Public has access to family's once-private lakes
Ray Sasser - Dallas morniong News
10:01 PM CDT on Saturday, May 30, 2009

ALEDO � It wasn't exactly a hand-crafted fly, but the small chunk of nondescript, brown plastic worm on a wire hook cast about like a streamer. If I could cast it into the churning maelstrom, it was a pretty good bet that a fish would nail it.

Sure enough, a fish hit the worm with a solid jolt, and the four-weight fly rod arced like a rainbow. The only question that remained was the identity of the mystery fish that was streaking toward the open lake, pulling drag in a continuous whine.

"I think that one's a hybrid striper," said Chuck Bradley.

"I don't know," James Brown said. "There were some pretty big bass hanging around here. That could be a bass."

It took five minutes to declare Bradley the winner. A four-pound hybrid striper is a tough customer on a light fly rod. By the time Brown scooped up the fish in his landing net, my forearm was aching and I was glad the fish didn't challenge the Supreme Bass Fishing hybrid striper record of just over seven pounds.

When Brown first constructed three small fishing lakes on his 100-acre Tarrant County property a few miles southwest of Fort Worth, his idea was to provide recreation for his retirement and his family. Five years ago, Brown and his friend Bradley, both retired, decided to open the lakes to the public.

Most fishermen buy annual memberships that range from $1,095 for an individual to $2,195 for a family. A membership for two adults is $1,595. You can also access the property for a half-day fee of $60.

"We've been told that our prices are too low," Brown said, "but we don't really need to make a profit. We're just trying to pay for our fisheries management."

That's a considerable bill, just for fish food. Supreme Bass Fishing's veteran fisheries manager, Harrell Arms, estimates the bass population at 300 pounds of fish per acre. That's about 10 times the concentration of bass in a good public lake. The ranch-record largemouth bass weighed 12 pounds, nine ounces.

Bass get fat eating the bluegill swimming in swarms by the docks, but the latest stockings consist of bass trained to eat fish food. It's the latest innovation for private lakes managers who sometimes have more game fish than their forage fish will support.

As long as you're willing to pay for the feed, you can have as many of the trained bass as you want. They're not necessarily easy to catch, but they will bite an artificial lure. The bass I caught were interesting because their mouths seemed smaller than the bucket mouth on a wild bass.

In fact, there were so many bass, both largemouth and hybrid stripers, that I had trouble catching a big bluegill for a photo. I caught two good ones, both about the same size. Brown weighed one of the fish at 13 ounces. That's 17 ounces smaller than the ranch record.

The rainbow trout stocked during the winter months are dying off as the water temperatures rise to levels higher than trout can tolerate. That's too bad, considering the ranch record for rainbow trout stands at 10 pounds, nine ounces. The trout stocked each winter by Supreme Bass Fishing are not the nine-inch stockers that are mostly used in put-and-take trout stockings.

Brown has built a pavilion that anglers can use for picnics, and he has a trailer with bathroom facilities as a retreat from bad weather. The lakes are loaded with structure, and the banks are kept mowed so fly fishers don't have to worry about their back cast.

"We're just having a good time," Bradley said, "and we particularly like to watch children have a good time catching fish."

Details and photos are at http://www.supremebassfishing.com.

thats pretty cool, not sure about lmb that are conditioned to eat pellets vs perch

glad I dont live closer, I could easily spend most of my wages at a place like that.

They didn't hear that from me.

I wouldn't pay the annual fees, but I would be interested in doing it once.

yeah seems like the annual fee is a bit much, but I have been looking for something like this for my son and I

A half day would be about all my old pocketbook could handle. But that sure sounds like a blast!

I live fairly close to this place. I have looked at the site, but I just can't justify an annual price when there are public waters all around. I'd have to sell my boat to help justify it.

I am willing to bet it is awesome though!!

So I got to go out here the other day where my best friends Dad is a member. He's retired and is out there multiple times a week, so he invited me out. We were out there on Sun from about 3:30 to 5:30. Not much time, but it was still a lot of fun.

I spent the first hour + on the tank furthest from the entrance and closest to the office. I fished the western bank by the feeder using various streamers and eventually tried a double dropper with some small nymphs with no luck. I didn't detect much activity so I went down to the lowermost tank. I tied on a BIG sculpin leech and got this guy on my 3rd or 4th cast stripping him through some weeds. Luckily, I had my tape measure in my waders and he came about to be in between 25 and 26 (he wasn't wanting to cooperate). I wish I had more time out there after this catch, but my friend had to be somewhere. Anyway, some of yall might want a report so I decided to post somethin! (plus who doesn't like to brag on TFF)

Sorry the pic is so terrible, only had time to grab my bberry outta my shirt and it takes awful pictures.

Good grief, that's a hog. These guys came to the Dallas Fly Fishers meeting a few months back and their slide show had everybody pretty well out of their seats. They brought along a frozen bluegill caught in their ponds - it was like nothing I've ever seen.

I'd love to fish that place for a half day or a day. Definitely not the same as fishing a "real" lake but you know you're going to see some really great fish.