Pineywoods Region Week of March 19, 2025

B.A. Steinhagen

FAIR. Water stain; 60 degrees; 0.57 feet below pool. Very few anglers on the water. Expect fish to start pushing shallow as the water warms.

Bob Sandlin

GOOD. Water stained; 50 degrees; 0.46 feet above pool. Water clarity has been 1-2 feet in northern coves. Wind has been pushing bait along banks at the first half of coves. Fish are schooling up under bait, and can be caught with Alabama rigs, spinnerbaits, spoons, and underspins. Docks in 10-12 feet of water are also good with squarebill crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service. Look for small male bass around sandy banks in mouths of coves. Small streamers and craw patterns should produce bass. Crappie and catfish should be moving shallow when the weather stabilizes, wooly buggers should work well. Slow-sinking small fish patterns might work well. Clousers on sunny rocky shores might draw a strike. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service.

Caddo

SLOW. Water stained; 58 degrees; 1.35 feet above pool. The bass are spawning and the bite is good. Numbers of bass can be caught around the trees with swimbaits, swimjigs, chatterbaits or with slow presentation flukes or wacky style senkos. Old school folks can swim a lizard around these trees for some fun this time of year. The frog bite and pop r bite is only weeks away as the fish guarding their fry will blow up on those top water baits. The water level is good, but the salvina can be an issue in some places in the backwaters. Wind can be your friend, so if it is a southwest 20 mph day grab that chatterbait and hit every tree you can. Remember to throw your bait past the tree and swim to it, do not throw directly at the tree with a big splash as you will not get bit that way because it spooks the fish. Report provided by Vince Richards, Caddo Lake Fishing & Fellowship.

Conroe

GREAT. Water stained; 63 degrees; 0.01 feet above pool. Eater catfish are good in baited areas from 10-40 feet deep with Catfish Bubblegum, liver, worms, and punchbait. Drifting natural baits on wind blown flats can produce as well. Bass are good as most have bedded up. Now is the time for novices to look like pros. Crappie have been off and on pushed up shallow one day then out to 24 feet of water the next day. Report by Bradley Doyle, Bradley’s Guide Service. Hybrids are now back to jigging or live bait on flats in 14-33 feet of water. Always wear your life jacket! Report by Mike Cason, Fishical Therapy.

Fork

GOOD. Water Stained; 57 degrees; 0.27 feet below pool. Fork : Water Temps 54-65 Fish are moving up to spawning areas. Those not spawning can be caught on Chatter Baits and spinner baits in 1-3 ft. Senko and Flukes along the edge of grass are good in 1-2 ft. Texas rigs and Viper XP Jigs are good in 2-5 ft on weeds and big stumps. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Catching small bass shallow with bait fish streamers. Larger females will become more active as warm days continue around structure and brush. The crappie should be moving shallow and Wooly buggers can be a good choice. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Lake Fork water temperatures are headed upward, hopefully for good this week. There are tons of prespawn crappie and some active spawning fish. You can find fish shallow in the afternoons and that should get better all day long this week. Lots of fish are still to be found in the 6-20 feet range. This week there were numbers of roaming crappie not relating to structure. Hand tied jigs, soft plastics and minnows all will work now if you get the bait close to the fish. Recent rains still have the north ends of the lake muddy or stained, so you need to focus on getting bait right on fish. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

Houston County

SLOW. Water stained; 59 degrees; 0.40 feet above pool. Fishing patterns are similar. Expect fish to begin transitioning to shallow water to stage for the spawn. Target bass with Carolina rigs and rattle traps. Crappie can be caught with jigs or minnows.

Lake O' the Pines

FAIR. Water slightly stained; 55 degrees; 0.82 feet above pool. Water clarity has been 1-2 feet in northern coves. Wind has been pushing bait along banks at the first half of coves. Bass are schooling up under bait, and can be caught with Alabama rigs, spinnerbaits, spoons, and underspins. Docks in 10-12 feet of water are also good with squarebill crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits. Some bass are related to grass hitting shad and bluegill colored bladed jigs. Report by Blake Doughtie, Lake Country Lunkers Lures and Guide Service.

Livingston

GOOD. normal stain; 64 degrees; 0.01 feet above pool. White bass are on the way back from the creeks and making their way back to the main lake. Some are still spawning but are about to finish up. Throwing white or chartreuse tail spinners is landing fish. Water in the creeks is 68 degrees and main lake is 64 degrees. Report by Michael Richardson, Lake Livingston Adventures.

