Had an interesting experience over the weekend on Amistad...

Took the Yak out to Box Canyon, launched and headed West a couple of canyons over (US side only). Set up to hit main points at 15-20ft, but ended up loading up on smallmouth in the shallow rocks. I'm no stranger to smallies in the Devils River, or even around Rough Canyon. Have even seen some occasionally (somewhat rare) mid-lake. But Box Canyon area??? 12 total in one day. Nothing larger than 16 inches, but still...

Anybody else on Amistad experiencing this?

Cheers,
M

When I first started fishing Amistad back in the 90's only caught a few around the mouth of the Devils. Over the years they have steadily expanded to cover the majority of the lake.
Caught two last week up past marker 24.

Okay....so I'm not the only one then. I mean, it makes sense.....superb spawn on the Devils (likely over the last few years), and the lake sets up really well for them to thrive. But even past marker 24? That's awesome. Hoping we see some size in the next couple of years.

We were up 3-4 miles from Box and caught several. Had one hit my frog, didn’t expect that. They have definitely expanded their range from the devils.

That area you fished is loaded with them. Our last club tournament, I caught the heck out of them for two days and all on a Yellow Magic. Nothing big but a bunch of them.

Back in 06 or so I caught a 3 lb smallmouth at Amistad on a swimbait. Are 3 pounders caught fairly often there these days?

Weighted a 3 pounder in a tournament back in 2013 that was from that part of the lake. Watched it eat a crank bait about 15' feet down. Fun memory.

a 3 lb smallmouth is a really good smallmouth for amistad

Yes I’ve caught smallies up the devils for years and a few up the rio grande but not in the numbers you guys are seeing. I’ve also caught 2 Guadalupe bass on the lake. Any of you guys caught Guadalupes?

It's funny because 10 years ago this would have been almost unheard of. Exciting potential I think. What's odd to me is that the smallmouth have always been around....I wonder what prompted them to explode the way they are now of all times? I've been thinking that Amistad is on the cusp of producing big largemouth again, but I wonder if producing a 6lb smallmouth isn't out of the question in a couple of years.

I cannot say I've seen...much less caught...a Guadalupe bass on Amistad. That's really interesting.

That 3lber sounds like an awesome experience! The largest smallie I got this past weekend was on a crank. Well... first it was a largemouth, then a flathead, then the smallmouth.

I would not say unheard of, I fished a bass club 20 years ago and we’d almost always have at least one weighed in. All of us fished up the Rio arm. I’m not saying that there were as many back then, but it certainly wasn’t all that rare to catch one.

Fast forward a few years. My buddy lives in Box Canyon and he has been catching them regularly for over 10 years.

All this time I had no idea lol. It's been forever since I've spent meaningful time on Amistad. Once in the past 12 months, but then rarely over the 20 years prior to that. I was stationed out in S. California. I grew up on the lake though, and they were such a rarity to see in numbers on that side. My Dad lives out there though, and basically lives on the water....I told him about it and his mind almost exploded.

Guess I need to start paying more attention.

I have never caught one on Amistad, out of about 15 trips mostly fishing in the early 2000s during TTT FLW events, once last time I was there in 2013 for Texas Team championship. Amistad in the 2000s was absolutely some of the best fishing a young man could ask for. I think those big largemouth probably ate those smallmouth in that era lol.