Texas Fishing Forum

Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits??

Posted By: BigTxBassMan

Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 02:24 AM

I wish some of the successful people would share their patterns and baits. We fished Caney Friday and only caught a few with the biggest being about 2lbs. We concentrated in 8-12 ft with swimbaits and flukes and Senkos. We didn’t talk to anybody or see anybody who did any better than we did. Looking back, I wish we had dropped a big jig in some of the hydrilla that we found but I don’t know if that would have helped or not. With the lake high, we knew there would be some fish shallow but we felt like our chances would be better for a big one out a little deeper. Come on guys, tell me where we went wrong?
Posted By: Easy Fisherman

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 12:52 PM

When you consider that the tournament in man hours fished over 54,000 hours ( that's over 6 years of fishing without a break ) and only caught 20 fish over 8 lbs and no 10's or 11,s and but a nice 12lber - you weren't the only one wondering what to use- compared to the past it is as bad as it gets as far as quality fish caught - it use to be that a 10 lber couldn't get in the top 5- just so many fish in a lake and with all the pressure from tournaments the quality has to go done and worse every year
Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 02:40 PM

The number of 5,6,7lbers indicates a healthy lake imo. A very small percentage of the bass in the lake even get caught during the McDonald's. Lakes in great shape. High water and post spawn those are good weights. A lot of fish are roaming around in 5-7ft of flooded cover that nobody can get to anyways
Posted By: BRZX200

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 03:34 PM

We flipped bushes mid-lake (Around Caney & South of there) Friday for 5 hours and caught around 8-10 small ones, so we went deeper and caught some dropping the Hydrilla in Veach with a 1.25 oz. weight, but very few bites.

Saturday we caught some in Veach on the outside of the haygrass on TX Rig & Carolina Rig, then offshore in 17-22ft. on TX Rig, Shaky Head, Crankbaits, but the majority were Spots.

Sunday, we stayed south, put in at Powell due to the wind. Caught around 10 shallow on Chatterbaits in the morning then a few out deep on Shaky Heads, but the bite shut off around 9:00 for us and we only boated another 2-3 fish.

I was as lost as anyone. I graphed deep points, drops, ridges for probably 6-8 hours total all weekend during and after the tournament was over for the day and only found two schools of fish. They bit easy when you found them, but there was no size to them.
Posted By: the skipper

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 04:25 PM

Latta hit it in the head. Lots of fish in the depth range most don't fish and is hard to fish right with all the cover in the water. Most people's boat is on top of the fish and their bait is up shallow. Just that transition time and this crazy weather isn't helping.
Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 04:31 PM

You can graph for days and never see a true school of fish on Rayburn. They don't set up like other lakes.
Posted By: GeoFisher

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 04:32 PM

Originally Posted By: BigTxBassMan
I wish some of the successful people would share their patterns and baits. We fished Caney Friday and only caught a few with the biggest being about 2lbs. We concentrated in 8-12 ft with swimbaits and flukes and Senkos. We didn’t talk to anybody or see anybody who did any better than we did. Looking back, I wish we had dropped a big jig in some of the hydrilla that we found but I don’t know if that would have helped or not. With the lake high, we knew there would be some fish shallow but we felt like our chances would be better for a big one out a little deeper. Come on guys, tell me where we went wrong?


I feel your pain and so do a lot of other guys on this Monday following the big tournament. I have fished Bob's tournament for over 20 years now and the ride home always makes for interesting conversation with either yourself or your partner. The "what if's" run rampant in an anglers mind. In my younger days, I would beat myself up with questions and thoughts of what I could have done better. The Splash is unique in the sense that people come from far and wide to fish it with abilities that range from novice to very very good. Throw in the fact that it is a "one" fish tournament and it levels the playing field somewhat. There are no real secrets. There is no magic bait. There is no magic depth, fish were caught in a foot of water, fish were caught in 30 feet of water. In my very humble opinion, it all comes down to what you believe in doing and what you believe will work.

