There was only one buffet in town.......

Apr 27 2020

Jackson Bean

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
225

Four of us fished Waco Creek Ranch and had an excellent trip.  Friday evening was pre-frontal conditions and each boat caught right around thirty five bass which was the most of each of the three days.  We had plenty of quality fish above three pounds and sixty four culls over the three days.  After the cold front Friday night, the action slightly slowed but not by a whole lot.  The big bass of the trip as a 7.67 and we had a range of fives and a handful of six pounders to boot.  Some of the fish had spawned but many had not or at least not finished.  My partner and I sat on the buffet line and caught twenty two bass from one location over the course of ninety minutes and there was only one cull in the group.  We couldn't believe what we were witnessing so we called the other boat over and they came and caught close to ten from the same spot.  What tipped us off was the change in structure at the boat launch which is the only gravel on the lake and there were bluegill beds everywhere when we walked up.  They were glued to the beds and you could almost reach down and grab them before they'd move off.  Once we realized the bluegill spawn was in full swing and right in front of us, we focused efforts on the areas near the launch and it payed off.  It seemed like the bass were staged around the boat launch and were ready to run up the ramp to fill their bellies at the bluegill buffet.  It was the most bass I've ever seen caught from a single location and the average size I'd guess was four pounds.  

Here's one batch of the bluegill in the shallows.

The 7.67 was pre-spawn and put up a spectacular fight.  She was caught on a 1/2 oz football head jig with a Rage Craw trailer.

My friend Kenny caught a 6.8 on a Yellow Magic which was fun to watch from across the cove.

Our biggest fish came on jigs, TX rigs and C-rigs with Rage Craw trailers.  We would fish up one cove and come back and pick up some nice ones at the launch, then up the another cove and back to the launch then repeat.  Each boat was catching twenty to thirty five per morning and evening which adds up to an absurd total.  This lake is definitely fishing well. 

This bass had my bait hooked into the roof of its mouth and two other soft plastics in her mouth which shows how eager these fish are to eat any soft plastic.  We should all do our part to be sure no artificial lures make their way into the water to potentially harm these fish by blocking their digestion.  

In summary….  If you haven't been to San Saba lately you should make a point to go.  This lake is HOT!

Jackson

Apr 28 2020

Bruce Kirby

Fry

Member Since :
2013
Number of Posts :
17

Great details and photos. Thanks!

Apr 28 2020

Jackson Bean

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
225

You're very welcome Bruce!  I've gotten a couple of messages and I wanted to post a few more details.  We did best on Watermelon Red but I think any Watermelon or Green Pumpkin variant would do well that has some colored fleck in it.  The best locations that weren't the boat launch were the long main lake shorelines leading to and from the two major coves.  Once we got anywhere near the ends of the coves, the bite really shut down.  Main lake points with the wind across them also typically produced a fish or two.  Many fish had their nose up against the bank on those shorelines meaning you really needed to cast within a foot of the bank to get bit.  There was also a filamentous algae bloom occurring which made it tricky to place the cast in the shallows and not pick up too much algae.  Once the wind picked up, we were also getting good bites on spinner baits.  Text me any other questions you've got though I think that's about all of the important stuff.  

Jackson

903-456-5554

Apr 28 2020

John Little

Fingerling

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
63

Jackson….great report, I'm going there Thursday. I experienced the exact same thing with the perch about 5 years ago. They had a flood about 5 days before my trip and the lake rose about 5 ft to capacity. The lake was muddy with lots of floating debris which made fishing tough, but that perch hatch at the boat launch provided some much needed action. 80 % of the bass caught were in that 20-30 ft radius…or smaller. Two of us must have caught 50+ bass in that small area. Saved the trip. Neat that you experienced the same thing. 

Apr 28 2020

Wayne Pruitt

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2017
Number of Posts :
114

Jackson,

You guys definitely were on a hot lake. Great report with good details for the next lucky anglers to fish San Saba…......... :-)

Wayne Pruitt