Rowlett Creek White Bass Run 2011

The sandies have been in a couple spots for about 5 weeks now at Rowlett Creek. Over the weekend we had another nice school come in. On Tuesday, my client decided he wanted to go fly fishing for crappie. I told him the Sand Bass had moved in the crappie hole pretty thick and he was just happy to be out of the office. Total fish was 57. Mixed bag of crappie and sand bass. Lost a couple Lake Records too.

















If you keep at it, you can definitely limit on sandies right now. (All fish were released)

Nice!

good to know the sandies are showing up

Looks like a floating line. That water looks deep. Were you just using long leaders?

12 ft deep. 10 ft leader.

are yall below the miller road bridge, or are yall below firewheel. i want to fish the gun range, only question is, are the fish at the gun range yet, or do we need a some rain.also what kind of flies, light weight jigs or streamers.

I was at the gun range from about noon until 2:30.
Nothing....
Water was super clear and all we saw was just a small school of baitfish.
I was using fly gear and dad was using jigs and corn.
The water was running pretty fast, but IMO it is just a bit early for that spot.
Early morning or late afternoon might have better luck.
Did find lots of golf balls though.
If the sandies are coming up from hubbard they will have to pool right at that spot, unless they want to swim/jump up into the three concrete tubes that are running pretty fast.

I went above the construction access road to see if there was anything in the pool above and despite the clarity of the water, I did not see any fish. Doesn't mean that they were not there, I just did not see any.
Ditto for about 1/4 mile down past the actual range itself.
There was another guy out there and he did not have any luck either.
When they run...it usually is a good spot though.
cheers

We call it the "Roots", the spot you were at. After every flood, they make it over that dam. So they dont really get stuck there. But, its a good hole if there is not a lot of people in it. It used to be 8 ft deep there but the construction at the dam, filled it in with gravel and now its shallow....

i caught lots of crappie at the roots during the winter, and it is shallow now too. i was down there one day, and the construction people ran me off, didnt see any no trespassing signs, so idk if they are allowed to do that. also, do the sandbass hold in the shallow rapids(6-10inches deep) or do they just hold in the holes, say 2-4fett deep. did really good at the gun range last year, but only fished the deep holes, and also never caught a hybrid or a yellow.

if you have your polorized glasses on, you can see the fish in the rapids. Mid March is when they normally start hanging out in the really shallow water when they start to spawn hard. They migrate at night upstream and during floods, so one day they are there, and the next they are not. The trespassing signs are above on the hill. Very small signs. They cant tell you to leave the roots. You must have been closer to the dam for them to chase you off. The signs are 20 yards upstream from the roots on both side of the hill. Grey and white streamers (some flash) with no weight was killer last year in the shallow 6 inch water. The hybrids didnt show up thick last season due to the Lavon Dam - Gates were on in November I think.. All the hybrids went up to the dam, along w/ a lot of the sandies. This year should do very well with the gates no where close to releasing water. Should be a great year. My buddy got a limit today near the mouth of the creek.

cool, ill have to try those rapids like you mentioned, ive got a 5 weight fly rod. are the fish in the rapids more aggressive then the fish in the deeper water. also will a light weight 1/80 ounce jig below an indicator work in the rapids?

it will work, but a feathered streamers works best stripping it thru the schools. You will be able to see them in the shallows. I have a couple seminars at Bass Pro Shop and Cabela's coming up soon on Crappie spawn and sandbass/hybrid striper spawn- rod and reel & fly rod

Cabela's: 12:30 and another at 3pm on Feb 19th


Bass Pro Shop (Garland): Feb 26th 2pm & March 5th 2pm

Ill tell you everything you need to know.

sure, i might go, but thanks for answering my questions. i just want to know how to catch a few fish. i did quite well last year on spinning gear, i just want to catch a few scrappy sandies on fly rods. thanks again for the info.