Sam Rayburn Stumps?

Headed to Rayburn for the first time next week. I looked on Navionics and saw there was a "boating channel", but didn't see too much in the way of flooded or submerged timber other than up shallower. TPWD shows the lake is 2.81 feet low. Is there anything to be worried about/careful of on Rayburn?

Plenty of reading on here on this subject is you search. Below 147 its not too hard. North of veach stay left or right. Ken smith has some good u tube videos.

If you stay right in front of Twin Dykes boat ramp you should be ok. Seriously there are trees/stumps everywhere if you're not familiar with the lake and you're not. Within the last week a guide named Ken posted a video on here about trails. He has a lot of videos about getting around on Rayburn. Go back a page or 2 and you'll see his video. The far south end is fairly easy but as you head north there are all kinds of problems especially with the lake low.

Good advise above... you can buy a "boat lanes" chip for your graph, its worthwhile investment that will give you some peace of mind while running around Big Sam.

Great advise...Get a chip with boat lanes..it is well worth the investment on Rayburn

2 links that will save you lots of time and headache:

http://www.kensmithfishing.com/
http://www.boatlanes.com/

The short answer is yes, lots to be worried about.

Best advice I have from growing up fishing Rayburn the past 25 years is don't run based on navionics....there are zero marked boat lanes. If you are unsure of an area don't run it.

Get the boat lanes chip it will make life easier.

Boat lanes chip for rayburn! Trimmer high let her fly!

I wish everyone could have seen that lake between 98’-2000 during the fish kill and & drought. Stumps every where!
Be safe!!

Or 2011...

I didn't know Rayburn had stumps..........guess I better slow down and watch where I'm going!!!

You'll be alright just keep an eye on your Lowrance flasher.

Ken Smith has several YouTube videos on how to run Rayburn. Big Sam it about 3 ft low right now so use caution.

Ken Smith's videos mentioned 20 large trees between Cassels Boykin & bridge. Said it had danger. He had GPS coordinates for one of them. Anyone have & will share any of the others or a safe running track?

They are floaters so they change location often year to year

I’ve been fishing Rayburn for 30 years and I’m worried about stumps every trip. Get the chip, it’ll say you headaches.

I asked about. A chip once while at a tourney guy said oh there’d no boat lanes here looked at
Me like I was crazy. I had a chip in it but could t figure out how to down load it

I've only been on Rayburn a few times, recent one being a few weeks ago.. I've never hit a stump/shallow water anywhere. Last week we fished all over the place, mostly down toward twin dikes. I decided to do some exploring and ran about halfway up the lake to the north and basically just stayed in the middle wheres the 50ft+ of water and never hit anything or saw anything to hit.. Also trailered to Jackson Hill and ran down to the 147 bridge. There were a lot of stumps up on the end, but I just used some common sense and made sure I stayed in deep water away from the visible stump fields. No issues.

I think the closest I got to screwing up was going from Cassle Boykin to 147.. I wasn't paying attention to my chart, and apparently there's a big shallow point that comes off the bank a good ways. I went from like 20ft to 8ft pretty quick but dropped back down. Now one of the first times to Rayburn a buddy and I stayed up at Hanks Creek.. We fished all that area and up to even farther north real well, and never had any issues.. We just used common sense and stayed deep and watched for stumps.

This doesn't mean don't be cautious on where you are going.. I guess I'm just a lucky person, because I've never had issues hitting anything on that lake. Take advice from the guys that fish this lake daily.. This is just my experience

Ya alot of those "deep" areas are also covered in stumps. Let the lake fall another foot or two and you won't be running those areas...

He'll find out soon enough if he keeps thinking and running like he has been. There were plenty of trees 50+ feet tall before the lake was inundated, and some of them still are!

Maybe you just have a horseshoe up your [censored]. I hope nobody follows your advice!

Running up the middle of the lake in the "deep water" is the exact wrong way if you are anywhere north of Caney.

Between JH and the 147 there are also some ridges/humps out in the middle that will show up if the lake gets low again like 2011.

North of Hanks I guess you can run the river but there are some big ones right in the middle of the "lane" that will eat your lunch as well.

I was running up towards Veach Friday and just about plowed one south of there, I will pull the location off of my depth finder and post it. Sumbitch is about 18" around and same distance out of the water.

This.

I try using boat lanes mapped by Navionics but they are worthless!

Sounds like the one that's about 4-5 hundred yards out from the mouth of Coleman.

Straight out from Coleman there a a big group of trees with some big ones mixed in. There's a few jugs out there but they don't mark them all.

Yes, as of last week the trees with jugs were still not showing, but one large one was out the water.

