Anyone fished wright patman lately? Headed there this weekend, any tips would be appreciated. Looks like it'll be flooded with all this rain.

I think it's 5ft high right now.

I think that lake is constantly high.

Fastest flooding lake I’ve ever seen. Must have an amazing watershed. Seems like every time they get a few inches of rain it’s 15’ over pool.

Stays over pool all the time. Floods back up the sulphur river, and stays flooded for long periods of time.

Anyone fished it lately?

Wright Patman will not be flooded this weekend but the water will be a mess. The lake has 4 seasonal pool levels. Just because the data shows the lake to be above the current pool level doesn't mean that it is "flooded". It could in fact be far below the permanent trees at shoreline. Best fishing is when water is up in the trees and that's not happening right now. LM fishing is slow but it's always a beautiful lake to be on.

Any areas you'd start at? I know zero about the lake.

Patman doesn't fish deep like a lot of other Texas lakes do. It's been a while but when I had my bass boat we stayed fishing in 4'-8' of water most of the time. There is a lot of good places for shore structure. McGuthrie slough is a good place central lake. It does get pressure. Also, off one of the main lake channels, Kelly Creek has some good bank fishing with trees and stumps. Lake will be hard with all the rain. The best fishing I have ever had there was up river off of the Malden ramp area. There is a location called Herron Creek that produced well. But you'll be fishing chocolate milk right now because the rain will mess the water. I also used to like fishing the Atlanta state park area of the lake. Lot's of Islands and banks with structure. I used to live within 2 miles of Ramp 3 at Clear Springs. For background, Patman is a flood control lake. They don't care about much else there but water control. I have land in the flood plain of it and it has flooded twice in the last few years.

The lake has stumped me since the third week in June. Haven't been out in a couple of weeks. Water temp may be cooling down a bit. You might start with the 1-8 ft range around Rocky Point. Plastics and square bills. Just a guest. there are some nice LMB on the lake if you can get them to bite. have fun.

A general running guide:


Patman bass are shallow 95+% of the time. I'm talking 1 to 4-5 feet. There are a few places offshore (seriously, like 4 or 5) that you can catch them offshore/deep, but I've only seen locals do it consistently. Try the areas Brandon mentioned and throw at visible cover on the bank. I agree with everything he said. If you want to flip bushes, fish the creeks and coves of the main lake. If you want to fish vegetation/bushes, go to the Malden ramp.

I always did best on white spinner baits, white and watermelon red flukes, houdini brush hogs, blue fleck lizards. We never cranked it much because depth and structure.

Take care in the boat lanes. The buoys have been moved around by the floods and the lanes aren't very wide.

Thank ya'll for the tips! Much appreciated!