FISHING REPORT

Northeast Texas WRIGHT PATMAN

Water lightly stained; 81–85 degrees; 5.26' high. Black bass are good on black/blue jigs fished slow around shallow cover. Crappie are good on minnows and white jigs. Catfish are good on prepared bait and nightcrawlers.

BOB SANDLIN

Water clear; 82–85 degrees; 7.02' low. Black bass are fair on Texas rigged creature baits and craws. Crappie are good on jigs and minnows. White bass are fair on minnows. Catfish are good on trotlines and cut bait.

CEDAR CREEK

Water clear; 80–84 degrees; 6.33' low. Black bass are good on swim jigs and spinnerbaits. White bass are good on slabs. Hybrid striper are good on topwater. Crappie are good on minnows on brush piles. Catfish are good on trotlines.

COOPER

Water clear; 80–83 degrees; 12.01' low. Black bass are slow on nail weighted Flukes and Senkos. Crappie are fair on minnows. White bass are good on slabs. Hybrid striper are good on Sassy Shad and topwaters. Catfish are fair on trotlines.

LAKE O' THE PINES

Water lightly stained; 79–83 degrees; 3.81' low. Black bass are good on bladed jigs and shallow crankbaits. Crappie are fair on minnows. Catfish are good on perch and cut shad.

MONTICELLO

Water fairly clear; 82–86 degrees; 0.44' low. Black bass are good on hollow body frogs and buzzbaits around shallow vegetation. Crappie are fair on jigs and minnows. Catfish are good on cut shad. Southwest Arkansas DEGRAY LAKE

The surface water temperature is in the high 70s and the lake is clear throughout. Bass fishing is good with quite a few decent reports of schooling fish early in the morning. With the cooler water temps, the fish and shad are moving up on the shallow points in the major coves. Try surface lures such as Zara Spooks, Rapala Minnows, Pop R's and Flukes. Other good choices have been 3-inch swim baits and the small umbrella or Alabama rig is starting to produce well. Look for the schoolers in major coves on the south side between the dam and Point 6, with the big coves at Point 2 and 4 being best. On the north side, look for fish in the coves at the lodge causeway and around the state park marina. Some nice fish reported coming from around the standing timber in the coves on the south side on buzz baits and spinnerbaits. Lots of small black bass and white bass in the Shouse Ford area being taken on spoons and Rooster Tails. Crappie fishing remains slow. Look for an improvement with the water cooling. Right now stick with the main lake attractors in 18 to 25 feet of water. Hybrid fishing is improving with more schooling activity. However the fish are schooling deep, at 40 to 45 feet down with very little surface activity. Best bet is to stick with the summer pattern, which involves using the sonar to locate the schools and drop a heavy chartreuse jigging spoon to just above the fish. Best areas have been at the mouths of the big coves at Point 2 and Point 4. Be there early in the morning for the best action. Some good bream catches reported coming from deep points at 25 to 30 feet deep. Use the sonar to locate the schools and tightline a cricket or redworm just off the bottom. A good area has been the points in the big cove at the State Park Marina. Only a few reports of catfish being taken at night. Most fish are coming on either noodles or trotlines baited with either Catfish Charlie, cut shad, chicken livers, nightcrawlers or hot dog soap combos. Try the big flat at Point 10 and most all of Brushy Creek.

MILLWOOD LAKE

The lake level is 7 inches above normal conservation pool and rising from over 9-inches of rain in southwest Arkansas and southeast Oklahoma. There is an increase of current of Little River since last week. Surface temps range 74 to 78 degrees. Clarity and visibility have worsened over the past week from high winds, heavy rain, and thunderstorms.

The topwater action, which has been very good to excellent over the past 5-6 weeks, subsided over the past week with the cold front, severe thunderstorms, high winds, and increase of muddy current in the river. The schooling had been taking place in lily pads, grass, and pockets near cypress trees. The Johnson Chrome spoons with white grub trailers in the lily pads were getting good reactions prior to the surface temp drop and thunderstorms, and Bass Assassin Shads, hollow and solid body plastic frogs, and spinnerbaits were catching good largemouths around vegetation. After the cold front, surface temperature drop and muddy current, these schooling fish subsided, but were found upriver on points and junctions of creek dumps quite subdued.

Over the past week, the best reaction baits were Bass Assassin Shads, Bomber crankbaits, and War Eagle Spinnerbaits around pads and vegetation. Johnson Spoons are still working randomly in vegetation and pads. Bass Assassin Shads in salt-n-pepper or gold pepper shiner and frogs in black or pumpkinseed are good choices in pads. Real Deal Custom Tackle jigs continue randomly working for nice, chunky, 2-3 pound largemouths with improved water clarity. We are using black craw-worm trailers with the jigs in the muddier water clarity. The jig bite moved shallower over the past week, and work the jigs on base of cypress trees, knees, and stumps in 1-3 foot depths of ditches, creek channel flats adjacent to deep creek bends, shallow patches of sawgrass, and where alligator weed is in close proximity to cypress trees in less than 5 feet of depth. Whites are also on the move, up river and being caught on points of Little River using Bomber and XCalibur crankbaits in Citruse, Chartreuse Brown Tiger, Foxy Lady, or Chartreuse Blush colors, and in grass and pads on Firetiger-- spinnerbaits. Whites also continue biting Rat-L-Traps in Millwood Magic, Green Tiger, and Sexy Zombie in clear water if you can find any. Crappie were beginning to improve until the muddy and stained water clarity hit last weekend. Live shiners, hair jigs, and Blakemore Roadrunners were working by vertical jigging in and around planted brush piles from 8-9 feet of depth and jigs in white/red, black/chartreuse, or Blakemore Roadrunners in white/chartreuse were best colors, but the Crappie have scattered from the muddy current over the past few days. Blues and channel cats improved with the increase of current in Little River, biting well on trot lines or yo-yo's with cut bait, chicken livers, Catfish Charlie, and homemade blood bait, along Little River and creek mouths dumping into the river. The 7-9 feet deep wash-outs and creek dumps into Little River seem to be best locations for drop lines or tight lines for the past few days. Yo-yo's hung from cypress tree limbs in the oxbows up Little River still are working from 10-15 feet depths using live shiners, chicken livers, and Charlie dough balls.