Texas_Rig's Fishing Journal

[Texas_Rig]

Well this will be my official journal. I went to Center Hill today and just like the last couple trips there it was easy to get bit but hard to catch keepers. I caught a total of 16 bass today and not a single keeper. I measured all the ones that were close. All of the small fish I'm just estimating on length. I had a couple patterns going at the start but ultimately decided to just run the bank with a Topwater the second half of the day because I felt like that was the way to catch a couple good fish. I was wrong! I started off throwing a Strike King Sexy Dog Jr and towards the end of the day I had 4 or 5 fish in a row blow up on the bait and not eat it so I switched over to a popper and the fish started committing to the bait again. My cadence was very fast with both of the Topwater baits I was throwing. I was even walking the little popper like a walking bait.


Fishing Time: 11am-5pm
Weather forecast at takeoff: 55 and cloudy. NE wind at 5-10mph
Barometric Pressure: 30.24in.
Water Temp: 65-66

Fish 1: 11:57am Smallmouth(14") 1oz SK bottom dweller spinnerbait
Slowrolled on a mainlake bluff
Fish 2: 12:03pm Smallmouth(14") same spinnerbait
Slowrolled on a mainlake bluff
Fish 3: 12:39pm Largemouth(12") SK Sexy Dog Jr
Back of main lake pocket
Fish 4: 12:41pm Largemouth (14") Sexy Dog Jr
Same main lake pocket
Fish 5: 1:01pm Smallmouth(16.5") 1/2oz Texas Rig SK rage tail menace
Main lake point where pea gravel transitions to bluff wall
Fish 6: 1:17pm Smallmouth(12") 1oz spinnerbait
Slowrolled on bluff walk
Fish 7: 1:20pm Smallmouth(14") 1 oz spinnerbait
Slowrolled on bluff wall
Fish 8: 1:45pm Smallmouth(12") Sexy Dog Jr
First 3rd of Main lake pocket
Fish 9: 2:09pm Largemouth(10") Sexy Dog Jr
Back of same main lake pocket as fish 8
Fish 10: 2:24pm Largemouth(14.5") Sexy Dog Jr
Back of same pocket as fish 9
Fish 11: 3:47pm Smallmouth(16.5") Evergreen OB Popper
Hurricane Creek Pocket
Fish 12: 3:49pm Smallmouth(14") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 13: 4:03pm Smallmouth(17.75") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 14: 4:08pm Spotted Bass(11.75") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 15: 4:17pm Spotted Bass(6") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 16: 4:34pm Largemouth(14.5") 1/2oz Dirty Jigs Finesse Football jig
Hurricane Creek point leading into pocket

[Alphahawk]

Looks good to me.


Regards

[ddyyak]

Great detail, love it


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[spottedbass]

Nice information.

[SalmonDaze]

Great. And thanks. Nice to see you catching with what I like to throw.

[luckystratos]

Thanks for doing this journal. That is a very good detail job.

[Dakota]

Great report. Thanks. I still haven’t fished Center Hill for some reason, Only the Caney.


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[commdd]

no dudley buzzbait with frog trailer and spinner blades scewed in? lol..
good report! curious what depth you were rolling the spinnerbait and what was the water temperature. thanks

[Texas_Rig]

no dudley buzzbait with frog trailer and spinner blades scewed in? lol..
good report! curious what depth you were rolling the spinnerbait and what was the water temperature. thanks

Lol. No Dudley buzzbait, but I did throw a regular one for a while with no luck. I'm not real sure on the depth. Probably around 10 feet or so. I forgot to put water temp in my report. Shocking to me it was 65-66

[Texas_Rig]

Great report. Thanks. I still haven’t fished Center Hill for some reason, Only the Caney.


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Center Hill used to intimidate me a little bit. When I started fishing a lot I just went to OH because it's close to my house. The first lake other than OH that I ventured off to was Center Hill. It took me a while to catch on because I was so used to fishing in less than 5 feet of water. Once I realized and gained confidence in the fact that bass can live much deeper it got a lot easier. It's one of my favorite lakes because it just doesn't get the pressure that OH and JPP get. It also has a lot of good fish in it. It has an abundance of all 3 species as well. I would say that on 60-75% of my trips there I catch all 3 species in the same day.

