Artificial Lure back with your latest Lake Sam Rayburn fishing report for October 30, 2025. We’ve got a classic East Texas morning: cool, breezy, and just right for chasing those fall bass and slabs. First light hit at 7:28 a.m., and sunset’s coming up at 6:38 p.m. With the overnight northwest winds rolling in, water temps are holding near **80 degrees**, and conditions are stained—visibility’s not the best, but the bite’s waking up as the lake keeps dropping, now **8.54 feet below pool** according to the TPWD weekly report. Boaters, keep a sharp eye out for stumps and shallows popping up across the lake; low water’s made navigation tricky.
The weather’s got that classic Texas fall pattern: expect highs in the mid-70s, a crisp wind topping **10 to 15 miles per hour**, and a solid barometer—all ideal to put bass in feeding mode. Major fish activity windows today will be right at sunrise and again late afternoon, so plan to hit your high-percentage spots early and late.
Bass have shifted back to main lake points, offshore humps, and deeper structure—the drawdown and water releases have pushed ‘em away from the banks. Topwater action is decent pre-dawn in pockets and points, especially on **frogs, buzz baits, and senkos**, but as the sun climbs, switch to deep cranking around ledges and brush with **Carolina rigs, big jigs, or umbrella rigs**. Recent tournament action saw Brody Campbell and others hammering offshore pockets loaded with threadfin shad; they did serious work with **Strike King 6XD crankbaits, umbrella rigs rigged with shad swimbaits**, and sturdy football jigs pitched at timber and brush. Expect to pickup mixed bags this way, but make sure to play with lure colors—the stained water means you want chartreuse, electric shad, chrome, or purple patterns.
Don’t overlook the shallows if overnight temps drop: Marshall Hughes and Hayden Marbut both pulled heavy bass shallow using lipless crankbaits like the Bill Lewis Hammer Trap or Nomad Design jerkbaits in ghost and chrome patterns whenever the wind pushed some bait up. If it stays windy, tuck into protected pockets—some anglers are finding “accidental” honey holes loaded with shad and schooling fish where the wind’s been blocked, especially near the beaches and creek mouths.
Crappie fishing’s improving as they stack up on brush and timber in 10-20 feet. Minnows are doing well, but small hand-tied jigs in natural colors or shad imitations are getting solid bites. For bluegill, drop small jigs or live worms on brush piles; numbers are holding strong.
Catfish have moved out to creek channels and deeper water, hitting cut shad and punch bait. Focus on channel bends and deep points for the bigger blues and channels—mid-morning is hot right now.
Best bets for hotspots:
- **Black Forest area** is prime for deep bass and brush piles for crappie—offshore humps nearby are drawing feeding schools.
- **Five Fingers pocket** is loaded with shad, giving up strong bass bites on windless mornings.
- **Jackson Hill and the Highway 147 bridge** are producing slabs (crappie) and are safe bets for a family-friendly trip.
Most catches recently have been chunkier largemouth bass, a decent showing of spotted bass, improving numbers of white bass off main lake points, and cats running four to eight pounds from cut bait in creeks.
Remember, zebra mussel laws mean you MUST drain your boat when leaving the lake—help keep our Sam Rayburn clean.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
