MANY, La. – The Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Cowboy Division heads to Toledo Bend on Jan. 24 for the second event of the season. One of the best fisheries in the country, everyone has high expectations for this event.
What to expect
Wintertime on Toledo Bend means big, healthy fish, and nobody knows it better than Cole Moore.
“It’s fishing good. It’d be fishing great if the water was colder, but it’s fishing good right now,” he said. “I don’t see a major cold front coming, but if there is one, and it doesn’t bring a lot of rain, it will get great.”
Late in January, Moore expects the bass to spend a little less time chasing bait and a little more time thinking about staging for spring.
“The really big fish will be starting to make a move to get where they want to be for mid-February,” he said. “They’re not technically staging yet, but they’re going to move from roaming, chasing bait, to some places where they’re supposed to be.”
The winner in the season opener at Rayburn, Moore caught three of his five fish outside of his three hours of forward-facing sonar use. In this event, he thinks anglers will have tons of options.
“I turned it on at 8 o’clock on the dot; I thought that would be my prime to catch a couple good fish, but I did not,” he said. “I didn’t have a good one at all, I had all cookie cutters, but I culled three times after my ‘Scope period without ‘Scope.”
At Rayburn, the water was low, and options were limited. That won’t be the case at Toledo.
“The lake is not that low, there’s grass, and you can have a shot to win in the grass,” he said. “Boat docks hold big fish, shallow stumps, deep stumps, there is plenty of stuff to go fish, just fishing. And every creek in Toledo Bend has the winning stringer – it could be won in the grass or it could be won 30-foot deep cranking.”
Baits to bring
For Toledo Bend, a lot could come into play. For fish caught on bait or out deep, expect a minnow and an umbrella rig to play. In the grass, a lipless crankbait or a vibrating jig could make hay. For offshore fish that aren’t suspended, Carolina rigs, football jigs and deep crankbaits will be on many decks.
What will it take?
Basically everyone expects it to take more than 30 pounds to win this event, regardless of the rules about sonar.
“It’ll take over 30 to win without a doubt,” Moore said. “I could believe that could be caught in the grass, or on a football jig or a Carolina rig on a point.”