You have to be willing to fish the entire day for ONE bite and maybe not even get bit, not 25-30 spot or dink bites. That is VERY hard for most folks to do, including me. I am not saying you cant catch a big one in those schools of little ones, but your chances are smaller in my opinion. I have been fortunate enough to make the trip to the pavilion 6 or 7 times in the past 5 years, not for anything huge, but maybe an even weight fish or a 5-7 lb fish from time to time. That is more than I did the first previous 15 years combined. Why? The answer is simple, I quit fishing it like a stringer tournament and started focusing on 2-3 spots for the ENTIRE tournament, places I have confidence in, not necessarily from past history, but where I think they should be. This year for example was 7-10 foot of water, scattered grass, a small ditch nearby leading to deeper water. Of the 24 hours of fishing time we had, we fished that spot probably 16 hours and had 5 bites the entire time, but one of them was a near 6 lb fish that got us a small check. We were fortunate because we could have just as easy caught nothing or we could have caught a 10 lb fish, it's all the same. Me personally, I think you have to slow way down and just enjoy the weekend and be thankful if you happen to get lucky enough to run into one those pigs. Age and wisdom will do that to you!!
Posted By: BRZX200

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 05:44 PM

Jaret your right, when I did find them, only a few were set up like other lakes and most were spots with a few largemouth mixed in.. I’m not all that familiar with Rayburn so I don’t know exactly what to look for out deep, just need to spend more time.
Posted By: Kens3313

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/23/18 09:13 PM

We fished hard all 3 days and only boated in about 10 small fish all weekend. We couldn't find a good pattern, caught fish in 4 ft 13 ft and 20 ft lol. Saturday we did figure out that they was holding close to the bigger willow trees. But sunday I guess since it wasn't bright out they wasn't on the trees. Saw a guy at the Five fingers boat ramp that hit something I guess, but his engine was knocked off right at the jackplate. Somehow got the engine pulled up next to the boat ramp. I'm with you I need to learn the lake better. All in all we still had a blast.
Posted By: Skeeter443

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 03:04 AM

Originally Posted By: Kens3313
We fished hard all 3 days and only boated in about 10 small fish all weekend. We couldn't find a good pattern, caught fish in 4 ft 13 ft and 20 ft lol. Saturday we did figure out that they was holding close to the bigger willow trees. But sunday I guess since it wasn't bright out they wasn't on the trees. Saw a guy at the Five fingers boat ramp that hit something I guess, but his engine was knocked off right at the jackplate. Somehow got the engine pulled up next to the boat ramp. I'm with you I need to learn the lake better. All in all we still had a blast.

Ken-
I saw that guy in the Skeeter with the motor that got knocked off. There was a truck following him and the motor was in the back of the truck. That's a bad day!
Posted By: ETXfisher91

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 12:22 PM

Originally Posted By: Kens3313
We fished hard all 3 days and only boated in about 10 small fish all weekend. We couldn't find a good pattern, caught fish in 4 ft 13 ft and 20 ft lol. Saturday we did figure out that they was holding close to the bigger willow trees. But sunday I guess since it wasn't bright out they wasn't on the trees. Saw a guy at the Five fingers boat ramp that hit something I guess, but his engine was knocked off right at the jackplate. Somehow got the engine pulled up next to the boat ramp. I'm with you I need to learn the lake better. All in all we still had a blast.


That was my buddy I played college ball with if your talking about this boat??? Said he came out around the corner to the main lake after he got on plane the 3rd or 4th wave it popped. He never hit anything
Posted By: Walls

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 12:24 PM

Originally Posted By: ETXfisher91
Originally Posted By: Kens3313
We fished hard all 3 days and only boated in about 10 small fish all weekend. We couldn't find a good pattern, caught fish in 4 ft 13 ft and 20 ft lol. Saturday we did figure out that they was holding close to the bigger willow trees. But sunday I guess since it wasn't bright out they wasn't on the trees. Saw a guy at the Five fingers boat ramp that hit something I guess, but his engine was knocked off right at the jackplate. Somehow got the engine pulled up next to the boat ramp. I'm with you I need to learn the lake better. All in all we still had a blast.


That was my buddy I played college ball with if your talking about this boat??? Said he came out around the corner to the main lake after he got on plane the 3rd or 4th wave it popped. He never hit anything


Not a good advertisement for "Cajun Jacker" jack plate for sure.
Posted By: kellisag

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 01:15 PM

He may not have hit anything the day it broke off but I bet he hit something to crack it at some point.
Posted By: basshc

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 05:31 PM

Just traded my 2005 zx 250 And had like a 2” crack think it was fatigue and torque welded it twice was fixing to get new jack plate but got new fx instead.
Posted By: Notaguide

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 05:45 PM

Underwater trees in various depths
Posted By: Kens3313

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/24/18 08:09 PM

Originally Posted By: ETXfisher91
Originally Posted By: Kens3313
We fished hard all 3 days and only boated in about 10 small fish all weekend. We couldn't find a good pattern, caught fish in 4 ft 13 ft and 20 ft lol. Saturday we did figure out that they was holding close to the bigger willow trees. But sunday I guess since it wasn't bright out they wasn't on the trees. Saw a guy at the Five fingers boat ramp that hit something I guess, but his engine was knocked off right at the jackplate. Somehow got the engine pulled up next to the boat ramp. I'm with you I need to learn the lake better. All in all we still had a blast.


