(Jul. 22, 2011 - Tyler, TX) August usually brings very low water conditions and looks like this year will be a record breaker if we don't get rain soon. Lake Palestine is at this time very close to four feet low and dropping and Lake Fork is close to the 4 1/2 foot range. Bass have been good up to eight pounds on Lake Palestine, Crappie are a bit slow, Hybrids and sand bass are picking up some now and catfish are good.

Here are a few tips on how to find and catch bass in August.

Bass during the morning can be caught up near the shore line on spinner baits, my famous Shimmy Shakers, top waters, small crank baits, baby brush hogs rigged with a split shot and my Diamond Head Jigs. I will fish the shallows early and fish any brush pile, drainage ditch or small creek I can find. When I can find any type of grass I will spend a good bit of time here with the plastic worm working it very slow. Another thing I will do is fish the deeper brush piles around the docks with my Diamond head jigs and I will catch some very nice bass this way.

As the day go's on and the sun gets higher in the sky I will locate deeper water where I have deep water brush piles. I will also look for creek channels and here I will throw big deep diving crank baits over and across them, working the bends of the creeks and all edges of the brush. Fishing this way requires you to fish very slow spending a lot of time in one area and covering it well and if you do this you could go home with some very good catches.

On Lake Fork we don't have as many boat docks as on Lake Palestine but docks can be very good.

Lake Fork is a lake that holds many large bass and they can be found in a number of ways but my favorite two ways to catch bass on the Fork is to fish big crank baits along the main lake tree lines where we find water depths of 20 to 25 feet and the big trees on the main lake points. Another way I like to fish for the trophy Large mouth bass is to get out on the main lake humps. I will use my Lowrance fish locater to find the small bar fish and where I find Bar fish I will find big bass. The way I will fish the deep water humps to use a swim bait in about a 3/8's oz. Size and cast it out to let it sink down to the bottom and then swim it back to the boat very slow. I will fish the humps from one end of them to the other. I will mark the humps with marker buoys on all four corners if possible this will help to fish the hump very good not missing any action that may be there.

For those of you that like to bass fish only but can't handle the August heat I will be doing some night trips on Friday nights. Fishing at night sometimes may be a bit slower on the action but you can still have some nights where you catch as many as you would during the day and some really big bass as well. When fishing at night we will throw a lot of plastic worms and some spinner baits and we will fish slow and cover all the water we fish making sure we don't miss any key spots.

White bass and Hybrids have been good early and late on the points with Rat-l-traps and my Dimple Spoons. When the whites are on the surface throw the rat-l-traps and when they go down then go to my Dimple Spoon it will catch the larger fish down deep.

Catfish can be caught out along the river and in brushy spots where you find humps. I like to bait up my spots with range cubes and Milo and sowered Milo works well to. The bait of choice is fresh chicken liver. I will rig up with either a small wide gap bass hook or a treble hook. The treble hook will keep the bait on better but tends to hang up more. I will drop straight down beside my boat and let my bait go to the bottom and I will leave it there until mister catfish finds it. Normally when you get the catfish to bite you will be able to catch big numbers.

If you are coming to Lake Palestine or Lake Fork fishing and need a guide then give me a call and we will do our best to show you a time of your life while fishing with Ricky's Guide Service.

Until next month remember that if we don't protect our lakes and our fish then there won't be any for our kids when they grow up. So keep only keep the fish you can use and release the others to fight another day.

Good Luck And Good Fishing

Ricky Vandergrif

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