Crazy Wind, Some Light Rain, Campin, and some fun Fishin!

Feb 10 2023

Alex Elrod

Fingerling

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
62

Reservation Number : 34949
Property Name : Hat and Star Ranch
Reservation Date : 02/06/2023 All Day - 02/07/2023 PM
Total Fish/Sizes : 24 total caught, 17 lmb culls, 1 massive crappie cull, a few returned!
Lures Used : Flashy Swimmer, Craw, and SPOON proved premium

A buddy and I went out to Hat & Star for an overnighter - it was a grind but well worth the trip out East!

We had two full days of fishing with a tent camping night inbetween. Such a fun property with a lot of promise for those that are willing to dig in and find the fish.

First day was so windy you could barely stand straight. We couldn’t find fish ANYWHERE until we went to the far corner of the dam, opposite the boat launch, and every other cast we caught feisty bass with massive bellies but all under the harvest limit. We ended up checking out the bellies and sure enough they were all destroying shad. We were throwing 3-4” keitech and 6th sense soft plastics on shiny underspins and just scooping them. Inbetween the culls we landed an-almost-4-pounder, two 5 pounders, and I caught the biggest of the trip – photo attached of the 6 pound 10 oz feisty gal. She went approximately 22.5” or so? We were speculating that the smaller/younger fish were pushed up chasing bait but when we’d cast out further we were catching bigger sized fish so I heaved my shiniest flutter spoon where we had mapped it dropped to 20+ feet and I slowly popped it back towards the bank. Sure enough I felt a TICK and some tension. Fortunately I had my swimbait rod and was able to wrestle here back onto the bank – no matter the size these fish were SO feisty and feel well above their actual weight!

I also caught what I thought was going to be a small but decent sized bass and it turned out to be the biggest crappie I have ever caught. It was a couple oz shy of 3 pounds! We saw many many other giant crappie on radar out in the 27-31’ water but they wouldn’t bite. We couldn’t get anything to bite out super deep.

One huge let down happened when my buddy switched to a TR weightless craw after we exhausted the flashy swimmers. He heaved it out and let it slowly sink – he slowly, painfully wound it back towards us at the bank. We were chatting and I saw him react, and said “I think I have a bite...” and he slowly reeled up the slack and hammered a hookset like he was swinging for the fences. Now, I knew he had his Mag Heavy Dobyns frog rod tied on (we were only throwing larger Mag Heavy and Swimbait rods with 15-20 pound floro, and 40-50 pound braid because I knew the crazy sticky nature of these waters) and with the way his eyes lit up and the bend in the rod we both knew this was a different class size of fish. We had just hopped out of the boat and I had our dip net so I ran over to grab it to help land the fish! Unfortunately, after what looked to be an absolute whale of a largemouth she dove into the myriad of christmas trees about 10’ off the bank and she broke off. We both saw the giant wake, splash, and mouth on this tank as he was wrestling her towards us and she was surely going 8-9 pounds, or maybe even higher. We realize that bass are resilient but we hope she can easily knock the hook loose and it doesn’t turn out to be a problem for her in the long run!

Bill also came out to check on us since he knew we’d be camping and gave us some pointers and recommendations, which was extremely nice and helpful. The club boat is very clean and manageable to use – no issues whatsoever! The property as a whole continues to get better and better with all of the extreme management too! So easy to navigate, walk most of the bank, and pitching a tent near the boat launch was no problem whatsoever. Such a fun trip!

As always, thank you so much PWF and the landowners out at this absolute GEM of a property!

Cheers