Hello all,

Below is 9/13 TPWD report on Lavon. How do you make use of this information?

thanks

"Lavon
Water stained; 79�84 degrees: 0.15' low. Black bass are fair on Texas rigged craws, squarebill crankbaits, and buzzbaits. White bass are fair on slabs. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs. Catfish are fair on trotlines and prepared bait."

Above is the lake report, that I think you tried to post.

Reports have four categories of ease of catch: Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent. Only Good and Excellent give you your best chance of catching! All the lures suggestions are simply a suggestion, use what you know how to use.

For going after white bass and catfish, get off Lavon! Go hit Ray Hubbard!

"Ray Hubbard

Water lightly stained; 80�84 degrees; 0.44' low. Black bass are fair on white spinnerbaits, football jigs, and topwater poppers. Crappie are fair on minnows. White bass are good on slabs. Hybrid striper are good on slabs. Catfish are fair on trotlines and cut shad."

Use Rat-L-Traps in chrome for working the surface to 6' deep. Use chartreuse/white or silver jigs for vertical jigging. Look for Lake points and humps that are in 10 to 25' feet of water and watch for diving birds and jumping baits. The thermocline is dissolving now and fish are getting more aggressive about feeding as fall moves in. The first 2-3 hours of sunlight and the last 2 hours of sunlight will be best right now.

Regardless of what I say or anyone else, try a variety of techniques and baits until you find the bait that fish want and then fish it.

Thank you so much for your help Craig. Your explanation is so simple to follow, even for an engineer, lol. I'll focus on learning Ray Hubbard then.

I truly appreciate your help here and during our sonar class couple of weeks ago.

IMHO ,

those reports are not worth much ,
most of the info is a week to a month out of date.

no substitute for time on the water,

good luck

MO

I have always wondered how do they come up with these reports? Do they maybe contact some of the locals each month and ask them? Just curious

TPWD has a network of guides and sources it uses to provide courtesy fishing reports. It is important to remember that reports are accurate only to the person that provided the information.

Fish patterns may be similar day to day for a period of days, but are usually change quite rapidly. Fish turn on and off like they are operated by a switch.

Mo is correct, a report does not replace time on the water.

If a boater is catching fish, most don't mind another angler easing in and joining in on a good bite. If you are coming in, be polite, say hello and troll in, don't run in on the motor and then shut down creating a disrupting wake. Don't get within 75 feet of another boat unless they invite you closer. Don't throw lures at or over their boat. Don't throw across their fishing lines causing tangles. Most likely the fish are circling and you can catch by jigging vertically. If you feel you must cast, cast away from others. If you see a guide boat, use some common sense. Realize the guide has paying customers onboard and don't crowd them. Don't tangle them and don't follow them spot to spot. If that is your technique for catching, then you need to do some learning about the sport of fishing. IF you want to know what lure they have on, ask them.

If you want to speed up your skills and abilities, hire a guide with the intention of learning and not just fishing. Tell them in advance what you hope to accomplish and many are happy to help. However, if you bring along a portable GPS and think you're just gonna mark all their spots, you have wasted a trip. Finding fish with a sonar is easy, learning the techniques and skills to fool a fish with a piece of painted metal is the secret.

Well said.

I looked at Rayburn a day or two ago. Any thoughts on how to interpret this one?

Sep 13, 2017
Water stained; 82�86 degrees; 2.19� high. Black bass are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are slow. Bream are slow. Catfish are slow.

I think it was a slow day at TPWD!

I lost faith in these reports when a couple of years ago they said the sand bass and hybrids were biting on the mid lake humps at Cooper. The lake was 14' low and all boat ramps were closed. Kind of hard to get to the humps without a boat but the report every week said they were tearing them up.

These reports are not worth anything. You are better off going to the lake and trying for yourself.

From fishing Rayburn I think that report has some flaws. This past weekend I fished form North end all the way to Mid-lake. Most water temps were in the 80-82 degree range. Water had dropped about a foot since the hurricane and was only about 1' above pool. Largemouth fishing has been pretty good, I've had a couple over 5 lbs each trip and the shad are starting to move causing bass to school in many areas. So I wouldn't put much faith in that report...lol

Don't read those reports. I'm convinced most are just generic generated reports that hold no value. Go out there, try it your way

The reports are junk.

always have been, I remember them from 40 or more years ago and they were usually a month old by the time you read them.

I like the reports but just need the first part, water temp, clarity and level.