Down by the Crick

Jul 31 2021

Joshua Massoud

Keeper

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
485

Reservation Number : 29290
Property Name : Backside of the Moon Lake
Reservation Date : 07/30/2021 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 14 up to 3.6lbs
Lures Used : Black Pop-R, White Fluke

This lake has been on my hit list for quite some time, so I was excited to get to go fish it today. I didn’t light it up like I hoped (certainly not bad), but it’s Friday!  

  1. For the life of me, I can’t find my way out of a box if it is big enough (I failed maps in school), and I went back and forth on that winding road a number of time before my phone finally got reception and I could use the google to find the lake – I just wasn’t going far enough.  My dad growing up would always think I was lying when I missed curfew and claimed I got lost.  When he drove with me enough times, he finally figured out I just can’t figure out where I’m at.  So I didn’t get to the lake till about 8:20am, despite leaving at 4:30am.  The directions and map are fine – I just suck at navigating.
  2. Water was 91 when I finally got on the lake. Turbid as reported. Slight breeze that shifted by mid morning.  There was a distinct thermocline at 8.5ft.  There are some MASSIVE carp in this lake that roam the shallow end.  I saw some crappie stacked up in a couple of different areas near the deeper section of the lake.  The bass were almost all shallow (1-7 feet) primarily around submerged brush and on the shady side of big rocks.  I took pictures of each group of fish (you can piece it together). 
  3. Beautiful terrain and property
  4. I mapped this lake out a while back, and wanted to focus on three areas (see the attached photo from 2012) and it was where I caught my fish.
  5. There is a creek channel that comes out from the shallow end into a point adjacent to a flat – they were sitting at 7-8 feet in the middle of that channel and bunched up.  I dropped a white fluke (and a black worm) and drug it from the channel  to the point. It was a small school of fish though. 
  6. There is a submerged peninsula in the middle of the lake ont the right side that drops out off a point. There were some better fish schooled up on that side. 
  7. The best fish were off the rocks and shrubs along the bluff point south (?) of the peninsula – that rounded edge – isolated fish sitting in shade and waiting to ambush – they were had on Black Pop-R. 
  8. I did see some breaks in the deepest part of the lake near the damn that I wanted to come back to but never managed to. 
  9. I was going to fish on the opposite side on the slope north of the peninsula, but rain out of time as I had a 1:30 and then 2:30 conference call.  

Dec 23 2021

Travis Franklin (Flower Mound)

Fry

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
16

Great report, thanks for sharing such great info! We’re headed down 12/26, we’ll try to return the favor with a good winter assessment.

Dec 23 2021

Joshua Massoud

Keeper

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
485

Originaly Posted By Travis Franklin (Flower Mound)

Great report, thanks for sharing such great info! We’re headed down 12/26, we’ll try to return the favor with a good winter assessment.

Good luck!  With the lake being turbid, the water should be near 65 degree.  I’d expect to find them in the upper part of the water column and maybe in the shallow flats at the top of the lake.  Who knows – been a crazy ‘winter’. 

Dec 24 2021

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1129

Joshua,

I love your honesty and transparency about navigating. Most men don’t admit to sucking at directions. You may suck at navigating but your one hell of a student at bass fishing. Not sure we have a member who studies his hobby/love of fishing as much as you. I love reading your reports and insight!

Dec 24 2021

Steve Scanlon

Fry

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
34

Joshua

First – we must be related. I too SUCK at directions, my wife will attest. If we ever fish together I may use Uber. 
 

Fantastic report – love your detail. I will use as my guide when I make it up there. 
 

Steve

Dec 27 2021

Travis Franklin (Flower Mound)

Fry

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
16

Originaly Posted By Steve Alexander

Joshua,

I love your honesty and transparency about navigating. Most men don’t admit to sucking at directions. You may suck at navigating but your one hell of a student at bass fishing. Not sure we have a member who studies his hobby/love of fishing as much as you. I love reading your reports and insight!

In fairness on directions, there are no orange painted posts. All we saw were a few (I mean very few) with red reflectors and one tree had some orange ribbon on it. We saw water there and turned thinking it was marking the road to the lake and ended up having to lift the boat trailer by hand to turn around. No markers were really needed just stay straight on the well used road, go slow and in 20 minutes or so you’ll see the dam ahead and then the lake. Wish we could offer a better fishing report, but we didn’t learn much from the few fish we caught!

Dec 27 2021

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1129

Originaly Posted By Travis Franklin (Flower Mound)

In fairness on directions, there are no orange painted posts. All we saw were a few (I mean very few) with red reflectors and one tree had some orange ribbon on it. We saw water there and turned thinking it was marking the road to the lake and ended up having to lift the boat trailer by hand to turn around. No markers were really needed just stay straight on the well used road, go slow and in 20 minutes or so you’ll see the dam ahead and then the lake. Wish we could offer a better fishing report, but we didn’t learn much from the few fish we caught!

Travis,

Thanks for the note about the missing and now faded orange posts. After a decade they have gone missing and faded. I removed all comments about the posts. Appricate the heads up. 

Steve

Dec 27 2021

Travis Franklin (Flower Mound)

Fry

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
16

Originaly Posted By Steve Alexander

Travis,

Thanks for the note about the missing and now faded orange posts. After a decade they have gone missing and faded. I removed all comments about the posts. Appricate the heads up. 

Steve

Absolutely! Nature is hard on man made stuff like that! Once you go through the main gate, you pass a gas well on your left, then there’s a regular steel wire gate, then the barbed wire gate. It’s a beautiful property and there are a couple of really nice looking tanks on the way to the big one!