Rowlett Creek Sandbass run 2022

Fish are about halfway up ,
Its started but not full on .

Be careful at the gun club as one of supports holding the big pipe is collapsing.

march 1 guaranteed

Are there any descent places to launch a kayak?

Miller road bridge. from there you go north and hit 66 bridge, the bike park , or go south to the lake. North the creek is kind a skinny, much wider as you go south.

Limits have been caught there if you feel like fighting the crowds

My update.

after the last cold front fishing got really weak.

right now at miller like others are reporting there are some to be caught.

A few spots have schools where crowds gather and come out with stringer fulls.

Between the fork up to the bike park people seem to be able to pull out or or two a trip.

The fish are hard to come by if you are not on a school but at least there is something.

The water looks like Algae soup right now , with very little visibility.

Its still early but at least something is there.

I am laughing at all the people at Miller Road fighting for parking. I know that creek like the back of my hand and there aint enough there to fight over right now. If we dont get some run off rain pretty quick I am going to abandon the creeks all together and focus on more productive main lake spots. Heck my favorite spot in that whole creek is so low you can walk across it right now and never get wet above your knees.

It s spring and near the house, so i gotta join the fray down there.

A few or more years back there was a drought and construction at miller. There was access to the creak about halfway to the lake.
Anyone been around there lately?

My kids & I fished the banks of the bike trail this afternoon. It was tough, my son landed one keeper. 2 fellas had 5-10 on stringers, but there wasn’t much pulled out the 3 1/2 hours we were out there. Seemed like decent water current, but it’s my 1st time to fish this creek. Threw jigs/ grubs & jerkbaits.

Early run fish are finicky, they’re not that easy to catch, 4lb fluorocarbon line with minnows bumped along the bottom is the absolute best technique for them. Oftentimes when those fish first show up they absolutely will not bite a lure, and the fish in rowlett are line shy because of clearer water. I’ve been doing this a long time, trust me when I say the biggest mistake people make on rowlett creek, or any creek really is using too heavy of line and expecting that just because they’re sandbass they’ll bite anything. Early run fishing is tough unless you know what you’re doing.

Usually I would 100% agree with you on all of that, BUT.....this year the creek is uncharacteristically murky despite the lack of rainfall. In most areas you have about 12"-18" visibility this year unless you go waaaay far up where the bottom is more firm. Even in the more firm areas the clarity is about half what it usually is though.

I always go with better safe than sorry, it’s not that hard to tie on 3 feet of fluorocarbon and it might make a world of difference

Once the crowds hit those fish want tiny lures on very light line. I can't tell you how many times folks have look at me with amazement while I catch fish and they go fishless in the same hole. I use 2lb test and 1 inch lures or tiny minnows. They have 12lb line with 2 inch baits and get few bites. Sandbass ain't the smartest fish in the lake but they learn quick on Rowlett creek.

I had 6# mono hi-vis and I was about the only person that had any luck. I’m trying out many different lines this year to find the one that I like best. Right now it’s 15# braid with 6# mono leader. I like the braid to feel the bite. Today the fish were extremely finicky. I only caught one with 5 or so short strikes. I fished extremely slow dragging bottom.

I’ve gone out several times over the last few weeks, the last being Tuesday afternoon. So far I would say way less than desired results, lol! I’ve only caught a few each trip but I have seen people catch as many as six, and then there are always the people saying ‘you should’ve been here yesterday!’, lol… they ALWAYS say that! The good part about being early on the run is that the creek is not terribly crowded. The bad part I would say for me is that I remember that creek back in the 90s when I used to fish it a lot, and yes there was trash back then, but absolutely nothing compared to what it’s like now! I’ve literally seen guys down there drinking beer and just get up and leave the bottles, the trash, everything and walk to a different place. One time I asked someone about that and I was stunned when he told me that he thought someone had a job to come down there and clean everything up. let’s just say he ‘wasn’t from around here’. I told him that was not the case but he didn’t go back and clean up his stuff. Anyway I’m probably lucky I didn’t get into a fight I guess…which was the reason I quit going down there in the late 90s. At any rate, it’s Thursday morning about 9 AM and I don’t have a job until two, and the one that I have is very close to the creek, so I’m considering going down there and trying it out again. I suspect once the temperatures get good enough where I feel like taking my kayak out I will quit going down there in favor of other places (Texoma), and that’s when they will be running, lol…

Don’t forget your trash bag…

Onboard…

We need Rain Please!!!

You got that right! The creek is super low. On the other hand even though I’ve only caught one fish so far I have found two nice in-line spinners, so I’ll call the day a success even though I’m not finished yet!

I’m going to start bringing a yard bag to pick up trash. Maybe it will catch on. It’s such a trashed out place. I don’t understand a culture that thinks it’s okay to leave every single piece of trash on the creek bank.

That’s a great idea. Today I went to the bike park and at least there are trash cans there to toss bags into. Some areas would be more difficult, especially if you had large bags! Oh and fish-wise I only pulled two dinks. I heard some guy caught a limit but I suspect that’s the same story as ‘you should have been here yesterday’…

Today is the full moon. I can’t believe we didn’t get the rain like weatherman said. Economists and weathermen can be wrong 100% of the time and still keep a job…

It rained good at my place

This may come off as sounding bad but I just can't get myself to spend the limited time I have to fish picking up everyone else's trash. My hat is off to those that do clean up the trash. The trash just gets worse and worse. I stay away from Rowlett creek because of the crowds and trash. There are just so many other creeks with no trash, people and fish that are not pressured everyday and hungry.

