Lake O' the Pines
Published: Updated:
Lake O' the Pines Fishing Reports
Filter by
Sort by
Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Shakey Heads
Structure
Rock Pile
Water Temperature
49°
Species
CrappieSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Vertical Jigging 20'+
Structure
Standing Timber
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
43°
Lake of the Pines, Texas is one of the best wintertime crappie lakes in America. They love big baits at this lake. 3” baits and big ¼ lead heads during low light conditions (early morning and right before sunset). There are two lakes in the country where crappie hit the bait extremely hard, in my opinion (Pines and Lake Fork). The fish nose right up the standing timber in this lake, I’ve been catching on the timber during the winter months at Lake of The Pines for over 25 years. This is one reason I make the 8-hour drive down to this lake; I love catching them our of the standing timber. The black crappie always seems to be higher in the water column, usually down 10’ – 15’ where the big white crappie are down 16’ to the bottom. But still nosed up right on the timber. For me, Texas is the king of winter time crappie fishing!
Species
CrappieSeason
Winter
Technique
Crappie Spider Rigging
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
49°
Drifting in open water fishing about 1 to 2 foot off the bottom using live minnow . To catch the larger crappie either use larger minnows or use 1/16 ounces crappie jig tipped with the smaller minnows.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Reeds
Forage
Shad
Warming temps brings fish to mouth of spawning pockets with cover.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Ned Rigs
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Shad
I went out on the lake on 02/18/22 to practice for a collegiate tournament with my tournament partner. The weather started off cold in the morning with outside air temperatures in the low 30's and then warming up to the low 50's later in the day. There was almost no wind at all, and it was bright and sunny all day. The water temperature throughout the day ranged from 48 to 54 degrees and there was about 1.5 to 2 feet of visibility throughout the areas of the lake we checked. We caught 8 fish total and had a 5 fish limit of around 13 pounds fishing offshore rock piles in 10 to 20 feet of water with a Ned Rig and a Jig, as well as utilizing our forward facing sonar to catch some on an Alabama Rig. Later in the day when the sun got up and warmed up the water, we were also able to catch some on the bridges with a ned rig and the rip rap along the dam with a weightless tube style bait. All in all it was a good day of practice and we hope to catch a big bag in our tournament tomorrow, wish us luck. As always, thank you for reading my reports! Check out the picture attached to the report to see a pretty nice spotted bass I caught early in the morning on a rockpile!
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Structure Jigs
Structure
Rock Pile
Forage
Shad
I fished the Collegiate Bass Trail of Texas event on Pines on 02/19/22. After catching about 12-13 pounds in practice the day before, the tournament day was unfortunately a little tougher, and my partner and I were only able to put together a small limit for 10.91 pounds, which had us finishing probably somewhere in the middle of the field in a field of around 60 boats. We caught all of our fish dragging jigs and ned rigs and working a weightless yamamota fat Ika on underwater bridges and roadbeds in anywhere from 10 to 20 feet of water. The weather was sunny with basically no wind all day, with temperatures in the mid 20's in the morning and warming up into the high 60's later in the day. The water temperature throughout the portion of the lake we fished ranged from 49 to 55 degrees and the water visibility was between 1.5 to 2 feet. The bite was slow as we only caught 7 fish total all day and were fortunate to land the 5 keepers that we did to fill out our limit. You had to be extremely precise on your casts and work your bait extremely slow and methodically to get them to bite, but when they did bite, they got the bait good. It was a fun tournament and I thank you all for reading my report. The picture included is the picture of our limit we weighed in the tournament. Tight lines everyone!
Species
CrappieSeason
Winter
Technique
Vertical Jigging 10-19'
Structure
Brush Piles
null
Species
CrappieSeason
Winter
Technique
Vertical Jigging 10-19'
Structure
Brush Piles
Forage
Shad
Fish in 9 foot drop offers into 16 feet were the brush piles are..
Species
CrappieSeason
Fall
Technique
Vertical Jigging 10-19'
Structure
Brush Piles
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
55°
Go early before the wind starts blowing hard so you can control your boat position.
