I have a buddy that lives on Caddo and always tells me about it. Never been though. He caught two over 9 pounds in one hour down there. I know, cuz the pictures continually show up on my email!!!

Can you survive fishing wood and river banks and cypress trees on caddo or do you have to learn how to fish grass and pads?? We don't have any grass up here where we fish, so it's pretty new to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

This is one of the best threads I've read in a while, full of good friendly tips. I don't know anything about Guntersville but since it fascinates you, that may be the best choice for you given all the good reports about it on here. It's certainly got my interest peaked. Only fished Caddo once, many years ago and it is a different lake, like smd to all fish said, shallow, but a real pretty place to see if you never been there. Good luck Yancey and have fun where ever you decide to go!

I think I'll push for Guntersville in the planning "meetings".

We actually have a buddy that lives in Atlanta that can serve as our "local", but doesn't fish a ton. He did go there once and said he couldn't figure out how to get his boat through all the thick grass. That DOES worry me a bit. Is it completely choked in weeds in the late summer/early fall?? Any suggestions on areas of the lake to concentrate on, tactics, boat ramps, etc?? I've never even looked at it on a map. Guess I got lots of researching to do.

Any Guntersville guru's on here that can point me in the right direction?? Think topwater, crankbait, plastic worm, and jig. Those things we can do with the best of em!! Ok...well....we can do em anyways.

Falcon or fork which ever is closer.

Head to Lake Erie's Western basin and stay on one of the Bass Islands, you can take your truck and boat on the ferry to say Kelly's island, then get busy catching Smallmouth like nowhere else ! The nice thing about fishing around the islands is regardless of the wind direction you can always fish the leeward side and catch fish...and if the smallies are a bit slow you can fish the marina's for some largemouth's...I would also suggest going to Presque Isle Bay in Erie, PA - this is a fish factory in itself, excellent largemouth fishing in the bay and just East out of the bay some awesome smallmouth fishing - either place will give you numbers and size...good luck where ever you chose !

Have you ever fished Grand Lake? Its in the area, would be an easy drive, and the fishing is awesome!

Go to Guntersville. Beautiful lake and great people. Hire a guide for the first day if you need help. Doug at Goose Pond can point you in the right direction and his family has owned the marina since the 60's I believe.

I would head to the Atchaflaya Basin. Plenty of water to fish for 6 days and a lot of fun.

Rainy Lake, across the border from International Falls, MN......nuff said!

No brainer...... Fish four days at Falcon and do the extra driving with a smile on your face.

I get to fish Fork quite a bit and it is typically with a guide and there just isn't much comparison right now. Fishing on Fork has been tough for most, despite a few of these great threads you've seen lately.

Falcon is the lake we will tell our grand children about during its glory days.

I wish I could go somewhere for six days. You boys will have a blast I'm sure.

JB


P.S. Toledo Bend might be a lot of fun and they just posted that 14+ pounder. That is also a lake that you could fish for that long and never see the same water twice.

My buddy likes the Falcon idea. He just text me. We've been once. But, only had two days. It was during that ONE time when the water raise all the way back up to full pool about 3-4 years ago right after the pro's were there and blew the lid off the place. As usual, we hit it at the worst time ever. Same thing with our one trip to fork. Got our butts handed to us at both lakes, even though we caught a few and found a 6, 7, and 8 pounder between the two two day trips. Problem is, we only caught about 5 fish per day on each of the lakes. NOW, I know that Falcon is back to half the size it was and the fish are easier to find and slay. MAN, it's a long drive, but it's in play. Be nice if I could have him fly to Dallas and fish a lake around there on day one and the last day to break up the trip. What's the best lake to hit around Dallas that we might figure some fish out quickly on? Is Monticello in that area? I hear good things about that place.

Try Toledo Bend if you have never fished it! Beautiful lake with lots of hydrilla and timber. Well marked boat lanes also.

I just got back from a 5-day to the Boundary Waters. I didn't get to fish as much as I would have liked. This time of year, I'd have to go back up there and chase smallmouth. Better temps and you can hit some walleye while your at it.
Oh, and you don't see hardly ANYONE! it is out there. Very quiet and relaxing, might even run into a bear or moose.

I would go to fork.. Higher a guide for a day, then pound similar spots and those spots for the next 5... Fork is about to have a massive resergence. Hydrilla is coming back. there was an awesome spawn.

Probably won't be hiring any guides. NO offense to guides, but I'm 0 for 5 hiring them and we really just prefer to try and figure it out ourselves. We have our tough trips, but also have incredible trips too. But, there's joy in the hunt and the puzzle.

As for the Northen suggestions, this trip is being planned as an alternative to our normal trips up North. We do Canada and Minnesota quite often. Matter of fact, we did Fort Peck in May for smallies and northerns. LOVE those fish!!! And, we know all about the boundary waters, the quetico, rainy, winnie, etc, etc. We had our best trip EVER at a place just northwest of LOW last Labor day. Place was insane! 40 a day each, half northerns (half of them over 8 lbs) and half smallies (half of them over 3 pounds). By FAR the best trip I've ever taken. But, this time, we're hunting the green ones. So, South seems to be the idea.

Someone asked about Grand. NO, I haven't fished it and it's only 6 hours away. I sure need to! But, it's not exciting my buddy and not easy for him to get to and get picked up. But, I mentioned it to him at the start of all this. Last time I drove down to Falcon, I drove right by it and drooled!!!

Might even run down there and watch the Classic this year!