Lake Blackshear Fishing Report – July 2009

Blackshear: Level: 0.1 feet below full pool. Temp: 88-92 degrees. Clarity: Clear on the main lake; slight stain up the river.

Bass: Tough. Ernie Broughton said the heat wave in mid June made the fishing tough, mainly on the fishermen. “With this heat, it’s taking a slow presentation to catch them,” he said. “They aren’t going to move much.” Ernie’s most recent tournament was won with 13-lb. sack that came from an angler with a specially rigged boat. Ernie said the sack came from way up the river in the shoals near Montezuma where a bass boat can’t go. Ernie said he wasn’t sure, but he thought the angler must have been fishing Texas-rigged worms. On the main lake, docks and cypress trees are still the ticket. Ernie said he’s tried his Rat-L-Traps and spinnerbaits without any luck. A Carolina rig or a Texas rig pitched up under a dock or right up at the base of a cypress tree is the ticket. Ernie said he’s been having his best luck with a Carolina rig on isolated cypress trees for bigger fish. He’s catching good numbers of small fish on grouped cypress trees. His worm of choice for the Carolina rig is a Zoom Trick Worm in the new green-pumpkin/blue color or the standard black with red glitter.

Crappie: Good. Rusty Parker said you wouldn’t believe his crappie report. He said he’s catching good messes of some very good slabs, and he hasn’t even had to resort to deep main-channel summer fishing yet. His advice to anyone who wants to catch a few crappie is to find a good shaded trashpile under a dock with a little depth or a shaded bridge piling. The fish have been suspended in 5 to 8 feet of water over a 10- to 15-foot bottom on a bridge piling or over trash. Either drop a jig to them around pilings or over trash, or shoot a jig way up under a dock. Either way, Rusty said an Old Reliable jig from Micro Spoons is the ticket. The hot color right now has a deep-purple head, a yellow body and a chartreuse tail.