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Hello fellow fisherman,
I moved into the area of Lake Arlington in May of last year, and have been fishing the lake very regularly and wanted to share some of my experiences. (and I can't wait for the damn lake to melt.....)
Bass:
We have had great luck running salt worms along the bank just at the shore drop (about 6 feet from the bank) on a slow retreive on the south west end of the lake. We have pulled several 10 - 16 inch bass using this method. Also, from the parking lot end of the grate, aiming for the corner and jigging back has produced some fun rock bass as well. Granted the larger bass we have hit were using the same bank method, but over at the southeast end of the lake. The water is considerably more shallow, but we have pulled 3 and 4 pounders using a Mann's baby minus black/gold and blue/orange. We can always hit some 12 inchers all along the south end of the lake first thing in the am, and then just after dark. As always, live minnows work well also, but we have better luck with artificial.
Crappie and Bluegill:
There is a great spot for these guys on the south end of the lake, about 50 yards past the bench at the running trail, and maybe 20 yards past the martin bird house. There is a natural shelf on the bank as well for easy access, and is great for taking kids. You are basically just a few yards to the east of where the boats are docked. Using nightcrawlers (or large bloodworms) on small snells, cast about 40 feet out, then every so often jig/retrieve for about 2-3 feet and let sit. There is a natural underwater bush line that runs the length of the south side of the lake, and they are plentiful there. Pain in the neck to try and pull a bass out of there unless you use a top water or snagless.
Cats:
This is the same spot (as mentioned above) for the largest Cats we have pulled out of lake arlington. We have fished every inch of the shoreline for these guys and there are two hot spots. They happen to be directly across the lake from each other, both roughly even with boat ramp on either side. The north side is deeper that the south. We have used stinkbait, corn, cheese, livers, cut bait, and actually had a sampling of all of these concurrently to see what would hit. Based on what we have caught I would say that 75% of the cats are hard heads, 25% being blues. Of all the baits we tried, one works gauranteed better than all the rest:
Bacon.
No doubt about it. We have pulled in 12 and 15 pound blues regularly measuring over 30". I will get some pix posted soon so you can see. My nephew pulled a 10#, 28" blue with a $10.00 rod a reel (he now has graduated to an Akuma) on 6 lb. test. Was a great fight. I honestly had no idea that this lake had that size of cat in there. All the cats were caught between an hour before and an hour after sunset.
We typically run 8-10lb test on our mediums, and 6 lb on our ultralights for all the fish I just talked about. I have yet to go to this lake and get skunked.
--CH
I moved into the area of Lake Arlington in May of last year, and have been fishing the lake very regularly and wanted to share some of my experiences. (and I can't wait for the damn lake to melt.....)
Bass:
We have had great luck running salt worms along the bank just at the shore drop (about 6 feet from the bank) on a slow retreive on the south west end of the lake. We have pulled several 10 - 16 inch bass using this method. Also, from the parking lot end of the grate, aiming for the corner and jigging back has produced some fun rock bass as well. Granted the larger bass we have hit were using the same bank method, but over at the southeast end of the lake. The water is considerably more shallow, but we have pulled 3 and 4 pounders using a Mann's baby minus black/gold and blue/orange. We can always hit some 12 inchers all along the south end of the lake first thing in the am, and then just after dark. As always, live minnows work well also, but we have better luck with artificial.
Crappie and Bluegill:
There is a great spot for these guys on the south end of the lake, about 50 yards past the bench at the running trail, and maybe 20 yards past the martin bird house. There is a natural shelf on the bank as well for easy access, and is great for taking kids. You are basically just a few yards to the east of where the boats are docked. Using nightcrawlers (or large bloodworms) on small snells, cast about 40 feet out, then every so often jig/retrieve for about 2-3 feet and let sit. There is a natural underwater bush line that runs the length of the south side of the lake, and they are plentiful there. Pain in the neck to try and pull a bass out of there unless you use a top water or snagless.
Cats:
This is the same spot (as mentioned above) for the largest Cats we have pulled out of lake arlington. We have fished every inch of the shoreline for these guys and there are two hot spots. They happen to be directly across the lake from each other, both roughly even with boat ramp on either side. The north side is deeper that the south. We have used stinkbait, corn, cheese, livers, cut bait, and actually had a sampling of all of these concurrently to see what would hit. Based on what we have caught I would say that 75% of the cats are hard heads, 25% being blues. Of all the baits we tried, one works gauranteed better than all the rest:
Bacon.
No doubt about it. We have pulled in 12 and 15 pound blues regularly measuring over 30". I will get some pix posted soon so you can see. My nephew pulled a 10#, 28" blue with a $10.00 rod a reel (he now has graduated to an Akuma) on 6 lb. test. Was a great fight. I honestly had no idea that this lake had that size of cat in there. All the cats were caught between an hour before and an hour after sunset.
We typically run 8-10lb test on our mediums, and 6 lb on our ultralights for all the fish I just talked about. I have yet to go to this lake and get skunked.
--CH
