It was great fishing with you John! My dad and I were with John on Thursday and had a blast. I know we each could have limited out with sand bass alone, then on top of that we caught a ton of undersized hybrids also. We had basically called the day and were heading in when we decided to stick with it and pray for lighter winds.

We headed west to help protect us from the wind and we started catching fish right away. Once we found them, John kept the graph DARK and us on the fish. I was using a new TNT slab that was tearing up the hybrids, and dad had on a larger 2 oz slab that seemed to catch every big sand bass down there.

I will say that John is more than willing to help you learn how to fish, not just put you on fish without explaining. I have fished for sand bass a lot, but generally just top water and schools. I will just leave it with this, its money well spent.

Alrighty, will do. BTW, good job on the fish.

You da man!

Good job JV!

I know where the gravel pit is, but would anyone be kind enough to tell me where the orchard is? Can't find anything marked like that on my map.
Thanks in advance,
Todd (newbie)

Yesterday was perfect for fishing on Ray Hubbard. Problem was the shop needed extra time with my boat and so it wasn't ready. The good news was that it was also a perfect day for sailing. Sailed between Chandler's and Terry boat ramp about three times bewteen 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. and saw lots of birds along the eastern shore and very few boats working the area. (You might have seen me go by in the 1985 25' Catalina sloop with the green trim.) At one point right around dusk the birds were going crazy in a cove about 500 yards north of the Heath boat ramp, and there wasn't a single boat working them! There were a few boats right off the point at Terry Park for awhile mid-afternoon. Also noticed the game warden working pretty hard right there for awhile too, checking licenses and life preservers (I was glad to see it). It was an absolutely perfect day for sailing. Even after looking forward all week to fishing and then "just" going sailing was a blast. Being on the lake doing anything beats the best day at the office. Hope everyone had a great time yesterday too.

I think the Orchard is just NE of the gravel pits right before that marina on the east bank. Not exactly sure thought. I think it used to be an old peach orchard. Hopefully someone else knows better.

JV-

Thanks for a GREAT time on Saturday. John was exactly right: I wanted to learn more about the lake and catching sand bass/hybrids (I am a life-long bass fisherman who has really never been exposed to this type of fishing.) If anyone is wanting not only a fun time catching fish, but also an EDUCATION in just a few hours, I would highly recommend John Varner.

He explained patterns, showed me key locations and helped me read my electronics. I can't imagine how much time booking a trip with John has saved me in learning about catching these fun fish.

By the way, it was kind of a slow day and we caught around 80 between the three of us.

Hey JV, PD sure could work that slab with his fly rod ha? I hope the "Fly Rod Elite" don't ever find out!!!

Paul

Sounds like you had a great time out there JV, way to go!!! Glad to hear the TNT held up. Keep it up.

Welcome to the forum, Paul - have to admit I was curious about that fly rod/slab thing y'all had going on there.

It was a really slow day for me - I think maybe I just don't have the right slabs for that lake - Bryon could you send me two of whatever it is that Varner's using?

Good talkin to ya, John.

Let me show ya how exciting it was yesterday...

Jtexas, Everytime I go over a hump in the boat and look at my fish finder I think about your pic with your dog and your little saying . Those slabs you got from me should work , but I think JV may be partial to the Magnum Magnets with holographics now. I have been getting good feedback on all the different kinds of late.

That is a good puppy dog right there! Wish I could get my two labs to behave like that. Maybe one day when they're older and more calmed down...

Bryon, thought that slogan up myself - feel free to use it on your website if you like - my gift to you!

Age & maturity do make a difference, Josh, but good luck keeping labs in the boat - Dusty is a strong swimmer & doesn't mind getting wet, but he only jumped out the boat once - his first time out. Believe it or not, every once in a while he'll sniff out a school of shad...he gets excited, looking over the side...sometimes before they show up on the graph - 15, 20, 25 feet down. Now if I could just get him to run the trolling motor!

Lol , I might one day take you up on that slogan jtexas.
I have a golden retreiver (Rowdy-and yes the name fits him)that just turned 2 who fishes with me from time to time. It sure is tough on him when I throw out a marker. He chomps at the bit to go get it,lol. He hates catch and release. I normally have to keep one or two in the livewell so he has some thing to play with. A little more age on him and I am sure he will even be a better fish partner.