For you West Texas guys thinking about wanting to take the Mrs. or kids fishing this weekend, think about Fort Phantom! You will have a blast! The whites are schooled up great and the hybrids are ripping the line off the spools! I am going to have to put stronger O rings on my crankbaits. They are tearing off both sets of hooks! There is one particular hump that will get you bit almost constantly if you hit it right. Let me know and I can direct you to it and the method that is tearing them up. Awesome action! A lot of 10, 11 and 12 pounders. See ya there.

AM INTERESTED.IS FORT PHANTOM BY ABLIEN?

Ft. Phantom is about 10 miles North of Abilene off of I-20 on FM600. They are nailing an Excalibur white Suspending crankbait trolling. The bigger hybrids are tearing up a Fat Free Deep Diving Citrus Shad crankbait. I swear, they are ripping the hooks off of the crankbaits. They are located at the mouth of the spillway. There is a large cove that leads to the spillway flat. It is directly South of the dam on the East end of the lake. You can't miss it. Right at the mouth of it, there is a long point that goes from 25' to 15' and then to 8' and 9' on top of the point. The hybrids are in 9' to 10' depths. The entire mouth of the spillway cove is covered with whites and hybrids. We even had some bass up to 6 pounds. 30 whites and 8 huge hybrids was all that would fit in the two livewells! Released twice that many. There are also some good ones straight across from the ramp at Sailboat cove. You will see a sailboat marina on the point across from the ramp on the South bank. Troll in 9' to 10' depths on that point also. The entire area in front of the sailboat point is a huge flat that leads to the river channel. Just troll the flat until you find them. Throw out a marker and hit it again. They are not moving much. So, you can hit them for about 30 minutes before the move on. When they slow down at the spillway, you hit sailboat, then back and forth. Hope that helps some.

Hag-

Thanks for the heads up on the Hyper striper
jig and trailer you gave me last year. I caught a lot of hybrids this spring on that
combo.
These next comments aren't pointed at
you( I know you know what you are
doing when it comes to fishing)
, but I
just have to make this point every time
it comes up. I do this for those who have
not had the pleasure of catching a lot of
hybrid or stripers. When you hook one
of these beasts something has to give, and
it should be your drag. My nieghbor showed
me a deep redfin the other day with no hooks,
a big hybrid had taken both sets. I asked
" did you ever think of backing off the
drag a little ? it is that star thing
on the side of your reel ( he was raised
a bass fisherman , but I am trying to show
him the light )
Good luck everybody
MO

Yeah, I know what you mean Mo.

We have backed off to 12 and 14 pound test line this year to give them more of a sporting chance. Last year we were using 20 pound test on everything. Still do use the 20 pound on the jig combo, but the 12 and 14 are working great on the cranks. We have naturally had to loosen our drag considerably for the lighter test and would you believe that we haven't broken off a single fish this year? Amazing! I was breaking off on 20 pound test last year and not one single lost fish on 12 or 14 pound. Several of the hybrids in Proctor and Phantom this year have pushed at or just above 12 pounds too!

Yes, you are right! The drag is the key. Once you learn the correct drag setting and switch to lighter line, it's a blast to fight those freight trains! I had my drag practicly locked down with the 20 pound last year and didn't enjoy it near as much as I am now with the light drag.

No matter what we do though, it seems that we are losing the hooks on the Fat Free Shad deep diving series models. The medium dive models are holding great. I guess it is the extra large hooks on the Fat Free Shad combined with the rinky dink O rings that they put on the medium dive models. I switched out the O rings for a heavier model and am having no problems now.

Hey Hag thanks for the info. I'm off this evening and was going to go out there after the wife got home but it's way too dang hot !
Hopefully by monday when I'm off again it will have cooled down a bit or at least I'll get out there in the morning then.
Thanks
David C.

