I've never been on the lake at Martin Creek but the map I have shows timber-Any general guidelines-can you run it on pad or should I mostly idle? Headed up just to take the wife and wet a line. Any fishing tips would be appreciated also. Thanks


RR521

I went to Martin Creek last week and stayed in the middle of the State Park launch. Ran about 20 - 30 yards from bank in main lake. Found shallow water at the dam (1-3 feet by spillway). The water temps I saw were around 60 degrees.

The lake is open from ramp to the railroad bridge, past the railroad bridge stay 40 yards out from the south shore until you get even with the opening to the discharge pool section, from there I would suggest idling as the path is a little tough to describe.

I went a few weeks ago and hammered them in the grass working the island shore (south side) up to the railroad bridge. Stay off the grass about 10 feet and through a buzz bait or a white spinner bait just over the top. That bite shut off about 10am and the bite slowed way down after that, caught a couple beating a few banks but couldn't locate anything deep or any solid bite after that.

That was my first trip there as well, spent a lot time graphing once the bite slowed so I could find a running lane, I didnt make it to the powerlines or the the cut north of the islands by the dam. All other boats on the water were beating the banks, I didnt see anyone trying to get off the shore so that just may be how that lake is.

Do a search. There have been some "maps" posted with the boat lanes marked. Just remember these are hand drawings not GPS routes.

Search for the bassmanrudy 2/23/18 post as he has 3 maps. Don't know how to show the link.

The lake is NOT OPEN from the ramp to the RR bridge. The lake is high right now and it just looks open. Even with the lake level up, I suggest playing it safe and don't run down the middle of the lake. Since this is your first time on Martin the best way to go down lake from the state park is to run parallel to the dam to the southern shoreline and run along that side. After you go under the RR bridge stay along the southern shore. If you want to fish the northern side then you'll need to go slow. It looks clear but there are stumps about a foot underwater. If you're going on a weekend there should be someone there that you can follow to the hot water side if that's where you want to go. Hope you catch a boat load!

Thanks for all the great tips!

Texas fishing forum

this should link you back to that post. if not i'll PM you and you can call me.

One thing to remember on this lake is that the dam is on the north end of the lake, not the south as most East Texas lakes. When you leave the state park and run the dam you are headed to the east shore line. Going to the RR bridge you are headed southwest. If you have Google Earth Pro go to the 11/2011 and you can see the shallow humps and the bridge on the other side of Dirgin Bridge (2658). Good luck and stay safe as this lake can get really foggy fast.

Yes sir, the lake runs northeast to southwest and you're correct the far shore is probably more east than south but I've just always thought of it as south. I lost my sense of direction when I moved to East Texas Main idea though is to keep Red Ranger off of stumps and that danged old well head sticking up.

Yep, the well shows up on Google Earth, also the humps past the railroad bridge you warned him about. The first time I got on Martin I was turned around the whole time I was there. Growing up in East Texas all of the lakes I had ever been on had the dam on the south end. When the sun came up I thought my compass was broken. After my fishing buddy finished laughing he informed me that the main creek ran to the north.

The state park there sells our maps for this lake, however I would call ahead to make sure they haven't run out. It does show a suggested boat route. As far as I'm aware it's the only map there is for this lake. (for good reason) There was no good contour information available at the time that I did the map for this lake. I had to sound the entire lake (with GPS and a paper graph) and match it with aerial photos before the lake was built. There are definitely a lot of bad stumps in there. I was told that Skeeter had a new boat line that came out (a long time ago) and they took it out to Martin Creek to debut it. This was before the map was published. Supposedly they came under the railroad bridge going south and cut it a little too far to the right that day. Needless to say I heard it tore up pretty bad.

An interesting fact...The remnants of the old "Tramells Trace" runs right through the lake and exits right into the state park on it's way north (Trammel's Trace, the first road to Texas from the north, was used by Anglo immigrants since the early 1800's and by Native Americans for hundreds of years). There used to be a Caddo Indian museum in Longview that had some pottery that came out of a pond at Martin Creek Lake. That pond was located at the mouth of the first creek just south of the railroad bridge on the east bank(Milsey's Cove).

And Bush Hog is definitely right about that well head sticking up. Try to miss that. I do miss the days back when it still had lots of hydrilla. I haven't been there since. For me, the hydrilla actually helped navigate the lake. The edges of it there, always seemed to graph right at 15 feet deep and visually it just was something familiar to relate location to. There are some shallow stumps that you need to watch out for right before you get to Weir Creek(on your way south). Also if you get past that and you want to go to Dirgin Bridge be careful when you come through the scraper cut. Once you get to that bridge remember that there is a very shallow submerged bridge just to the west of the newer Hwy 2658 bridge that you will have to go under. And west of that bridge is stump city. I was out there using the trolling motor in January and fell in the lake after hitting a stump. The boat was taking off without me and I threw a really nice rod and reel away and started treading water trying to catch the boat (not wearing life jacket). I did manage to catch it. And yes, it did get cold after I got out of that hot water lake.

My favorite fishing spot on the lake was way back by the power lines. There are some guts and high spots back there that usually paid off. Also, anywhere south of those power lines I'd go slow. Although, if it's late in the day, I would definitely throw on that west bank right at the spillway. It's pretty good there right at dusk.

Lake Fork Unplugged

If some of y'all ever fished this lake back in the 90's, you would never run anywhere but the east bank! Awesome lake when the hydrilla was abundant! Purple traps were usually the ticket because of Tilapia that were present! Miss those days!

Rainbow Trout colored Trap was also a great Tilapia colored Trap that was also deadly on Fairfield.
My first Century Bass Club tournament ever in the early 90's was at Martin Creek. Couldn't believe a tournament in January and my partner started the morning throwing a Zara Spook topwater plug. Learned a lot about Power Plant lakes that day.