Sam Rayburn

new to the forum but could use some help. i have a yearly tourney every year with my brother and some friends. this year we are going back to Sam Rayburn Reservoir. i have only been one other time and didn't do too good. we were told to fish the five fingers but didn't catch anything. could use any and all help? bragging rights are at stake. we will be there March 12-16 and we will be staying near the five fingers side of the lake.

First, get ready, this thread will be crazy within a few hours... But IMO, I would travel North if the wind is not to bad. My rule of thumb is that I chop the lake into two sections. Anything south of Caney I usually don't fish. However if I was going to, I would try Colemans, and Firetower. If you can run, I would try the other end. Even if you don't know the lake that well, you can launch at Caney and fish both little and big Caney fairly easy.

Don't go to Harvey Creek. It is fishless. You are wasting your time.

Thanks for the tips. Last time we were their we were told fishing in the south part of the lake wasn't that great.

With the lake level it is at, anywhere can be good in March. Plenty of Willow trees, bushes, and haygrass to fish. Lots of fish will be shallow. Mid lake is always good

I have never been to Sam and planning a trip too. Keep the info coming.

That south area has really came alive for me here that last couple of weeks. Big Farmers has lots of 2-3lb fish in it and it will be loaded this weekend with big spawners. I'll definitely be there.

Any hydrilla showing up in the Farmers area?

A little. There's scattered milfoil and a touch of hydrilla in places but not enough to say it's there YET.

Five fingers is usually not too bad, there are so many places. I am going up a couple of weeks before you, so I will chime in after I have some time to fish.

Thank you

Bed fish.

A buddy of mine told me this morning he has been catching lots of bass in about 4 ft. depths. He fishes the south end...

Don't ask me, I weight 1.9 oz my last tournament on rayburn...............at least I had my pants zipped up, last tournament I weighed in with my pants unzipped.

Things are not going good lately.

There is a lot more fish coming from the buck bay/bear creek areas. People have forgotten about these places the last couple of years. Less traffic= bigger rewards. Clearer water down there has been helping the grass. That salvania is to thick up north. 5 boats are spraying for tpwd currently.

If you want to win tournaments you better learn to fish north of caney. That doesn't mean you can't catch fish south of there. It means 99.5% of the time they will not beat north fish.

Over the years there have been many major tournaments won from the lower end of Rayburn. Generally speaking, I am talking about the areas from Caney on the West side to Veach on the East and further east in Ayish/Buck Bay.

Yea I even heard that basschamps was won on the lower end of Rayburn...

above the 103 is the place

Thank you for making my day BBlazer. That my friend is good comedy.

we heard Rayburn Red lipless cranks was the way to go?

since the drought in 2010/2011 when the lake got 13ft low the north end has been pretty dominant. before that when the hydrilla was on famers, needmore & buck bay a high number of tournament were won south. I even remember a BASS event in the early 90's in which it was won in the cove next to twin dikes (Rayburn Marina now) and another high finisher caught his in Tiger Creek LOL. the hydrilla was making a come back until the high water last year and buck bay was beginning to fish pretty good, I haven't heard of much from there this year so far, but I did hear that when the Corp's began pulling the water so hard about a month ago the north end muddied up and more fish were coming from the south end, but I think the major tournaments this year are still being won up north.

When you say north are you referring to top side of 103?

Usually north means anywhere past Harvey.