Red River Bass Fishing Reports

[Mike Cork]

I haven't been out there for the crappie, But I have a friend that has caught some recently in the very back of caspiana, he uses jigs but said that if a man were to use minnow they would probably tear them up. Anyway he fishes the timber in 6-10 feet. Hope this helps

[casso]

Went to the river Sat and caught eight. Fished an area early that I had been catching good fish in but it had alot of boats in it and the water was good and muddy, didn't get any bites there. Found some clear water and caught eight, a couple were to 2 pounders but most were around 12 inches. Caught them on brush hogs and crank baits. Had 2 big fish on but one broke off and the other wrapped me up and I couldn't get to her in time.

[kw4570gov]

Can anyone tell me where the whitehouse area of the river is located. I keep hearing peoplr take about it, and would like to fish this area.

Thanks

[Trey]

If you launch out of Clark's, turn right heading North.  It will be about two or three miles down on the right (East) side of the river.  There is a large red nun can (Bouy with a pointy top) that is infront of an opening in the rocks.  That's the entrance.  Becareful, because it has some shallow rocks at the entrance.  What I usually do is raise my gas motor and use the trolling motor to go through.  Go as close as you can to the north side of the opening, because the rocks are more to the center and south side.  Some people go through with their big motor, but I don't particularly enjoy swimming home!  Consequently that cut is a good fishing spot; mostly small black bass and a good number of white bass hang out there.  Hope this helps!

Trey  

[Gabby]

Fished the River yesterday after work (5 til 9) and caught  8 or 9 fish, nothing over a pound 1/2.  We fished around Ninock, looking for some schooling fish but never got them.  Bites came on Watermelon & Pumpkin Trick Worms, Watermelon Blue & Red Brush Hogs, and Buzz Baits at dark.

Nothing impressive, and still wondering if there is anything bigger than my hand in the River.

[casso]

Went to the river for a  couple hours yesterday morning and caught 4 good fish. Smallest was about 2.5 and biggest right about 4. Caught 1 on a spinnerbait and the rest on big brush hogs. They were throwing up shad everywhere in my livewell but didn't notice until time to go. Wished I could've stayed longer.

David

[Danny]

Me and my buddy went to the river in Coushatta yesterday. We got there around 1:00 and caught 6 small fish and one good white perch. One came on a crankbait. The rest on red shad or tequila sunrise worms,including the perch. We crammed his Express through the colvert in that creek north of the launch, there is some good looking water in their. We didnt catch any their, except for the perch. I think we may have got down their too late. This was our first venture down on that end. Can someone please give me some pointers on what to throw and areas to try.
thanks,
Danny

[Mike Cork]

Fished the river out of Clarks Saturday. Caught a few fish on a spinner bait and even had a couple hit a frog. Once the sun came out from behind the clouds about 11 am I caught a couple on a baby brush hog in timber. Seemed like the grass was the key.

Has anyone been catching fish off the levees yet?

[Mike Noble]

How is the River looking after all this rain?  I went over the I-220 bridge and the sand bar on the north side of the bridge is completely under water.  Also, I saw PLENTY of logs heading south.

[fishrman]

The river is about two feet high down at Clark's. Caught a few fish on a jig on Sunday.

[Gabby]

Jr,

Sorry I missed you.  I went a little before 5, and fished Caspiana & attempted Whitehouse.  Then back to Caspiana & the mouth of Bishop Point.

Caught 5 in all, no size - on white/chartruese spinner, lizard, and buzzbait.

Water was MOVING!!!  It was a minefield on the main river, logs everywhere.

[RustyJ]

I went down to Coushatta Sunday and went exploring since the water was so high.  I wasn't really trying to catch a lot of fish, although I did find a few that would take a soft plastic.  The water is over the jetties on the upper end of Pool 4 and I do NOT recommend running up there if you do not know your way around.  It rose about 6 inches at the boat ramp while I was out.  Be very careful and let a loved one know where you're going!

[Mike Cork]

Thanks for the Safety info, I know alot of lower units have been removed from very nice boats in that area by folks that had been there before. So a newbie might be in trouble if not very careful

[Red Ranger]

Fished the Red today.  The water level is returning to a more normal level.  The river is still muddy, but the ox bows are starting to clear up in the back.  Water temps ranged from mid-80's to 90.  We caught 4 dinks and saw another boat catch a couple.  All four fish came on dark colored plastics and that looked to be what the other boat caught their fish on.  We threw buzz baits, spinners, white crank baits, rattle traps, etc., but couldn't find anything to turn the fish on.  We did spend a good deal of our time fishing new water and trying to locate new places to fish on the river.

