How to fish Choke Canyon Reservoir now: low water rising fast, January spawn, Frio channel Carolina rigs and deep summer football jigs.
Choke Canyon Reservoir is 25,670 acres of Florida-strain largemouth in South Texas, and the single most useful fact about it is the calendar. Bass here bed earlier than anywhere else in the state. The first wave can come off the full moon in January, sometimes with pre-spawn staging already underway in late December in a warm year. While anglers further north are still jigging deep, fish at Choke Canyon are already sitting in 2 to 4 feet of water on beds.
That subtropical climate also means there is no real winter shutdown. Water temperatures in the coldest stretch sit in the 58 to 68 degree range, which is prime feeding water on most lakes. Bass are catchable twelve months a year here. What changes is the depth and the bait, not whether they will eat.
The lake record is 15.45 pounds, and the fishery that produced it is still the same one: Florida-strain genetics, a long growing season, and post-spawn females that regain weight fast because the water never really gets cold.
Choke Canyon is well below its conservation pool right now, and that changes almost everything about where you start. The good news is that it is rising, and rising fast. It sits far higher than it did a year ago. A low lake filling quickly is one of the best situations a bass angler can walk into, but only if you fish it for what it is.
What being low does to your depths. Every depth number you have from a map, an old trip, or another angler's report is measured against full pool. When the lake is down, subtract the difference. A ledge charted at 25 feet is fishing like a much shallower ledge today, and the fish relating to it are shallower than the number suggests. Trust your line and your rod tip over any printed contour.
What being low does to cover. The shallow mesquite flats along the south shore only hold fish when they are flooded at high pool. At a low level, that is dry ground with brush standing on it. Do not burn a morning flipping a bank that has been out of the water for months. Instead, work the permanent structure: the Frio River channel swings, the main lake islands in the lower end, the Nueces channel bend on the east side, and the riprap and dock structure along the Calliham Unit shoreline. Rock and channel do not care what the level is.
What rising water does. This is the part worth planning around. When a low lake comes up, bass follow it. New water floods terrestrial brush and grass that has been dry for a long time, and that cover is loaded with food and has never been picked over. Bass move up into it rather than holding the old structure. The pattern is simple and it survives whatever the number reads on the day you go: at a low, stable level, fish the old channel edges and hard structure. Every foot the lake comes up, push further back into the freshly flooded mesquite and grass and fish the newest water in the pocket. If it came up overnight, go shallow. If it has been flat for two weeks, go back out to the ledges.
Pre-spawn at Choke Canyon runs January into February, with water in the 55 to 62 degree range, and the signature technique is not subtle. A Carolina rig with a 10-inch Plum PowerWorm, dragged slowly on the Frio channel ledges in 8 to 18 feet, is the highest-percentage thing you can do on this lake all year. Big Florida-strain females stage on those channel swings before they move up, and a long worm crawling along the bottom stays in their face longer than any moving bait will.
The Frio River channel is the main event, but the upper Frio creek mouth stages fish too, and the east Nueces channel swing gives you a second bend to check when the first one is crowded or dead. Fish them slow. The bite on a Carolina rig in cold water is often just weight on the line.
When the fish push shallower, a 1/2 oz Rat-L-Trap in chrome with a blue back, ripped and paused over hydrilla in 2 to 6 feet, gets aggressive ones. A Strike King Rattling Squarebill 1.5 in Chartreuse Shad banging rocky points and creek mouths in 4 to 8 feet covers water fast when it is stained. A Junebug Brush Hog on a 3/8 oz Texas rig is the slow-down answer when the front kills the reaction bite.
From January through March, with water climbing from the low 60s into the high 60s, the spawn comes in repeat waves. The full moon of January or February triggers the first one, and fish keep pushing up through March. Beds are in 2 to 4 feet.
Flipping brush is the primary technique. A 4-inch Rage Craw or Missile Craw in Green Pumpkin with red flake, pitched into mesquite brush and flooded grass, is what catches the heavy ones. Use 65 lb braid and do not be shy about a 1 oz Texas rig to punch into thick cover. These fish bury up in the wood and you are not going to steer them out on light line.
For visible beds, a 5-inch Green Pumpkin Senko on a wacky rig, dead-dropped and left alone, is hard to beat. A small Watermelon Red craw crawled slowly on the bottom near a bed works on fish that will not commit to a dead-stick.
Where you flip depends entirely on the level. If the water is up enough to have brush in it, fish the brush. If it is not, the spawners are still there, just on whatever hard bottom and scattered wood the current level gives you, and the lower islands with their wind-protected flats are the place to look.
Post-spawn runs March into April with water at 70 to 76 degrees, and the fish that just bedded slide out to ledges and channel edges in 4 to 12 feet. A Strike King 6XD in Chartreuse Powder Blue, cranked so it deflects off channel ledges in 8 to 14 feet, is the money bait. Deflection matters more than depth here: the strike usually comes right after the bill kicks off something.
Along brush edges, a 3/8 oz white and chartreuse swim jig run parallel in 4 to 8 feet keeps you in the strike zone longer than a cast straight at the bank. A Watermelon Seed Super Fluke twitched and paused near points picks off fish that are chasing but not committing.
Summer at Choke Canyon is brutal. Air temperatures reach 90 to 95 degrees and the water runs 82 to 95. Bass drop to 15 to 35 feet on deep structure, and the middle of the day is largely a waste of time.