And a group between five fingers and Westwood boat ramp. I don't think they are an issue yet but they are definitely there

Ha! That's why I said specifically "Take advice from the guys that fish their a lot." Here's the deal though, I don't exactly know where "Caney" is, so I couldn't tell you if I went that far up or not. I didn't go up too far because I am aware of the forest. Again, just my apparently LUCKY experience with the lake.. Now, Toledo Bend is a different story. I idled the whole time I was there and still managed to knock a few out.

Thanks for the mentions of my videos...I hit one Saturday in the BFL running thru the forest, where i tell everyone not to run. Hit just under and behind me, had it trimmed and jack plate all the way up. I was convinced when I pulled it out of the water there would be serious glass damage but fortunately none. I knew better than to run what I ran...but I ran it!

They should make your running videos a sticky. Really good stuff.

There was a Skeeter on Sunday going south that ran right through the line of trees in front of Veach and over the shallow point just south of there through about a couple of feet of water at most. I was running the same direction a few hundred yards west of him on LV boat lane and was just waiting for it to happen. Fortunately nothing did. Guess he lives a better life than me. It's a dangerous lake for sure, but some folks are just lucky.

At what level should I stop running to the Ayish Bridge?

Unless you know the run you should have quit a long time ago. Once you turn north around Miller's flats it's no different than toledo. People run over it all the time which when it's full it isn't that bad but there are LOTS of stumps right at the water line right now. It gets especially bad once it opens back up past the 2 clay points. The boat lane chip only goes so far and much farther you basically have to run the channel which isn't a boat wide up by the bridge.

I wouldn't make that run unless there was 10 feet of water over highway 83.

You keep thinking like that Rayburn is going to get you eventually I promise.

I think you are correct. Scared the [censored] out of me. If there was any chop on the water it would be easy to miss seeing.

About the boat lanes. I’ve got one and for the life of me it wa t download on my humi. Is there someone on here that can talk me threw it. Or have a 1 point lesson on it?

All you need to do is learn to import a file.

Go to YouTube and search for importing waypoint file humminbird. This should get you thru it.

On the older birds you had to go in the waypoint management and edit the tracks to a color you can see

Saw that one for the first time last year in the Sealy Splash. That SOB is a widowmaker for sure. Pulled right up next to it to mark it and it is as ugly as the location it is sitting in.

When running north of Rayburn Park stay on the left or right side. Once you get north as far as Veach or caney pay special attention as the Black Forest runs between them. It runs almost to Calhoun Point. There is a cut from Calhoun to Harvey boat ramp but if you are unfamiliar do not try to cut across. Once you get North of 147 there are scattered trees everywhere that if you didn’t mark while lake was low then good luck. Once you get around the old town of Warsaw (big hump north of 147) there is an unmarked boat lane that will run you to hanks. Be careful if you do not know this lake. It looks open but I’ve been running it for 30 years and it still scares the heck out of me because I know what’s there.

Lake Fork guides and others posted so that there was a list of over 40 stump locations near boat runs.

Hope maybe someone brakes the ice and some GPS coordinates start being posted. . .

Rayburn has widow makers scattered all over it if you are not familiar with the lake at lower water levels. I saw a post where someone was running to the Ayish bayou bridge man you either have a great or lucky trail, extremely familiar with the lake, or just plain lucky. North of Millers is risky even for guys with trails, I have run this area for years and like others it scares the h*** out of me every time I see someone on plane heading that way. There are some stumps between Buck Bay and Farmers in the middle of the lake that I have not seen mentioned. Bass Champs guys and any others fishing Rayburn just need to be careful and don't run areas you are not familiar with. The stump out from Coleman is definitely going to get someone eventually as is the one entering five fingers and it was mentioned earlier but it is not in a good spot. Safe travels and good fishing to all.

I thought I knew where all the timber was on the mid part of the lake until I downloaded Lance Vicks boat lanes chip...the black forest timber, as well as the timber oustside of veach and the indian/bird island timber areas are way further out into the main lake than I ever realized. At full pool its not as concerning ...but as the lake continues to drop its coming more into play...be careful out there.

Have you ever been to Rayburn???? You DON'T have ENOUGH gps memory for ALLLLLL the stumps you guys want to try and mark! Especially as the Lake starts to drop. There are over 40 Stumps at the mouth of Veach alone!

These are already waypointed in Lance Vick's Boatlane, so that's been done. Wasn't asking for "ALLLL the stumps". Just those in the close to Boatlanes, etc.

Would make SR just a little safer....

The famous floater at Calhoun is no longer there. I guess the strong wind during the cold front last week blew it off the side of that hump.

I hope so...but be careful because I'm pretty sure I almost ran over it 2 weeks ago. Looked less than a foot out of the water.