Anyone here fish Toledo Bend in its first 5-10 years?

Have pics of the grandparents back in the day with stringers full of fish with the standing timber in the back. Looked awesome.

I was born in 1964, maternal grandparents lived about a mile from the river bottoms of the Sabine where it forms the north end of the lake. Granddad had keys to all the gates that the landowners made sure he was kept access to the woods and backwaters there so I grew up learning to fish in that lake.

Dad and Grandad literally would catch 3-4 Igloo coolers full of crappie and bream before I was old enough to go with them. Grandad always had a freezer full of bass and crappie till he was about 85. At 82 he pulled a 40+lb catfish out on a spinning jig while bass fishing. Said he drug it up on land and without his hearing aids he could hear it grunting. That was a long walk back to his pickup, he was at one of his secret backwater honey holes.

One of the Shreveport TV sports news guys would look for grandad and his dog bank fishing (never learned to swim so no boat fishing for him). Talked about him and showed him on the news several times: "Watch for the old man and dog, if they move on within 15 minutes you do too, if they stay longer, then once they move you fish the same area, he won't wait long unless they're biting."

Grandad had 20 acres barbed wire fenced. Every single fence pole had at least a 5lb bass head on the top from Toledo Bend. He'd tell me, "see that stump? toss suchandsuch bait just past it and pull it back soandso." Sure enough, big bass would be holding there with usually 3-4 mid sized too. He fished every day for 45 years or more all around that area.

Paw Paw had his camp in Negreet area from 1971 til the day he died in 2006. I went every summer and some holidays.

Grandfather had a camp on north end near circle drive for a long time. He fished out of Jolly Roger a bit too. The pictures and stories from the first few years were incredible. They killed a lot of ducks in those days too.

I remember going as a kid and catching 3-4 big ice chest slam full of huge crappie or blue gill which ever we were targeting.

When the old folks were cooking, cleaning fish, etc etc I'd get my zebco 33 and fish for bass around the boat launch for bass with live shiners and a cork. I caught some big ones for a kid.

1969, fished pine tops for white perch and bream. Slaughtered them erry trip on shiners.

We fished it in the 70’s and there are no words. Top water 2-300 bass days and then at night, had a light we’d hang off the side of the boat and fill everything up with crappie, like it wasn’t anything. Best fishing of my life, great memories.

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I was born in 1963 in Shreveport. Was the sports guy Bob Griffen.

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Wasn't Mr. Griffen. He became friends with my Grandmother once we moved her into the assisted living facility after grandad died. Said she was the spitting image of his mother.

It was a younger guy from Channel 6 I think, late 1970's through mid 1980's for sure. Griffen was channel 12 back then.

My dad fished both the opening of Bussey and Toledo Bend. He said it was wild

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Poverty point was ridiculous when they opened that lake

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We used to sneak out there and fish the stock ponds in the lake bed before they flooded the lake. Talk about fun. When it officially opened I fished the first five days in a row. Caught more bass in those 5 days then I have the rest of my life. Good times

Hydrilla beds on Toledo are all but gone also. Could be the spraying but it’s more likely the crazy fluctuations over the water levels the last decade. Also really affected the duck hunting on the lake also. No food at all

When Caney was spitting out records it was because of the massive hydrilla beds. Then they introduced way way too many grass carp and you couldn’t find a speck of grass in that lake