Great post thank you. I have never fished that lake before but may give it a try!

Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide Report
Lake Ray Hubbard July fishing can be hot, not only the temps but the catching. Although this has been one of the milder summers in some years. The water level is at full pool and that�s a good thing. I have to admit, for the first time in a long time I took a little time off at the end of June and first of July. I had an opportunity to fish in Florida for a few days with a good friend of mine for tarpon. Although we didn�t catch any tarpon we caught a verity of salt water fish. It was fun, the weather was beautify and so was the water. When I came back I was only back in Texas for 3 days and headed back to Florida for family vacation. I know , life is tough for a fishing guide. After my return we fished hard and caught lots of fish. July can be a mixed bag of sizes. I always say the smaller fish show up and the larger white bass get harder to find on some days.













White Bass Patterns
Lake Ray Hubbard in July is schooling time for white bass usually. It took a little longer to get going because of the rain and cooler temps. They finally started a couple weeks ago and all you have to do is �the run�. I usually start at the Hilton flats then Robertson Park the jetty flats and red barn cove. I look for some signs of life as far as shad or birds. The thermocline has set in around 16-18 ft and that is the water I focus on after fish have schooled. Always remember if you find fish schooling do to run thru them with you big engine running as this usually spooks the fish down. When the schooling stops I always check the drop offs by the flats as fish will move a little deeper. As the sun gets up, don�t be afraid to look in shallow water up to 9 ft. I can�t explain why they would stay in such shallow water this time of year . I believe it has to do with the thermocline but as I have stated before I am not a biologist. If things get really tough you can always have success trolling this time of year. I will explain that below in the lure section. I am either looking for �clumps� of fish shallow or schools suspended around 16-18 ft right off of humps or points. You can also slow roll mepps when you find clumps of fish really shallow, although this takes practice and very few of my guest can do this technique .

[img]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-khG8_x3W...fdQCLcBGAs/s1600/fullsizeoutput_82a.jpeg[/img








White Bass Lures
I will have a tiny torpedo tied on if I only have a couple of people on the boat early in the morning or some type of tail spinner when looking for schooling fish. One of my favorite ones is the humdinger tail spinner. Its too dangerous with 3-4 people with all those hooks for top waters. I am still using 3/4 oz slabs with a jig above sometimes . Lure presentation is always key with suspended fish. Drop that slab to the bottom and raise it high slowly as the fish are not usually right on bottom, you can also from a slab and reel slowly up about 5-6 turns. If you notice fish suspended out from humps or points and moving, this is why trolling can flat out put fish in the box. I use the jet diver with release and a pet spoon . I also have counter reels so I know how deep I am running, if you do not have that , then experiment with your set up to figure out the depth by count turns on your reel. If you can practice enough with the mepps it is deadly. Throw it out, let sink (patients) and slow roll it back.





Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide

We target White Bass year round . Lake Ray Hubbard has a great white bass and hybrid Striper population. For more information on Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide, follow this link.

Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide Report

Lake Ray Hubbard August fishing was pretty consistent with some really great days to some tough days. When the water temps reach that mid to high 80’s it can be challenging. September is the month everyone gets excited but it is still summer and hot. The great thing about September is it is the start of hunting season , football and school. Lake Ray Hubbard can be a very busy lake in the summer especially past 10:00 am when all the pleasure boats start getting out. The weekends now are pretty quiet , way less boat traffic and the fishing is pretty good. As soon as we start getting a couple cool fronts and the fishing will become pretty awesome.













White Bass Patterns

Lake Ray Hubbard in September is still schooling time for white bass usually. I look for some signs of life as far as shad or birds. The fish will not only school early in the morning or late in the afternoon but also mid mornings. I have been starting a little earlier and blind casting in shallow water getting a pretty good top water bite. The thermocline has set in around 16-18 ft and that is the water I focus on after fish have schooled. Always remember if you find fish schooling do not run thru them with you big engine running as this usually spooks the fish down. When the schooling stops I always check the drop offs by the flats as fish will move a little deeper. As the sun gets up, don’t be afraid to look in shallow water up to 9 ft. I can’t explain why they would stay in such shallow water this time of year . I believe it has to do with the thermocline but as I have stated before I am not a biologist. If things get really tough you can always have success trolling this time of year. I will explain that below in the lure section. I am either looking for “clumps” of fish shallow or schools suspended around 16-18 ft right off of humps or points. You can also slow roll mepps when you find clumps of fish really shallow, although this takes practice and very few of my guest can do this technique .











White Bass Lures

I will have a tiny torpedo tied on if I only have a couple of people on the boat early in the morning or some type of tail spinner when looking for schooling fish. One of my favorite ones is the humdinger tail spinner. Its too dangerous with 3-4 people with all those hooks for top waters. I am still using 3/4 oz slabs with a jig above sometimes . Lure presentation is always key with suspended fish. Drop that slab to the bottom and raise it high slowly as the fish are not usually right on bottom, you can also from a slab and reel slowly up about 5-6 turns. If you notice fish suspended out from humps or points and moving, this is why trolling can flat out put fish in the box. I use the jet diver with release and a pet spoon . I also have counter reels so I know how deep I am running, if you do not have that , then experiment with your set up to figure out the depth by count turns on your reel. If you can practice enough with the mepps it is deadly. Throw it out, let sink (patients) and slow roll it back.









Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide

We target White Bass year round . Lake Ray Hubbard has a great white bass and hybrid Striper population. For more information on Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide, follow this link.

Dang thats a report now! Looks like you’ve been having lots of fun

Agree, very informative, great pics. JV is one of my favorite guides.

