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April Can be Tough #13524567 04/19/20 12:37 PM
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I'll start out by saying I'm a pretty casual bass fisherman. I'm retired and live on Lake Tyler and fish often enough but I'm not out there all the time. But I find that the fishing get's a lot tougher in April than it is in March. For me the when fishing in March, the fish are up shallow along the bank and in pockets but by April they seem to be long gone. And this seems to have been the case here for the last few years. I suspect by April much of the spawn has passed but you'd still think there would be a lot of fish still shallow. But for me it's gotten very slow this April. Now it can be that we had a warm winter and an unusually cool spring. I don't know. Any of you disappointed fishing in April after a typical March?

To contrast, in years past some of my best spawning time trips to Lake Fork were excellent in April. I don't fish Fork anymore.

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Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524603 04/19/20 01:04 PM
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Big Hopper Offline
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I found the same thing at Bob Sandlin last week. Fished three days in the middle of the week, and caught nothin. My buddy brought in a few dinks, but I was looking for the regulars, and got none. I tried Pre-spawn, spawning areas and Post spawn. Nothin.

Did run into schooimg sandbass, in the last hour of the last day. They were full of eggs !?!?!?


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Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524604 04/19/20 01:04 PM
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EastTexasBassin Offline
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Its been the other way around for me, but I strongly prefer to fish deeper water. In March, I still caught a few here and there but it was definitly slower.

The last week or so has been insane. The main lake points have loaded back up with fat hungry fish and the buffet is open. I've been catching 30 to 50 fish on a spot, with long runs of catching fish on back to back casts.

Post spawn fish are starving and easy to catch, you just gotta move back out to where they are.

Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524658 04/19/20 01:49 PM
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Opposite for me but the April weather this year has been much more like March

Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524727 04/19/20 02:27 PM
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texasAUtiger Offline
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I wonder how much this varies depending on the lake you’re on. I can’t find any fish on main lake even primary points where the post spawners should be congregating. I have caught some spawned out girls back in the creeks along the channels that should take them to those post spawn areas. But generally they have not flipped the switch to “feed up” mode on my lake. April has been so weird.


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Re: April Can be Tough [Re: EastTexasBassin] #13524729 04/19/20 02:28 PM
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texasAUtiger Offline
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Originally Posted by EastTexasBassin
Its been the other way around for me, but I strongly prefer to fish deeper water. In March, I still caught a few here and there but it was definitly slower.

The last week or so has been insane. The main lake points have loaded back up with fat hungry fish and the buffet is open. I've been catching 30 to 50 fish on a spot, with long runs of catching fish on back to back casts.

Post spawn fish are starving and easy to catch, you just gotta move back out to where they are.


May I ask what techniques are you using for deeper water on main lake points?


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Re: April Can be Tough [Re: texasAUtiger] #13524761 04/19/20 02:48 PM
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EastTexasBassin Offline
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Originally Posted by texasAUtiger
Originally Posted by EastTexasBassin
Its been the other way around for me, but I strongly prefer to fish deeper water. In March, I still caught a few here and there but it was definitly slower.

The last week or so has been insane. The main lake points have loaded back up with fat hungry fish and the buffet is open. I've been catching 30 to 50 fish on a spot, with long runs of catching fish on back to back casts.

Post spawn fish are starving and easy to catch, you just gotta move back out to where they are.


May I ask what techniques are you using for deeper water on main lake points?


Deep diving jerkbaits, underspins with 4" or 5" swimbaits, carolina rig with fluke or trickworm, and shakeyhead. (In that order)

Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524769 04/19/20 02:54 PM
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February, March and April have been a grind for me.


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Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524812 04/19/20 03:15 PM
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bassmanrudy Offline
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I was fortunate to have 3 days in a row to fish this week(and a few hrs on Tuesday as well) and I'm fully in the "April can be tough" camp!! The lakes I fished aren't "deep" compared to normal lakes but I tried from 6" to 8' without hardly any luck at all. Now some of the "adverse effects" that could have played into this were-
High water
Muddy water
Cold temps(to start the mornings)
Wind(over 10mph 3 of the 4 days)

Would have been good to fish a lake like(Pines, Rayburn, Toledo) that have deeper water with points and such to see what would have happened.


