N.E. Texas City Lake 8/1/19 Bass Fishing Report

[SteveTX]

Time of day: 8:30am to 12:00pm
Weather conditions: Mostly Cloudy skies Wind SE 4 mph increasing to 8 mph
Temperatures: Water temps were 84 deg. Air temp was 74 rising to low 90s
Water color / clarity: Turbid / 10" to 12" visibility

Therapy time again. Even having time off I haven't been fishing the last few days due to my back acting up. But I woke up yesterday and wow I felt good again. This morning I really hadn't made plans to go but due to my back last time out I left my rods in the boat. Something I never do. And I even still had the boat hooked up to the truck. So when I saw it was cloudy and light winds I had to mount up and head to the lake.

Not that anything tricky was happening today but here is what went down. I leave the ramp head strait across the lake to the shore lined with cat tails and the breeze was blowing in on it. Some pads in places offered some extra potential cover. Didn't take long and I could see and hear the shad swarms being pushed up all around me.    Tells me I am in the right place.

At 9:42am I was trying out a Dave's Tournament Tackle jig. Its the Dinner Bell version. I like rattles more often than not so it only made sense to give them a try. They seem to work well in my dirty water. 

9:48am This one also liked the Dave's Tournament Tackle jig.

9:59am Another took a liking to the same jig. This time a 19" catch.

10:39am A final 20" catch fell victim to the same jig.

I fished my 1 oz. Oldham Trailer Hitch jig also catching several. I didn't have a heavy enough version of the Dave's Tournament Tackle jig for pitching into really heavy cover. I picked this lot of Dave's jigs up on a forum and 1/2 oz. is the heaviest I have. So I just used it in pockets and holes where I could get through.

Today the fish were very active but only below the surface. I gave a toad a shot and it was never even sniffed. To add to that there was next to zero activity by any bass on top. Once in a while one might break the surface when attacking the shad. But even then it was obvious they didn't like it on top, no great explosions.

I also gave the worm a shot mainly on 2 that I missed with my jig and it also was a no go.

So in conclusion Black and Blue color jig was what I started with and never needed to change. I was catching plenty. Just kept hunting the bigger girls.

I did pull out a old Berkley rod for the testing of the Dave's jig. This is a Medium Heavy rod but really seems more like a cross between a Medium and a MH. The Dave's jig uses a lighter wire hook than I am accustom to so I made a decision to go with it. Also its a very light rod so I figured Id like that better in the heat.

Equipment and tackle used

Setup #1
Rod: Berkley Cheerywood HD - 7'0" Medium Heavy
Reel: Lew's TPG1XH Tournament MB Speed Spool 7.1:1
Line: PowerPro Braided Line, Color: Moss Green, Lb. Test: 50
Lure: Dave's Tournament Tackle jig Dinner Bell version 1/2 oz, Color: Black Blue
Trailer#1: Zoom Z Craw Jr, Color: Black Sapphire

Setup #2
Rod: Dobyns Savvy 734C - 7'3" Heavy Fast Action
Reel: Lew’s® BB1 Speed Spool Series BB1SHZ 7.1:1
Line: PowerPro Braided Line, Color: Moss Green, Lb. Test: 50
Lure: Ribbit The Original Ribbit , Color: Catalpa
Hook: Owner Twistlock 3x Size: 6/0
Setup #3
Rod: Lew's Custom Lite Speed Stick Casting Rod LCLMPS - 7' 4" Magnum Pitching Rod
Reel: Lew's TS1SH Tournament Pro G 8.3:1
Line: Sufix 832 Advanced Superline, Color: Hi-Vis Yellow, Lb. Test: 65
Lure: Oldham Trailer Hitch jig 1oz, Color: Black Blue Purple
Trailer#1: Zoom Z Craw, Color: Black Sapphire
Setup #4
Rod: Dobyns Champion Extreme 784  - 7'8" Heavy Fast Action
Reel: Lew’s® BB2HZ Speed Spool Series 6.4:1
Line: Lews APT Fluro, Color: Its Fluro  , Lb. Test: 17
Lure: 10" Culprit worm , Color: Red Shad
Hook: Owner Twistlock 3x Size: 6/0
Weight: 3/16 oz lead bullet
Boat
2000 SeaArk ZX180  115hp Johnson
Electronics
Garmin® echoMAP™ Plus 93sv
Scale
iBobber Bluetooth Scale

[Donald Garner]

Steve, congrats on the catching and tks for sharing the trip and pictures with us also 

[Lipripper]

Steve thanks for the great report and some nice looking fish. 

[Cuervo Jones]

Nice write up! I'm too addicted to the frog to throw jigs lately.


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[Capt. BassinLou]

Dang Steve you are on a roll bud!! Well done!! Thank you for sharing.

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[Smallie_Stalker]

Excellent report Steve

Congrats on the catches too.

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