I had the same thing happening to me today in Central Texas. I would pull up on a tree, catch a couple of fish, and the the rest would be gone. I watched them swim off a few times. They weren't being spooky with the boat. They were reacting to the ruckus of fish being caught off their tree.

Keep an eye on him!! He’s been know to fall out of the boat even on dry land!

Today I had out Ricci and Ed on Benbrook! They put a 2 man limit in the boat by noon and did some catch and release after that. The bite is very good and the quality is awesome!

I have this Friday 6/14 open if anyone wants to get out and get some fish for a Father's Day fish fry!

Shoot me a message on here or an email anthonyruyle@gmail.com to book

100 crappie hit the cooler this weekend! It was the weekend of drawing trips. Both days they won this trip and put a lot of good fish in the cooler!

Yesterday I had out Marc and Casey and I was putting fish number 50 in the cooler at 1204pm. They knocked it out of the park and I got them cleaned up and back to the house pretty early.


Today I had out Jorge and Tyler and while the bite was a little slower, they still managed their 50 by 1250pm. Lots of good times were had!



All fish are coming on standing timber and minnows. The fish are really starting to stack up with this heat and now that the rain has slowed, the water levels are coming down and the bite is improving! I expect to be back on Grapevine and Ray Roberts soon.

I have lots of dates open in July if you want to get out while the bite is hot!

Shoot me a message or email at anthonyruyle@gmail.com to book!

The crappie are still biting really good here in DFW! Finding most of my fish on timber in 20-30 ft. They are suspending over the thermocline about 17-20 ft down.


6/29 I had out Donavon out and he put his limit together pretty fast despite the wind. Fished an area of the lake that I usually do not just to get out of the wind but the bite was just as good.


6/30 I had him out again for day 2 and he had his limit in a little over 2 hours. Bite was better with the lighter winds. He even caught a nice bass!



Today 7/1 I had out Russell and his son Joseph out and they had a double limit right a little before noon. The bite was slow at first but picked up as the day went on. Lots of good sized keepers in the mix. No giants but lots of eaters! They took home 2 gallon bags full of fillets.


I do not see this bite slowing down so if you are wanting to fill the freezer with fillets, the time is now!

I have lots of open dates starting 7/10. I have been on Benbrook but I will also be offering trips on Ray Roberts now that the lake is open again. Grapevine should be fishable in a couple weeks.

Tight lines everyone! See you on the water!

Shoot me a PM or an email at anthonyruyle@gmail.com

Great report, and good luck.

what kind of filet knife are you using?

I am using the Rapala r12

On 7/3, I had out James and his daughter Miranda for a full day trip on the south side! Good thing they booked a full day because for some odd reason, the fish FLAT OUT DID NOT want to bite. We would pick off one or two here and there and they had to work pretty hard for every single crappie they caught. We grinded away at it and they took home 100 fillets. They were a great sport with the tough bite and hung in there and made each fish count!

I enjoyed having them out and I hope to see them again in the fall.

I will be back on Ray Roberts next week now that it is open. I was on a good bite up there before it closed. If anyone is wanting a lake breakdown or a guided crappie trip out there shoot me a message or email anthonyruyle@gmail.com

See you on the water!

If anyone is interested...

I have this Friday 7/12, Saturday 7/13 and Sunday 7/14 open. We can hit Ray Roberts or Benbrook (whichever is closes for you).

Rates are 250$ for one and 350$ for two and that is 6 hours of fishing and I fillet and bag your catch at the end of the trip!

Shoot me a PM or email at anthonyruyle@gmail.com

Mid July crappie update for DFW!

Thursday 7/11 I had out Guy Skinner on Ray Roberts! The dinks were plentiful and I should have went to the timber right away. Deep brush has tons of fish on them but not a ton of keepers. Guy did get a nice flathead on the first drop which was cool! We caught lots of shorts with a few keepers mixed in and I cleaned a few for a fish sandwich before we called it. All fish were caught on small hand ties and minnows on brush in 20-32 ft.

Yesterday 7/13 I had out Scott on the south side and while it was a grind out there, we filled the cooler in no time!