...
Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524841 04/19/20 03:28 PM
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i-Fish Offline
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April has been a blast for me. March was tougher but I also didn’t fish as much in March. I started fishing Fork finally and it’s been a lot of fun this month. Topwater and sight fishing is hard to pass up when they’re up shallow. Even Lewisville was productive in the few hours I’ve spent on it this month.

Last edited by i-Fish; 04/19/20 03:40 PM.

If you can't find em wind em.
Re: April Can be Tough [Re: bassmanrudy] #13524854 04/19/20 03:35 PM
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Jeff From Iowa Offline
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Originally Posted by bassmanrudy
I was fortunate to have 3 days in a row to fish this week(and a few hrs on Tuesday as well) and I'm fully in the "April can be tough" camp!! The lakes I fished aren't "deep" compared to normal lakes but I tried from 6" to 8' without hardly any luck at all. Now some of the "adverse effects" that could have played into this were-
High water
Muddy water
Cold temps(to start the mornings)
Wind(over 10mph 3 of the 4 days)

Would have been good to fish a lake like(Pines, Rayburn, Toledo) that have deeper water with points and such to see what would have happened.



best bite by far is still at first light even though its been COLD... 42-46 this week at first light. shallow at a feeding area.

the cold effects texas fisherman the bass not so much at least on the 3 lakes Ive been frequent in e texas

Re: April Can be Tough [Re: i-Fish] #13524855 04/19/20 03:35 PM
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Originally Posted by i-Fish
April has been a blast for me. March was tougher but I also didn’t fish as much in March. I started fishing Fork finally and it’s been a lot of fun this month. Topwater and sight fishing is hard to pass up when they’re up shallow.


Where the heck have you found water clear enough on Fork the last two weeks to really sight fish? Visibility on the southern end (Little Mustang, No Name, Grimes, etc) was only about a foot. There's a few that shallow but they're generally small guys that I've seen!
I haven't been out as much in either month, but it's been either on or off in both April and March. Hit em ok one day, not so much the next.


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Re: April Can be Tough [Re: fivebites] #13524878 04/19/20 03:45 PM
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Originally Posted by fivebites
Originally Posted by i-Fish
April has been a blast for me. March was tougher but I also didn’t fish as much in March. I started fishing Fork finally and it’s been a lot of fun this month. Topwater and sight fishing is hard to pass up when they’re up shallow.


Where the heck have you found water clear enough on Fork the last two weeks to really sight fish? Visibility on the southern end (Little Mustang, No Name, Grimes, etc) was only about a foot. There's a few that shallow but they're generally small guys that I've seen!
I haven't been out as much in either month, but it's been either on or off in both April and March. Hit em ok one day, not so much the next.


Alligator cove, Searcy, and the cut south of Minnow Bucket Marina, not sure what it’s called. caught some nice slots and completely screwed the pooch TWICE on a giant. Still waking up in a cold sweat over it.

Last edited by i-Fish; 04/19/20 03:48 PM.

If you can't find em wind em.
Re: April Can be Tough [Re: LakeTylerMan] #13524963 04/19/20 04:22 PM
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Jarrett Latta Offline
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Still lots of prespawners even on Rayburn out in 15-20ft mixing with post spawn. It's only mid April, lots of fish in all stages right now

Re: April Can be Tough [Re: fivebites] #13524981 04/19/20 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by fivebites
Originally Posted by i-Fish
April has been a blast for me. March was tougher but I also didn’t fish as much in March. I started fishing Fork finally and it’s been a lot of fun this month. Topwater and sight fishing is hard to pass up when they’re up shallow.


Where the heck have you found water clear enough on Fork the last two weeks to really sight fish? Visibility on the southern end (Little Mustang, No Name, Grimes, etc) was only about a foot. There's a few that shallow but they're generally small guys that I've seen!
I haven't been out as much in either month, but it's been either on or off in both April and March. Hit em ok one day, not so much the next.



The water has cleared up much more this past week out there. I will say personally I have seen way fewer on beds in April this year than previous years but we have had such an odd spring weather wise and also the water was a bit dirtier than usual as well.

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