I went for a couple hours late this afternoon. Did not get rain here in Rowlett but they did upstream and the current was much more swift and super muddy by Rowlett Creek standards. Fishing was pretty sloooow.

On a side note I did run into the Game Warden twice (Mr. Alverez). Really nice guy. In the 30 years I have fished this particular spot of the creek I have never seen a GW there so I was pretty surprised to see him today. I can tell you he is for sure not a lazy GW! LOL!! I asked him where he parked and I can tell you he had been walking for miles! Really good to see them out there this year trying to suppress all the illegal activities that have plagued that creek for years.

I usually fish until dark. It doesn't cut down on my fishing time to pick up trash on the way out. Yeah, it sucks to pick up other people's trash but I see it as preserving the areas for my kid's generation and the generation after. It is definitely contagious! I don't remember the spot, but saw a man and his son leaving one day. After he noticed me bagging stuff, he started doing the same.

I think that last rain should put fish every where.

Even in the chalky cloudy creek yesterday fish were coming out .

As the water clears up the the fishing should be better and better every day!

Me and my pop went this morning castle drive and centerville (a friend told me about) been out of the game for 12 years go east on castle drive to a dead up follow the creek past the brown pipes and then keep going about 5-10 minutes you'll see a white pip sticking out the grass on the right then go down the left side of the creek (becareful i fell because it was slippery because of the major rain we got early the week) Pop was able to catch a 20inch stripe bass but then people came later and caught some more about 3-4 stripe bass. i had a crappy pole but i think i got lucky. gonna try tomorrow again with a better pole bought at academy.

I don't know why some people are so stingy with teling you their spots. I love to share and always root want people to catch more fish than me. this is a brotherhood thing and if everyone catches fish we all win. I can't complain since i was able to get one and gonna pan fry that stripper and it's gonna be oh so very good.

Any recommendations on a good line? I bought the combo kit (rod and reel) at academy shimano symetre 7 ft. $100 minus $15 bucks for academy card. and also casking combo kit for my pop. I hope we get lucky and catch 1 or 2 more tomorrow am.

Happy Fishing yall.

I just saw some one pull a hybrid and a full sized striper yesterday , they have finally arrived.

Tried to go fishing yesterday. Creek was full, fast and grey like it rain fro three days straight, not just for a few hours.
looked like the water was up 2-3 feet.
caught 4 leaves on 5 casts then left.
Banks were covered with a 1/4 inch of slimy creek mud.

Hopefull it will be fishable by Saturday.

Because as soon as your “spot” becomes a community fishing hole, it gets hammered with people who are using 50lb test and surf rods, cast netting sandbass, and leaving piles of garbage at the creek. People are tight lipped for a reason.

Mckinneycrappiecatcher is correct.

There is a reason the pool just south of firewheel has long been know as " the hell hole"

[censored] sakes last weekend some lady had her three grade school age children swimming in there while people where fishing.

Hope that had their tetanus shots , rabies shots, every other shot .

And to answer your question about line, 4 lb mono with a 4 lb fluorocarbon leader, set your drag and play them out. I use an ultralight right for sandbass, striper, crappie, and whatever else there is in these creeks.

Yep

Rowlett Creek runs right between two cities with hundreds of thousands of people so mentioning off the beaten path spots my not be to your advantage. I totally get the brotherhood aspect of fishing though.

I have all but given up on Rowlett Creek due to peoples' behavior while trying to fish.

There are about 20 or maybe more other spots like it in the Dfw area that are more secluded and better fishing.

That creek was granted third world status 20 years ago.

Yup I abandoned it years ago. It's way over fished. Biggest issue I have is the depletion of Hybrids. The dang cast net guys wipe them out at night. Ray Hubbard was a great Hybrid lake...was.

Yup I abandoned it years ago. It's way over fished. Biggest issue I have is the depletion of Hybrids. The dang cast net guys wipe them out at night. Ray Hubbard was a great Hybrid lake...was.[/quote]

I fished it and several nice hybrids were landed and stringered on rod n reel. They were definitely keepers with some pushing 24”. I heard one guy say, “only two more until I get a limit.” I watched him and he caught two back to back, then left the creek with 5. That was encouraging.

There were two more gents close by not fishing… hmmm. I did see what I thought was a cast net. I fished until dark and a couple groups of people stayed past dark. I didn’t see it, but we can assume that illegal harvest commenced after sundown.

I had a hybrid bite my curly tail 20 minutes after sundown and holy smokes! The power, felt like a bull red!! My 6# mono leader didn’t have a chance. I never got the fish turned towards me. What a rush for about 20-30 seconds.

My last comment is that we all have this resource to enjoy and we should protect it. If I see illegal activity (I didn’t on this recent trip) I will report it and alert the people as some just don’t know what they are doing is illegal. The language barrier might not get the message across from me but we can always try.

Couple nibbles but no real success in a few hours. I walked from the bike park all the way down to the dart rail. I checked it out on Friday and there were lots of fishing jumping and carp feeding near the surface. It was totally different today, very slow and dead. Maybe I'll try Miller, but it's probably better to just go somewhere else.

cast netters have defastated the population.

Do we think the spawn is over??

Hope they had their shots too. Most of that creek below Plano is treated sewage waste water.

Its over. Only saw one car at Firewheel today both times I drove by. A week ago there was 50 despite people getting towed and getting run off by Garland PD. LOL