We fished Squaw Creek Lake yesterday for the first time and I thought a few of you would like to get my initial thoughts on the lake. We�ve heard about this lake for years through the fishermen�s lore. We slept maybe two hours the night due to excitement and we were pretty beat up before we even launched. My son and I both fish for fun but have read so much about the lake that we had to try it out. I live on the water in Granbury so we pulled up with the trailer, loaded up and headed out. Hearing stories for years about the lake had us dreaming of 1-3 lb bass on every other cast, 5-6 lb common on beds in clear water and snagging tilapia constantly by accident.

We weren�t allowed in until 7am and not sure why but we were about #6 in line for launching. It was very straight forward and everybody looked like pros to us (except the guy behind us with his high beam LED�s on the entire time). There�s alway one in the crowd! There were approximately 30 boats on the water and the weather was pretty tough. Heading out across the lake with a few other boats was easy enough with light chop and moderately cold temps. We initially went down to an area across from the dam and started �bank beating�. Third cast for me with a Rat L Trap hooked about a 1 1/2 pound bass so we were thinking �every third cast would be nice�. One hour later, I caught another bass about the same size on a wacky rigged Senko Blue fleck worm. Both of these fish were within five feet of the shore near some timber so we knew at least some were getting close to spawning time.

Many people warned us about the Tilapia beds but it has to be seen to be believed. We have an SI Humminbird system and they look like moon craters or Swiss cheese. Any where we found sand/gravel going down into the water, we�d find these communes of spawning tilapia. Never saw a single fish visually but knew exactly where they set up camp.

Another hour later my son hooked a really nice fish on a creature bait but lost it up next to the boat. Luckily, he picked up another 1 1/2 lb bass a few minutes later. We lost a couple more and, by noon, we were ready to throw in the towel. The wind picked up speed and the temp seemed to get lower and lower and I guess we were just getting �cold soaked�. We tried one last time up by the island when we saw a bunch of gulls dive bombing the water but nothing came of it so we loaded up the boat and headed home.

My impressions of SCL? I wish we had a guide as no matter how much tackle store talk/guidance and asking around can prepare you for this lake. Fishing in 68.9 degree water when you�re freezing your keister off isn�t natural. One thing we both commented on was how healthy the bass looked. We�re used to Granbury�s little 3/4lb dinks that are skinny. All these fish looked like mini Lunkers - huge bellies and healthy skin. I was impressed with that. I talked to the fisherman ahead of us in line during the launch delay who was extremely friendly and helpful. (I wish I got his name) He gave me some insight into the quirks of the lake and helped us in navigating initially. It would be nice put up a forum sticky on advice for this lake as many threads disappear over time and it�s VERY different from other lakes.

Will we be back? Of course we will. Hopefully even better prepared than we were yesterday. I can see great potential with this lake but with it seeing 3-5 tournaments a weekend, I can imagine these bass are pretty skittish. I�m sure the rumors of 100+ fish days are true when you know what you�re doing but we weren�t the only only packing it in early. Maybe I just need to fish there more often and learn the system. One last thing, make sure to bring plenty of fluids and snacks aboard as there�s nothing out there and if you make a full day of it, you�ll be hungry.

Well, thanks for reading and the advice over the years I�ve been following this forum. Sorry if it�s long winded but thought someone might find it interesting from a newcomers point of view.

Welcome to my neighborhood! Can�t imagine living 20 minutes away in Granbury and basically treating Squaw as a �bucket list�! You even expected a lakeside marina/cafe/store lakeside inside the power plants property? Like most things in life �urban lore� is always greater than reality. You did however choose maybe not the best time to sample it. With the recent outage, cooler water...fishing has been reported as �off� the last couple months by most everyone. You could not have kept up with Squaw on the TFF lately and not been aware of that. Why it�s as popular as it is in the winter with the masses is because normally a �bank beater� with little prior lake knowledge can expect to catch some up shallow throwing a wide variety of baits. Often catch a lot. The other reason the masses come is the same reason y�all came: that urban lore thing!

Don�t get me wrong as we had a great time. It was really neat being there and we knew about the reactor being down. Still found water at 68.9 degrees. Also, we just moved to Granbury but live only here on a part time basis so we�re still getting established. We�re from Lubbock and fished Alan Henry when it was new but but we sold our bassboat and flyfished in the mountains for 15 years. Getting back into the bassin� experience now. I was just giving some insight as a first timer so other newbies would know what to expect. We�ll get back there soon...

Does it fish well all year round or just in the winter?

It's like every other lake, some days it's easy and some days it's an absolute grind. Anybody saying they catch 60 to 80 everytime out is telling a lie. You have those days then there are the days you put it on the trailer at lunch cause you want to sell your stuff and take up golf. And it sucks compared to 3 to 4 years ago.

??? GOLF ???
really,,,, you ever tried that ?
at least with fishing you can put your lure in the water and sit back and relax. with golf you have to keep going in order to get to the end.

Fishing & Golf
I have done them both ---alot,,,,, I am/was a much better golfer than I am a fisherman ,,,,, but I would much rather be fishing for 4-5 hours and catch nothing compared to playing golf for 4-5 hours
JMHO

AMEN on that golf/fishing thing. I gave my clubs to my youngest son a few years ago and haven't missed it one bit. I figured that if I had 4 hours to kill, I'd rather be out fishing anywhere than on a golf course.

Clearly this was NOT the guy ahead of you in line ^^^^^

I tournament fished for over 30 years but quit it to take up golf. Golf is the hardest thing I have ever done but I love the challenge. That said, I still like to fun fish for anything that swims and some day like to try SCL.

It�s actually very similar to Alan Henry in a lot of ways. One of the main things I�ve learned about the lake is you can�t fish too deep. There are massive schools in 25-40�. Definitely can get you out of your comfort zone.

Yep, fish and chips we fished in 50 feet with jigging spoons and it worked out pretty well.

Yes, we hammered ours out in 85� on tree tops that were 45�-50�. drop shots was our bait of choice.

And that worked out pretty well for you guys

Yes, as the Spoon did for y�all.

the spot was out in middle of lake, off main point.


I think both the dropshot and jigging Spoon has been under utilized on this fishery. Especially now that it�s gotten so hard to catch them.

Just doesn't make any sense. You have the little white ball right there at your feet, then rules say you have to hit it away from you as far as you can. Then you get it right at your feet again and whack, you have to hit it again. Over and over. I just don't get it.

I don't have enough string on my poles to fish that deep.