[fishytx]

Water temp. west side of the lake was in the low 70’s-- east side -- I didn’t even look at it, my bad.
Wind -- light breeze out of the N when I first got there. Then it switched around to the NE, to E.  The wind switched around so many times I’m not really sure which direction it was coming from any more. But it did cause some major water currents in the coves as it switched around, that I did see.
Water clarity 3 to 4 feet.
Water level still pretty low.
Aquatic Vegetation is horrible right now. Most of the grass is dead or in a process of it.
Spent 5 hrs. on the water and put 6 bass in the boat.
Reason for this trip was to experiment and concentrate on the bigger fish.

To begin with, this trip started out with disaster written all over it. Contacted six different people to see if they would like to wet a line. One was on the water, and one was on his way to the lake. Two others had just fished the day before and the other two had things they needed to take care of. So I thought, what the heck, I’ll go solo and I’ll try out some new things on the water. I get to the boat ramp and I start unhooking the boat from the trailer and I hear a air leaking noise. Look down at my trailer tire and it’s half flat. As I’m taking care of this issue, I got this strange idea in my head that maybe the guy up stairs was trying to deliver a message to me and I should go back home, but I ignored it and went fishing anyways.

I spent 98% of my time in 12 to 18 feet of water throwing a DD-16 up into 8 feet of water on secondary points. I tried several primary points, but couldn’t find any takers, so I went back to fishing secondary points.  I also threw a heave C/R for a short period of time, but gave it up. I also threw a little T/R plastic around some timber and caught one fish. It was then when I realized that I had gone back to my old way of fishing this lake, so I put that rod up and moved back out onto the secondary points to continue on with my little escapade. I ended up with a total of six fish in the slot for the day, with the biggest one weighing in around 4lbs. I really don’t feel like I learned anything new, but I gave it an honest effort.

 

[basstrack]

Thanks for the report. It's always hard to stay with a game plan, especially when that plan is different than what you are used to doing. When I was out there the day before I noticed the decomp of the plant life. Nasty stuff.

 

[RO]

Are they still putting herbicide in there to kill the hydrilla? Used to be way better fishing before they started that. Sometimes the only place you can find good grass after a treatment is at the furthest point away from the plant, back in three fingers/pekema creek. Maybe they put less poison in that cove. Thanks for the report.

 

[fishytx]

After taking a closer look at this tire, perhaps the man above was not trying to send me a message after all, maybe he was looking over me instead.  I normally travel to the lake at speeds of 65 to 70 mph as I am a little over anxious to get on the water, but yet I drive around 60 mph on the way home.  So this could have had a much worse scenario than what it did.

Good Year Marathon?  This is the second one that has gone bad on me. It almost looks like the steel belts separated and let go. The tire in the pictures is a five year old tire, but look at all the good tread still on it. I monitor tire pressure all the time and I also have them rebalanced about every eighteen months just to be on the safe side. Hmmm?

 

[fishytx]

Are they still putting herbicide in there to kill the hydrilla? Used to be way better fishing before they started that. Sometimes the only place you can find good grass after a treatment is at the furthest point away from the plant, back in three fingers/pekema creek. Maybe they put less poison in that cove. Thanks for the report.

They could have because the hydrilla in this lake just started growing again in the later part of late summer and early fall. But I have asked around about this issue in the past I can not get an answer from any one to confirm if they spray this lake or not. If they do spray this lake, then why don’t they just spray Bastrop too? It has a lot more grass in it than Fayette does. The grass in Fayette doesn’t really seem to cause a threat to the intake, so I don’t know. I think the grass in Fayette is just simply going through it’s normal life cycle. But on the other hand, I have noticed a lot of loose grass on the surface of Fayette and Bastrop in the past couple of month. So who knows, and good luck on finding out the truth.

 

[NSpannTx]

[quote author=3F202C3F3C38243E4D0 link=1233851064/0#2 date=1233853887]Are they still putting herbicide in there to kill the hydrilla?  Used to be way better fishing before they started that.  Sometimes the only place you can find good grass after a treatment is at the furthest point away from the plant, back in three fingers/pekema creek.  Maybe they put less poison in that cove.  Thanks for the report.

