I'm planning on hitting a lake sometime this week, but not sure where I want to go. I live right in between Lake Lewisville and Ray Roberts and would be happy to drive up to an hour or so away. Pretty much the only fish I've cought in my adult life are some tiny bluegills/sunfish, so I'm really a newbie. Got a 14' jon boat with a 25hp motor, so I can get around the lake alright, just not at 70 mph like some guys can. Also got a fish finder and sidescan. I've seen them used before, I guess if I'm on some fish I'll probably recognize it...

Question is, what kind of fish should I go for that's relatively easy to catch, good eating, and what would be a great lake to find those fish?

Something bigger than sunfish would be a bonus also...

You may want to book a trip with https://kidkrappie.com. He fishes both these lakes and more.

I was planning to take the wife (newlywed even) out for the day, but a guide might be just the thing. I'll give that some thought and maybe hit up the Kid tomorrow. Thanks

Good luck!

Your question is somewhat difficult to answer because there are so many options. Either lake you mentioned is good. At the beginning, I would concentrate and learn the waterbody that is easiest to get launch from. If you are new and just want to catch something, then a minnow or earthworm is the most reliable way to get something to bite. I would start fishing around a marina. This is a great time of year to catch crappie. If you dangle a minnow from 5 to 15 feet below a dock right now you have a great chance of catching a crappie, catfish, bass, or drum. If you don’t want to use live bait then throw a rattle trap, roadrunner, or swim bait. You can also try crappie jigs under the dock. The options are endless.

Texas has great fish diversity so you have a lot of options. Each species has a method of fishing you can learn. Cut bait, punch bait, and with worms will get you catfish. Carp and buffalo can be caught with corn, ball baits, or range cubes. Stripers, white bass, and hybrids can be caught on shad, jigs or swim baits. Large mouth, spotted and smallmouth bass can be caught on hard and soft lures.

This is a great forum for information, so keep the questions coming and let us know how you do.

With a 14' jon boat/25 Hp motor and Texas spring time winds, I'd start in the Decatur LBJ Grasslands----Clear Lake has the best ramp and pier.

Plus 1
Go to the side where the wind is blowing from, just let the wind blow you across the lake, chunk rattle traps and or spinner baits all the way as you drift across.
Once you get to the other side, start up big motor and move just a bit differently to get a different drift location, repeat and repeat till you find them.
once you find them just keep the drifting pattern going back and forth

I never did find Clear Lake on Google, but I found a bunch of soil conservation reservoirs and unlabeled bodies of water in and around the Caddo/Grasslands area. Looks like Clear Lake is probably this one mapped out SE of Alvord? Does appear to have a dock and ramp at the South end.

On second thought, Black Creek lake is probably better; but I’d fish both.

Links

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/texas/recreation/recarea/?recid=30232&actid=42

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/texas/recarea/?recid=30240

I may have misspoken earlier.
Black creek lake is the one with the boat ramp.

We headed over to Clear Lake in LBJ Grasslands yesterday and caught a few TINY bluegills. Was kind of cool though since my wife caught most of them and it was her first time ever to catch a fish of any kind



After a while, we went over to Lake Bridgeport and she hooked a few but didn't manage to get any into the boat. She had one 7-8 incher out of the water, so we can be sure she wasn't just snagging weeds. I only managed to snag a stick or rock on the bottom, lol. Also found out that the boat tops out at 22 mph, which I thought was pretty decent, lol.

We decided to just stick to Ray Roberts in the future since it's close to home. Makes it easy to go frequently and learn what we're doing and maybe find a good spot or two. We'll probably try out a guide service sooner or later and hopefully pick up some useful pointers to get us going on our home lake.

Appreciate the input from you all =)

If you want to fish Roberts, go out of Buck Creek Ramp. It is pretty protected. You can go under to bridge (to the right as you launch). Some really good areas up Buck and Turner creek or go to the left (under the RR bridge) and follow it to the old sunken railroad tracks. I have caught a BUNCH of bass Carolina rigging watermeoln/watermelon red french frys over the years. When I first started fishing R.R. it had just opened and I had a 17 ft. Tracker with a 50 H.P. motor so I was limited on where I felt safe going especially if the wind picked up. Head south following the railroad tracks to Pierce Branch. A buddy of mine caught one just at nine and a bigger fish broke off near the boat on the same trip. There were on the old Sloggo's in Alewife color. You can have alot of fun fishing that area.

Good luck!

Keep a Bomber white slab tied on to a pole. When you see birds diving at the water throw that white slab into the area where birds are diving, let it sink to bottom, and then just reel it in at a medium speed.

DEFINITELY check the wind before you go to Ray Roberts. That lake is the only body of water I have ever been on in my boat where I was worried about making it to shore.

Unload at Ray Roberts Marina and fish there , sand bass come in there a lot , caught 19 there yesterday by 8:15 am , home by 9
I don't keep them , Green Valley Cafe is 7 miles , on 455 , they got a killer catfish basket , and they have great service .

Put those little sunfish on a hook and hang on

Thanks much all you guys! We're going to try it again tomorrow, and this sounds highly interesting to us right now. It's only 20 minutes from home, that's hard to beat. Sadly, no catfish baskets for me right now, trying to lose a few lbs! Also, the Buck Creek idea sounds nice, we'll try that one another time.

We'll probably pick up some worms tonight and may try some bobber fishing up there. We might also like to pick up some minnows if we can. Where can we get minnows?

Ray Roberts Marina was a hit for us! We got in a little late, around 9:30 I think. Puttered around over here and there for a while, then maybe around noon we went right into the marina. I didn't catch anything at all, but my wife managed to haul in a couple so it was a good day for us!

Channel cat was 19", buffalo 18". At least I think I've got em ID'd properly...

Your buffalo looks like a fresh water drum, commonly known as a gaspergou. Glad y'all caught fish!

Thanks, Jim, I believe you are correct! The eating experience lines right up with what I read about drum. Not one of my favorites, heh