Great pics, especially the younger kids who are smiling ear to ear ... can tell they're thrilled with their catches

Great report, thanks for sharing!

Awesome post JV. Those newbies out there looking to learn the white/hybrid game on Hubbard, give JV a call. He is a great fisherman and guide. I even tortured him with some middle school aged nephews one time that have never fished! He was very patient and put us all on the fish.

Awesome post!

Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide Report

Lake Ray Hubbard winter fishing is here. It has been a weird fall with the warmer weather and light winds at times. But it is officially winter according to the farmers almanac. Lake Ray Hubbard can hold some great winter fishing at times. We pay for living in Texas in the summer with the constant heat , but we are rewarded in the winter. There will be days on the water that by 12:00 pm you are wearing your T-shirt. The fall bite was ok this year, but never got really going. Fishing is a funny business at times, we rely on patterns that the fish and bait hold to year after year.

White Bass Patterns

Lake Ray Hubbard in the winter months mean that the shad have moved out to the deep water huddled into large schools. The white bass and hybrids will follow these schools. It is almost like a migration at times. I will start out on the southern part of the lake out from the red barn cove area and as the months go by I move north. Usually time February rolls around I am drifting the flats out from Chandlers Landing marina. Now don’t get confused when I say flats, I don’t mean skinny water. I am fishing water 30-40 ft deep at certain parts of the lake. Even though it is deep, it is pretty much fishing flat bottom. The fish most of the time will suspend 5-10 ft off of bottom. I am a winter drifter fisherman, that means I like to set up the boat on a certain path and drift. I use 2 large drift socks to slow the boat down on windy days. Covering more water gives you a better chance to run into the large schools of fish. Some people spot lock their trolling motors but I find drifting more effective. Another thing to remember is the winter time is “thumping” season. We actually thump the bottom of the floors of our boats to draw the fish in. I use a mechanical device that provides that sound but you can use a stick with a rubber end on it also. I don’t know why it works, but it does. If you google thumping a boat, its documented that people have been doing it for thousands of years. It is really effective as the water cools and usually by April I am putting it up for the winter. When I scout an area I am looking for bait balls , the more bait the better chance of fish being in the area. You will also mark fish but usually in a scattered pattern. The thumper is what gangs them up. The bite can be very soft and at times you will miss more fish than you catch. Be sure to present your bait just a few inches above where you are marking fish. The presentation is called dead stick, you just hold the lure still sometime with a really slow raise.



bait balls and fish





thumper on drifting

White Bass Lures

I use a couple different set up in the winter time. It all depends on how hard the wind is blowing. If you have a light wind I will use a 1/2 jig head with a 3 inch fluke and above that about 2 ft a single hook with a 3 inch or 2 inch fluke. I will also use a 1/2 small slab on bottom at times if they seam to want a smaller bait. When the wind picks up I have heavier jib heads but with short shank hooks that will hold the same plastic. Some that I know will also add a stinger hook to the jig head. I do not usually do this as it presents a danger to guest more often than not. But it is a very effective way to increase hook ups with a light bite. Colors usually don’t matter, although I primarily use shad colored plastics with chartreuse jig heads our slabs.


property of Moe's Tackle dead stick set up

Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide

We target White Bass year round . Lake Ray Hubbard has a great white bass and hybrid Striper population. For more information on Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide, follow this link below in my signature.

Excellent information! Thanks for sharing!

A true dead stick " junkie ". We live for the " heavy line" of a dead stick bite.

Wintertime, there are no crowds on the lake. Only fishermen looking for fish, I really love wintertime fishing, plus the fish are bigger, feeding up for the winter.

Great info John Thanks

Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide Report
Lake Ray Hubbard late winter early spring fishing is here. The fish finally turned on and came to the usual haunts. Lake Ray Hubbard can hold some great fishing at times. The great thing about Texas is there are days that you can wear a T-shirt in February and March. Spring break is here and because of the current situation some of those breaks have been extended.





White Bass Patterns
Lake Ray Hubbard in late February and March means spawning season. The white bass will start their swim up the creeks to spawn. Not all the fish do this and I am usually very successful on the main lake. White bass will stage in deeper water off of primary points, secondary points and large flats. I am usually looking in water from 25-35 ft deep. Very popular areas for this are the Red Barn cove , which have long points and big flats as well as Chandlers cove. Some days the fish will gather in huge schools and other days they are scattered along the bottom hugging so tight if you did not know your electronics you would probably not know what you are seeing. As the spring warms up you will also have to throw shallow around these same points and flats. They will move up to spawn and move back out to deeper water. March fishing can be great one day and struggle the next. It can make the best fishermen look humbled and some of the average look like heroes. One thing that makes this deeper water fishing successful is thumping the bottom of your boat. It was a well kept secrete not long ago. This day and time somedays it sounds like carpenters building hoses on the lake. It works, it is effective and easily done. You have three ways, either beat the boat with a stick , build an automatic thumper or buy one. You can use youtube to figure out how to build one or look up BoBo’s thumper made by Jeff Bobo and purchase one.


White Bass Lures
I use a couple different set ups this time of year. It all depends on how hard the wind is blowing. If you have a light wind I will use a 1/2 slab and above that about 1 ft a single hook with a 2 inch crappie jig. When the wind picks up I have heavier slab. When I am throwing shallow its usually a small swim bait about 2-3 inches. Another very effective lure is the road runner or a small rattle trap.Colors usually don’t matter, although I primarily use shad colored plastics with chartreuse jig heads our slabs.



Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide

We target White Bass year round . Lake Ray Hubbard has a great white bass and hybrid Striper population. For more information on Lake Ray Hubbard Fishing Guide, follow this link.