[notorious]

Thank you Tex for deciding to do this...with detail like this you should consider starting a youtube page like Alpha. What y'all have chosen to do is an immeasurable benefit to the community. Was bait present on the points or transitions that caused you to pick those areas?

[Texas_Rig]

Thank you Tex for deciding to do this...with detail like this you should consider starting a youtube page like Alpha. What y'all have chosen to do is an immeasurable benefit to the community. Was bait present on the points or transitions that caused you to pick those areas?

Your welcome. There wasn't much bait present in any of the areas I caught fish. All of the big schools of bait I saw yesterday were around the mouths of pockets in 40-60 feet of water. I ran the same shallow pattern the trip before and had similar results but had a few decent fish. The biggest difference I saw on the bank yesterday was the lack of bream. The trip before the bank was loaded with small bream everywhere. I did not see that yesterday. When I'm running the bank with a Topwater I'm almost always running the boat right against the bank and paralleling my bait to the bank. I like my bait to run right on the edge of where the bottom is/isn't visible. When choosing a bank or pocket to run, I'm looking for the water to be about 10' deep about a boat length away from the bank. Or I want a shallow shelf with a steep drop right on the bank. Hope this helps. A lot of times I will run any pocket if it's small no matter what the bank looks like just to see if I can spot a quick pattern within the pattern. Small pockets don't take much time to run. I get on the trolling motor with a decent speed and never take my foot off unless I want to make several casts to a certain target or catch a fish etc... I'll sacrifice a perfect cast to a certain target here and there just to cover water. I don't want to slow down to much if I'm getting bit running the bank. Covering water is key for me. I'm looking for those aggressive bass and I'm not too worried about catching every fish.

[Schleprock]

Well this will be my official journal. I went to Center Hill today and just like the last couple trips there it was easy to get bit but hard to catch keepers. I caught a total of 16 bass today and not a single keeper. I measured all the ones that were close. All of the small fish I'm just estimating on length. I had a couple patterns going at the start but ultimately decided to just run the bank with a Topwater the second half of the day because I felt like that was the way to catch a couple good fish. I was wrong! I started off throwing a Strike King Sexy Dog Jr and towards the end of the day I had 4 or 5 fish in a row blow up on the bait and not eat it so I switched over to a popper and the fish started committing to the bait again. My cadence was very fast with both of the Topwater baits I was throwing. I was even walking the little popper like a walking bait.


Fishing Time: 11am-5pm
Weather forecast at takeoff: 55 and cloudy. NE wind at 5-10mph
Barometric Pressure: 30.24in.
Water Temp: 65-66

Fish 1: 11:57am Smallmouth(14") 1oz SK bottom dweller spinnerbait
Slowrolled on a mainlake bluff
Fish 2: 12:03pm Smallmouth(14") same spinnerbait
Slowrolled on a mainlake bluff
Fish 3: 12:39pm Largemouth(12") SK Sexy Dog Jr
Back of main lake pocket
Fish 4: 12:41pm Largemouth (14") Sexy Dog Jr
Same main lake pocket
Fish 5: 1:01pm Smallmouth(16.5") 1/2oz Texas Rig SK rage tail menace
Main lake point where pea gravel transitions to bluff wall
Fish 6: 1:17pm Smallmouth(12") 1oz spinnerbait
Slowrolled on bluff walk
Fish 7: 1:20pm Smallmouth(14") 1 oz spinnerbait
Slowrolled on bluff wall
Fish 8: 1:45pm Smallmouth(12") Sexy Dog Jr
First 3rd of Main lake pocket
Fish 9: 2:09pm Largemouth(10") Sexy Dog Jr
Back of same main lake pocket as fish 8
Fish 10: 2:24pm Largemouth(14.5") Sexy Dog Jr
Back of same pocket as fish 9
Fish 11: 3:47pm Smallmouth(16.5") Evergreen OB Popper
Hurricane Creek Pocket
Fish 12: 3:49pm Smallmouth(14") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 13: 4:03pm Smallmouth(17.75") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 14: 4:08pm Spotted Bass(11.75") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 15: 4:17pm Spotted Bass(6") Evergreen OB Popper
Same pocket as fish 11
Fish 16: 4:34pm Largemouth(14.5") 1/2oz Dirty Jigs Finesse Football jig
Hurricane Creek point leading into pocket

