Fishing Report for Largemouth Bass using Structure Jigs in Spring (Pre-Spawn)

Item: Toledo Bend Reservoir
Author: T-White

T-White

Blue Ambassador

1/17/22

Toledo Bend Reservoir

Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Structure Jigs
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Shad

I went out to the lake with my tournament partner on 01/14/22 to practice for a tournament originally scheduled for the next day but eventually postponed due to the wind forecast. It was our first time ever on the lake, so we were just trying to cover water and test a multitude of patterns until we found one to run with. The outside temperature that day was in the 40's in the morning and got up to 71 degrees later in the day, with water temps across the mid lake area ranging from 56 to 60 degrees. The water was moderately stained with about a foot to a foot and a half of visibility, and there was a light northwest wind with bright sunny skies. Early in the morning when the outside air temperature was colder, the bite was slower as we only caught 2 fish in the first 3 hours fishing a bank with some cypress trees with a chatterbait and a bridge point with a 2.5 squarebill. Later in the day, we moved out of the creeks and focused on main lake bridge pilings with a jig and jerkbait with some success, and then eventually we landed on a rockpile in 7-12 feet of water where we were able to catch a respectable bag working a jig. This rock pile was right outside of a spawning cove and I believe the fish we were catching were prespawn fish staging to eventually go up and spawn when the water warms up a bit more. I have attached a photo of the biggest fish we caught that day, a 6 pounder my buddy caught off the rock pile on a jig. It seemed like the lake was fishing relatively well despite being down 3.5 feet. As long as you can see bait on your graph while idling around it seemed like there were bass close by. We caught fish and saw bait on the graph near the main lake as well as in the backs of creeks, so the fish are really spread out right now, at least in the section of the lake we were fishing. Thank you all for reading my report and go catch some tanks!