Tyler — SLOW. Water normal stain; 72 degrees; 0.75 feet below pool. Crappie are slow in 20-25 feet of water with minnows. Catfish are slow in 10-16 feet of water stink bait and liver. Bream are slow on red worms off the barge and throughout the lake. Bass are fair on topwater baits, crankbaits and spinnerbaits scattered throughout the lake. Report by The Boulders at Lake Tyler. Crappie are good scattered on docks in 6-8 feet of water, or on the southern end of the lake chasing shad on minnows. Report by Caleb Hensley, 903 Fishing.

Palestine — GOOD. Water slightly stained; 68 degrees; 1.08 feet below pool. There is not a lot of freshwater runoff from the recent rains because the vegetation is absorbing most of it. Water temps remain in the upper 60s, but should begin dropping soon as the fall fronts begin. Bass fishing remains good, as the fish pursue shad that are moving into the creeks to the warmer water. Reports of success moving slowly up the mid and upper lower lake creeks with both surface lures and swimbaits. Target areas with 4 feet or less to find the shad. Fishing the more open parts of Chimney Cove and Cobb near the mouths should also be productive, especially on sunny afternoons, if the shad gather there. Catfish remain good for daytime rod-and-reelers, though the channels remain small. Please review the notes from the Outdoor Annual for Lake Palestine regarding catfish, those notes show that the normal state limits for both channel and blue catfish are superseded and different. Bluegill or perch fishing has been good around the mid and lower lake bridges with a No. 2 crappie hook and small minnows for the larger ones, or worms. Anticipate some yellow bass, excellent eating, no size or number limits, mixed in. Report by Jim Beggerly, Jim’s Fishing Lake Palestine.

Bob Sandlin — GOOD. Water slightly stained; 80 degrees; 0.92 feet below pool. Largemouth bass bite is excellent. Spotted bass schooling around the dam has slowed. Water clarity is good in coves that have not been wind blown. The fish are bulking up for the winter, and have been biting shad colored baits up in shallow coves and creek channels. Flukes, small swimbaits, or a dark colored jig around boat ramps have all produced good size fish. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service. Windy banks and retaining walls should hold bass. Try subsurface fish patterns near the backs of coves and creeks and around vegetation and flooded grass. Look for schooling bass, chasing shad. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.

Caddo — GOOD. Water stained; 65 degrees; 0.39 feet above pool. Water clarity is slightly muddy due to the recent rain, but the colder temperatures will help the bite. Seems like the white bass are starting to show up in the river, even though the temperatures remain in mid 60s. We need some 30 degree nights to bring the temperatures down in the 50s to turn on the black bass in a feeding frenzy. Shad patterns will work in the river and bayou, so a white crankbait, chatterbait, rattle trap, spoon, swimbait even an Alabama rig will all be in play if not now really really soon. Chatterbait, swimbait, trap or spinnerbait will work well on the main lake also when looking for bass around the grass as they will be feeding up pretty soon for the winter temps. Always remember to throw a fluke if you have no wind and they are in lock down out on the main lake. Dead sticking flukes will work in that case. Just one of my favorite times of the year to come see a lake that God spoke into existence, love my Caddo Lake Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.

Fork — GOOD. Water Stained; 70 degrees; 2.22 feet below pool. The bass bite is slowing due to the cooler mornings, with water temperature 65 degrees. Topwaters are fair around grass and pond weed. Some fish are coming on chatterbaits, and spinnerbaits out in front of the grass 3-5 feet. Best bite is shaky heads in 3-7 feet around wood or docks. Carolina rigs are fair on ridges and long points in 5-10 feet. Small baits are working best. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Black bass are sporadic around vegetation. Small streamers and top water patterns are catching active fish chasing bait. Catfish are shallow around boat houses and brush. Report by Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork. The crappie fishing on Lake Fork is just phenomenal right now going into the early winter months. Fish are throughout the lake in 14-58 feet. We are seeing some black crappie grouped up in numbers. The huge white crappie has been showing off the past month also. We are catching fish on timber mostly and pole timber and Bois D Arc trees are both good. Some fish will be holding to bridges as they migrate as well. Minnows continue to be the best bait, but jigs will work too. The catfish bite on Lake Fork is nothing short of incredible. There are so many catfish in the 20-25 feet range around timber you can almost fish anywhere. If you drop some cattle cubes or sour grain in an area you will be catching fish within 30 minutes on any prepared catfish bait you drop down. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

Lake O’ the Pines — GOOD. Water slightly stained; 75 degrees; 0.95 feet above pool. Largemouth bass bite is excellent. Spotted bass schooling around the dam has slowed. Water clarity is good in coves that have not been wind blown. The fish are bulking up for the winter, and have been biting shad colored baits up in shallow coves and creek channels. Flukes, small swimbaits, or a dark colored jig around boat ramps have all produced good size fish. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service.

Martin Creek — GOOD. Water slight stain; 75 degrees; 1.76 feet below pool. Bass are fair to good on swimbaits, hybrid hunter, rattletraps and texas rigged worms around the hydrilla. Square bill crankbaits at the high line area fishing the timber. Crappie are fair in brush piles in 15-20 feet using minnows and Bobby Garland black out jigs. Report by Hambone guide service. Report by Hambone Guide service.

Athens — GOOD. Water normal stain; 70 degrees; 0.64 feet below pool. Bass are good and can be caught on inside grass lines 4-8 feet with Texas rig worms, wacky rig senko and weightless flukes. Crappie are slow on small jigs over deep brush 25 feet. Report by Reagan Nelson, Lake Athens Bass Guide.

Hawkins — GOOD. Water slightly stained. 70 degrees. Bass are good with small poppers in baitfish patterns around shoreline brush and boat docks, and woolly buggers around hydrilla are a good bet. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.

Jacksonville — SLOW. Water normal stain; 68 degrees; 0.10 feet above pool. Bass are good on soft plastics and rattle traps around docks and 6-14 feet and on brush piles. Swimbaits and rattle traps will catch schooling bass.

— Hicks can be reached at phicks@tylerpaper.com