I was surprised at the level of the lake I have not been on the Pines in a very long time. Thought I would go there to stay away from Tyler / Palestine.
Launched at the Cypress ramp just off of 155hwy. Started fishing there as the river bends right in front of ramp. I continued to follow the river east. Throwing a crank bait and a big worm. I stayed on the river channel for a very long time till I was near Oak Valley. Any where I found the river channel turn I would stop crank both sides of channel I used several different colors of worm when My arm got tired from cranking. Then would move on slowly.
Great day to work this type of Structure as there was little wind to blow my boat around. Cool in the morning as I had to wear a light jacket. Saw only two boats all day.
The only fish I was a carp that jump about a foot out of the water. I did not get a bite. I did get some great GPS waypoints for future fishing trips.
Not sure what the fish wanted but sure was not what I was throwing.
Tough day at the Pines but sure enjoyed the day away from normal work and house chores
Wild bill

I caught 3. 2 this morning and 1 this afternoon. Had several more bites just couldn't get much commitment out of them.

I was gonna head north and did ... followed a ways behind another fella headed that way. I slowed when I saw him sitting in a sand bar walking around his boat in ankle water.

We went back south. Johnson's and close to the dam worked for me today.

Yep, the lake is near it lowest point in several years of drought. It is 3/4 to 1 foot above the lowest point of the 2011 drought period and about 2 above the 2006-7 lake levels. Many of the ramps are closed around the lake and most of the marked boat runs are treacherous if you don't know em well. Just curious where you saw someone beached at? We were up above Hwy 155 all morning Saturday from sunrise till almost noon.

The GPS points are huge. We spent an entire day marking stuff when the lake was near its lowest back in Nov 2011. Also, you can go to Google and look at imagery from 2011, they took photos 1 month before the lake was at its lowest, so lots of good stuff is visible!

We had a good bite of shorter fish on some shallow ledges working a topwater on the edges of what little hydrilla was left. Lots of short strikes though. Several times we saw the fish hit, but they never connected with the bait. Later in the day we had a pretty good run on chatters, and mixed bag on plastics, fluke, spinner. Big fish was on finesse/trick style worm.

I had a tournament out there on the 11 and we did really well on jigs and frogs north of the bridge. All of our keepers we weighed in was caught on the jigs

8/24/13 Pines
Launched at Cypress at 155 again but this time I headed under the 155 bridge. Drove past the Pump station Started fishing about 1/2 mile past pump. I used a chatter bait and frog till about 8 I pitched a 'rodent'/worm at every laydown and stump I passed. A wacky wormed the river pads. Fished slow made many casts to the same lay down or stump. Only caught one bass about 1 pound on a wacky worm. Slowed down an fished really slow today
Lake is very low..
Full moon at night I thought that the first few early hours of the morning might be good fishing ..Not for me.

I am not giving up !! I am on a quest to find some fish that are willing to 'make my day'.

Going to Johnson Creek area next and fish some open water areas. Will look for some brush pile or some thing that will hold fish.
Pines needs some rain, very low. Since I was there a week ago I believe that the lake has dropped 5-6 inches in a week. Going to go again next week. My Birthday is coming up soon so maybe the Pines fish will give me a special present and show them selves to me.

wild bill

I'll be there all weekend next weekend. Not sure I'll go much further north than the boat run hump though.

The wife and kids will probably be more interested in swimming and playing though, so may not get to fish a whole lot.

How much has the Lake dropped this week? With this heat it has got to suck the lake down faster. WHen I was there on Saturday I believe it had dropped 4-6 inches since the week before. Will I be able to launch boat at Johnson Creek this weekend? and When is it going to rain? We need a rainmaker..

Wild Bill

Not sure, but the more I think about it, I may try and make the boat run hump more of a private beach!

Not many pleasure boaters are going to make that run. I figure from 2 weeks ago and no rain, it should be out of the water by now. Come to think of it .. I didn't notice to many shells around there either.

Does not look like I will be on the Pines this weekend. To many honey do's this weekend.
Plan to make a trip up there on the following week. Going to look for some thing that might hold a fish.

wild bill

Bill, it is still dropping...alot... Lake O the Pines Levels

Lake is dropping at a rate of 1/2" per day or right around a foot per month. Has been dropping at that rate since June. So unless we get a bunch of rain you can just about be certain that the lake will be 3-4 inches lower every week you go out. In about 2 weeks it will be at its lowest since 2006/2007 timeframe.

Wow Chuck. Thank you for your report. I was on Pines last weekend; while there I was amazed at how low the lake was. I hope we get some rain Lake Tyler is getting to that point it was several years ago when only a few could get their boats into the lake. That year the city dredged a channel at marina so folks could launch boats..
Pines needs some rain like all the lakes in Texas. Lakes out west are hurting.
Thanks again for the report. I hope to be fishing the Pines Saturday. Can't go Sunday have to celebrate my birthday.

wild bill

If going down the Copeland boat run be CAREFUL stumpd just under water and some about 1 1/2 ft under especially at the bend in front of intake tower,

Unless you have years of experience on a particular area of Pines, and have seen it with water this low or lower before, I think you could apply this warning across the board. Most of the marked boat runs have hazards INSIDE the runs at this level. Best bet is to slow down a bit and enjoy your day on the water. The drawbacks aren't worth the risk!

If you do not know the pines, you better be careful above the 155 bridge with the low water or even with the lake at full pool. You can tear up a boat easy if you are not careful!

+1
At this level, the marked boat run is meaningless up there. With the lake approaching 224ft elevation, the edges of the creek are shallow enough to beach, or maybe more, on and the creek zig zags side to side within the marked boat run. Right along the creek there is a little hump almost along the entire length, once you get behind it the water is often 1 foot or more deeper. But if you find it, or some timber on it, while on plane, it doesn't much matter! The dredged channel the Corps has from the Cedar Springs ramp up to the 155 bridge is about too shallow to run too, so you will soon have to follow the old creek.