Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge - A Little Green Bass Fishing at Lake Barrett

Better late than never, but last week my friend Reilly and I got the chance to fish Lake Barrett. Barrett never disappoints that is for sure, this time we brought a pitch count clicker with to keep track of how many we caught. Fishing ended up being a little slow for Barrett standards, but stellar by any other lake. There wasn’t much of an evening bite like I have experienced in the past, but it was still a blast. We caught 46 fish between the two of us, with myself catching the big fish of 5.4 lbs.

We arrived in the first line in and were some of the last people off the lake. We fished Pine Creek and headed all the way to the back of the arm to where there is a small creek that feeds into the lake. The amount of wildlife tracks we saw was very cool. There were fresh tracks from raccoons, coyotes, deer (some very large deer tracks), and one that looked like it could have been from a small Mountain Lion or maybe a bobcat.
A lot of different baits produced well, one was a Stanley Spinnerbait in either their white and chartreuse color or the Perch color. I fished a wacky rigged Senko for a while but did not get very many fish on it. Drop shotting a oxblood or margarita mutilator Roboworms definitely got bit, but mostly all small fish, nonetheless very fun. I had three baits tied on all day that were the hot baits. Fish were not deep so a Mann’s Baby T-Minus in either a shad color or the Texas Sunrise got bit very well. The second lure was a Skinny Bear fluke rigged on a weighted EWG hook, I really like how soft their plastic is and how it gives it a very life like action when you twitch it. Their patterns they make are very realistic and seemed to outperform the other flukes I had. Lastly, I had one lure that was a blast to throw. I know there is a lot of hype out there about Mann’s Alabama rig, but let me tell you… IT WORKS! I have been fishing it for about a week since I’ve finally had time to put down the textbooks and get on the water. Using Mann’s pearl and black/ grey swimbaits with ¼ oz lead heads I’ve given free lip piercings to easily over 60 bay bass, 4 halibut (biggest was 7lbs) and a boat load of large mouths at Barrett. One tip I would recommend though, if you are going to throw an A rig, keep in mind it is a pretty heavy lure once you put on 5 baits (3 if you’re in freshwater don’t forget). Use heavy line and a sturdy rod. Personally I am a big fan of North Fork Composite rods for my lighter setups, and Rainshadow rods for heavier applications

The great folks at Batson Enterprises make a quality product, in particular their swimbait blanks. I fish for Baylor’s bass fishing team hence why I wrapped all by rods green and gold. The swimbait rod they sponsored us with is an ISWB945. It is a very heavy blank with a ton of backbone. I tried throwing the Alabama rig on another rod but I felt like if I really put a lot of muscle into my cast it might break the tip… this rod on the other hand, I can heavy the lure as hard as I want and cast it a mile.
(Here is the rod, I’m pretty happy with how my wrap turned out)

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A few other pointers, during midday the fish were schooling up in Pine Creek right in the middle of the arm. It looked like a scene out of La Jolla when yellowtails are hitting bait on the surface. For a minute of two you would see the water boiling with shad and bass. If you could get there in time it was an instant hookup. Another kayaker I met was fishing a donkey rig and had a few doubles. This was where I had a blast and went to work with the Alabama rig. I would loose a fish due to the barbless hooks, only to keep reeling for a second and have another fish slam it.

Water visibility was poor as usual. Not sure on the water temp, but it was very warm. High 70’s for sure.
Also, the water is LOW. I heard they were selling off some of the water to the city? Can anyone confirm? Anyways, all the reeds are dead and most brush is high and dry. Most of our fish came off rock piles and steep points. Basically pounding the shoreline and putting in the casts produced fish.
Lures in a shad pattern seemed to be the most effective, and worms in darker colors were best.

Get out there while the lake is open and post up a report!
Here are some pictures… enjoy!

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This is a picture of the water that was flowing from the creek into the lake... very clear!

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