East Texas Fishing Report

Published 12:10 am Friday, August 9, 2024

Tyler — GOOD. Water normal stain; 85 degrees; 0.06 feet above pool. Summer fishing patterns are holding steady. Night fishing is good for catfish and crappie in the lights. Crappie are good using minnows and jigs on brush in 16 feet of water. Catfish are fair in 12-16 feet of water shrimp, and liver. Bream are good on red worms off the barge and throughout the lake. Bass are fair biting off the barge with topwater and crankbaits. Carp are slow on dough baits. Report by The Boulders at Lake Tyler.

Palestine — SLOW. Water slightly stained; 91 degrees; 0.05 feet above pool. High temperatures, clear skies, and light winds are impacting the fishing. These conditions also keep the water from mixing, resulting in consistent thermocline at 12 feet, and local turnovers. The very first thing in the morning, civil twilight through about 9 a.m. seems to be the best, regardless of moon position, due to weather conditions. All species are slow during the day. The only bright spot has been hybrid stripers, which have been biting redneck trollers with Pet spoons over humps and road beds. Crappie are also being caught by Live-Scopers, but not necessarily in limits and shallow, usually no more than about 10-14 feet deep, and with a lot of urging. Report by Jim Beggerly, Jim’s Fishing Lake Palestine.

Caddo — FAIR. Water stained; 80 degrees; 0.50 feet above pool. Caddo is starting to finally look like her normal summer self with the water levels coming down after all the flooding this year. Starting to see more and more lily pads and the grass is thicker in places. Bass are schooling, so keep an eye and ear open on the main lake. Look for the birds to show you where the shad, because bass will be feeding. Fluke, buzz bait, topwater plugs and small rattle traps or spinnerbaits will all work for the schooling fish. In the river a Texas rig, drop shot or shaky head worm will all get bit all day long over the grass and pad lines, and fishing the cuts. This is a great time to come see and fish this beautiful lake that God spoke into existence. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.

Fork — GOOD. Water Stained; 81 degrees; 0.42 feet below pool. Bass are fair in the morning on swimbaits, frogs, and chatterbaits around grass and weeds in 2-4 feet. Offshore bite is best with Carolina rigs in 18-24 feet in big worms and flukes. Crankbaits are still working over deep water humps ms points in 22-27 feet. Shad patterns and chartreuse and blue backs XD 6 and XD 8 best. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. August brings in hot temperatures. Bass are feeding in 10-12 feet where the thermocline is not present. Look for schooling bass in the open water and creeks as shad hatch is in full swing. Also, check out the brush piles as big bass are using them to feed on crappie. Bream are excellent in the shallows, wooly buggers and small poppers should bring a strike. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. The crappie fishing on Lake Fork continues to be excellent as we get deeper into the summer pattern. Fish are still stacked up on brush, trees and some lay downs. Best depths are 14-28 feet with a few fish a little shallower and a little deeper. The bite has been somewhat finicky lately. Minnows are a good choice to help overcome the slower bite. You can still catch fish on smaller hand tied baits or soft plastics. I’ve also noticed that rotating spots or finding new spots with less pressured fish has been important. The catfishing on Lake Fork is excellent like it seems to always be for eater sized channel cats. There are still tons of fish under roosting trees in 14-22 feet of water on the north ends of the lake. Bait a hole with cattle cubes or sour grains to get those fish concentrated. Then use any catfish bait of choice to load the boat. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

Lake O’ the Pines — GOOD. Water stained; 90 degrees; 0.21 feet above pool. Solid summer pattern is holding steady for the bass. Bass are good with schooling activity starting to pick up. Follow the shad to find the bass. There is still some bass in the bushes along the banks pitching Texas rigged worms and jigs, or wacky rigs. Bass are good on brush piles on points on the south end of the lake in 15-25 feet of water with deep running crankbaits, jigs, wacky worms and Texas rigs. The north end of the lake is producing catches on the grass and bushes. Report by Mike Stroman, R & R Marine.

Martin Creek — GOOD. Water stained; 94 degrees; 0.30 feet below pool. Bass are good early and late off points and at the edge of the hydrilla on plum worms and under spin swimbaits. Larger bass are on deep brush using deep diving crankbaits. Crappie are excellent, concentrated schools are suspended on brush and standing timber in 25-30 feet of water. Shad colored jigs and minnows are best. Catfish remain good in 15-25 feet on live bait and nightcrawlers. Report by Hambone guide service Report by Hambone Guide Service.

Hawkins — GOOD. Water slightly stained. 80 degrees. Bass are good with clousers around edges of grass during the day. Bead heads will tempt bream and bass. Bream will be on beds and easy to spot, remember they can see you too. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.

Jacksonville — SLOW. Water normal stain; 88 degrees; 0.08 feet above pool. Bass fishing has been really tough with a few catches on plastic worms in shallow water, or deeper on brush. Swimbaits will catch suspended fish.