I was fishing on Aquila last night and best I could tell I was the only boat on the water from about 8 pm until about 3 am when 5-6 boats suddenly tore into area by the dam and started throwing cast nets. They all stayed pretty mobile for the 30 minutes or so they were there and seemed to know each other. I only say that because I saw the boats approaching each other and throwing nets in the same area. 30 minutes after they arrived, every single boat left the lake.

My initial thought was that perhaps they were collecting bait to take to Whitney. Aquila is pretty small, and the fish I’ve been pulling out of there have been small lately, (my best crappie last night was 12 inches and the rest were 6 - 10.5”), but the minnow and shad populations there are top notch. In contrast, I sometimes struggle to find live bait on Whitney, so I could see the allure of gathering bait from one lake to take to another.

I’m curious what y’all think.

Ain’t no telling. How’s the bass fishing these days? That was a great lake in the eighties and nineties.

Guides netting shad for Whitney

is that legal,..?

Yep...

I suppose if the live bait was then completely dehydrated of water via freezing or some other method and then transported dry and not alive, then that would be OK.

Some have argued that if you brought your own well water or treated tap water then placed and transported the live bait in that water you brought, then that would be OK also.

Were they speaking Spanish or English?

so,...no.

@

Agreed! I grew up fishing "the old road" when I was a kid. Some of my best fishing memories were made on that lake, and the family members who used to take me there are no longer with us, so I go out of my way to visit it a few times a year for the sake of nostalgia.

My last few trips I've seen a lot of blue cats, white bass, and crappie. Caught a few drum there while jigging as well. I don't target yellow bass, but I do usually snag one from time to time on other lakes and haven't on Aquila. Don't think I've ever caught a yellow bass on Aquila.

I didn't think that it was but I wasn't sure. It certainly looked like a "business" operation to me by how quickly they all showed up and then left with the bait. I didn't see a single fishing pole, and none of the boats stopped for more than 5 minutes in one spot. I did a quick search and I see that the guide services on Whitney are abundant. One guide service advertises that they have a "fleet" of vessels available to meet consumer need. If I had to guess, they are collecting bait for stripper fishing on Whitney.

I'm going to pull another all nighter there tomorrow night and I'm curious if I'll see them show up again to prep for 4th of July charters.

Striper guides from Whitney getting shad . They been doing this forever.

No can't transport bait and can't transport water due to clean drain and dry rules. I guess the ticket happy game warden there don't care.