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West Texas

HotSPOTLight: Lake Possum Kingdom

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LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry
HOTSPOT: Coves passed Gobbler Creek
GPS: N 33 2.195, W 101 6.359
(33.0366, -101.1060)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass
BEST BAITS: Crankbaits, worms
TIPS: Fish Senkos or Texas rigged soft plastic worms; early morning, late evening.

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LOCATION: Lake Arrowhead
HOTSPOT: Shoshone Park
GPS: N 33 40.562, W 98 26.702
(33.6760, -98.4450)

SPECIES: Catfish
BEST BAITS: Shad, nightcrawlers
TIPS: Fish after a rain with live shad or nightcrawlers; productive all day.

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LOCATION: Lake Cisco
HOTSPOT: Brush Pile Site 10
GPS: N 32 26.7564, W 98 59.0855
(32.4459, -98.9848)

SPECIES: Largemouth bass, Crappie
BEST BAITS: Largemouth bass
TIPS: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department with the help of City of Cisco and the Still Waters Bass Club, has deployed Christmas tree brush piles in Cisco Reservoir. This particular location features both a rock pile and a brush pile in the lake arm near the dam. The rocky and woody structure should aggregate prey fish and largemouth bass to this location and should increase angler catch rates.

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LOCATION: Lake Granbury
HOTSPOT: Twin Humps Near Town
GPS: N 32 26.404 W 97 46.977
(32 26.404, -97 46.977)

SPECIES: Black and White Crappie
BEST BAITS: Small minnows, small crappie jigs in blue ice or electric chicken colors.
TIPS: Fish near deeper docks and timber. Look for scattered fish around structure (bridge pilings) and try a variety of depths to get the bite. Granbury water temperatures are in the 80’s and the summer patterns are in place. The Texas heat has begun, and the majority of fishing will generally be reserved for early and late. Crappie are in their summer pattern and are excellent on small minnows and jigs fished near deeper structure and deeper docks.

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LOCATION: Kirby Lake
HOTSPOT: Dam
GPS: N 32 23.1205, W 99 44.0777
(32.3853, -99.7346)

SPECIES: Catfish
BEST BAITS: Live or cut carp, sunfish, punch baits
TIPS: Kirby Lake is a catfishing gem in the Big Country. The reservoir is home to productive blue and flathead catfish. While winds often blow from the south toward the dam, rigging your line heavy will allow you to cast in the windiest of days. Fishing off the dam can yield a catch of a large fish hanging out in the deeper waters. Cut carp, shad, or sunfish on slip sinker, three-way, or slip bobber rigs work well for landing big blues. However, use of live 3-5” carp or live sunfish works well for landing flatheads. Punch baits, cut shad, and carp also work well for landing smaller fish. Be sure to use heavy test line and round sinkers to avoid getting snagged on the rocks too badly—it’s going to happen.

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LOCATION: Lake Possum Kingdom
HOTSPOT: The Y
GPS: N 32 51.404 W 98 28.299
(32.856733, -98.471651)

SPECIES: Striped bass
BEST BAITS: Trolling and some live bait.
TIPS: Fish will be in late spring early summer patterns with Water temps in the 70-80° range. This is somewhat of a transition phase. Early morning and late evening will be the best times. Fishing live bait will produce some fish, but the fish should be starting to hit jigs predominantly. Look in 20-40 feet of water. You should start to see a thermocline on your fish finder around 30 feet. Fish will typically not be below that. It is possible to see some schooling action early in the morning and late in the day, so keep a topwater handy. Just about any white or chrome topwater will work when they do school. Jigs and spoons also work great when the fish are schooling.

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