Newman Bottom and Irwin Bridge are closed this weekend. I think it's a public hunt.

I drove over Irwin Bridge. The Yegua was up about a foot from 2 weeks ago. Lake is still slightly over 2 feet low.

Rain Dance

Looking like about an inch of rain forecasted for Central Texas over the next week. My yard still feels like I am walking on a wet sponge from last weeks moisture so hopefully most of what falls should wind up "in the flow" as it were.

Checked out brushy creek on lake Somerville, a very little stream of water connecting it to the lake.

Mid December 2016.. a good year but keep in mind the two record high water events (2015 &2016) before this spring run season that kept the creeks full and flowing..



It has been a while but we are finally back on the creek and catching whitebass. We fly fishers wait all year for this special time when the fish charge into the creeks and rivers to get their groove on. The boys show up early and the fat girls follow fashionably late to get the party started. In our part of the country the party runs until about the first of April or as long as there is water. Floods greatly influence both the spawn and the fishermen's access to productive water and on the Yegua it is often boom or bust. On this Saturday it was certainly more on the BOOM side of fishing with a mixed bag of whitebass, black bass, crappie and sunfish. The creek is absolutely full of fish but they hold tight to very specific cover or structure usually just off the main current in the back-flow. Under cut steep banks that allow for vertical jigging are my favorite places as there is just something about pulling fish out from under your feet..

Google map to Nails Creek Unit. http://goo.gl/maps/Pbsc2

6280 FM 180
Ledbetter, Texas 78946

Phone (979) 289-2392
Email Nails.Creek@tpwd.state.tx.us
Website http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-par...

and just a week later December 21st, 2016.. this happened..

Does someone on here have a drone they could fly over the mouth of the Yegua? I'd like to know how much water is flowing from the Yegua into the lake. If it is as I expect it to be there would be a very long shallow ribbon of moving water that the whitebass could be using under the cover of darkness to get into the lower Yegua. In years past the first arrivals will stage around the Wolf pond area waiting for conditions to improve. Sometimes there are just a few fish but other times there will be hundreds stacked up in the deepest part of the creek. Honestly the best option is to launch a kayak from Newmans and fight your way to wolf pond but I'm not up for that battle yet until I'm more confident the fish will be there...

January 18th, 2014


January 19th, 2013

I tried Irwin Bridge on Friday night and Newman Bottom on Saturday morning but no luck. The Yegua is back at normal level and flow.

I went to The Steps on Sunday at noon. I caught 2 white bass. Most everyone I ran into had caught 3 or 4. Glad to see they are showing up.

Figured "The Steps" would get going first this year. Have had one report from out at the Bend and said about the same thing except that a fair number of crappie were caught on the way up from the lake.

Somerville is still going to need at least a 6" rise in the lake level before the water gets deep enough on the west end.

Thanks for the report! I may head out there on Saturday.

When does the shad begin to spawn? I'm ready to hit my bank fishing spot near big creek marina. Saltwater wading has been tough lately and its twice as long of a drive.

Fished the steps today for a couple hours and caught one small white bass. Nobody's tearing them up out there yet. Reports of 1 to 3 fish mostly.

I was there early this morning as well. I only caught 3 keeper size white bass, a keeper crappie, an undersized crappie and a small LMB. I didn't see anyone else even catch one. Usually killing them in the Yegua by now. We got spoiled the last 4 years.