Brazos River Report from Ft. Worth Fishing

Good morning TFF! I've spent the last couple of weeks getting back to my roots on the Brazos, and here's what I've found:

Location: Brazos north of Whitney/south of Grandbury.
Water Condition: very lightly stained.
Water Temp: 42-45, depending on the time of day and location
Depth of fish: white bass = 8-14ft and striper = 14-24ft
Rod: 7ft G-Rod
Reel: Pflueger President
Line: 8lb hi-vis mono
Tackle: Thump Buddy from Constant Pursuit Outfitters rigged on 1/8 ounce unpainted w/ #4 sickle hook

I'm finding fish much like I would if I were fishing on the main lake; focusing on contour changes throughout the river bed. For example, if I'm traveling along the main channel and I see a small hump or a quick dip, more than likely I'm going to find fish there. The deeper holes have been producing more striper, where as the small humps have been producing very large amounts of sandies.

There are two types of schools I'm finding right now, in regards to the white bass. If I pull up and see a handful of fish, these are my bigger magnum sandies. If I pull up and see hundreds of fish, my jig usually doesn't make it to the bottom before a 10-12" good frying size fish is on the hook. Either way, it's a whole lot of fun.


As far as the striper go, I'm finding these fish under/inside of large schools of shad. If I'm cruising over a deep hole and I see very large red marks on the graph, I simply drop the jig down to their depth and slowly present it to them. Not so much a dead stick technique, but still moving very slowly. I'm not catching a lot of these right now (maybe 3-5 per day) but everything I'm getting is 22-26".

Catching the white bass in the river right now is very straight forward. I mark the fish, turn the boat into the wind, and get on top of the school. At this point, I either cast out, and reel my jig slowly across the bottom, or I just drop it straight down and pick it up about a foot off the bottom. Either way, I focus on keep my lure close to the bottom. Some of the schools have been 5-7 foot thick in height, so it never has a chance to make it all the way down: aka a good problem to have.





If you would like to join me on the water, I'd be happy to have you. 817-266-9811 or www.ftworthfishing.com


Stay warm and tight lines, TFF.

Good info lane!...could you post a side image screen shot of thoes sandies?....I am trying to learn my helix in the Sabine.

Troy King, this is what you're looking for, but expect it to be on a smaller scale. If you see any groups of white dots relating to the bottom, take time to investigate them. They shouldn't take much convincing to bite this time of year.

great info!

Awesome post!

Thanks for the report. I assume you are north or south of Kimbell Bend?

Yes sir, we were in the river north of Whitney.

thanks lane