They could have because the hydrilla in this lake just started growing again in the later part of late summer and early fall. But I have asked around about this issue in the past I can not get an answer from any one to confirm if they spray this lake or not. If they do spray this lake, then why don’t they just spray Bastrop too? It has a lot more grass in it than Fayette does. The grass in Fayette doesn’t really seem to cause a threat to the intake, so I don’t know. I think the grass in Fayette is just simply going through it’s normal life cycle. But on the other hand, I have noticed a lot of loose grass on the surface of Fayette and Bastrop in the past couple of month. So who knows, and good luck on finding out the truth.
[/quote]

We dont spray Fayette I know that for a fact, and I"m fairly certain they dont spray Bastrop.
I'll tell anyone who ask me what I know about any issues on Fayette. I"ve never been asked about this......
Its just the normal cycle. The water gets cold the grass dies off.....it will be back soon. The lake is low and some dies...the level comes back up the dead grass is matted on top.
I'm still finding lots of grass so I dont know how y'all are saying all the grass is going away?

 

[RO]

Here's a link about previous treatments on Fayette:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1292/

 

[NSpannTx]

Here's a link about previous treatments on Fayette:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1292/

I never said they didnt in the past because I know they did but we havent sprayed in recent times. I've been there for 10 years and I know they havent since I've been there.

 

[RO]

I'm glad to hear they're not doing it any more. I wonder if the marine naiad species is more susceptible to cool cycles than hydrilla. Back when hydrilla was dominant (esp. early 80s), it was thick on main lake points all over the lake all through the winter. Just a theory. Any botanists out there to shed light?

 

[fishytx]

Oh I found a little green grass every now and then, but not very much. Plus I wasn't beating the banks to death this time either, I was out away from the banks, at least fifty yards or better. But the few times I did get close to the shore line I didn’t see the grass that I’m use to seeing is all. And on numerous occasions I had to remove decade grass from my crank. Old nasty looking black crap., brown as well. I’m sure it’s just a normal cycle. I’ll just have to start fishing the timber area or rip rap a little more is all.

Yeah I have no clue where people come up with the idea that they spray these lakes, because I’ve asked around before and I have to yet to get an answer one way or the other.

 

[lunker-hunter]

I wouldn't figure the grass on fayette or bastrop would die off because of water temps which are normally higher than most due to the plants, but possibly the shorter days during the winter months, but I think the days are already getting longer, so who knows?

 

[fishytx]

Four to five years ago I use to catch a lot of fish in the six to seven pound range with an eight pound fish every now and then. Now I'm doing good to catch a five pound fish. This is why I'm trying out some different stuff on this lake. I got to find where the bigger fish are feeding and what they are willing to bite on. They may have moved up into the reeds since the reeds have managed to migrate so far out into the lake in the past four years. But any how, I intend to keep on looking till I find the bigger ones. I don’t think I caught anything over six pounds out of this lake last year.

 

[Firefly]

you think higher fishing pressures have anything to do w/ it? it seems as though it would. The smaller fish that is.

 

[RO]

I haven't been to Fayette in over a year, so no recent data, but last year this time we found the bigger fish deep on submerged structure like tank dams. These were caught on the tank just outside the stand of flooded cedars on the east side. My son and I doubled on a 4 and 6, then I got an 8 half an hour later. My favorite baits are green gold flake lizard and motoroil or green worm on 1/4 T-rig. Even during the "spawn" it seems some of the bigger fish are in 20-30 ft of water. Go figure.

 

[bassfantastic]

Good report Doug. We need to get together soon.

Sorry about the tire.

Jim ;D

 

[tipitina]

Hey fishy with the tire... If your tires are blowing like that you should replace them.... steel belts and tires on trailers go out way before you think the tread shows... Trust me... I blew 2 tires about 6 years old and the discount guy told me replace all 4.... something about loads and not used as much and blah blah blah.... I feel safer now nonetheless.... mine went out just like that one.... safety on the road just as important on the water.... the $60 some odd dollars each tire well worth the piece of mind... think how much you spend on rods and reels.... and we all like to replace those after 5 years my .02 cents