I have been on the water 2-4 times a week lately and here is what I am seeing.

I have been on Ray Roberts, Grapevine, Joe pool and Benbrook for the most part and I am seeing all 4 lakes fishing totally different.
Benbrook I have been focusing on timber but the last 2 trips have been super tough! There is so much bait in the water that the fish just aren't feeding in long windows. We are having to COVER WATER and fish 40 plus trees a trip to get our 25-50 fish. Best depth for me has been 20-30 ft and the fish have been consistently in that 15-20 ft range I am assuming due to a strong thermocline. We are using minnows on 9 ft Sam's Super Sensitive BnM rods paired with the BnM pro staff reels and 6 lb mr crappie high vis mono. Seems like we are getting fish to bite one out of every 3 trees and we are seeing hundreds of crappie each trip but 80 percent of them do not want to bite. Average fish has been 11.5 to 12 inches I would say.

Grapevine is still super high over 11 ft last time I checked and 90 percent of the brush is still below the thermocline from what I can see and thus not holding fish. There are a few places that are holding fish but not many.

Ray Roberts is absolutely full of short fish this year. The deep corp and unmarked piles are covered up in short fish. You will catch keepers if you weed through them but you will go through a lot of bait and use up a lot of time getting them. I am planning on hitting the timber soon as I am sure there will be better sized fish up there. The future is bright for Ray Roberts!

Joe Pool has been fishing about normal for this time of year. The brushpiles/timber are loaded up and the fish are biting pretty well. As usual for Joe Pool, the short fish are plentiful but there are nice keepers up to 13 plus inches mixed in. Best depth out there has been 15-25 ft

I have lots of dates open in August and a few dates left in July if you are interested in getting out there! Shoot me a PM or email anthonyruyle@gmail.com to book!

I also offer electronics/learning trips for 200$ where I hop in your boat and get your electronics dialed and show you what brush/timber/fish looks like. I can run these on pretty much any lake!

Thanks for all the support!

Nice hauls.

Yesterday I spend my birthday with Scott and his SIL Azell. They picked up a last minute opening I had and put 50 in the cooler. I had a wild hair and went out to Lavon and the fish were right where I expected them to be. Timber in 18-22 ft was loaded up with fish. If interested, I can run trips on Lavon as the bite is really good. Caught 40 of the keepers on minnows and then ten or so on small profile jigs. Shoot me a message or email at anthonyruyle@gmail.com to book. I have lots of open dates in August and 7/29 open as well.

90 Percent of the fish were caught on locations that I go over in my lake Lavon Summer Crappie breakdown!

On 7/25 I had out Donavon and Danny out on Lavon and we went through half a pound of minnows in no time and we were able to get off the water before it got too hot. Been fishing minnows on 9 ft Sam's Super Sensitive BnM poles. Timber in 17-23 ft has been the best. Lots of black crappie have taken off in Lavon these days and some days they are outnumbering the white crappie.


On 7/27 I had Bruce and Sam in the boat for the second time! They are always an absolute blast to have out and have me laughing the whole time! We hit Lavon and fished the same stuff we did on the last trip and had 50 on ice a bit after noon. They like to take their fish home and so I didn't get a tailgate pic this trip.


On Friday 8/2 I spent the morning with Robert and Doug again on Lavon! They flat out wore them out and we had 50 keepers a bit before 1pm. Lots of 10-11 inch black crappie this trip and I had to measure almost every one of them. Again got them with minnows on timber in 17-23 ft


Today 8/5 I had Greg out on Benbrook and he had his limit around 1130 and we just drove around the lake catching one here and one there and showing him around. Bite was a lot better than I thought it would be based on the last trip out there. We broke off a fish on a tree and then he dropped down and caught it again with the line still in its mouth. I don't recall ever seeing that before

I have lots of weekdays open this month and September is wide open for now.

I also have this Friday 8/9 and Saturday 8/10 open for trip on Lavon or Benbrook. Shoot me a PM or email me at anthonyruyle@gmail.com to get on the books!

Tight lines everyone!