in my own frenzie. As soon as I got in casting range I let that rogue fly while releasing my foot switch at the same time and slowing it on the dial with shoe. After the third yank of my lure as the rogue suspended the bass suddenly smashed it and the battle was on. She was a seven pounder and showed signs of wear on the outer ends of her jaws and there were some scales missing on her side. Maybe it was from slamming into the structure in the 20 to 25 ft of water I was fishing during our fight or possibly while she was chasing shad. I fished the spot some more with a few missed fish then finally landed another one a little over three pounds. The following weekend I just had to try this lake again, I went this time looking for even bigger fish. Heading down the lake I noticed the water boiling in the same place. It was a beautiful sunny day with nice temps and boats of fishermen were pounding the banks everywhere. Not me, I was killing my motor already at 75 yds from the spot where a big fish just busted the top of the water. With my eyes scaning for activity up ahead I ran up front and lowered my trolling motor. A couple of boats were closer to the fish than I was but no one was paying the activity any attention but me. I trolled in the schoolers direction as quickly as I could get there with my 101 minnkota right down through the middle of the stumps and lake. "My bank hugger friends don't know what they are missing" I thought to myself. I thought someone will surely beat me to them but not even a second look. I slowed my trolling motor as the gap narrowed between the fish and I. It wasn't long until I had caught my first three pound fish. Some heads turned but then back to the banks they went. Here I was, fishing February like it was summer or something and the fish were schooling, chasing shad of all things. Well that is just what they were doing and the water was in the fifties. Every fish I caught had shad tails showing the consitute of their diet. I kept fishing my rogue and it kept producing until I'd caught eight fish with only one small one around a pound. Other than the yearling my catch ran from 2.5 to 6.5 pounds and five of them were over three pounds. I caught them all in 20 to 25 ft of water with hydrilla barely touching the surfaces here and there with a scattering of stumps. Many times during the time spent on this spot I was hanging hydrilla with the rogue as it brushed it below the surface and beyond my depth of vision. I fished about five hours on this last day and I tried other spots to no avail. My biggest two fish that day came when I returned to the honey hole for a second time where they were blowing up on shad again. I only saw one other boater ever land a fish that day and four boats were watching as I had my run in with the feeding frenzie. The schoolers on this lake are a blast to catch and you can get into some schools holding very large fish. If I wouldn't have made that first cast the weekend before to see if it was a bass or gar, I'd probably been chunking in the wrong direction. I'm just an average joe when it comes to fishing but I like catching fish so I try stuff to put em in the boat. I'm not throwing at the bank just because the other guy is. Those banks were and had been getting presssure every weekend that was decent to fish since Christmas. I wanted some better fish and found them where no one else was looking.

Great story.. where are the pics???

So pinkston has hydrilla in 25 foot of water?

exactly what I was thinking.

I love catching schooling fish. Pinkston is an awesome lake in the summer.

I'm serious. I have always wanted to fish pinkston bUT I was told the hydrilla was goNe. If it's got drilla I'm going this week haha