Athens — SLOW. Water clear; 62-68 degrees; 1.54 feet below. Bass are fair and scattered. Water is a little cooler, but still clear on the main lake and stained up the creeks. Bass and crappie are fair. Target bass along the grass and lily pads with worms and jigs. Popping frogs are doing well in and around the pads early and late. Crappie limits are being caught over brush in 20 to 25 feet. Lots of under size fish, but keepers are biting as well. Report by Jim Brack, Athens Guide Service.

Caddo — GOOD. Water stained; 70 degrees; 0.29 feet above. These cooler days are improving the bite on Caddo as the water temperature decline the bite gets better and bigger. Stay in the river systems and use shad color crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerk baits and spoons and you should have a great time. Find the baitfish and you will find fish. The leaves will be turning red soon so make plans to come out and see how God paints the scenery around Caddo during the fall. Beautiful days and good bites wait for you once this fall pattern takes a firm grip here in the south. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.

Cedar Creek — EXCELLENT. Water normal stain; 69 degrees; 4.79 feet low. Fishing will remain similar until the next cold front. Crappie are good, with fish moving up and biting pretty decent when you get around an active group. Target brush piles in 7-16 feet of water, as well as docks on creek channel swings. Minnows and jigs are both working well. Largemouth bass are good in shallow water using chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, square bill crankbaits, and Texas rigged plastics. Dock fishing is good where the creek channel swings by the dock and shad are in coves. White bass and hybrid bass are really hot on shallow flats. Fish spinnerbaits and silver spoons or slabs are really good tools to use. Lots of birds diving in the mornings and evenings as well around the flats. Report by Kyle Miers, Lake Country Outfitters.

Fork — GOOD. Water Stained; 65 degrees; 6.82 feet low. Lake Fork is still fishing tough. The shallow bite seems to be best with Texas rigs with black and blue beavers or craw worm type baits in 3-5 feet on big lay downs or big stumps. Squarebill crankbaits in shad patterns and chatterbaits in chartreuse and white are also good 3-5 feet of water. Work ditches and creeks fishing along the edge. Report by Lake Fork fishing guide Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Pro. Warm days and consistent weather bring some action during the day, sub-surface patterns in fish patterns and jig patterns will be a good choice. Fish for bream beaded flies around boathouses and brush piles. Crappie are gathering in brush piles and man-made structures in 12-15 feet of water. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Lake Fork crappie fishing has been really heating up as the water temperatures cools down to the 60s. Limits of quality fish on trees in 18-28 feet of water. Some fish are suspended in the mid section of the trees and some are on the bottom. The winds have been blowing strong some days and that may be pushing those fish down. Also, seeing fish on brush piles and laydowns as well in 13-23 feet. Big fish over two pounds are starting to show up as they are feeding hard on shad right now. Best bait has been minnows, but seeing some very aggressive fish so jigs should produce as well. We should see a push soon to deeper water as the water temps reach the upper 50s. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

Hawkins — GOOD. 70 degrees. Streamers in and around grass are tempting cruising bass this week. Bream are getting more active during the warmer parts of the day. As water plants die-off for winter, water will lose oxygen in certain areas, try the outer edges of the weed beds. Don’t be afraid to try top water patterns on cloudy days and late in the day. Small flashy patterns will attract feeding chain pickerel especially around lily beds. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.

Jacksonville — GOOD. Water lightly stained; 67 degrees; 2.28 feet below. The bass are good on soft plastics in brush, flukes, crankbaits and squarebill crankbaits off the docks and in brush. The topwater bite has come to a halt.

Lake O’ the Pines — GOOD. Water lightly stained; 64 degrees; 0.78 feet low. Catfish are good on baited holes 15-20 feet of water using cheese bait. Crappie are good on standing timber in 20-25 feet of water biting on minnow and jigs. Black bass are good in 2-8 feet of water crankbaits and chatterbaits. Report by Marty Thomas, Lake O’ the Pines Crappie Fishing.

Palestine — GOOD. Water lightly stained; 65-67 degrees; 2.54 feet low. Bass are good on wacky rigs and shimmy shakers in 2-3 feet of water. Crappie river channel with natural timber in 17 feet of water on green headed jigs with a minnow. White bass and hybrids are slow trolling big crankbaits. Keeper sized catfish are good on the river over baited holes using nightcrawlers. Report by Ricky Vandergriff, Ricky’s Guide Service.