[Mike Cork]

Red Ranger did you spend anytime running the levees? They usually turn on real well this time of year

[Red Ranger]

By levees, assume you mean the rock jetties.  We did crank those in a couple of spots, but did not catch anything.  We also saw some other people fishing the jetties, but none caught fish while we were in sight.

[Mike Cork]

Yes rock jetties. Thats unussual normally this time of year you can catch quite a few smaller fish on the levees and if nothing else a drum for sure....

[dave the dope man]

Hey guys, heres what worked last week on pool 4. Find a rock "wall" "jetty""revetment" or whatever that has current moving over it, Put your boat on the inside crease where there isn't much current and you are able to keep your boat pretty much stationary. Using crankbaits and rat-l-traps cast up current at a 45 degree angle and retrieve at a moderate rate. Ensure that your bait contacts the rocks. My wife and daughter caught alot of fish this way, however here is the catch: Your either going to catch black or white bass and in no certain order. They did catch mostly whites but the blacks that they did catch were pretty good ones. i was using a series 100 pearl white red eye bandit crankbait on 14lb line and a Berkley frenzy chrome blue back orange belly lipless crankbait.......Hope this helps.............Dave........Oh yea one other thing...I would ease along a back that was just out of the current and pitch an 11" red shad worm at brush and timber and picked up a few fish....This is the least painful way for me to fish right now, if I have to reel alot it becomes too painful.......again .....Dave

[Red Ranger]

Thanks for the details.  My son and I will be fishing a team tournament on the Red this weekend and we'll try to put the information to good use.  Will let you know how we do. 

The river itself was still pretty muddy.  Don't know if fast current makes it better or worse, but there was quite a bit of current going by/through the opening in the jetties.

[casso]

Took my dad out to the river sat. Fished until about 2pm and caught around 25 bass. Most of the fish were around 12-14 inches w/ 1 3lber. The fish came on soft plastics and a few on 200 series bandits when the sun peaked out. Fished +- 10 ft deep creek chanels in the backs of oxbows. Most of the fish were ganged up where a creek channel would dump into a deeper one.

Casso

[Trey]

I fished the river out of Clark's yesterday and the day before.  Out of both days we only had two fish that were over 12 inches.  We fished the rocks were a little current was flowing over.  The current in the river is very slow; infact the water was going over the rocks INTO the oxbows.  There was a huge school of baitfish there.  We saw 6" Gizzard Shad and little baitfish all jumping out of the water.  We fished that area for an hour and only got one fish.  The other fish came from some flooded timber on a crankbait.  I fished the Port Lake yesterday and didn't get a bite.  The water temp in the front was 77 degrees and the back was 89!  I thought my temp guage might have been messing up, so I stuck my hand in the water and felt it myself.  It was definately colder.  There was another large concentration of baitfish there too, but no bites.  I am considering locking throough on Saturday and fishing Coushatta.  Has anybody been down there lately?  If anyone has been catching some good fish on the river and wouldn't mind sharing some patterns, let me know.

Trey 

[kw4570gov]

Trey,

I hate Adam and I could not go on Tues. I read a couple reports that said to try crankbaits along the rock jetties. Other than that, who knows.

C^ya
Kent

[dave the dope man]

hey Trey, Read my post from the 18th. there is a lot of current in pool 4 BELOW Loggy Bayou. If you don't mind the drive I would put in in Coushatta..........Dave

[Trey]

I fished a club tournament on the river yesterday.  Boy, was it HOT!!!  I fished around Clark's pretty much the whole time.  Jay and I caught fish on spinnerbaits (white and chartruce), Pop'n Image, and baby brushhogs.  I fished the timber and grass along the banks.  Most of the fish we caught were in 7 ft of water or less.  We had enough to take third place, but were not even close on second.  I lost three fish that would have put us close to first.  I like to practice what is known as "hook and release".  I am notorious for finding fish, getting them to bite, and then loosing them at the boat.  Oh yeah, I can honestly say now that I have had a fish throw the hook on an Excalibut rotating treble hook.  Up until yesterday, I had never lost a fish after hooking it on those hooks.  All of the fish were caught in pool 5 on soft plastics and a few spinnerbaits.  The water temp was 89 degrees and still pretty muddy on the river, clearing up in the oxbows.

Trey 

[Red Ranger]

Fished the same tourney as Trey.  We caught nothing but dinks again.  If you want to catch dinks on the Red, I recommend you use a red shad fluke or black/red flake senko over weed lines in about six foot of water.   
We tried buzz bait and frog right at/after day light.  Then later in the day cranks and rattle traps, in timber and by the jetties, but did not catch a fish on those.