Best of times: 

I was privileged to be in the second PWF group to fish Caresend, and it truly is a special place to catch big bass.  The relative weight is amazing, these fish are FAT!   In fact, I'd have to say these are the healthiest, biggest bass for their length that I've ever seen.  To the owners and managers, WELL DONE!  We saw feeders around the lake, somebody is working hard to make this place special.

No, we didn't catch the sheer numbers the first group did, but what we did catch was great.  My son broke his personal record bass four times in just one day: 20 inch, 20.5 inch, 21 inch, 21 inch (very fat).  These fish were all around the 5 lb plus range, remarkably chunky.  (I brought my weighing scale but it ended up going to Longview with my first guest, so I don't have exact weights.)  I will try to post a few pics, they are wonderful fish.  What is remarkable is that the fat fish are typical, not unusual specimens.  I will try to post a few pics, Ben had an amazing day!

The boats are first rate.  Large, powerful electric trolling motors, lots of battery reserves, very stable & a good casting platform.  Three people can easily fish from them.  Again, WELL DONE! 

We harvested 14 fish, including some I'd be delighted to catch in an ordinary lake.  Anything 16 inches or larger we returned to the lake. 

It was the worst of times…

The wind was a big issue.  Really big.  Part of the problem is the incompetence of the trolling motor operator (me), plus this is wide open water with few trees to break the wind, plus the large boats are hard to control in windy conditions.  Anyway, that was our number one problem.  I strongly recommend PWF members bring a sea anchor to slow drifts.  We used a 42 inch one, don't bring something smaller.

This being my first trip there, I made every mistake in the book.  Couldn't find the boat dock despite great effort, so my friend and I finally stopped at a house and asked.  Turns out it was the owners' home & we disturbed them.  I think that in the future the road to the boats will be clearly marked, but if not, take my advice and call Steve.  Do not bug the owners!  Don't invade their privacy by fishing too close to their home, either!  :(

I also blundered about check out time, 12 noon.   I read that there was a $50 charge for staying past that time, so thought that leaving that evening would be fine.  After all, I've done this before in other club properties with zero problems.

But what I didn't realize is that they had a cleaning crew scheduled at 12:05, so again, I created a problem.  Maybe if I'd called ahead about check out I would have avoided the blunder, but just didn't think of it.  Lesson for future anglers: Make sure you communicate with someone if you wish to stay beyond noon!

As for what worked fishing, we found plastics were best, though a Spittin' Shad lure did some damage.  Water was a good color, visibility down to about 30 inches.   We had no luck on crankbaits or spinnerbaits, though I did have one blowup on a large Jitterbug.

A word of advice: Don't bring ultralight tackle.  FIsh are not line shy and they are too big & strong for very light tackle.  Minimum 12 lb test and medium tackle, in my opinion.  I myself used 30 lb test braid (8 lb mono diameter) and was glad to have it.

This is a bit remote, the nearest town of any size is Mt Pleasant, 16 miles away.  If you want to eat out there is a really good Thai restaurant, Luana's (or something like that) in town.  We liked it so much that we ate lunch there twice!

Good luck, fellow Club members.  Don't be surprised to see folks catch a 9 or 10 lb bass here in late summer or fall, they are VERY well fed and growing fast!  When you do, please handle the lunker carefully, not holding it just by the jaw, so she can returned unharmed to the lake and grow even bigger.

Posted By: Frank James