I understand Ray Roberts used to have a slot limit and for one reason or another, they did away with it. If TPWD could management it as they do Fork and and offer that level of fishing to the DFW metroplex, would you support it or oppose it and why?

They tried, the water quality is not there.
If it get the miles of drilla back along with some of the old pads, it would be wonderful.

It was a hell of a lot better when it had one and had a hell of a lot less pressure. Wasn't hardly any tournaments then an now its pounded non stop. Damn shame

Should have never been removed!

The pressure has more of an impact IMO. There is alot of coontail coming back and some hydrilla also. Grass is already growing out to 9 feet or so in areas and the west side has it growing as well. Not quite as deep from what I've seen from the east side though.

Stock it like they do Fork and she'll be fine. The smallmouth seem to have almost disappeared which is disappointing.

I guarantee that a few Classic pros will focus solely on the grass. There's alot of it in there without a doubt.

Anyone caught any smallmouth out there recently?

It was my favorite lake when it had the slot because of only a few tournaments were there. Now it's really showing how pathetic the numbers of bass are in it. Don't get me wrong, I love the lake as I have caught all my giants there, i've fished it every year since it opened, and probably have close to 1000 days on the water out there, but the bass fishing is the worst I've ever seen it. In 2018 I had a 50 bass day and really thought the lake was returning to greatness, but now I'm lucky to catch 5. I was really looking forward to fishing it the next couple of months as most of the big tourneys are over, except for the classic coming up in June, I'm afraid now all this rain (lake is up 9" from a week ago) will muddy it all up, and I hate fishing muddy water.

Lake has been beat to death and is in bad shape. If they would stock it more then 5 times a century that sure would be nice. She’s hurting.

I loved fishing there during the slot years. Had a day that I caught 3 6+ lbers on 3 consecutive casts. Then the next weekend, caught 3 7+ lbers on 3 consecutive casts. I used to be able to find fish on beds all over the place. The last few years I fished it after they removed the slot, I caught 0, 1 or 2 most of the days I fished it. It was like every spot I had ever fished dried up. Removing the slot ruined the lake in my opinion.

Look how terrible the last two tournament results have been. That will tell you how the lake is fishing.

Not sure of the last two tournaments as I don't follow them now that I live in OK, but if you put 200-300 boats on a lake, some people are going to run into fish. I am talking about getting out here and there to fish and being lucky to get a bite. Most guys can't afford to hire guides and fish all the spots they learn from them, so they just go wing it. To me, going out 2-3 times a week when I was fishing the lake with a slot limit to after they removed the slot and the pressure came, my results were night and day. Sure some of that is on me not adjusting or figuring them out, but it is not like a few people were struggling and everybody else is tearing them up. Most people I would talk to on the lake or at the ramp were scratching their heads like me.

You nailed it TPWD stocks Fork almost every year , stock Ray Roberts and other lakes every year and watch what happens to them TPWD for some reason will not do that.

I'm gauging the level of support that a change in the management structure of Ray Roberts would have. I feel Ray Roberts has the highest potential to be a top tier bass fishery out of all the lakes in the metroplex. There's no shortage of food and judging by Danny Golden's IG posts, there's quality genetics in the lake. I'm not sure that lake can sustain the fishing pressure and I assume will get worse as the metroplex grows and the Elites come to showcase it's best fish.

I appreciate everyone's feedback and would like for everyone to continue sharing (the good, bad, and ugly). If a slot limit were imposed and/or TPWD increased stocking and management efforts, would you support one or both measures? Would you support it even if it restricted tournaments from weighing slot fish or switching to a catch-weight-release format?

The general consensus I've received is that the lake is in bad shape (especially compared to when it had a lot of grass and a slot limit).





Yes, I had a guy idle over to me in January asking me to take a photo. He caught a 4lb smallmouth north of Wolf.

The grass is coming back and it's good to see some rain right now. Hopefully we find a good middle-ground between drought and flooding this year so the grass can continue to establish itself.

I was just reminiscing about the slot. I still manage to catch a nice one about every trip. However, the numbers have really seem to drop off. I've been fishing Roberts for 20 years beside gar and carp seems like game fish are decreasing. Not sure if the floods that last few springs hurt the spawn. I would have hoped it helped but not seeing any proof.

I guess I’m the only one that’s glad the slot was lifted. While I agree the lake has fished tough this year, probably because of the covid pressure. The last couple of years have been real good. Three years ago I averaged about twenty pounds on my best five every trip.