Lake Jackson Fishing Report – June 2007

Jackson: Level: Full pool. Temp: 76-78 degrees. Clarity: Very clear, 4- to 5-foot visibility in the main lake.

Bass: Fair. Recent night tournaments are being won with 6 to 7 pounds, with 3- and 4-lb. bags getting in the money. Bobby Berry said that if someone would have won a recent 42-boat pot tournament with just one 8-pounder, they would have collected $5,100, money for first, money for big fish of the tournament and money for a special “Hawg Pot” that keeps growing until someone catches an 8-pounder. “The fish are very skittish due to the very clear water,” said guide Aaron Batson. “If the rains don’t come and stain the main lake up, you will have to resort to fishing up the Yellow and South rivers to find more stain and current. Try soft plastics, like lizards or Sweet Beavers, pitched to stumps and blowdowns in the deeper bends. Also try a buzzbait early and late in the day if mayflies are present.” Try fishing down the lake for spotted bass. “Work a Carolina-rigged Zoom Centipede in watermelon-seed or cotton-candy colors on rocky points,” said Aaron “Slowly fishing a Net Boy Baits Screw Ball jig with a finesse worm will also catch fish in the 15- to 20-foot range.” If there’s a bright note to the poor late-May fishing, it’s that the morning bite has been decent. “You can go throw topwater in the mornings and whack ’em,” said Eric Perkins. “It only lasts about an hour and a half, but it’s fun. I had one 5-lb. largemouth the other morning, but most of what you catch will be big spots on the main-lake walls and rock-bluff banks. I’ve been throwing a Rico, Pop-R and a Sammy. After the sun gets up, it gets a little tough, but I am staying around the same areas with a Fish Head Spin, a Pointer Minnow and a Spot Remover jig head with a Yamamoto Kut Tail worm on it. Here soon we will get a mayfly hatch, and that’s when the topwater bite really gets hot.” Eric said the evening bite should return once the mayflies hatch. “The Alcovy arm has been the hottest place to be all year, and those big crankbait fish will be on the powerlines and on the old flat down from Berrys,” said Eric.

Crappie: Fair. “They’re doing nothing in the daytime, but they’re catching a few at night,” said Bobby Berry. “They’re catching a few under Water’s Bridge, but they’re small.” Expect a bite to start under the powerline, just down from Berry’s. Fish the east side where the point comes out near the river channel. Fish at night, and downline minnows.