Rend Lake Fishing

[buckdoe270]

Going to rend lake may 13-16, does anybody have fishing reports.
or any good spots to fish ? first time here any help would be kindly needed.

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[catfisherman369]

Crappie are being caught in 1 -10 feet of water off stake beds, brush piles, and in the buck brush. If you can't catch fish deep I would try moving shallower. A lot of fish are in the buck brush.

Look around for laydown trees along the bank. Fish these starting at the deepest part and move shallower. They should be holding fish. Buck brush in 1-4 feet of water is my favorite this time of year. This is where the bigger fish will be found. Good messes of fish are being caught. The lake is a foot or so low for this time of year.

Watch the other fisherman, pay attention to how deep they are fishing when catching fish. I prefer a 1 1/2 inch jig with some sort of chartreuse color combination when fishing deep. I use a Southern Pro Lil hustler 1.5 inch. My favorite color is red and chartreuse. When fishing the buck brush I prefer a minnow under a slip bobber.

The tip of the week is to try a Eagle Claw 214 EL hook when fishing minnows. The EL stands for extra light. 2 is the size. This allows your minnow more movement and the hook will also straighten out sometimes when you get hung allowing you to get loose. This is the only hook I use when fishing minnows.


The catfish bite is good. Rend lake in my opinion is probably the best catfish lake in the state. The catfish have not all moved shallow but they are biting good. Drifting in the middle of the lake will work well or fishing from the bank at the Ina boat ramp. Night crawlers, shrimp, leaches, or shad gut work well. My favorite is shad gut. If you are after catfish you should be able to catch them in almost any area of the lake.

The bass are spawning! Fish the bushes in the backs major creeks and ditches. Zoom brush hogs in the watermelon color and jig and pig combination are taking a good number of bass right now. A lot of bigger females have spawned and are moving out. Try searching around laydowns with spinnerbaits and shallow running crankbaits. Fishing right now is good and a tournament winning 5 fish limit is still around 18 pounds

Rend Lake Fishing Report

[buckdoe270]

i should said i was fishing for eater size catfish.
i might do alot drifting to find them

[Don Wessling]

Eater size Channels can be found anywhere on the lake. The best spots are off the rocks (rip-rap) about 50 to 100 feet from the edge of the water. 1/2" to 1 1/2" chunks of Blue Gill or Shad, Crickets, Night crawlers, Jumbo wigglers are good choices for bait. Gold crappie "J" hooks in size 1/0 or smaller are the best hooks. If you want to try drifting, you may need bigger hooks,and uncooked shrimp socked in garlic salt. That time of year, the Shad could be spawning and the Cats could be in a feeding frenzy right at the edge of the water. Don't spend more than 20 min. in one spot if they are not biting, it should not take long to find them.

[catfisherman369]

I like fishing the Waltonville dam with sonnies or secret 7 . You can catch a load of 3 and 4 pound channels near the big pipe . If the water is running through there you can pick up a big cat or 2 with some shad or cut bluegill .

[buckdoe270]

thanks for the help.

[lord_zainan]

Just got back from cat hunting at the Waltonville Dam on the Nason side. Caught five channels in about two hours with weights between five to ten pounds. Was using nightcrawlers and minnows. Was casting out about 20 feet or so.

[buckdoe270]

just got back from fishing rend lake.
caught about 80-90 channels in about 1-2 foot of water near trees and brush, below the ina ramp cove.
they were all in very shallow water.

[big-muddy]

all good advice that has proven true for me as well.