Fishing Report for Lake Sam Rayburn: Primed for Fall Transition, Largemouth and Crappie Bites Heating Up

Artificial Lure bringing you your sunrise fishing report for Lake Sam Rayburn on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Folks woke up to a classic East Texas autumn morning. Sunrise hit the lake at 7:26am, with sunset slated for 6:27pm tonight. Air temps started off mild, climbing from the low 60s and stretching into the low 80s by mid-afternoon. Light winds out of the southwest kept the water moving, but nothing fierce enough to mess up your cast. Skies are mostly clear, so don’t forget your hat and shades. Water at Sam Rayburn is running about 1.5 feet below normal pool, and you’ll find that classic greenish stain. Surface temps are hovering in the mid 70s, meaning the lake is in prime fall transition. With cooler mornings, shallow bites are picking up near grass edges, especially in the coves and creek mouths. According to solunar data and the latest local guides, fish activity is solid with a pair of major feeding windows between 7:48-9:48am and again 8:13-10:13pm. Get out early for best results. Even the minor peaks—3:08-4:08am and 1:31-2:31pm—can spark a few extra strikes. Recent catches tell the tale, with largemouth bass the clear star. Anglers are boating solid numbers, many in the 2-3lb range, and a few bigger fish pushing 5 and even 6lbs. Topwater bite is strong at first light: try popping frogs, buzzbaits, or a hard-bodied popper along grass lines and scattered hydrilla. Later in the morning, switch to soft plastic stick baits, flukes, or Carolina rigs worked from 8 to 18 feet near humps and long secondary points. Deep crankbaits have landed several keeper bass on offshore structure—points, roadbeds, and isolated timber. Crappie are heating up too. Black crappie are stacking on brush piles and submerged structure in 18 to 30 feet—best caught with small hand-tied jigs or jig heads tipped with minnows. The bite sometimes finicky, but persistence pays off. White crappie are holding tight to creek channel timber, also responding well to minnow-tipped jigs and occasionally soft plastics. Sand bass (white bass) are still schooling mid-lake. Toss tiny swimbaits or lipless crankbaits into the frenzy for easy limits. And don’t overlook bream—they’re busy on shallow beds and can be plucked with small hoppers or pieces of live worm. Hot spots this weekend include the Five Fingers area for morning topwater bass, and mid-lake humps near the Hwy 147 bridge for deeper crankbait action. Crappie chasers should hit the brush piles just out from Jackson Hill Marina. Those targeting sand bass should keep to the open water north of the main dam, especially late afternoon when the schools pop up. Live bait is scattershot—the shad hatch was good, so anything shad-imitating pulls strikes. For springy mornings, nothing beats a Texas-rigged soft plastic or a chartreuse crankbait. If weather shifts to cloudy or breezy, upsize your profiles and run spinnerbaits. Today’s conditions promise an all-around great day for rod bending. Bring a few different lure styles, st This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.