That was my buddy I played college ball with if your talking about this boat??? Said he came out around the corner to the main lake after he got on plane the 3rd or 4th wave it popped. He never hit anything
Yup that looks like it. Wow that's scary, glad everyone was alright
Posted By: Gilbert M.

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 12:27 AM

I sat up at the weigh in site, never heard how they were caught. But I will tell you this several of the big fish to include the 12.05 had to be fizzed. So my guess is deep...I could be wrong!
Posted By: Kens3313

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 01:10 AM

I also was up there at weigh in and they all looked spawned out, skinny sunk in bellies.
Posted By: lamoon78

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 02:15 AM

The bigger fish moved out. I been on money fish on secondary points keep the boat in 13-15 feet and throwing into 20-25 the bait I won’t say. Lol
Just wish I didn’t have to work last weekend could’ve made some money. Most of my spots I actually found on accident was spots I normally overlook.
Posted By: COWBOYSFAN008

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 01:42 PM

For me and my partner it was a TN Shad 6XD in the grass and TX rigged craws in black and blue, but nothing over a 2.5. We knocked the dust off some stuff just to see if they would work....didnt. Had a b;last except for Sunday cruzzin back to Umphrey from Harvey. That sucked.
Posted By: BRZX200

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 02:11 PM

I bet it was a bumpy ride back to Umphrey. It was rolling. You my friend have a set of brass ones running to Harvey with that wind. We came around fro Powell and hit the main lake and the pucker factor went up to about 8.
Posted By: Capt. Bryan

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 06:03 PM

Swim jigs in funnel points with scattered hydrilla. 10-15' deep, had 2 five pounders that got bumped out of money Friday and a 7.96 on Sunday. Caught around 60 bass in 3 days, several in the 3 pound range but didn't want to leave area. Lost one 3 weeks ago that would have won tournament with same pattern.
Posted By: Capt. Bryan

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 06:13 PM

Water level was also falling so that is why we backed out away from banks. Also go to an area and pick it apart. Don't run spots all over the lake you are minimizing fishing time everytime big motor is running.
Posted By: BigTxBassMan

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/25/18 08:42 PM

Thanks Cap!! Great info. Sounds like we were doing the right thing, just in the wrong spot. Y'all definitely had the best weekend of anybody I've heard from. We only fished Friday but thought the same thing about the falling water moving the fish out. The only thing we cranked the motor for was to move back upwind and start another drift. East wind was blowing right in on us which we thought would make the fish more active. I guess we should have moved around a little more to try and find some active fish. We thought about running over to Veach at one time but decided to spend more time fishing and less time running.
Posted By: Kens3313

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/26/18 03:06 AM

Thanks for yalls info, Interesting to read what patterns others used. I guess I should have sticked with my swim jig after catching a small fish on it Sunday. Did yall notice all the shad Sunday morning getting ate up in the hay grass? We couldn't get them to bite anything we threw to mimic shad.
Posted By: GeoFisher

Re: Big Bass Splash Rayburn - Successful Patterns and Baits?? - 04/26/18 03:53 PM

Originally Posted By: BRZX200
I bet it was a bumpy ride back to Umphrey. It was rolling. You my friend have a set of brass ones running to Harvey with that wind. We came around fro Powell and hit the main lake and the pucker factor went up to about 8.


We did the same thing! Left Rayburn Park in the morning headed to forest and made it to around Norris and NIXED that plan real fast!! Spent the rest of the day in Ayish to stay out of the wind. Upon return, was cruisin' around Farmers back to Rayburn Park and when we got to the point, MY GAWD, there were some serious rollers coming down the Angelina arm. I would not have wished that ride back on anyone. In between the troughs at Rayburn Park, you could see the reddish colored sand in front of the white rocks!! With lake lake being 3 feet high, and only seeing that sand when the lake is 2-3 foot low, my elementary math tells me those were legit 6 foot waves. Got real wet trying to get the boat turned into the cove at Rayburn Park to put it on trailer, which was a chore as well.
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