thinking of making the trip in the morning to check it out and wanting to see if anyone has been out lately.
thanks

Fish really haven't made it up to the 99 bridge yet. I like tilden around the 2nd week of march.

I went out this morning and saw that the river needs rain badly. it is low in many areas.

We fished Thursday night from dark until 12:30am with NO BITES. Tied up at the mouth of San Miguel from 6:30 to 9:30 with one catfish. Moved to Elm Creek and fished from 9:30 to 11:30, no bites. Finished up the last hour at the bridge with no bites. Had 3 other boats under the bridge and they also had no bites while we were there. Not sure if it was the high pressure weather system or what, but the whites were not biting.

Richard

I tried the area by the bridge in Tilden on Saturday, Jan 31, and didn't catch a fish. The water is very low there, and in addition, someone is erecting a dam right next to the bridge on the east side by piling rocks all the way across the river. They've done a good bit of work on it. Is that legal? Can you legally dam up a public river? I don't know what their intent is with the dam. Are they trying to somehow disrupt the white bass run? Also, if we continue with these drought conditions and the river gets even lower, it's going to affect the flow of water into Choke Canyon lake.

Bernard ,
i saw what you are talking about regarding the dam. Sad thing is that I dont think it's something being intentionally done. I think thats just how low the water level is now. Everything we couldnt see before is now visible. I hope it rains soon.

Bernard and cheyvdude,
Did y'all notice any new fencing in the area below the Hwy. 16 bridge? A friend reported that part of the area is now fenced off. That's a shame. Then again, there's so much trash and litter left by people that it's no surprise.

Chevy, they are intentionally building that dam. About this time last year, I was there and there was a guy on the opposite bank (south side) and he was just getting it started. He was piling rocks in there from his side. I guess that as the water got lower he just kept going, and now he's almost all the way across.
Sean, I didn't notice any new fences from last year. When I got there, there were 3 vehicles in the parking lot, but there was nobody around down by the water by the bridge. So, they probably went down river.

Thanks Bernard.

I too remember the rock dam being built by the landowner on the south side last year. With the low water it will definitely impede fish venturing past it. Then again, a good gully washer would make it a moot point.

Wow that's just incredible!!! Bernard I stand corrected sorry about that. Let's keep each other posted on the condition of that spot. Last year was a lot of fun hauling the whites in. I sure hope we get the chance this year as well. I hear thunder over here where I am in san antonio, hope it comes down hard overnight.

Chevy, I live in the 281 North/1604 area and we got some pretty good sized hail last night. You're right about hauling in the whites there at the Tilden bridge. Year before last (in February, I believe)I was on my way to meet my two sons at the deer lease (about 15 miles from Tilden). I brought along a couple of rods just to see if anything was biting before I went to the lease.When I got there, there were no vehicles in the parking area, and I thought that that did not look very promising. I went down there (in the area just about where he's building that dam) and I started catching these huge females (biggest whites I've ever caught). I had 11 on the stringer and I called the boys and told them where I was. They told me to just keep fishing because they had planned to make a run on into Tilden anyway. By the time they got there, I had 22 on the stringer. I stopped fishing and they took the rods and between the two of them they caught another 22. We had 44 monster whites. Took two 48 quart ice chests.
Sean, you're right. A good gully-washer will take care of that dam. They get some in that area too. Max's cafe and motel on the southwest side of the bridge has been flooded quite a few times. By the way, some of the best food in Texas there at Max's cafe.

Bernard,
The fish you caught are not surprising. The fact that you get cell phone service there is more impressive. LOL Mine cell never gets any signal.

Chevy, most of us on the lease have Cingular (I believe they've changed it to AT&T now). We get great reception down in that area.

I can attest--too many times I've been reeling in whites near the bridge and been interrupted by a phone call. I've had some productive days down there over the past 10 or 15 years. Ultralight spinning gear and a handful of crappie jigs or twistertails...

Sometimes a big old buffalo gets in on the action, meaning sometimes he'll get hooked in the mouth. Not this one.

(P.S., there's the rock dam from last year in the background.)

any updates?