This is awesome, a lot of good info , seriously would pay for this kind of data , especially since I fish CH only a few times a year could really be helpful

And it sounds like you have CH down

[notorious]

... I get on the trolling motor with a decent speed and never take my foot off unless I want to make several casts to a certain target or catch a fish etc... I'll sacrifice a perfect cast to a certain target here and there just to cover water. I don't want to slow down to much if I'm getting bit running the bank. Covering water is key for me. I'm looking for those aggressive bass...


If I didn't know you made this statement I would bet the house it was Kevin VanDam.

[Dakota]

Center Hill used to intimidate me a little bit. When I started fishing a lot I just went to OH because it's close to my house. The first lake other than OH that I ventured off to was Center Hill. It took me a while to catch on because I was so used to fishing in less than 5 feet of water. Once I realized and gained confidence in the fact that bass can live much deeper it got a lot easier. It's one of my favorite lakes because it just doesn't get the pressure that OH and JPP get. It also has a lot of good fish in it. It has an abundance of all 3 species as well. I would say that on 60-75% of my trips there I catch all 3 species in the same day.



I actually love deep water fishing grew up fishing deeper water for walleye and yellow perch. Actually a little backwards I had to learn to bass fish shallow when I moved south 20 years ago.


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[Texas_Rig]

On Monday a friend and I went Center Hill. I just couldn't figure it out and didn't catch much. I caught a total of 5 fish with just one keeper smallmouth. I think my friend caught just 2. I was excited about the day because I thought the conditions were perfect to catch fish shallow and on the bank. I could not make that work. 4 of the 5 fish I caught were in 25-30 feet of water. I found a huge school of bass but they just wouldn't eat. We caught a few out of there but the spot was loaded. The school was on the deep side of a main lake point where one side of the point was a gradual slope and the other dropped steeply off into the river channel. I fished the bank a lot with mostly a Topwater with only 2 blowups and caught one small bass flipping a piece of cover. I was very surprised with the cold nights that the water was still in the 60's.

11/19/2018 Center Hill Lake 11:45am-5pm
Weather: 55 degree high temp. Cloudy with a southerly wind at 10-15mph
Water temp: 60-62


Fish 1: 12:12pm Largemouth(14.5") 1/2ounce Texas Rigged SK menace grub
Mainlake point in about 25 fow
Fish 2: 12:19pm Smallmouth (13") same bait same spot
Fish 3: 12:31pm Smallmouth(18.5") same bait as Fish 1
Caught on end of bluff near where Fish1&2 were caught
Fish 4: 2:44pm Largemouth(12") 1/2oz texas rigged SK menace grub
Flipping a beaver hut/dam in the back of a creek pocket
Fish 5: 4:50pm Smallmouth(14") 1/2 oz dirty jigs finesse football jig
Caught on the end of a boat ramp in a creek. 30 fow

[Texas_Rig]

I fished the Steam Plant yesterday morning with no success. It was a cold overcast morning with snow flurries. The main lake water temp was 51 and tge water temp at the barrier was 61. It seemed like a perfect morning. I arrived right at daylight. There was lots of bait at the mouth of the canal leading in but not much back in the canal. I did have a fish hammer a crankbait but no hookup. I didn't stay too long because of the lack of bait and a couple people were fishing at the entrance by the time I made it back out. I didn't see any surface activity beyond the barrier. It's just barely to early I think.