My parents had a place on Whitney back in the 70's. I would go with my dad and he would run down the banks with a Spinnerbait and catch a lot of bass. Then he would take us out trolling with Hellbenders and small Abu spinners for Stripers and Sandbass. Years later as I was starting to tournament fish the lake became pretty well known for it's Smallmouth fishing and there were a couple of guides that were known there. I went on a night fishing trip for Smallmouth and it was really fun and we caught quite a few with one in the 4 to 5 lb range. I used to fish Whitney for years mainly going up on the North river end for flipping for bass and staying down into the rocky coves for quantities of fish but it really started getting tough the last 10 + years.

Phoenix 920 is spot on plus it has not been restocked with largemouth since 2004 i believe.

The lake is fine. It happens every year. Weather cools off and it will be on fire.

I also think the lake is fine. I fish it a good bit, and it's always tough this time of year. The last time I was down there was early June, and I saw tons of nice bass. Caught a bunch too. The lake just usually fishes small in the fall. If you can get on some wolf packs you can do really well. You have to keep moving until you find the schools. Sometimes you just can't find them.

True, but they've put nearly 500,000 small mouth in it since 2022. Looks like stripers and small mouth are the two speciesTPW is concentrating on there.

Been fishing this lake for 50 years and live here now. And this lake always fishes good after it has flooded. Last one was in 2015 last flood and the fishing took off. Also it provided lots off cover after the spawn. Also you catch fish head stripers that have no body all head and they keep stocking them like crazy. Stripers are the bread and butter and it supports the local economy big time. So for the fishing to improve we need a flood but it kills the local businesses. Catch 22 at best.

RON Gardener caught a ton of large small mouth out of that lake back in the 80's . @ one time he held many of the top smallies in the state from there

That's who I had a guide trip with back in the day. Very interesting guy and I think I remember Floyd Teat as being a good tournament angler on the lake for many years.

ive caught one smallmouth so far. smallmouth grow slow so it will be a while until we see if the stocking worked but theres so many striper now they probably didnt have a good chance of survival

Probably turning over cause last year in October in the TTO Pro Team we had a shot at over 40lbs for 2 days. We saw a bunch of good fish 3-5lbs in Wolf packs. Just bad timing and it's specific when it's good. Reminds me of how Texoma can be this time of year

Phoenix 920 is Spot on here. My family has a lake house out there and the largemouth population has been on the decline for the last 3 years, and every local stick would tell you the same thing. Are there still good fish in the lake? Absolutely, but the largemouth population has taken a significant hit. Sure you have chance for 20 pound sack right now, but a few years ago you has chance for 40 pound sack in the prespawn and 30 pound sack in the fall. Yes the lake is starting to turn over right now and fishing tough, but anglers are not even getting bites.

#1 TPWD has overstocked it with STRIPERS and the fish have to compete in open water for gizzards and threadfin. Bass are extremely pelagic. Yes you can scope them.
#2 Pressure- Since Covid the lake has received more tournament pressure from trails & high school tournaments. Way more than it ever has in the 2000s
#3 Drought - It was a over pool a few years ago in June of 2021 when TTT was suppose to have their championship, but otherwise there is significant lack of cover in the water with the drought making the fish even more nomadic.
#5 TPWD has not had a largemouth stocking since 2004. Something needs to change here. 11th largest lake in Texas can't get a largemouth stocking somehow.

FYI, Whitney used to be a great winter lake...to many Florida's and it won't be.

Species Year Number Stocked Size
Bass, Striped 2023 120,281 Fingerling
Bass, Smallmouth 2023 200,822 Fingerling
Bass, Smallmouth 2023 9,230 Fry
Bass, Striped 2022 207,722 Fingerling
Bass, Smallmouth 2022 88 Adult
Bass, Smallmouth 2022 102,890 Fingerling
Bass, Smallmouth 2022 11,250 Fry
Bass, Striped 2021 330,739 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2021 468,325 Fry
Bass, Smallmouth 2021 97 Adult
Bass, Smallmouth 2021 70,927 Fingerling
Bass, Smallmouth 2020 30,309 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2019 191,848 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2018 1,006,185 Fry
Bass, Striped 2017 340,316 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2017 688,065 Fry
Bass, Striped 2016 103,841 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2015 325,028 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2014 380,641 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2013 237,052 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2013 614,994 Fry
Bass, Smallmouth 2011 134,722 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2010 148,055 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2010 415,763 Fry
Bass, Smallmouth 2010 73,644 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2009 543,846 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2008 332,262 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2007 495,015 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2006 322,532 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2005 332,999 Fingerling
Sunfish, Bluegill 2005 13,747 Fingerling
Bass, Striped 2004 84,184 Fingerling
Bass, Smallmouth 2004 5,609 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2004 589,978 Fingerling

The one I always scream about it Aquilla, they haven't stocked largemouth there since 1985. Meanwhile bottomless pit Fork continues to get all the sharelunker fry.

Its Ron Gardner. He used to come into a small tackle shop in Arlington on Park Row when he was first starting to fish for smallies. He had some nice pics of 4 pound smallies. Back then smallmouth were almost non existent around here, especially anything over 2 pounds.
For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the tackle shop. It was run little store run by a nice old man who sold tackle, repaired reels and wrapped rods.
Edit: I remember his name now. The tackle shops owners name was Paul. I think it was Pauls Tackle.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/programs/fishrecords/freshwater/top50_smallmouth.phtml

Ron Gardner with 7 of the top 10 smallmouth in Texas, all from Whitney, all over 7 lbs.