Lake Blackshear Fishing Report – August 2006

Level: 0.3 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 90s degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Tough. Clint Brownlee and Jerry Gray won the most recent Blackshear Buddies tournament (July 15) by running up the river. “I have a friend who has a tunnel-hull boat, and we were able to go way up the river,” said Clint. “The water temperature in the lake is 91, 92 degrees, but up the river it’s about 10 degrees cooler — around 83, 84 degrees. There are more shoal bass up there, and they are more aggressive.” Clint said that even up the river the fishing is tough. “We had five keepers that weighed right at 12 pounds,” he said. Clint said they fished crankbaits, jigs and Texas rigs to catch their winning string. “I throw a shallow-running Bandit that runs four to six feet deep.” For a jig or worm color, Clint chooses green pumpkin or watermelon. “Green pumpkin is hard to beat in the clear water,” he said. He uses a Zoom Trick Worm on a Texas rig. “You want something small,” he said. The primary structure is blowdowns, logs and stumps, anything that breaks the current flow. “You just throw into the eddy and hope,” said Clint.

Crappie: Dead. “Don’t know what’s wrong with them,” said Rusty Parker. “The last good trip we had was July 5. The fish are there, they just aren’t using any energy.”