Report: It was a slaughter fest. 2 man limits today. They were hitting all the basic lures and Silver colored live minnows.






$150 / 2 people
4-5 hours
Guaranteed fish

Its full blown Spawn time. You can see 1000's (not kidding) running up the rapids in the creek. Females are 16-17 inches with an occational Hybrid lurking the shallows. In a month the Hybrids will show up in force to try to spawn. 4 lb line and a 7 lb Hybrid is freakin crazy fun hearing your drag peel off the reel!

Great job Carey! Catching line stripping fish takes me back to my college days in Arkansas.

Just doesn't seem fair. Kinda like deer hunting at the zoo...LOL

+1 As if they weren't already easy enough to catch on the main lake. Not that there aren't a ton of sandbass in the lake but I wonder what affect all those pre-spawn females being taken from the creeks has on the overall population of future fish!

nice! plenty of fish guys this has happened forever carey just good at it

The way I am catching them now, I dont think there will be any Sand Bass left for you to catch RapTrap. - You might have to stick to Flat Heads.

They are in Full Blown Spawn right now. We get bumped by them as they go through our feet and spawn 2 ft from us. Lots of females have laid thier eggs already, and are already empty of eggs. Im sure this summer will be very good as well. Huge females this year!

Some Hybrids to 24 inches are being caught here and there. I see the Game Warden everyday! Carry your fishing license with you at all times. It pisses them off when they have to write a ticket for that , when they can be catching the people keeping undersized fish.

I wonder what would happen if the didn't let people fish the spawing months for a couple years? Would the lake be overrun with sandies? I remember growing up on the coast with the flounder run and you could slay them during their spawn run. Now the population is so low they had to drop the bag limits during the spawing months and increases the minimum size.

id worry more about the hybrids being kept on the lake. from what ive read they aren't being stocked as heavily as they used to.

Please keep it up Carey. There are enough whites in Hubbard already. Take some yellows too. They all still hook up on striper gauge tackle

Nice report Carey, I'll be out there with y'all in about 5 days or so. We'll be coming in from the lake in a couple kayaks though. Do you think there will be some closer to the lake...or do you think they run up as far as they can and then spawn?

Look at what happened to Fork, a guy let 6 of them go in the lake and those 6 populated the whole lake. Have you noticed a shortage of fish? Heck no.... They are fine. I have been guiding the sandbass run/ hybrid run for 8-10 years now... They are only in there to spawn. As soon as the females lay thier eggs, they b-line it back to the lake. There really are only about 50 people, that truly know how to target the hybrids when they show up. Most catch them as a mistake. Game wardens are down there to make sure people r doing the right thing, too. And with the TFF'ers down there, the creek has eyes. If someone is taking over thier limit or taking undersized fish, the warden gets called.

Females (white Bass) release 242,000 to 933,000 eggs -per fish! I have seen 100's spawning already. And they spawn mostly at night till mid morning.

The big females are 3-4 yrs old aready, that we are catching right now. This will be thier final year to spawn pretty much. They

Last year: Below is just one day. Caught 86 Hybrids in 3 hours in 1-4 ft of water. Left them biting.









This year they will show up after the next really good flood. Usually the end of March mid April.

Fishing near the mouth and into the creek can be hard. The fish are on a mission to get to gravel and moving water. But, throwing roostertails and crankbaits will catch the wondering fish.

-Report up later tonight. Going solo in just a minute with the fly rod.

(Above) Everyone in the Hell Hole.

Remember, fish are all upstream and downstream. Not just where I am. If you are knee deep in the water, you are standing on fish, Back the heck up! I was casting 3-4 ft in front of me today due to the school was on the shelf riding it like a wave to save power. They do this all up and down the creek, find slack water or nice deep pools with a good steady incline on a shelf. No need to tangle with everyone when the fish are within feet of you.

Now in the pic below, you will see downstream, NO ONE IS FISHING THERE! So, I sent some of my previous client to the next hole down and they took out limits in solitude. Go find a spot with no one around to crowd you. You will still catch fish, lol.







Air pressure rose fast shutting down the bite at 830 am. Pressure started to drop late afternoon as I got back in the water. 3 pm I made my first cast and started to fill the stringer.



5 pm (2 hours) was all it took to catch my limit (25 Magnum Sandbass) to 16 inches for the day.

Great report as always carey. Glad the bankers/waders are getting in on good action and instruction from you

Man it looks like the sandies are much larger this year. I get my shot at them tomorrow.

Reggie