Great Trip To Toledo Bend with Guide Mark Robinson
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We arrived at Robinson’s Lodge Friday around noon. We where greeted by Mark Robinson and took a quick look around his lodge and stored our belongings in our room. I felt at home immediately. Mark had a big fire going in his 6’ fire place. The lodge was warm and cozy. We couldn’t help but notice how we kept and organized the facilities where. His place is every outdoorsman’s dream. Just knowing we had these great accommodations to look forward to after fishing was a great feeling.
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Mark had everything ready to go fishing, we where a little concerned about the weather but Mark was optimistic and confident. We got in the boat and got set for the cold ride. Little did we know, there wasn’t going to be much of a boat ride. As soon as we cleared the no wake zone Mark went about 200’ yards to the some of the first submerged timber in the river channel and said, here we are. It took about 2 minutes to get on the first crappie. Thump, it’s on. We only had to fish this spot and two other to catch our fish. We fished a total of 3.5 hours on Friday afternoon and ended up with 67 really nice crappie, several of which where close to two pounds.
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When we got back to the lodge two of the other guest that where saying at the lodge were cleaning crappie; they had brought their own boat and had caught 87 crappie for the day. We jumped in beside them and started cleaning our fish, while Mark prepared dinner for everyone at the lodge.
After cleaning and bagging our fish we went in and washed up for dinner. Mark serves the food family style. He has two massive round tables, the middle of the tables spin so everyone can access the food. Mark stared bringing out food and we couldn’t believe the meal that he had prepared. I can’t decide on which Mark is better at, fishing or cooking. Both were awesome. He served breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday we were there and all of the food was as good as I’ve ever had. I think I gained 20 pound in one weekend.
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Saturday the weather had changed. It was colder and the wind was up and changing directions. This had the fishing pattern off a little from the previous days. We ended up with only 66 fish for the day. 66 keepers and Mark called it a bad day. I could handle a few more bad days like that. Toledo Bend is great, even a bad day is better that good day on some of the lakes we fish down south.http://us.a1.yahoofs.com/users/42271...wFWqDB7IWxUNP3
We went back to the lodge for another great afternoon of relaxation and food. LJ had brought Steaks and Mark and his wife did a good job cooking them and preparing all of the side dishes.
We woke up to good weather Sunday morning. I was cold but the wind was down and it was clear. LJ wasn’t feeling well so he decided to sleep in and enjoy the lodge for the morning. Mark and I went fishing for 3 hours and caught 57 crappie. We left them biting. I would have been no problem to catch 100 fish if we would have had the time but LJ and I had to get back to Houston.
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I have been out with other guides, but I would have to say that mark Robinson tops them all, especially when it comes to crappie. He is a true crappie guide. He can take you fishing for other fish and I’m sure do very well, but if you want to catch crappie and learn Toledo bend it a short amount of time he is the man. I highly recommend that you guys stay at his lodge for any fishing trips you make to Toledo Bend. Even if you have and want to take your own boat, it’s worth every penny to at least let him take you out one day. You will learn enough about the lake in that day, to take your own boat out and find fish. We plan on going back with a boat very often ourselves but we will always stay at his lodge, it’s great and reasonably priced.
I would just like to say thank you to Mark and his wife for one great weekend. I now consider the both of them friends and look forward to my next visit. Keep up the good work Mark.
Sincerely,
Big Dave
BCCC
