Reported: Friday, April 16, 2004 at 12:30:32 (CDT)

The Fun Tournament that was scheduled for April 17 has been canceled, and future tournaments are on hold until both Roy Rapavi (lake manager) and Munger give the green light that the kill of over and that fish can be caught.

Reported: Monday, March 29, 2004 at 07:06:51 (CST)

Golden Algae Hits again
Sad to report that another outbreak of Golden Algae has shut down the fishing at Lake Baylor.

On March 13, 14 The High Plains Bass Club fishes for two days without a bass being caught. On March 20th, A Fun Fishing Tournament with only 45 contestants tried both Baylor and Childress, but not a fish was caught. Not a little fish, NOT one single FISH. For the second year, Baylor Lake is threatened by Golden Algae and since it recovered quickly last year we are hopeful that it will recover quickly this year. However, I suggest waiting until there is a good fishing report before anglers head to any lake where the fish are not biting. TPW page about golden algae outbreaks is http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/hab/ga/status.phtml They also have a pretty good page that gives the "official" line concerning GA. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/hab/ga/.  If something isn't done quickly, fresh water fishing as we know it, will never be the same. The number of dead fish continue to grow and grow. It has been 20 years since GA was first confirmed. TWENTY YEARS !!

Maybe when GA hits Lake Austin, something will be done about it.

Reported: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 at 15:19:19 (CST)

Spring Update
Knowing that Fishing Fever will strike hundreds of local fishermen. I have dug through the my dusty fishing records and here are the top fish catching lures that have caught bass during the early spring conditions at Lake Baylor, our local lake that warms up the earliest.

One note of warning before you head off to any lake: Be sure to take an extra winter coat, and don’t go fishing without wearing a good life jacket. Accidentally falling out the boat into the cold water is an experience that can kill a person. Water in the 40's can paralyze the body and cause the mind to panic. Spring fishing is definitely the time to take a buddy with you. Also, pay attention the weather because our region is famous for those late season arctic blasts can turn a routine fishing trip into a survival event.

Back to the lures that have historically caught big bass in the early spring.

In 1997, pair of visiting anglers from Logan, New Mexico, Jimmy Liles and Ray Gorman, shocked the local anglers at Lake Baylor by winning with a five-bass limit that tipped the scales at 22.56 lbs. and their big bass weighed in at seven pounds. The secret to their surprising success at Lake Baylor during their FIRST visit to the lake....was slow retrieving a 3/8 oz. single-bladed White Buzz bait “just below the surface”. Their productive water was way up the creek where flooded mesquite trees were in the 60 degree water that was eight degrees warmer than the main lake surface temperature.

In 1998, the team of Rod Haseloff and Randy Massucci used a black and blue jig-n-pig at the base of some sunken trees at ten feet to win a team tournament at Lake Baylor. A cold rain preceded the Saturday tournament and the lake rose by nearly a foot. That new foot of water was very cold and the anglers who tried the shallow water of the main lake or up the creek came home empty handed.

In 1999, Tommy Pugh set a Mini Boat Club record with a two day, ten bass limit that totaled 45.66 lbs. Pugh’s lure..... a home made brown jig-n-pig in some submerged lay down trees in water that was ten to twelve feet deep at the back end of the main lake.

In 2000, Canyon’s Mickey Abbott stunned a field of 100 anglers at Lake Baylor with a bass of a lifetime that weighed 13.61 lbs. Abbott’s bass remains the biggest bass to arrive at the scales in the 14 year history of Fun Fishing Tournaments, and was caught on a brown jig-n-pig in the same set of trees that were so kind to Pugh in the 1999 season. That big hog was Abbott’s only bite of that day, but it was good enough for a $1000 pay check.

Last year Childress’s Jimmy Willis out performed eighty six anglers at a March tournament when he used a bait that his father, Larry Willis, discovered to pick up a winner check for $860 for a three bass limit that weighed 12.40 lbs. "Year's ago, we discovered that early season bass like a big, slow wobbling crank bait and that a four inch long, white Hellbender with horizontal black stripes down the sides can produce some really nice bass" reported Willis. Just for the record, second place went to Jimmy’s dad that day, but as my memory recalls the biggest smile was on dad’s face as he watched his son accept the winner’s prize money.

What it will take to win the season opening Fun Tournament at Lake Baylor on March 9th is any one’s guess, but if the lake is warming it could be a small buzz bait way up the creek or a Hellbender on the main lake pockets. If more nasty cold fronts blast through our region and the water temps remain unseasonably cold OR are falling, a jig-n-pig in the deeper water could produce some monster bass.

One thing for sure, our local anglers are tired of watching re-runs of the TV fishing shows, and are more than ready to cure their Spring Fishing Fever. All our local lakes could use some more water, but it wouldn’t be West Texas if we didn’t need a good rain.