spring at Big Sam

[smedley]

I'm planning a trip for Feb or Mar '06 and wanted to get the lowdown on places to stay, eat, fish, etc. this will be a combined crappie and bass trip with my dad and hopefully a few others. I've looked at a lot of places online to stay and am thinking of getting a cottage or cabin near the lake. are there any others? When we go places to fish, testing the local fine dining is not on the top of the list of things to do. "Baloney sammiches" (a.k.a. round steak) is par for the course. I most likely won't hire a guide but that's not totally out of the question. thanks for the help...Scott

[Ferdi]

Hey Scott, just looking thru and seen your message, I live in the town of Broaddus which is in the center of Lake Sam Rayburn. I'd suggest the Powell Park or San Augistine park areas sense you don't mind hot dogs and cold balonie. There is beautiful fishing areas close from either areas. We are heading to Missouri for Thanksgiving and when we get back I'd be glad to help you out but for now I gotta go. I'll be back Tuesday so rattle my chain then. Fred PS sorry, I'm not a guide just a fisherman.

[smedley]

Thanks Ferdi,

Where in Missouri are you going? I'm from the Show Me State. Been here in Texas for 10 years.

Thanks for the tips. I got some more from a guy on the Texas Fishing Forum. He also lives in Broaddus.

I appreciate any info you might have.

thanks again

[Gentleben]

I recommend Powell Park, has nice cabins $45 + tax bucks a nite and two beds, shower and very close to the water .........They have a nice restaurant and prices are very reasonable good. Check out www.powellpark.com
That is my hero Roger Bacon(On Left) for those of you who don't know him he put us on the stringer we got in the bottom photo..If you need a guide Roger is the man for the job.

[smedley]

gentleBen...Powell Park is what I've been leaning toward. looks like what I was wanting. I looked at a toruney schedule for Rayburn and it looks like either the last week in Feb or the third week in March would be when I would want to go. Bassmasters is there St.Patricks Day weekend, which is when I originally wanted to go, but don't need all the competition for places to fish and for places to stay.

How did you catch those crappie? Nice mess of em. My dad likes to cast jigs (he's an old dog, no new tricks) I will try anything.

I'm not looking to run the whole lake but I don't mind fishing a lot of different spots. I have an old Tracker boat that doesn't do too well in the wind. But if wind and weather permit I will move around a little. From what I hear, there is really no need to run around a lot as just about every place holds fish. I'm sure, some better than others. thanks again for the tips...scott

[izzysfishin]

Hey smedley, you said your Tracker did'nt handle the wind. Man be mindful of the wind on Sam. I fished a tournament of champions there several years ago , had a 18 ft. champion at the time. The take off was in a sheltered cove and had no idea the wind was 20 to 30 mph. When we came around the end of the point(around 60mph) we were greeted by 6 to 8 ft waves. I've been caught in some rough water before ,but nothing like that. That was the bad news the good news was we caught 23lbs day one and 12.7 the second day and never lost sight of the boat ramp. 35.7 lbs and did'nt even place in the money, it's a bass factory but be keep tabs on the wheather.

[smedley]

thanks Izzy. I figured that if the wind really gets bad, I'll trailer to somewhere out of the wind. I've been stuck in some 5 ft rollers before at night in that boat and didn't like it too much. I keep a very close eye on the weather any time I'm headed to the lake and heed wind warnings.

I've watched guys in a tourney fly out of the marina or ramp area before and I would go in the areas they skipped over and tear them up, so launching the boat and dropping the trolling motor without ever firing the outboard definitely works. A buddy of mine just fished a tourney on my home lake and only caught two fish all day. I went the other day and cleaned house in the marina they took off from.

I see you are from Union, Mo. I'm from Festus. 30 mi south of STL on I-55.

[izzysfishin]

smedley, spent a lot of weekends down around your old stompin grounds. Used to go drag racing at I-55 some 30 yrs. ago. I never crappie fished Sam, be sure and let us know how it goes. Don't see to many posts for Big Sam. Thats another place I've got on my list to get back to sometime.

[smedley]

To be honest Izzy, I'm going mostly for the bass fishing but I will definitely give the crappie a go. We'll see which ones are biting the best anyway. a perfect trip would be me and my dad both catching a 10 lb LM and bringing home a cooler full of crappie fillets. I'll keep ya'll posted. thanks for all the help...scott

[Gentleben]

Scott; we used minnows and red head road runners with blk/chartrues bodies.take your bass rigs I 'll post some bass pics we caught while there.. You can fish the cove there when you put in at Powell Park and when you head out just hit all the banks south and to the island go north find any stickup or stump/brushpile check your sonar/fishfinders for fish and when you find them you'll know it. they will be stacked up between 12- 15 ft down and then at the bottom you will see lone single fish those are bass or catfish ..
Keep and eye on the wind and weather we had one day to take cover in a cove cause the wind kicked up so we went to a cove and fished there til the wind died down...........