Martin Creek

GOOD. Water slightly stained; 64 degrees; 0.09 above pool. Bass are fair on light colored bladed jigs, underspin swimbaits and redbug colored worms. Crappie are good in 10-20 feet of water suspended over brush. Minnows and shad colored pintail jigs are working well. White bass are good off points in the discharge area with small jigging spoons. Catfish are good at the discharge using live and cut bait. Report by Hambone Guide Service.

Nacogdoches

GOOD. Water stained; 58 degrees; 0.03 feet above pool. Largemouth bass are excellent in 3-5 feet of water on stick baits and bladed jigs. Crappie are excellent roaming in large groups on brush piles in 5-10 feet of water with chartreuse jigs. Catfish are fair on live minnows or cut bait. The water clarity is muddy. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.

Naconiche

GOOD. Water stained; 64 degrees; 0.50 feet above pool. Strong winds created some tough fishing conditions. Some fish can be found in heavy grass with a weightless fluke. Female bass are starting to parade just outside the spawning grounds. A large glide-bait can be slow, but also could be the chance for a personal best. Crappie population is good. Catfish are slow. Report by Eric Wolfe, NacoTack Fishing Services. Largemouth bass are excellent with green pumpkin wacky rigs up shallow, or light Carolina rigs. Crappie are slow while fish are in a transition. Catfish are slow on live minnows around fishing docks. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.

Pinkston

FAIR. normal stain; 58 degrees. Largemouth bass are good on small swimbaits and wacky rigs in 5-8 feet of water. Crappie are slow on live minnows. Catfish are fair on cut bait. Report by Cal Cameron, Cal’s ETX Guide Service.

Raven

SLOW. Water light stain; 55 degrees. Fishing is very slow, with no reports of any catches across the board. Water conditions are rough and the lake is stirred up due to strong winds this week. Cool morning temperatures and warm afternoon temperatures are in the forecast for the next week, so fishing should improve.

Sam Rayburn

SLOW. Water stained; 62 degrees; 0.76 feet above pool. Water continues to slowly drop. Bass are on beds in some pockets. Bass can be caught flipping into brush and trees with rattle traps. Crappie are moving shallow to set up on beds. Catfish are in 6-15 feet of water in creek bends and on structures. A few white bass are roaming the points and brush. Report by Captain Lynn Atkinson, Reel Um N Guide Service.

Toledo Bend

SLOW. Water stained; 60 degrees; 1.24 feet below pool. Bass are good with many fish in 1-6 feet of water biting senkos, wacky worms and Texas rigged lizards.

Tyler

GOOD. Water normal stain; 67 degrees; 0.20 feet above pool. Crappie are fair to good in shallow water on minnows and jigs. Catfish are slow in 5-6 feet of water. Bass are in 5-6 feet of water and in 12 feet of water. Bass are in pre-spawn pattern. Bream are slow on red worms. Report by The Boulders at Lake Tyler. With the third full moon behind us the bass are getting ready to make and get on beds. Males are shallow and feeding heavily, and the larger females are right behind them. Good bass caught all the way up the submerged grass on the edge of the water but are not quite on beds yet. Look for the larger females to be holding off on the first depth change leading into the coves and spawning flats as well as tucked under boat houses waiting to spawn. Square bills, Spinnerbaits and weightless plastics will be the best bite but don't overlook the early topwater bite as well! The Crappie bite is good, and fish are being caught from 15 feet in the creek channels all the way into the grass depending on which area of the lake you are fishing. The 64 bridge and twin bridges have fish very shallow while the south ends of the lake are a week or two behind them on the pattern. Minnows on slip floats are outperforming jigs for crappie. Catfish are fair in 5-15 feet as they also work towards their spawning areas on live bait and nightcrawlers. Report by Holton Walker, Holton Walker Fishing.

Welsh

FAIR. Water stained. 60 degrees. A few reports and anglers on the water.

Wright Patman

SLOW. Water stained; 55 degrees; 5.14 feet above pool. Expect the bite to improve and fish to push shallow. Catfish are fair. Bass are slow, but should be staging to spawn. Crappie are staged on brush in 8-12 feet getting ready to spawn.

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