Lake Tawakoni 'Catfish Blues'...

Being retired I get to fish a lot, and gained my lovely wife's approval to take my boat fishing for ten days. Where to go? What about Lake Tawakoni,? I had fished it one before with a friend, and caught a good size bluecat after a long day on the water, and I knew it had a reputation for big fish.

Tawakoni is a BIG lake, with no less than 200 miles of shoreline. My boat is a small 16 feet tin boat, so I knew I had to be cautious about where and when to fish.

The Texas heat was in full force, and the big blues had recently finished the spawn, so was hopeful they would be biting but conscious the bite might not be great.



I got bait fairy easily from the boat ramp, and headed off to go soak some baits. Being so big there are a lot of places for the fish to travel and hide, and I took advice from a couple of seasoned 'catters' and the general consensus was to target the points where the water went from shallow to deep, so thats what I did.



No bites, nothing, nada.

I also tried the 'holiday bump' but again nothing. The first couple of days nothing to show but a couple of small channel cats, but I knew I had to be patient.

Day 3 more of the same, but now rain and lots of it. We had no less than 6 inches of rain in 24 hours, so knew this would have a positive effect maybe not immediately.

(short video)
https://maddbrit.smugmug.com/RV-Tri...olo-fishing-trip-August-2022/i-tCXMstD/A

Day 4 and my buddy Geno came out to join me, and we headed up the west of the lake to fish the shallow timbers after the rain. We got some bites and a couple of small fish, but nothing noteworthy.

We enjoyed some time together at the campsite, enjoying catching up and working up a cunning plan for the next day.



Boy, this lake is tough!!!

Day 5 was today and Geno would once again join me but this time he had a Plan B, and we headed all the way to the Dam. We drifted some channels at around 30 feet and started getting bit

Geno had a hunch about where to head, and it proved spot on.

A great day! About a dozen smaller fish @ 5-8 pounds, and then Geno hooked a monster.



A big fat 38 pound bluecat.



The smile says it all.

Geno will now be renamed 'Genius Geno', as he had cracked the code at Tawakoni!

The best of times...

My last day at the lake tomorrow before returning my boat to my storage place on Friday. I have no clue where to go but will probably either be fishing the points again of heading to the holiday hump.

Man I wish I could fish for 3 more days! I think we got on the pattern yesterday. The bite is gonna get better every week from now through the winter. That lake can be tough but it can also be very generous. I will have to say Bob, there was a time when I would've expected to have to catch bait as soon as I got there for us to be able to fish! Good job on the bait. You had plenty!

Oh, and just to clarify for everyone, we didn't have a working scale and had to estimate the weight of that fish. I think we got our calculations wrong. I believe (after having time to research the matter) that the fish weighed around 30-31 pounds. The length was 39 inches and the girth was 25.5 inches. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the belly was was really big. We both originally thought it was at least 40 pounds when Bob netted it. If it weren't for a little science that fish would've debuted here at 42 pounds LOL!

I enjoyed reading about this trip you guys went on-
Thank you both for posting-

Nice fish !! With those measurements the fish would be about 31-32 pounds forsure I have tested the measurements on fish against my scale on several fish and it’s pretty dang close

Hec yea !

Awesome post.

Dang sounds like as well as looks like a great trip to me. Nice rod rack you have also. Sort of surprised that the cats have not moved up stream after all the rain but it's awesome to find them. Maybe just not enough time for them to head that way yet.

Interesting enough the wife and I was catching fish this past weekend at pk and soon as the wind switched to the north, they turned off.

I had my last day out yesterday, and caught a handful of smaller blues around 5 pounds, but no big fish.

Out of interest the wind was predominantly easterly and northerly this past week. Yesterday was forecast to be ENE but started out northerly and turned to NE in the morning.

The water temp started out at 86F but dropped to 83F with the 6 inches of rain we had. The water came up but not that much which surprised me.

The day after the monsoon I couldn’t get a bite and I tried all over, but realized the air temp had dropped from 102F down to 74F in just 24 hours.

All in all a good week and a ton of learning as always. Lake Tawakoni is a big lake and I focused almost 100% on features/depth rather than my fish finder. My small 16 feet deep V boat did well but I also realized how much a blow or even a squall can change the water at the throw of a switch. I kept an eye on the weather and my weather app frequently while fishing.



I got stopped by the po po one day, a couple of game wardens in a huge bay boat. I never had my registration with me (it was in my truck) or a type IV throw cushion. I got a warning and will fix both immediately. The two officers were extremely polite and friendly and my thanks to them for the warning instead of a ticket.

Sat drinking my coffee this morning and counting my blessings for what has been a great trip.

Gary is a good guy but your lucky he did not give you a ticket.
Count your blessings.

^ oh, I sure am counting my blessings.

They were both consummate professionals. Before they left I told them I was going to tell my buddies I got pulled over for speeding, which is quite a feet as my motor is only 40hp!

Great post.

Bob, I kinda think the change in air temperature didn't have much effect on the fish. You're looking at surface temps. I believe that will take more than a few days to start making a real difference on the catfish. Now, it definitely made a difference for the baitfish. They were everywhere. I also think the rain just began a slow change for the fish. I would imagine the combination of the two will start to have an effect over the next week or two.

I wasn't thinking while we were there but, we should've drifted one or two rigs with a bobber and shad on the surface. We saw a lot of surface activity which might have been a good pattern because the shad were enjoying the lower surface temps and I imagine some decent fish were enjoying them. Either way, it was a good time and a signal of the changing season and the start of the fall bite.

I always enjoy encounters with game wardens. Every time I have, they've been consummate professionals. They have a pretty tough job and have to put themselves in dangerous situations fairly regularly. They, as well as all law enforcement officers, never know when an encounter will turn deadly. I've always complied, regardless of what they've asked. I was pulled over one time by police officers and had two of them at full draw yelling for me to get out and keep my hands up. After being fully detained (in cuffs) they figured out that the guy that just committed an armed robbery was driving a different blue Dodge crew cab than mine. It was pretty scary and I guess I could've had an attitude and been combative since I was clearly not their guy, but I enjoy life and RESPECT authority! Sorry, getting off on a tangent. All I'm trying to say is it's good to see those guys patrolling the waters and doing their best to keep us safe from idiots and criminals.

JD, pretty soon I'll be getting back on GV to go after the blues and will keep you posted on any patterns or areas that I do well in. I've been out of commission with a steering issue on my rig.

Thanks everyone else for chiming in! Hope everyone has a great fall and we start seeing some good fish caught!

Keep safe and God bless you all!

Bob and Geno,
Nice post, and a pretty fish.
Jealous of you 10 day trip Bob… maybe one day!
With the weather changes we have had in the last 10 days, sure everything is scattered and confused.
Let it settle down, hopefully stay a little cooler, and hopefully some more modest rain…. Looking forward to fall.

Ken

Good job fellas! BCB, you have a lot of data to process from that trip. Use that to get better and keep after those big ones. They are out there and they will be chewin you just gotta be in the right place at the right time. It will happen. You have the bait catching down which is the hardest part to get figured out. Now that you have that in your arsenal, you are going to start having more and more success.

Thanks, Tim.

Yup, a lot of time on the water and a lot to digest.

One thing I struggle with is how long to wait for a bite? I have been tending towards 30 minutes, but this trip tried to be more patient. A handful of times I drifted for a couple of hours in one direction/drift and now realize that didn't work out on a single occasion. I think the 30 minute rule seems to be a good one for me.

The one regret from the trip is that I didn't use a bobber and a shallow bait when I fished the creeks as Geno had mentioned, so I now plan to try that back on Lavon.