Bois d’ Arc Lake: Biologist says new has worn off, anglers still reeling in some big ones

Bois d’ Arc Lake: Biologist says new has worn off, anglers still reeling in some big ones Matt Williams Tue, 06/25/2024 - 20:26 Image

• Fishing traffic on Texas’ newest lake has slowed and bass appear to have become more educated since it’s opening in mid-April, but reports of solid catches continue to trickle in. Fishing guide Brandon Dillard steered Jackie Levy (left) and Garrett Gibson to these beauties earlier this month. (Photo courtesy Brandon Dillard) COURTESY PHOTO / MATT WILLIAMS
• TPWD fisheries biologist Dan Bennett say crappie anglers at Bois d’ Arc are finding plenty of solid keepers in the 11-13 inch range. Bennett looks size to begin dropping off as more fish are removed from the lake and put in the freezer. (Photo by Matt Williams) COURTESY PHOTO / MATT WILLIAMS

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Outdoors Writer

udging from reduced activity at boat ramps and input gathered in angler creel surveys, Texas Parks and Wildlife fisheries biologist Dan Bennett says it appears the new has worn off with fishermen at Bois d’ Arc Lake.

Located near Bonham in Fannin County, 16,600acre Bois d’ Arc is Texas’ newest recreational lake. The North Texas Municipal Water Supply impoundment opened to boat traffic on April 17.

The lake has three ramps with 50 parking spaces each, enough to accommodate 150 trucks and trailers. Bennett says parking lots were frequently filled to near-capacity early on, but fishing traffic has declined since. Facilities have been about half full or less on recent weekends, he said.

Bennett was on the water conducting angler creel surveys on the Saturday afternoon before Father’s Day. Creel surveys are carried out by asking anglers a series of questions about their fishing experience, such as which species they are targeting, how many fish were caught/released/kept, size of fish harvested/ released and how much money was spent on the trip. Anglers are also asked whether they are using forward facing sonar or not.

Surprisingly, Bennett found only 12 boats with fishermen to interview during his most recent survey. That might seem odd for a pretty weekend on a brand new lake located about 70 miles northeast of Dallas.

“I believe the new has worn off, at least as far as visitation by fishermen goes,” Bennett said. “Lately there has been plenty of available parking spots, but we are still seeing what I would call above average numbers of boats for any given lake.”

Bois d’ Arc has been heavily stocked with Lone Star bass and ShareLunker offspring since 2018. It also has abundant populations of crappie and channel catfish. Scads of succulent forage like bluegill sunfish and threadfin shad keep the fish fat and sassy.

In April, fishing guide Jason Conn boated a 9.05 pound largemouth that has been certified as the official lake record. The fish was only 19 1/2 inches long. Conn said the bass ate a jig.

As expected, many anglers enjoyed catching big numbers of uneducated bass soon after the lake opened, but the fast action seemed to wane pretty quick.

How well the lake is fishing now depends entirely on who you talk to.

Anglers lucky enough to find a sweet spot where the fish are grouped up can run up the score in short order. Otherwise, it’s hunt and peck.

Bennett said he recently spoke with one angler who claimed he had caught more than 100 fish making repeated casts to the same creek bend. Another boat reported fast action around a submerged pond dam in about 10-15 feet of water.

“A few guys are struggling, and others still catching 15 to 20 bass a trip,” Bennett said. “The average is probably 4-5 bass per trip.”

A combination of things could be contributing to the slowed bite.

For starters, it doesn’t take long for an unmolested fish population to adapt to a sudden onslaught of fishing pressure. That’s what happened when Lake Naconiche in eastern Texas opened in September 2012. The bite was hot early on, then dropped off significantly after a few weeks. Another is changing water conditions. Big rains in late April and May caused a sudden spike in water levels that likely scattered the fish as water temperatures began a gradual rise. Failure is certain if you aren’t fishing where the fish are.

“My observations in the creel are that almost all the bass boats we interview are still focusing on the bank and shallow water,” Bennett said. “That was working alright in April and early May, but numbers have dropped precipitously fishing that pattern now. The shallow fish are either fewer in numbers since the water warmed up, or sore-lipped and educated now.”

Bennett’s best guess is the bigger bass are very spread out and could be on any sort of structure in 10 to 20 feet.

The problem anglers face is finding the sweet spots. According to fishing guide Brandon Dillard of Grapevine, there are currently no mapping cards available for the lake to help anglers pinpoint humps, drop offs and other good stuff where fish are prone to congregate away from the bank.

“You’re basically out there just trolling or idling around watching your graph hoping to stumble across something,” said Dillard. “You can waste a lot of time doing that. Hopefully someone will come out with a mapping card soon.”

Dillard runs Double Digit Guide Service. He’s been booking trips to Bois d’ Arc since it opened.

The guide steered clients to some 60-100 fish days early on, when water temperatures were cool and lots of fish were on the bank or close to it. He’s been averaging 15-25 fish per trip up to 7 1/2 pounds over the last couple of weeks. Flipping plastics tight to brush and timber in 6-10 feet of water has been his primary pattern.

“The fish have moved off the bank and they’ve got all the thick timber and brush to get in,” he said. “With no map to find any contours, it’s like looking for a needle in a hay stack. You just have to cover water.”

Dillard added that the fish he is catching are mean and pull like tanks.

“They are short and fat -- really healthy,” he said. “There are some great genetics in that lake. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of years. There should be some 12-13 pounders coming out of there.”

While bass fishing action has waned somewhat, Bennett says crappie anglers are enjoying some banner days with plenty of nice limits reported.

“The crappie are going like gangbusters right now,” he said. “We have surveyed several boats that were pulling two-man limits off individual schools — a mix of black and white crappie. Most are in the 11-13 inch range right now, but we expect the size to begin dropping off as more fish are removed from the lake and put in the freezer.”

Bennett said the crappie are suspended in the water column. The best action is happening around submerged brush and stumps along creek channels in the range of 20 feet, above the 25-foot thermocline. The FM 987 bridge crossing also has been a hotspot.

Bennett said he expects deeper brush piles constructed on the lower lake by the NTMWD to start holding fish later on this fall and winter, once the lake cools down and destratifies.

The biologist added that forward-facing sonar has been the common denominator with crappie fishermen who have been consistently successful at finding limits at Bois d’ Arc.

“Most of them have LiveScope on their boats,” he said. “It’s really rare that we run across a crappie fisherman anymore who doesn’t have it.”

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@ yahoo.com.