I am new to this forum and have a couple of questions I was hoping some of you could help me with.
I will be fishing a tourney on Toledo Bend Saturday, March 5.

I have never laid eyes on Toledo, but I know that I will be somewhere in the central part of the lake. I have a smaller aluminum boat, so making a run to a hole will more-than-likely be out of the question.

Any ideas on a decent spot to go, colors, baits, etc?

Thanks!

You have lots of options in the central part of the lake for a smaller boat such as Patroon, Carrice Creek, Palo Gacho and Lowes Creek on the Texas side and a number of good coves on the Louisiana side. The lake level right now is 164.66 which means it is 7.34 feet low so be careful when running, especially when you are out of the boat lanes.

Bass fishing is good right now on a number of patterns but I would start with a red or Toledo Gold Rat-L-Trap, C-rigged watermelon/candy brush hog, chart/white spinnerbait and a Texas-rigged senko-type bait (watermelon or darker color) fished with a light weight (work this bait slow). Fish the drains and humps (3-to 8 feet of water), and especially those that have some scattered grass or hydrilla. If you keep chunking these baits you will do ok. JB

Man I can't tell you how much this helps. Thanks so much for the info! I've heard TB was in bad shape right now, and 7' stretched over 140,000 acres is going to be tough to overcome!

I'll give Carrice Creek a try and see what happens!

Fishing here is the best it's been in many years right now.

If you launch out of Pendelton Harbor go to the south side of the bidge and throw a spinner bait, lipless crank bait, or drag a lizard around. The sun and warm water have moved a lot of fish into the area. Carrice creek is getting hammered right now, bunch of small fish in there, and crappie anglers have it covered up. Good Luck

Just watch your weather and where you go. TB can get rough quick.

Goodluck.

Launching out of Pendelton Harbor is a good suggestion but be careful of the wind. I was on TB this afternoon fishing south and had 14 bass... but no big guys. I caught all of my fish off the bank (that is being hammered each weekend) in about 6 to 14 feet of water using a C-rig (1/2-oz weight) with NetBait Baby Mad Paca - watermelon color and tail dipped in chartreuse. The trap bite will still produce fish and so will the senko-type bait fished off the shallow drops where there is grass. Work the edges of the creek channel and drains,,,,,,,,, If you have cloud cover stay with the spinnerbait. Good Luck -- JB

Carrice Creek produced well early this morning. Caught a dozen fish in minutes. 3 of those were worth keeping. Square-bill cranks all the way!

The bite came to a screeching halt around 10AM, and wind hit me pretty hard. The rain wasn't near as bad as I expected.

I appreciate all the advice. Keep me posted