Good to see some straight talk about catch and release. My family has had a place on the South end for 35 years and I feel like people keep as many fish now as they did when I first started fishing that lake. I agree about the Cajun mentality about keeping fish but we are on the Texas side any there are plenty of freezer bags filled up on my side of the lake as well. Some guys don't even use their live wells - just drop them in a cooler. And everything is kept from 10 inches to 10 pounds. Personally, I throw them all back unless I screw up and let them swallow a hook or something and I don't think they will make it. If I want meat, I'll keep the whites and yellows that you can find pretty easy in the Summer.

I hated to see T-Bend get that recognition. Good for local business and such - but the extra pressure sure has impacted my enjoyment of the lake.

This is exactly correct. As a Louisiana boy, I can tell you its a mentality. And no matter how much you try to educate, they don't get it. And they don't care.. I've lost several "fishing buddies" over this exact issue. I'd invite people to come fishing with me, They get a rude awakening when I let them know all LMB caught in my boat go back in the lake. What's worse is seeing people at the marinas who take and take and take... limits of fish almost everyday. It is beyond me as to why the daily limit is 8 per person. Seriously needs to be reduced to 5.

The comment about higher limit for having a Louisiana license is incorrect. Tex and La have exact same regulations for Toledo. Only below the lake on the Sabine is the limits different.

Now, as for the OP's original question about the lake fishing tough. IMO the lake isn't fishing tough, it's just not EASY as it has been the last few years. You just have to catch them in other ways besides beating the banks or "fishing the grass". I see so many posts over and over about Grass, or Lack there of, and it's comical. Most of those people are worried about the grass because it is the only way they can catch fish. It's funny and sad to see when you cruise past Housen and see 100+ boats all jockeying for position in a 1/2 mile stretch of grass.

To sum it up, the people who always catch em, are still catching them, and are going to continue to catch em. Those who have enjoyed the last 3-4 years of EASY fishing will learn to adjust or they will leave and go fish somewhere else. I'm betting on the latter.

So you're suggesting that a 40 lb sack last year suggests the lake is going down hill? Really?

It it possible, I mean can you rule out the possibility that the fish have moved in the lake to adapt to the changing conditions of the lake?

Toledo bend hasn't been killed.....a dead lake doesn't cough up 20 lb sacks and double digit fish.........

Maybe the fisherman need to change tactics to adapt to changes in the behavior of the fish.....

TB you are a stinking genius and I couldn't agree with you more.....I think everything you said is spot on.....

I can definitely believe pressure can make the lake fish tougher, but dont believe for a second its tougher because of the lower population of fish due to people eating fish.

If anything people eating so many fish may be the reason so many 10 lbers are caught each year.

First off:

On the Louisiana meat mentality just know it is real. To the point where you see these guys depleting their side of the lake then coming to the Texas side. They practice catch and release in the grease and then laugh about it. And it's not like they're starving ... I've seen their pictures ... lotta fat arses. Several FB pages that I visit. I will say it is not as prominent this year but I think it's because those easy shallow fish are not there. To top it off I lived on the border for many years and even fished/shrimped and carried a LA. fishing license for over on the east side of the border and those guys live off the land.

Secondly:

No body of water can sustain itself under heavy pressure. Just note on these DFW heavy pages over the last year or so the number of folks traveling to The Bend for their first time their. Well, once the BassMaster article came out it was game on for everybody, the word was out. It happens everywhere. Rayburn has its pressure woes. Guntersville get whacked. Look at Fork, it's not as easy as it was 15 years ago and the pressure has increased.

Bass fishermen are gonna have to be like the trout crowd and hold their fish in reverence, treat them gently, and get them back in the water quickly (not after 5 minutes of out of the water while I find my camera and get it ready all the while the fish is getting its jaw pried backwards). Now, I know we have a lot of dedicated good guys on these boards and most of this isn't directed towards you but y'all get the drift.

Off my soap box ... I feel better now!

I was there for 3 days last week, the fishing was the worst I have seen in the last 8 years of going the same month. I don't think its pressure, probably has more to do with the recent spraying of the grass. You could catch all the 2 lb males you wanted on a wacky rig senko in the middle of the pockets, but better fish were almost non existent on the Texas side south half of the lake. Louisiana isn't spraying, we tried to get into 3 different creeks over there on Saturday and it looked like McDonalds on Fork there were so many boats in all of them. Take a number and wait to be the 15th boat to fish the same grass bed. If I had it to do all over again we would have fished Rayburn all 3 days.

Certainly the pressure hurts, filleting has some impact, but all the big fish didn't get filleted. It produced 120 10+'s last year and half that so far this year. I doubt many that size are filleted.

Where'd they go? Lack of grass and lower water levels have things changed up. I was only up for a day a few weeks ago, but was amazed at the lack of hydrilla. The entire flat at Community Hole outside of Housen was clean, or at least where I looked. I've fished that flat since 1980, it's always had grass. I don't think they sprayed that?? Still lots of haygrass there. The fish migrate to the grass areas, and the spots with grass are loaded with boats, concentrating the pressure of course. Eventually, the loss of so much habitat will result in less carrying capacity as has happened on other lakes, Rayburn had a low grass time, Conroe's been through that twice now. Maybe that's happened already?

The amount of pressure is crazy. It looks like the McDonalds every day this spring. After a big tournament you can run around the lake and still see the exact amount of boats. It's that packed. It wasn't like this 4 years ago. Are all those guys practicing catch and release? Nope...

Hope the word gets out . . . TB is dead . . . go somewhere else . . . or, dial back to before grass . . just sayin'

I'm gonna go with no. Final answer

There is a lot of truth to Louisiana mentality, I can say that because I am born and raised Cajun. Growing up, if it was legal we kept it, that included all species. We did consume the fish over the year, but the only conservation that was executed was what was specified by the law.

I have evolved from looking to catch a limit to tournament fishing, which leads to catch and release. My teenage son and I have not put a bass in the live well this year unless it was to weigh in, period. Some members of our team have shown up at the launch on pre fishing days with their catch in the live well bragging on how they are on em, well you were until you Kept them. This not going to change soon or easily. Louisiana has some great sticks, that are dead on with conservation, but as a group my fellow Cajuns are a keep what you catch group.

With that being said I have spent several days on toledo this spring from Sam Miguel to Indian Creek and have seen my share of Texas boats keeping there catch. Marked two females on beds for a tournament to have a Texas boat take them home, its legal and there right, sucked for my tournament game plan so we had to adapt. Bottom line is the SRA and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries need to get together and set conservative regulations and enforce them. Has the lake changed? Yes. Has all of the attention affected it? Yes. Is it dead? Absolutely not!!

I've lived in both states, but I'm not from either of them, so I'm unbiased. There are just as many Team Crisco and Ziplock members in TX as there are in LA.

Sweet logo cass.....

You hit the nails on the head! LDWF and TPW need to do some enforcement. Many outlaws who aren't afraid post pictures of their illegal catches on Facebook, bragging. I wish LDWF would sit at some of the boat ramps and bust these idiots keeping 2x the legal limit. LDWF is nowhere near the lake until memorial weekend. And they are only there to write tickets for boating issues that don't involve fishing.