Sam Rayburn — FAIR. Water stained; 65 degrees; 6.24 feet low. Bass are biting crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs on shallow points and backs of creeks, ledges Carolina and cranks. Crappie are migrating from brush to the creeks and in 12-14 feet of water hanging on brush and timber in 27 feet of water. Catfish 12-22 feet of water off points and creek channels chasing bait cut bait and liver perch. White bass are in the creeks and river biting small crankbaits and silver spoons. Look for this bite to improve. Continue to keep a watchful eye for floating timber. Report by Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service.

Toledo Bend — GOOD. Water stained; 62-68 degrees; 4.80 feet low. The water level is 167.2 with no generators running. Water temperature at the Dam is 62 degrees with surface temperature around 68. The back feeder creeks are stained and clearing in spots, and the main lake remains clear. The back feeder creeks have a lot of fallen leaves on the surface. This can be a good sign if you are learning to read the water in the creek. When the leaves are moving fast on one side of the creek and slower on the other side, fish the side with the faster moving current. The bass will be setting up behind the structure waiting to dart out to ambush prey. The night air and water temperatures are starting to cool down and some reports are coming in that fish have been biting better in the evenings. For the shallow bite use topwater baits, such as spooks, buzz baits and pop-r’s. Spinnerbaits will also work in 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce white, chartreuse, and black in color. Try something different, go back to the old single spin with a Colorado blade in silver for clear water and gold for muddy water. Out to eight feet of water cast flat sided or squarebill crankbaits, and smaller rattletraps in shad and perch imitation colors, and don’t forget that Rayburn red craw colored traps. For deeper bass, use a jigging spoon 1/2 to 3/4 ounce in silver with a white or yellow accent tail feather, or a deep diving crankbaits in citrus shad and Tennessee shad colors. The jig bite has been strong this week with the night temperatures dropping into the 40s. Cast your jig to long tapering points that drop off into deep water, the best colors are black and blue, PB&J football jigs 3/8 – 3/4 ounce with a 3-inch matching color craw trailer, and a green pumpkin jig with the chunk style trailer dipped in chartreuse color. Crappie bite has been picking up in 10-20 feet of water using 1/16 or 3/32-ounce Wager Baits, #46 Bluegrass, #3 Monkey Milk and small minnows, depending on the cloud cover and cooling night temperatures. Bluegills are still mixed in with Crappie in the brush piles and some are now being caught under boathouses and docks. Catfish are holding in 10-20 feet of water and have also been caught migrating up into the feeder creeks. Another bass pattern is using a 5-8 WT fly rod, use a topwater foam white or black wiggle fish and sometimes cast a Dahlberg Diver in yellow/black color with a floating line; strip slowly and stop, pause, strip again or you can cast a crease fly shad color imitation; strip, strip, pause. The cadence can change daily with the cooler temperatures. Some days they want the fly fast across the surface like chasing down a shad and other days they want it dead, motionless on the surface. After the colder nights have passed, you might want to try a Clouser minnow and sub-surface streamer fly like a Black Wooly Booger or a Death to Crappie beaded chartreuse head with black deer hair body. Now that the lake is at a Winter drawdown, it’s prime time to go out scouting for new areas for Springtime fishing. Look for areas like feeder creeks, ditches, man-made structures, creek bends and undercuts, etc. Always leave the area better than you found it, discarding trash, and picking up what you can. Good luck and tight lines! Report from Master Captain Steve (Scooby) Stubbe, Mudfish Adventures LLC, Orvis Endorsed Fishing Guide, Mudfish Rod Shop, Kayak Sales, and Rod Repair.

Tyler — FAIR. Water lightly stained; 60 degrees; 3.07 feet below. Crappie, catfish and bass are loaded up on brush piles in 10-20 feet of water. Catfish are fair on stink bait and liver. Bass are fair on crankbaits. Crappie are fair using live minnows. Bluegill are fair mixed in with the crappie biting red worms. Report by Paul Taylor, The Boulders at Lake Tyler.