April 14- 2008- Fishing Report Reel um N Guide Service By Lynn Atkinson 04/13/08 Sam Rayburn is at 164.46 ft and has continued to come up this week. The water temperature has been around 62,rising in the afternoon. The water color is clear for the most part with a little more stain in the upper river and creeks . The Ayish Bayou has been a little more off color. This week we've been down south and back up north. On one trip south we got drenched all day long and caught only small fish. Around lunch we headed in for some dry clothes, lunch and hot coffee. Feeling much better we headed out again. This time we fished a different area. After putting a pattern together and knowing the area has been fished hard we looked at it in a different way. That look helped us decide to move to an area that gets overlooked a lot. Wow did we get into them! Cast after cast we must have caught 35 fish. I can't say that we made a big change in our style of fishing but we did change areas. After a couple of days the pattern fell apart and we were in a world of hurt again. We did make another trip down south and with a lot of running and checking spots we did find some fish and lost 2 big ones. I know, fish stories and tall tales, it all smells. We'd been working down several banks looking for fish when I dropped the bait down and pulled up on it. Wouldn't you know I set the hook in a "stump" with the rod bowed. I just held it there and then it took off yanking the rod down and pulling drag . I could tell the drag was to tight and let it off just a little, then it just turned loose. I quickly tightened it back up and that's when it locked up again and she straightened the hook. After checking the drag and making adjustments that felt good it was back to fishing. After a few more casts WAM! Another good bite and it made a run for deep water. That's when the reel did it again, it just locked up and out came the hook. I will be getting a new reel next time. I had been having a little trouble with it, but now it cost me a few nice fish. We moved out of the area to save the fish for later this week. I hope that one of my clients catch her this weekend. "New Video on the website!!" This week we caught some big slabs on lipless crankbaits over the grass in the flats and a few in the brush piles. It seems they are moving in and should be ready in the next few weeks if the weather will stabilize. I hope to get the "Contest for the Free Guide Trip On Big Sam" going this week so make sure you keep an eye out . If you need to get away for the day and do a little fishing or would like to check out The Bass Class on the Water and get some great tips that will help you on any lake give me a call. Thanks and God Bless Lynn Atkinson srayburn@rayburncountry.com www.rayburncountry.com Home 936-897-3400 Cell 979-220-0251