Two baits carry the season. A 3/4 oz football jig in Green Pumpkin or Brown, dragged on deep channel ledges from 15 to 30 feet, is the workhorse; the hotter it gets, the deeper you drag it. A 1 oz chrome Hopkins jigging spoon dropped vertically on main lake humps in 20 to 35 feet handles the schooled fish, and it is the fastest way to figure out whether a spot has fish under it. If you mark a wad of suspended shad, put the spoon straight down through them.
The 6XD still has a place, cranked on channel swings in 12 to 18 feet, especially early. Remember the level correction here: with the lake down, the productive summer structure may sit shallower than a full-pool chart suggests, so idle and look before you commit to a number.
If the rising water has put hydrilla back in the lake, there is a shallow option early and late. A 1.5 to 2 oz tungsten punch rig with a Junebug Smallie Beaver through the mats in 4 to 8 feet, or a Green Pumpkin Horny Toad walked across the surface, both work when the sun is off the water. Night fishing on the full moon is a legitimate plan in this heat.
Fall is excellent here. As the water cools from 80 down toward 68, shad pull out of the creek arms toward the main lake and the bass go with them. The fall bait at Choke Canyon is a 1/2 oz Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap in Chrome and Blue, ripped over creek channel transitions in 8 to 12 feet. When the fish are up on the flats, the same bait in Red and Chrome burned fast through 1 to 4 feet takes them.
The upper Frio creek mouth is a natural funnel for that migration and worth a look every fall trip. A 1/2 oz white and chartreuse spinnerbait on points and creek mouths covers the shad schools well, and the 6XD in Chartreuse Powder Blue takes over on channel ledges in 10 to 15 feet as it cools further.
Watch the fronts. A pre-front north wind at Choke Canyon triggers an explosive topwater and spinnerbait bite. Those are the days to be on the water. If you get pushed off shallow cover after the front, a Black and Blue jig with a Rage Craw trailer flipped into cedar and mesquite in 4 to 10 feet keeps you catching.
Call it winter if you want, but it fishes like an extension of October. Water sits at 58 to 68 degrees and bass hold in 8 to 18 feet, dropping to the deeper end of that only behind hard cold fronts. The 1 oz chrome jigging spoon vertical on deep structure remains the most reliable bait. A 1/2 oz silver blade bait dropped on deep points in 15 to 25 feet does the same job with a different look.
Late in the month, the Carolina rig comes back into play. Drag the 10-inch Plum PowerWorm on ledges in 10 to 18 feet, or a Plum Trick Worm with a chartreuse tail behind a 3/4 oz weight in 12 to 20 feet. By the last week of December, the pre-spawn is already starting on this lake. That is not an exaggeration, it is why people drive here in January.
Clarity runs stained to moderately clear, typically 1 to 4 feet of visibility. That range supports both ends of the color spectrum: chrome and chartreuse when it is dirtier and you need flash and vibration, Green Pumpkin and Plum when you can see down a few feet and the fish get a good look.
A reasonable plan for an unfamiliar day: start on the Frio River channel and find where the channel swing meets a flat, because that is the single most productive piece of geometry on the lake in every season. Idle it, note the real depths at the current level rather than the charted ones, and fish whatever the season calls for, a Carolina rig in cold water, a football jig in the heat, a lipless bait in the fall.
If the lake has come up recently, spend the last hours of light checking the back of a pocket where new water is standing in brush. Those fish are shallow, aggressive, and have not seen a lure. If the level has been flat, stay out on the hard stuff: the lower islands, the Calliham Unit riprap, and the Nueces channel bend where deep water swings against a shallow flat.
Choke Canyon is a big lake with a small number of things that really matter. Find the channel, find the level, and match the two.
It sits in South Texas in a subtropical climate, so the water warms first. The first spawning wave comes off the full moon in January or February, and in a warm year pre-spawn staging starts in late December. It is the first Texas lake to fire each year.
Yes, and it is rising fast, which is a good situation. What changes is where you fish. Shoreline brush that holds fish at high pool may be dry ground at a low level, so work the permanent structure instead: the Frio and Nueces channel swings, the lower islands, and the Calliham Unit riprap. As the water climbs, follow it back into freshly flooded mesquite and grass.
A Carolina rig with a 10-inch Plum PowerWorm dragged slowly on the Frio channel ledges in 8 to 18 feet. It is the signature Choke Canyon technique for staging Florida-strain fish in 55 to 62 degree water.
15.45 pounds. The lake's Florida-strain largemouth and long growing season are what produce fish that size.
With air temperatures at 90 to 95 degrees and water from 82 to 95, fish hold at 15 to 35 feet on deep structure. A 3/4 oz Green Pumpkin or Brown football jig dragged on ledges and a 1 oz chrome jigging spoon on main lake humps are the two dominant baits. Avoid midday and consider fishing at night on the full moon.
No. Water stays at 58 to 68 degrees and fish hold in 8 to 18 feet, going deeper only behind cold fronts. December fishes like an extended fall, and pre-spawn activity resumes by the end of the month.
A 1/2 oz Rat-L-Trap in Chrome and Blue ripped over creek channel transitions in 8 to 12 feet while shad migrate from the creek arms to the main lake. A pre-front north wind sets off an explosive topwater and spinnerbait bite.
Standard statewide rules apply: a five-fish daily bag with a 14-inch minimum length. Check TPWD for current rules before you go.