Toledo Bend Elite Series Tournament in BassCat Boats Forum

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Toledo Bend Elite Series Tournament

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toledobasser

Toledo Bend Elite Series Tournament

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Posts: 1484

Apr 9 11 12:50 AM

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I'm sitting here at work just itching for Wednesday to get here. I saw a few of the Elite guys headed towards Toledo Bend on my way to work. I will be a marshall for 3 days and I'm really hoping to get to run with one of the BCB's guys. James Niggemeyer won the most recent Open that was on Toledo Bend so he would be awesome to be with.. Other than them Dean Rojas won on TB in 2001 right after his amazing win on Toho in Florida. He fished an area I am familiar with so it would be cool to run with him and see what he does this time of year. Sorry to go on and on but my mind is definately not on work. I'm looking forward to this experience and open to learning something new on my home lake. It's not often that I want the clock to speed up but I sure do right now. I've got 7 hours down and 40 to go. Whew! It's a long weekend.

cajun catter

is the spawn completely over ?

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Posts: 547

Apr 9 11 11:44 AM

heading up there next weekend for the full moon with family. hoping to catch a weigh-in or two, but also wanna catch a few fish.

High Cotton

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Posts: 787

Apr 9 11 1:43 PM

Toledo, My ten year old son and I just got back from Pickwick and let me tell you it was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. I'm going to make another post later which will be very pic heavy but watching these guys up close you realize how good they are. And to BCB I have to say this: YOU HAVE A FIRST CLASS GROUP OF GUYS RUNNING YOUR BOATS!!! Nice and friendly everyone of them I met. Took time to autograph for my son and take pictures. Commented on the hats we had on (then signed them). My son loves K Short and Ike. I only got to talk to John Crews for a second but did get to watch him fish and he is bada55!! Never saw James Niggemyer and didn't ever get to see Billy Mccaghren either

. Anyway, just got back will post soon as I get them into photobucket but Toledo I promise you are in for a treat!!

Last Edited By: High Cotton Apr 9 11 1:45 PM. Edited 1 times.

toledobasser

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Posts: 1484

Apr 9 11 3:56 PM

I have observed them from a distance once before. Years ago when the final 2 days were fished on a 6 hole course they divided the creek arm that I live on into the hole course. Overnight we had enough rain to raise the lake almost 3 feet and turn the creek into chocolate milk. They almost cancelled the last days but had a meeting and I remember Jay Yelas telling Trip that these guys are pros, they will catch fish, and they did. I watched Takahiro, Shaw, Jay, David Wharton and Mike Wurm fish water that I would not even think a fish would live in. I'll be in high heaven being in the boat with them.

toledobasser

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Posts: 1484

Apr 9 11 4:03 PM

Joey, As usual I have not been able to fish near as much as I would like. My best guess is that the north end is done. There might be a few still doing their thing on the south end. It's been so warm the last few weeks, but the wind has been awful most of the time. BUT, don't go completely by what I say. I would think the top water bite should be picking up and a Senko is always on my rod. I will be taking my nephew out Monday and hopefully I'll know something.

cajun catter

keep me posted, please

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Posts: 547

Apr 9 11 8:11 PM

sounds like you live on lanana creek. i caught the first five pound bass of my life in lanana! ironically, it's one of the least fished creek arms of the lake, yet it might be the largest. anyway, may have the family there for the weekend, and stay and fish with the fellas for a few days afterwards, if the bite is good. (and if it's REALLY good, well....let's just say i feel a fever coming on smiley: roll

sick days!)

enjoy the event. i've been fortunate enough to fish in four of the old TOP 150 formats as an amateur, and it's quite an experience to see the pros in action. humbling experience for even experienced "weekend anglers". B.A.S.S. always does it right at the weigh-ins, too. i'm looking forward to taking my wife and daughters to at least one of them next weekend..

toledobasser

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Posts: 1484

Apr 9 11 8:31 PM

You got it. I do live in the Lanana Creek area just off Hwy 1215. I guess we're actually in the Beach creek arm. My Dad and I signed upto be co-anglers on TB years ago but the lake ended up being low and they decided it was dangerous. Moved the tournament to Rayburn. It was a Southern Open so there were a few of the big boys but I didn't get to fish with any of them. The guys I fished with were great but I actually caught more fish than any of my pros and bigger fish than 2 of them. I ended up in 12th place. It was fun but I threw different lures than them and kind of did my own thing. I've pretty much determined that if you put me around fish I can catch them. It's the finding them that I have trouble with. Hahaha.

