Aug. 16, 2010
Since attending ICAST in Las Vegas and then taking a little vacation I have been back on the water a lot over the last 4 weeks.
What a difference a month can make. Lake Amistad was all the way up to 1129ft after the first week of July and is now down 10 feet to 1119ft. The effects the high water had on the grass was fairly severe, we lost quite a bit of hydrilla although the pond weed didn't suffer quite as much. Consistent summer patterns have come back since they started dropping the water at a lower volume, about 2 inches a day. I have fished a few tournaments the last couple weeks and weighed over a 4 1/2 pound average and finished in the top 5 in all of them. I have been catching some decent quality but the quantity has been down which is typical for Aug. fishing. Take a look at my recent catch pics and you will see a near 10lber that we caught last weekend.....
I am looking forward to the fish starting to return to the shallow with the shorter days coming. The Frog bite should start heating up soon. Stay tuned,,,,
Current Patterns -
Shallow: Topwaters such as Frogs, and Zara Spooks produce some fish in the early morning or low light conditions around the duck weed grass and some of the salt cedar flats. It is inconsistent but if you keep at it every morning you will find a few cooperative fish. I have been switching to El Grande Hatch-Match sticks when the sun comes up and continue to catch some quality fish in the duck weed grass around the 8-15 foot range but it is very sporadic and and seems to be spot specific.
Mid-Depth: I have been working 10' worms around the 10 - 30 foot drops that still have green hydrilla on them to catch some nice bags of fish. Usually if you can find the green hydrilla you will get some bites, but if you can find it deeper... then the better quality fish you can catch using this strategy.
Deep: The fish on the drop-shot are still available in the 30-50 foot range but seem to be on the smaller side and it is my opinion that most of the deep water fish that are usually on the hard breaks seem to be suspended up with the bait over 30-40 feet of water in the 8-15 foot zones. It makes those fish fairly hard to catch with consistency.
You can find some schooling fish over the 25-35 foot range and although they tend to be on the small side they can create some quick fun!
