Lake Reports
(Updated Every Week)

For Week Ending Thurs, 8/4:
The water temperature was 89 degrees at the dam and the marina. The water is still stained, especially in the north half of the lake.
 
We've had no rain – it's been hot with a cool front expected. It's expected to be in the low 90s air temperature by the time of the Weekend Warrior Championship.
 
On the evening of Aug. 3 we had a CATT tournament with 10 teams. The 1st place team had 9.66 total pounds (three fish). The big bass for the tournament was 8.22 pounds. A total of 25 fish were turned in.
 
Individuals on the lake are saying bass fishing is good, and are catching limits in the morning.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 7/28:
No tournaments this week. The water temperature was 88 degrees at the marina and by the dam. The water was stained, and the air temperature was over 100. Hot again, and humid. We had no rain this past week.
 
Individual catch reports were that dock-fishing was fair, with fish in 6 to 10 feet of water. Crankbaits and soft-plastics were the hot baits, and the blue-fleck Power Worm was most popular.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 7/21:
The water temperature at the marina is 84, and at the dam it's 83. It's hot.
 
Last night 10 teams fished a tournament, and 13.86 pounds won it with five fish. Plastics are doing very well around the docks in 5 to 8 feet of water. We had a Kentucky (spotted) last night that barely missed the lake record of 2.99 pounds – it weighed 2.76.
 
The water is still stained (greenish-brown) at West Bay Marina, but it's clearing. The south end of the lake is almost clear due to lack of rain and the winds dying down. The south end also has deeper water, up to 50 feet deep.
 
Some fishermen are fishing deep, but they're not catching them. Three or four weeks ago a 3rd-place team fished black jigs in 20-25 feet of water down by the jam, but they're the only ones who have caught fish deep that consistently.
 
There's also a Tuesday night tournament on the lake, which is not out of this marina. They had around 20 boats, and 8 pounds won it. Again, they're fishing the docks with plastics and crankbaits.
 
We're not a tree lake like Lake Fork or a brushy lake like Bridgeport. We're more of a sand-bottom lake, and the structure we have is docks.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 7/14:
The water temp was 83 degrees at West Bay Marina and 82 at the dam. It's hotter than blue blazes. We're talking about 100 degrees every day and in excess of 60 percent humidity. Be prepared for the heat.
 
The water is stained, and is 2 feet 4 inches low
 
We had one tournament report, a Wednesday-nighter with 11 teams. Everyone fished shallow water with crankbaits and plastics. The winner had four fish that weighed 18 1/2 pounds, with three fish over 5 pounds. Big bass was a 6.63.
 
Recreational boat traffic is scaling down, and always does after July 4. It's on the downswing right now. A lot of people are getting tried of the heat.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 7/7:
The big thing is that we had 2.58 inches of rain in less than an hour today (7/7). That means lots of good runoff.
 
The lake has come up and it's still coming up – it's come up about 6 inches so far. It's great.
 
That was a badly-needed thunderstorm. It will cool the lake down a little bit. The water temperature has been 81 degrees at the dam and 85 at the marina.
 
The air temperatures have been hot: 90s and 100s during the day, and we're lucky if we get down to 78 at night.
 
Even before the rain, the fishing picked up. On Saturday, July 2, we hosted the Cowtown Division of Media Bass. The 1st-place limit was 13.34 pounds. Big bass was a whopping 7.25 pounds. Topwaters and plastics worked very well, but the 3rd-place team (12.04 pounds) caught all their fish on black jigs.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 6/30:
No rain, and hot, hot, hot! The daytime temperatures have been between 101 and 105 degrees, and the nighttime temperature is about 80 degrees.
 
The water temperature average for the week was 77 degrees at the dam, and 86 degrees at West Bay. The water is still stained.
 
The fishing wasn't so good – about like it was last week. We had a CATT tournament and the weights were almost the same. It's slow, but should be picking up again.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 6/23:
The daytime temps are up to 101 degrees, but at night they get down to 75. The water temp at the dam has increased a little to 79 degrees. At the marina it's 84.
 
No rain this week. The lake level is 2.17 feet low, which isn't bad. The water is stained.
 
A Tuesday night Working Man's tourney took an 11-08 limit to win, and big bass was a 7.42-pounder. A Wednesday night CATT tourney took a 12-05 limit to win, with big bass at 4 pounds.
 
Worms are working and crankbaits are still good. The bass are beginning to move into open water.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 6/16:
The daytime temps are up to 99 degrees, but nights are still down to about 75. Water temps are 76 at the dam and 84 at the marina.
 
The lake level is 1' 6" low, and we had a very small amount of rain (0.03 inches) on the 13th.
 
The water is still stained but is clearing, especially on the south end of the lake. Bass fishing is still good, but lately tournament catches have been small. A Wednesday night tourney had nine teams and numerous fish were caught (all teams caught fish), but they were mostly small. One team only had one small Kentucky (spotted bass). The winning team had three fish for 5-07. Big bass was a 2-06.
 
The best producers have been crankbaits and topwaters.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 6/9:
The operative phrase is "getting hot." The daytime temperatures are around 94-95 degrees, and the nighttime temps get maybe down to 75. It's also very humid, around 80 percent.
 
The water temperature at the dam was 75 degrees, and at the marina it was 83 degrees.
 
No rain this week – the water level is still down only 1.3 feet. The water is stained, and the bass fishing has been very good. The only tournament on the lake this week was a weeknight CATT tourney with seven teams. Only two teams produced, and 5-00 won it. A 2-09 was big bass.
 
Soft-plastics in grass worked best in that tournament, but buzzbaits and topwaters are proving very effective.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 6/2:
The water temperature at the dam was 73 degrees, and at the marina it was 80 degrees. It rained 2.97 inches this week and the water was stained. The lake level was 1.3 feet low.
 
No tournaments were held last weekend, but last night (6/1) there was a CATT Working Man's Team Tournament. The winning limit was 10.9 pounds, and big bass weighed 3-14.
 
The best areas to fish have been main-lake points in about 1-5 feet of water, with sloughs a close second. Crankbaits and worms are the best bets for catching larger fish, but topwaters are beginning to work.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 5/26:
The water temperature at the dam was 71 degrees, and at the marina it was 77 degrees. No rain this week so the lake stayed fairly clear and was still about 1.5 feet low.
 
The only tournament this weekend was a Texas BASS Federation Regional event, held on Saturday 5/21. The winning limit weighed 11.8 pounds, and big bass was a 4-11.

 

For Week Ending Thurs, 5/19:
The water temperature at the dam was 70 degrees, and at the marina it was 75 degrees. The water was fairly clear, and the lake level was about 1 1/2 feet low. It rained 1.3 inches this week.
 
This past weekend two tournaments were on the lake (Saturday, 5/14). The American Bass Anglers had a district tournament. An 11.5-pound limit won the event, and the big bass was a 4-03.
 
The Azle Chamber of Commerce had its annual Open tournament, which took a limit of 19.7 pounds to win and big fish was a 9-09.
 
This year we have seen more fish caught over 8 pounds than in the previous 8 years combined, and all fish caught appear to be extremely healthy.

Reports provided by Walter Covington, manager of West Bay Marina (817-444-1622) in Azle, Texas, the official marina for the Cabela's Top Gun Championship and the Skeeter BassFan Army Weekend Warrior Championship.