cajun catter

HA. that was the year i caught my first (and only) TEN POUNDER

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Posts: 547

Apr 9 11 10:02 PM

the lake was super low, so it received very little pressure that year (wasn't it 06?) found the biggest school of big fish in my life moving up onto the flat just south of the bridge on the texas side. caught monster stringers for five straight days with a nw wind (which was blocked by the bridge levee) in three days i caught a ten, told another lady to throw a rattletrap, and within 50 yds of us caught a 14, and my partner caught a 13+ the next day. actually have a photo of me holding the 14 and 13 at toledo tackle. (one caught sat, the other sun) 28 pounds of bass...was hard to hold up for the camera. i released mine not knowing the la. side would do a replica at 10 lbs, not the 13 required for tx. she had just spawed, or she'd have been in the 12 lb class.

anyway, caught more 5 lb fish than at any time in my life. actually got to experience the fish moving into about 4 feet of clear water, and saw literally hundreds of beds with bass on them by the sunday morning. (fortunately, most of the fishermen that were on the lake were in the pipeline, or on the river channel edge. it was me and one other boat on the flat for the first three days. a few more by the weekend)

some more big fish were caught down south that same weekend.

i still thing it was all due to the lack of fishing pressure that year, as both oilman's tourneys were cancelled, as well. scary getting around the lake at 163 feet..

Last Edited By: cajun catter Apr 9 11 10:05 PM. Edited 1 times.

toledobasser

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Posts: 1484

Apr 10 11 2:48 AM

Scary for sure. Dad wanted to take some pictures so we headed north in my boat. Not much water on the north end when it's that low. We drug bottom a few times but luckily no stumps. Wasn't so lucky in Dad's boat. We were running a boat lane near Converse and suddenly there was a shallow stum field. It felt like we went straight vertical when we rode staight up a stump......until the motor hit and slammed us back down. The boat was fine but Dad's Detweiler took a beating.....broke a couple of bolts. There was also a huge stump in the middle of the Blue Lake boat lane. It's amazing what you see when the lake is low and we have all been running right over that stuff for years.

brewcat

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Posts: 565

Apr 11 11 10:05 AM

t-basser - any rain in the last couple days? i am gonna be there again this weekend for club tourney. sure was spooky in the boat lanes two weekends ago.

SAMRUSH

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Posts: 3261

Apr 11 11 10:56 AM

BREWCAT , just follow KVD or james N.

brewcat

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Posts: 565

Apr 11 11 11:14 AM

sam... no way. i have my own sss. (secret squirrel spots)

toledobasser

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Posts: 1484

Apr 11 11 6:41 PM

brewcat wrote:
t-basser - any rain in the last couple days? i am gonna be there again this weekend for club tourney. sure was spooky in the boat lanes two weekends ago.

We had a little rain today but it's not changing the lake level any. I've been checking the toledo bend website and every time the lake sneaks up a little they start the generators again and draw it back down. I don't know what's up with that. I know they pulled it down to do work on the dam but that was a back in the summer and we just have not had significant rain to fill us back up. I thought it had been agreed upon that they would not generate when the lake fell below 165' but they are. It has been said that they are required to keep the flow of the Sabine below the dam as well.

I had my nephew out with me today and we knew we were predicted for possible rain. We happened to be in the same cove as Britt Meyers. He put on his rain gear and started leaving. He told us that some bad stuff was coming in. (I suppose he has weather on his electronics) It was probably 15 minutes later when it poured on us for about 30-45 minutes. Saw 3 other wrapped boats but didn't recognize who they were from the distance we were apart.

SRA Louisiana Levels / Generating Schedules
As of:	04/11/2011	6:30 AM
Lake Level	164.43
Generator 1	Currently running 2hrs. 4pm. to 6pm.
Generator 2	Currently shut down
Spillway Gates	Closed
Current Waterflow	204 CFS
Comments
This information provided courtesy of Sabine River Authority State of Louisiana

Lake Levels Last 15 Days
Date	Level	Date	Level	Date	Level
04-10-2011	164.19	04-05-2011	164.43	03-31-2011	164.47
04-09-2011	164.28	04-04-2011	164.40	03-30-2011	164.59
04-08-2011	164.30	04-03-2011	164.28	03-29-2011	164.52
04-07-2011	164.29	04-02-2011	164.43	03-28-2011	164.58
04-06-2011	164.26	04-01-2011	164.43	03-27-2011	164.58
This information provided courtesy of the U. S. Geological Survey