Had the opportunity to fish with one crazy SOB this weekend. We fished the area from where Richland Chambers discharge meets the Trinity down to almost highway 79 south of palestine. The river is literally full of hybrids. Caught well over 100 with probably 40% being keeper fish and 15 or so nice fish. Largest fish was 26". My phone ended up in the river so no pics unfortunately. I wouldn't recommend putting your boat in the river right now unless you are really experienced on river navigation and really don't care if you tear your boat up. Lots of debris in the water. Lots of current. There is not one chance in hell I would put my own boat in there right now..

The main thing I wanted to do was confirm my theory that a large percentage of the RC hybrids are gone. I believe that theory to be confirmed. Look for pools around bends and turns in the river out of the main current. If the fish are there you will see them smashing bait. They seem to be traveling in large groups. Once you find them its game on.

Again, I would not recommend a novice trying to navigate the river right now. It could be really dangerous. The guy I went with has been on that river since he was a child and really knows how to navigate it. I suspect that a bank fisherman could fish at the highway 79 bridge south of Palestine and do fairly well. Just a hunch though. I have not tried it.

I have to disagree with your statement that a large percentage of hybrids are gone. There are still plenty in the lake.

The 10"-15" hybrids are plentiful. I will not dispute that. However, there should be a good group in the lake that is in the 21"-24" range. They simply are not there in any numbers. Starting to see more 18"-20" fish showing up in the deeper water now that water temps are climbing. At this point I just don't think there is any disputing the fact that RC lost a huge number of stocked hybrids. Of the lost fish I think a good many were the bigger fish. I have no doubt there are a few bigger fish left. I'm not saying they are all gone. But if you don't think the hybrid fishery at RC has suffered at least a significant set back I think you are kidding yourself. I'm sure many North Texas lakes have the same situation.

Good news is the white bass fishing should be outstanding for many years to come.

Did they go out of the spillway when gates are open? Also you said down to hwy 79 bridge, did you mean 287 bridge south of the lake? Seems like a very long boat ride to 79 bridge?

I will have to agree with you Tree Grower, lots of North Texas lake that discharge into the Trinity have drained a good percentage of hybrids. Fish all the lake dam that discharge into Trinity River and youll be surprise how many hybrids are at the dam that feed the Trinity, small big you name it.

No I mean the hwy 79 bridge. Trinity crosses under 79 just south of Tucker. North of the 79/84 split. When I made the original post the Trinity was still out of its banks. Since that time it has gone WAY down. I have no idea what navigating the river would be like now.