August 23, Sunday boat

[falafeluver]

My buddy and his son went out Sunday, Aug. 23.

They had a great time, given this is their first Barrett trip this year but fished for many years. Dad says it’s been one of the better trips.

Maybe partly because there’s hardly anyone fishing so less pressure or just being at the right place and time, he didn’t tell what part of the lake they were at.

Topwater along the shoreline, very tight and busting on the edges of the weed line, expect to get the long grass on the hooks but they were pulling the fish along with it.

They said you can see the bass following and some doing the air shark attacks coming completely out of the water!

Lots of bait fish schools about 3”-4” mid-lakes and catching the bass mid-lake as well seeing the puddlers touching the surface. Toss a TW lure….fresh one!!

All morning bites till about 9:45 am.

Popper-R’s and walking sticks in solid white, clear and silver colors worked the best.

Slowed down, then they switched to drop shots - shad colors and C-rigs with 7”-8” worms in dark colors, wacky’s and fly lines.

Fish were in the deeper waters from 15’ to 35’ on the ff, lots tight to cover.

Count was 65 with majority on the TW action between them and left at 2:00 pm.

There was hardly anyone on the water like having their own private lake.

Sept. gets better overall as air temp's drop but the water remains warmer but not as hot as it is now.

Just a little over a month left before the gates are closed forever (till next year in May lol).

[JWall]

Sounds like a great day!!

[otaymichael]

two thumbs up, well done.

[falafeluver]

Dad decided to go two more times again in Sept. as there’s plenty of tickets left.

[JWall]

Dad decided to go two more times again in Sept. as there’s plenty of tickets left.

Thinking of adding another date to our closing day ticket.

[Durango]

Um, how was the size?

[Gotfish?]

Hilarious to read this after seeing all the posts from the amateur fish biologists about fishing at Barrett being bad because the bass are starving, too many small ones, need to do more harvesting, need to stock more shad, etcetera.

[MaxZmus]

Maybe it was the full moon today 8/29/2026. Fished from open to about 11am. Only got about 7 or 8 and they were still dinks and skinny big heads. A few on the spinnerbait and Sammy first thing in the morning. Then a few on jig head minnow and dropshot to round out the rest of the morning. Only saw a few boils here and there. We looked at Hauser and Pine and all the usual spots. Maybe the bite will pick back up after the new moon? Either way it definitely wasn’t happening today. I spoke to everyone I came across and it kills me everytime someone says “we did great, we got about 4 or 5 each” . C’mon peeps. It’s okay to say you had a slow day.

[JWall]

Hilarious to read this after seeing all the posts from the amateur fish biologists about fishing at Barrett being bad because the bass are starving, too many small ones, need to do more harvesting, need to stock more shad, etcetera.

A slot harvest would definitely do the lake some good.

[JWall]

Maybe it was the full moon today 8/29/2026. Fished from open to about 11am. Only got about 7 or 8 and they were still dinks and skinny big heads. A few on the spinnerbait and Sammy first thing in the morning. Then a few on jig head minnow and dropshot to round out the rest of the morning. Only saw a few boils here and there. We looked at Hauser and Pine and all the usual spots. Maybe the bite will pick back up after the new moon? Either way it definitely wasn’t happening today. I spoke to everyone I came across and it kills me everytime someone says “we did great, we got about 4 or 5 each” . C’mon peeps. It’s okay to say you had a slow day.

The way I look at it is a report of any kind helps get a read on current conditions. And zero shame catching lower numbers, thats fishing. Lately I do think the moon phase has been playing a bigger role.