Less than 2 yrs ago Amistad was named #6 in top 100 best bass lakes by BASS. Now I don't even think it would rank in the top 1000. Not to mentioned Choke went from top to bottom and Falcon not looking good either. The common demoninator is the drought. Amazing how drastically dropped water levels seems to have killed most of the bass. I know on Falcon the culprit seems to be gars. And Amistad and Choke not much grass. All three lakes tanked at the same time after water levels dipped.

Amistad was nowhere near #6 when that survey was released. Nor was Lake Fork anywhere near #26. That list was compiled by a bunch of pro anglers and outdoor writers, based upon venues they had visited in the past. Meaningless survey, but yes, Amistad would be well down the list if the only criteria were fish catches.

I know that 2 yrs ago there were a lot more bass in that lake. And was almost in it's prime when Elites started going there. Look at Champs weights on LBJ which is traditionally a tougher lake to Amistad this yr. LBJ numbers blew Amistad's out of the water. Only took like 12lb in BASS Open to cash a check.

The bass just don't die for low water. They move into areas that aren't as easy to catch them. They will suspend and go into self conservation mode and will not feed till they have too. As soon as it gets some water again the fish move up into areas where people can catch them again.

Low water over several years will effect the spawning rate, and that can give it population issues, but 2 years of low water wont kill anything.

That was almost 8 years ago. 2006.

Nature has a way regulating itself. That's exactly what's going on down there. Once the water comes up all we will forgotten and the fish will "come back". It always does.

That lake is very deep. the fish have plenty of places to "hide" so to speak

Low water is not to blame on amistad it's been low plenty.(year 2000 ) it was where it is now and fishin was unbelievable. Problem is fluctuation it came up fast with flood and killed grass then was dropped fast about the time grass started coming back then brought back up to where it is now.It just needs to stay at one level till grass comes back then if it comes up slowly or falls slowly it will stay good.fast rises and falls are no good

+1 Well said! Some of these people keep talking about a die off, don't you think if that many fish had died some would have floated, not all would have sunk to the bottom right away! I know guys that are on this lake 4 and 5 days a week and they haven't seen a bunch of dead fish. If the lake maintains a steady level and the grass returns the numbers will go way up!

A lot of great points in this thread.

Out of the TOP 100.......HHMMMMMMM about #86..

It will take several years of GOOD conditions to get the numbers back to be in the top 10..And a couple more years to get the numbers of big fish back to when it was called the best bass lake in the country by BASS and ESPN..

We need to start a good rumor about a Mexican cartel jet ski shootout so BASS and espn will stay away

I don't believe the fish are still in the lake and that they're just out there suspended in the middle of nowhere. I've had to catch what few fish I have been finding this yr 40-60ft. And even those are sparse to locate. All I know is there has been a significant decline in Amistad, Choke, and Falcon ever since beginning of 2013. All at the same time and all have the common denominator. They've done shock tests recently on Falcon and numbers down more than 66%. I'd bet Amistad is even worse. When you send out 150-300 anglers on a lake you get a pretty good sampling of the fish population.

I agree about nature taking it's course. It will eventually bounce back. I read something recently that showed the water levels on Falcon and guys who have fished through it all over the decades can directly correlate the best fishing when the water was high. And worst fishing when it was low. Too many good fishermen out there who know how to fish deeper than 40ft and they aren't catching em much better. The fish simply are not in the lake. When the water warms up soon and the fish spawn may see slight increase in numbers with buck bass concentrated in the shallow water but weights are still gonna be extremely low I believe.

That survey, for the most part, was completely ridiculous.

The fish are still in Amistad, you guys will see soon enough. The lake will come back, just like Falcon, and all this speculation will be put to bed.