December has been a crazy start, we have more water in the lake than ever before in the month of December. The other is that we received snow in some area of the lake, lots of SNOW, yes I said it right snow on Toledo Bend. Some area of the lake the first week of December received up to 3inch that stayed around a few days. The lake level is about foot below normal that has the lake at 171.00. The lake is about three feet high for this time of the year, at this time they are running both generators 24 hrs and 7 days a week. They do have the flood gates closed at this time but if we do get anymore rain they will open the gates back up to help control the level.
On the fishing side of things, with the lake being high this has the edge of the grass in 18 to 22 feet of water, and with all the grass it has kept the lake clear. Fish are being caught on the edge of the grass on TX rigged worm and Falcon football jigs. I have been keeping the boat around 25 to 27 feet and casting towards the edge of the grass. Best to use your PG104 or PG104.5 for the TX rig or football. On the cloudy days the fish will stay off the grass and you can crank a Sebile crankbait in a 12 to 15 foot diver, best color or shad and perch. My favorite way to catch lot’s of fish this time of the month is to use your Hummingbird side image and find the shad on the edge of the tree lines or on creeks bends. These fish will be from 28 to 35 feet of water. Best to use your PG144 with a slap spoon. Once you have found the shad then but your boat on top of the shad and let your spoon go all the way to the bottom. On the colder days I will only jerk the spoon about 6 inches off the bottom. On the warmer days I will jerk the spoon up to three feet of the bottom. Spoon fishing is one of the funniest ways to catch lots of fish on Toledo Bend.
Keep your eye on the weather while on the lake and make sure not to be caught by one of those big colds fronts. Have a safe time fishing Toledo Bend.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hope everyone catches bigger fish in 2010.

Stephen Johnston

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