January is one of the best months to catch numbers of bass and always those Big Sam Giant bass! With the lake level being 155.80 at the first of January this has the lake level down around nine feet. With the lake being this low you really need to watch your Humminbird GPS with your Navionics chip. Most of the high spots on your chip have from no water to about 6 to 9” on top, so while running on both ends of the lake you really need to keep your eye on your GPS. When running north from Twin Dykes when you cross the main part of the lake heading north towards the 147 bridge, you need to stay on either the east side or the west side of the lake. Rayburn Park is on the east side of the lake and that is the area with all the flooded tress, so best to run towards Rayburn Park point then run towards the next big point in front of you, witch is the Colmen point south of Veach Basin.
With all that being said you know when the lake level is down this will have the bass grouped up! There is good grass all over the lake it is just not deep, most of the grass edges is from 5 to 8 feet. This is a great area to start off with your PG144-7'0" or PG104-7'6" casting a lipless baits, like Sebile Flatt Shad, Red Eye Shad or Rat-l-Trap. Rayburn reds are always a great color to start with, but always keep an eye on the water color. When the water is clear stay with your silver colors and when water is stain go with more gold dark colors. The other great bait to use in this same area is a ¼ or ½ Lateral Perch, colors on the perch work the same as the lipless baits. But keep in mind on the Perch colors that watermelon red is always a great color on Big Sam. TX rigged lizard and baby brush hog with your PG144-7'0" works great on the edge of the grass, and also slow rolling a Cyclone ½ or ¾ oz spinnerbait with your PG104-7'6" off the edge of the grass. There will be a lot of fish on main lake points in 12 to 18 feet of water, this is a good time to use your PG104.5-7'6" rigged with a Carolina rig, with either a lizard or brush hog. This area will work great using a 1 ¼ Lateral Perch with your PG104-7'6" or PG104.5-7'6" both of these sticks are great for fishing the perch in deep water. 
While at the lake make sure to stop by Needmore Tackle Store on the south end of the lake on Hwy 255 for all your favorite baits and a full line of Lateral Perch.
Stephen Johnston

Stephen Johnston
234 Beechwood Loop
Hemphill, Texas 75948
(409)579-4213; home
(409)670-5856; mobile
www.JohnstonFishing.com