Fishing Texas Network Tips

1/13/03 Generating More Than Power 

I never will forget the first time I fished a power plant lake.  I didn't realize what I was really learning that late January afternoon casting from the shores of Bryan City Lake.  The brief lessons I learned there will stick with me for the rest of my life.

I was working for a big name bass lure manufacturer earning my spending money while I attended college.  We had just been given some spinner baits to try out for a while and I headed up to the only lake that we could get to and still get some fishing time.  We drove around to the back of the lake where the hot water discharge let out and began fishing.  Little did we know that we would be in for an afternoon of wrangling solid 3 - 4 pound bass to the shore.  It did not really dawn on me that day what we had stumbled across.  It was not until many years later that I realized the bounty that power plant lakes held for the fishermen willing to get out in the colder end of the winter.

We would spend our time fishing there as often as we could and then also making the run over to Gibbons Creek -- another power plant lake -- to catch those warm water fish on the cold winter's days.  It never failed, the worse the weather, the better the fishing was.  We always caught some fish casting from the shores, but the nastier the day, the greater the numbers we would catch.  Generally, we would fish spinner baits in white or chartreuse.    Occasionally we would fish a black lizard or black/blue worm. 

That was years ago when we walked the banks and broke the spirits of many a black bass.  Now, I spend my late January and early February in the boat on other power plant lakes in the area of Texas I live in now.  Although the locations may be different, one thing has stayed the same over all these years.  The worse the weather, the better the fishing.  I spend less time throwing spinner baits these days and more time fishing the black/red flake lizards with as small a weight as I can get away with -- none preferably.  I let the wind dictate what I can get away with.

I really do not think it really matters what lake you go to.  The water is getting up into the perfect spawning temperatures in the power plant lake a lot earlier than other lakes.  The fish are feeding and moving up into shallower water.  They are there for the catching and all you need to do is get out there and fish. 


Mike -- webmaster/editor

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