Rayburn's Winter Bite: Lipless Cranks, A-Rigs, and Jerkbaits Dominate the Action

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Sam Rayburn fishing report. We’re sitting in a classic East Texas winter pattern. According to the National Weather Service out of Lufkin, we’ve got cool mornings in the low 40s, afternoons pushing into the upper 50s to low 60s, light north to northeast breeze, and high pressure settling in behind the last front. Skies are mostly clear, so expect a bluebird day once the fog burns off. Sunrise is right around 7:20 a.m., sunset about 5:35 p.m., so your best light-low periods are that first hour after sunrise and the last hour before dark. Sam Rayburn doesn’t have true tides, but the solunar tables from FishingReminder are showing stronger major feeding windows late morning and again mid‑afternoon today, which lines up with the recent bite. FishingReminder also rates today as above average, thanks to the moon phase pushing fish a little more active than we’ve seen on the coldest days. Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Pineywoods report says Rayburn bass are locked into their winter deal: shad and crawfish are the menu. Guides are talking about heavy fog early, then a good reaction bite once the sun gets up and warms that stained water on the flats. They’re catching fish both shallow on grass edges and out deeper in drains and on points with bait present. Major League Fishing reports from the recent Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament here on January 3rd showed Rayburn still kicking out quality bags. Anglers brought in solid limits of largemouth with several in the 5–7 pound class and a few bigger “Rayburn specials.” Most of those fish came on moving baits over grass and bottom-contact rigs in 8–18 feet. According to MLF coverage, winter on Sam Rayburn is “hawg season,” and that’s exactly what we’re seeing. Best lures right now: - **Lipless crankbaits** like a red or craw-colored Rat‑L‑Trap burned and yo‑yoed over submerged grass in 3–8 feet. Dicky Newberry, a Rat‑L‑Trap hammer on Rayburn, swears by that deal in cold water. - **Squarebill crankbaits** in red or shad patterns around stumps and shallow grass on warming flats. - **Alabama rigs** with small swimbaits over drains and off main‑lake points where you see shad on the graph. - **Carolina rigs and Texas rigs** with green pumpkin or red-flake craws and worms in 10–20 feet on secondary points and the mouths of creeks. - On tougher, slick days, a **suspending jerkbait** over 8–12 feet around docks and isolated cover is putting extra fish in the boat. For bait soakers, minnows are taking crappie off brush and timber in 20–25 feet, and prepared punch bait or cut shad is producing good numbers of channel and blue cats on deeper channel edges. Recent catch talk from local ramps and marinas has been steady, not on fire but solid. Most everyday anglers are boating 8–15 bass a trip with a couple in the 3–5 pound range if they commit to the grass bite. Crappie anglers are reporting 10–20 keepers a morning off brush piles and bridge columns, with better size This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.