Reservation Number : 31609
Property Name : Nix Ranch: Lake TCU
Reservation Date : 04/15/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 38 total up to 3lbs
Lures Used : Swim jig, Chatterbait, Wacky Rig, T-Rig, Squarebill, Paddletail Swimbait

My fishing buddy and fellow member Mark Daugherty braved the howling winds to fish from 7am to 4pm at Lake TCU.  This is a beautifully kept property, but if you’ve fished there you know the lake is totally exposed with no trees or structure to protect you from a good stiff south wind like we had yesterday.  Fortunately for me, Mark is really good navigating the boat and has a 50lb trolling motor otherwise I couldn’t have fished from a boat on a day like yesterday.  But enough about that.

Weather was 50’s to start and 80’s by afternoon.  Clear skies early with total cloud cover by mid-morning.  Water level looked full to the natural edge of the lake, stained water but w/ at least 2 feet visibility, and temps in the mid-60s.  There is a serious algae bloom going on as well as plenty of submerged grass, so that meant picking slime after almost every cast, and only throwing crankbaits in very specifiic areas where there was enough water depth to not pick up grass and slime.  Also, no spinnerbaits or flashy swimmers this time because they would pick up too much slime every cast.

Mark’s 25 fish came mostly on shad pattern swim jig, wacky rig stick bait (even in that wind!), Z-Craw on a swing head jig.  My 13 came on a white swim jig, shad chatterbait, craw and bluegill squarebills, and a couple on a 3.8in swimbait.  A couple of other notes:

Looks like the fish are done spawning as there were no thick bellies, and many were under weight from what they looked like.  3-4lb looking fish were weighing 2-2.5lbs.  Also, bite was mostly subtle like they were too tired to really chase anything down.

There are hundreds of big bluegill that hang around the dock to be near the fish feeder.  This would be a great place to bring a little kid who would be into catching a mess of panfish.

Thanks to the owner, PWF, and my buddy Mark for the chance to get out and have a geat time fishing on Good Friday.