Lake Bastrop Need Suggestions...

[niswanger]

Hello gang,

Taking my 13 year old son out this Sunday with our two yaks to Lake Bastrop. I'm desperate to get him hooked up on a bass (has only caught a few perch). I'm a returning bass fisherman of my early years in the Houston area and central Florida coast. So I've added a screen shot with two launch points (South and North Shores X and Y) and a set of numbers 1-14. Can any experienced anglers out there recommend what artificial to use, color, action and spots based off my numbers marked. We are a catch and release duo, so just out to have fun catching bass.

This time of year in Florida bass were in deeper channels I I generally used crank baits or rattle traps. We also used fat shinners.

[junkyard chihuahua]

I live a few miles from that lake and go there regularly. My experience is that you can catch bass almost anywhere on that lake. My personal best was caught at #3. This time of year the warm water in the area of 9, 11, 12 is a good bet. Going up the tree filled creeks east of 12 is a fun paddle. I can't speak to the fishing, but the Birds are great. There are osprey and owls and all manner of hawks living up there. The scenery and paddling is great. Crappie are good in the deeper waters near the dam. At the very base of the number 9 in your picture is an old road. You can almost make it out in the picture. I have heard that is a good place to find big bass. JIgging along that old road...


The coves at 5 and 13 are real nice places to explore and close to south shore park. I've caught fish in both...


Good Luck, I hope y'all have fun!

[junkyard chihuahua]

oh, and I throw smaller Rapala's out there... shad raps? Silver and black. Rattletraps. My 8 lb fish came on a ridiculous top water buzzbait.

[niswanger]

oh, and I throw smaller Rapala's out there... shad raps? Silver and black. Rattletraps. My 8 lb fish came on a ridiculous top water buzzbait.

Awesome sir, thank you. So for me it probably makes sense to launch from the North Shore ramp this time of year since it's closer to the plant discharge channel. I need to see if that location is open Sunday.

I love Rapala, been using them for years. I think I'll try some stick/swim baits, crank baits, and spinners. My son is comfortable fishing spinners, but not soft plastics.

-Roy

[Crusader]

Get yourself a crappie jig with curly tail (smth with dots, like pumkin seed color), add a splitshot about 10" before it. I wore them out using this rig few years ago south of your pt #11. Plus it catches crappies, sunfish (there are big ones in this lake), etc.

[niswanger]

Get yourself a crappie jig with curly tail (smth with dots, like pumkin seed color), add a splitshot about 10" before it. I wore them out using this rig few years ago south of your pt #11. Plus it catches crappies, sunfish (there are big ones in this lake), etc.

Thanks for the tip, could you post a pic link of this jig?

Thank you,
Roy

[Crusader]

jig 1/16oz (or 1/32). Pics are below

[gotmuddy]

do they still generate power? If so i would fish banks close to the outlet.

[niswanger]

jig 1/16oz (or 1/32). Pics are below

Got it, thank you.

[niswanger]

do they still generate power? If so i would fish banks close to the outlet.

Made several calls and finally got to plant operations and asked if Sim Gideon is on-line. Nice guys said, "I can't give you that information."

Anyone know? Anyone close to see if there's any flue stack steam/smoke/etc.?

-Roy

[niswanger]

Update:

Called Bluebonnet Electric Co-Operative and confirmed Sam Gideon Natural Gas 620MW Generating Station is On-Line!

I'll be there around 11AM this Sunday as the forecast shows warmer temps and a falling barometer around noon. I'll be in a yellow Hobie PA 14 and my son in a 13' grey Hobie Revo.

-Roy

[junkyard chihuahua]

I went out there this morning. most of the lake was 55 degrees, but up to 67 degrees in the outlet channel. The water was stained from all the rain last few days... It should be really nice Sunday.

[Welderdude]

We fished the 'Strop on Friday before New Year's...was cold and wind, but managed 6 fish, biggest was 3.6 pounds. Most were caught at the discharge, using a white lipless crank or a white swimbait. Did manage a small one up near the boy scout camp.

[Neumie]

A little late to the party, but the LCRA has a great contour map for Bastrop on their website: LINK

Bastrop is great place to fish early spring. I've done especially well with chartreuse/white spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits.

[niswanger]

I went out there this morning. most of the lake was 55 degrees, but up to 67 degrees in the outlet channel. The water was stained from all the rain last few days... It should be really nice Sunday.

Well we were skunked. The outlet channel was actually cooler around 56 vs open water at 59. We used crappie jigs (anything from watermelon green to chartruse/white to light green/white. Also medium diving crank baits and spinner jigs. Not one single bite. We fished discharge canal, 11/9/8, even in deep water at one time. Most we encountered said it was a tough day with only one boat saying they caught two small ones on small crank baits.

Thanks for the contour map link Neumie!

-Roy

[Crusader]

Shame... How deep you were fishing?

[niswanger]

Shame... How deep you were fishing?

Some of this is because I'm helping my son, teaching him. I would anchor and he would pull up along side opposite direction and I would loosely connect us together. That way I could tell him how to fish. Using these ~ 1/8th to 1/4 oz jigs we would try to fish close to the bottom. When in about 8' of water I would tell my son to count to 5 and slow retrieve, pausing some and with some slight jerking. In 15' of water count to 10, and when we were in 40' we counted to 20 and used additional split shot. Only thing we didn't fish was close to shore/bank. If I were alone I would have tried some senko/drop shot setups (plastic worm), but really wanted to try to connect with moderate retrieve lures.

We even did some crank bait trolling (doing about 1.5 mph).

-Roy

[Crusader]

Shame... How deep you were fishing?

Using these ~ 1/8th to 1/4 oz jigs we would try to fish close to the bottom. When in about 8' of water I would tell my son to count to 5 and slow retrieve, pausing some and with some slight jerking. In 15' of water count to 10, and when we were in 40' we counted to 20 and used additional split shot. Only thing we didn't fish was close to shore/bank.

This rig is for fishing relatively shallow water (1-7 fow). Even 8 is kinda pushing it -- becomes too slow. And you'd fish closer to structure (banks, weed lines, etc). Fishing open water (without knowing for sure that you are on top of the school) is not going to be productive -- too much water.

You may try dead sticking open-water fish (like hybrids), but then your fishing style will change considerably... And even then you still need to relate to major feature of the bottom (underwater humps, etc) to increase your chances.