December 31, 2012
Lake Amistad has been fishing pretty dang good over the past 3 weeks. Typical outings have fish catch rates of 20+ and on occasion 30+ fish. Some better quality fish are beginning to show up more often as well. (See recent catch pics) Water temps have turned colder and are now in the low to mid 50’s this final week of 2012 with extreme lows of 49 degrees in the backs of some creeks and highs of 57 on the main lake. The water level is currently dropping at a rate of about 4 inches per day since late last week and rumors are that it will fall at least 5-6 feet before stabilizing again. Lake level is currently 1079.33 which is 37.67 feet below conservation pool. The major announcement from the NPS this week is that Blackbrush Boat Ramp is now closed.
Current Patterns -
Shallow: I have been staying shallow around the remaining hydrilla grass flats and if you concentrate around areas that have a slight drop (5-10 feet) at the edge of the flat you will be very successful, particularly with better quality fish. The Ima Rock-N-Vibe in Hot Craw and a Red-Eye shad in Red colors have been best producers the last few days. We are also still having good success on Square bill crankbaits and Ima Flit 120 jerkbaits.
Mid-Depth: Points around the edges of large flats have also been productive. The Football Jig bite has been good on some days and others they just want to pounce on it. Mid depth drop offs have produced well in the 15-25 foot range. Finding the ledges that drop from 5-25 feet are key to producing consistent fish in this depth zone. Crankbaits around the mid-depth ledges continue to provide good results as well.
Deep: Being near some deep drops (40-60 feet) are showing signs of more consistent catches this week. But most of the bites are still coming in that 15-20 foot range along these deep drops. Idling around the really deep ledges to find this situation can be worth some exploration. This is especially true with the water temps potentially staying consistently cold with the chilly long term forecast ahead.
See you on the Lake!
Kurt