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Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Hag-
I think sometimes it is a leverage thing
that breaks those weak split rings, not
just a straight pull.
For Me, 15 lb line is perfect for big
hybrids. Back off on the drag a little
and let them run. That is the fun part
for me. I do not advocate extremly light
line , however. This prolongs the fight
too long and I feel that is hard on the
fish.
good luck
MO

To; The hag.
will be heading to phantom hill monday and plan on fishing it monday evening and tuesday. what is the motel or camping facilties availability close to the lake. also of possible a up to date fishing report.
will be coming from granbury and figure it is about 3 to 3 and1/2 to lake . am i far off or about right.
anyone who can provide me with information i will appreciatwe it. see you on the water.

Eddie,

There is a park where you can camp, it's on the west side of the lake, called Johnson Park, I believe. There aren't any camper hookups but I'm pretty sure camping is free there. It's got its own little boat launch, and there's one with a little dock and a concrete ramp just around the corner.

As far as motels go, there aren't any just right next to the lake. You might be best to go down to I-20, there's several motels in the area around the lake there, and you'd be less than 10 minutes to the boat launch from that area. I think the road that goes up the west side of the lake is FM 630, though I'm not sure about the number. I think there's a motel or two right there on 630 around I-20. Good luck out there!

Hey Eddie
Rich is Right about Johnson Park. It has two boat ramps actually and the one with pipes sticking up out of the water is better for bigger boats, the concrete ramp he spoke of about a half mile south of there is your best bet. As far as camping goes at the park there's limited space and it's probably full now. There's plenty of grass to camp on the east shore of spillway cove on the other side of the dam about a mile.
For motels there are two right at the FM 600 exit, exit 286, on I-20. There are several at the Hwy 351, exit 288 of I-20, from 351 go north just a quarter mile to the Ft Phantom sign and turn left. South of I-20 about a mile and a half on that same road is a bait shop on Ambler and West Lake Road which turns into FM 600 itself north of I-20. Going north on FM 600 past I-20, FM 1082 is a right turn to go to the north end of the lake where the park is.
I'll be out there myself monday in my little dark blue sun dolphin two person boat if the wind isn't blowing much !
Good Luck
David C.

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Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Thanks Mr. Hag for that report on Phantom.
Us west Texas boys need all the help we can get. I was in Abilene yesterday for a family reunion and I made it a point to check out the lake. It looks like a dandy place to fish and I will definitely be back with my jon boat. There are about 6 or 8 campsites at Johnson Park with picnic tables and no utilities. There is no charge for entrance, boat launch, or camping (just the opposite of Alan Henry where it cost my son and I $24 to fish for the day without camping). I even drove back out to Johnson Park at 9:30 last night to see if there was any riff raff hanging out. Nothing but families camping and there were even some empty campsites. As for motels, I would definitely reccomend the Whitten Inn located at the intersection of I-20 and 351. It is American owned, very clean, and we stay there several times a year. Rooms are about $46 with a free breakfast. Lake fishing regs: 16" minimum for black bass, total daily limit of 5 for all species of bass combined. I'll be back this week if possible. Keep the reports coming, Hag. You're a good man. George Link

Thank you for the excellent information.Will be there in the PM Monday. Looking forward to the hybrids. To anyone there Monday evening or on Tuesday I will be in a Lowe boat with a Merc 4 stroke.Usually have my radio(marine) on channell 25 and willcamp at the Johson park location.
Again Thank you for the information.

Sorry Eddie for not posting back. We were not in much at all to log on and read the posts. Looks like David and the boys helped you though. They wanted the white crankbait more than anything this past weekend. The fish had slowed some though. Guess it was because of all the jet fleas and skiers out there. Maybe you haven't left yet. The Whitten is a great place to stay. I highly recommend it!

I never made it out there monday myself.
I had gotten off early sunday evening too just to get enough sleep to get up with my wife at 6am and hitch up the boat to her truck and drive her to work and head on out from there. My dang knee was sore that night and I didn't sleep well so missed out there. By that evening it appeared a big shower was heading for the lake so I didn't go then either. Maybe this weekend I'll make it out there I hope.
How'd you do Eddie ?

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Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

wingnut and i gave the fish every oportuntiy to join us in our boats but by and large they declined. i'll let wingnut comment on his catch hat was definetly better than mine. i like the lake but is one that takes a while to know.
wingnut i enjoyed meeting and visiting with you,come to lake granbury and we will chase the sandies. will tell mike that i met you.