I'll be taking a guest to Gilmer Hat & Star on Tuesday the 19th, and have never been there before. Would any of you folks be so kind as to tell me a little more about the lake than what's in the club description? For example, Is there only one creek channel? Where is the deepest water closest to the bank? Does the majority of the cover consist of timber, or weeds? Lily pads? Grass? Deep grass? Is it coontail or hydrilla, or both? Sunken brush piles? Marked, or not? Normally-successful lures? Etc.....  I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks in advance,

Tom

Tom,

The lake is deep and has unusually deep water near the banks. For the most part the lake drops off quickly and you can be 20 feet from the bank and be in 15 foot of water. There is lots of timber and little vegetation. There are 2 coves on the lake. I like the smaller cove. The cove is too small to get specific, just fish the timber and both points. There is a channel that runs down the very middle of the lake and has depths to 30 feet.

The threadfin shad we put in there 2 years ago are still there and you can throw crankbaits in the schools to catch smaller fish. My experience is that you will not catch a lot of 1.75 to 3.75 fish (which is the dominant size class in most of our lakes), but rather dinks or 4 lb and larger fish. Of course, many of our members fish here for the giant fish. Which are as about as plentiful as any lake in the club.

Last week the 7lb fish that was caught was caught on a watermelon red biffle bug.

Thanks, Steve - very much!

Hey Tom,

Gilmer Hat and Star is the antitheisis to Timber Lake.  You go to Gilmer to catch a real PIG.  As has been mentioned, you probably won't catch a lot of fish as it seems there are some true monsters and quite a few culls so rig up accordingly.  Be prepared to horse a double digit fish out of deep timber.  That means heavy line, heavy hooks and stiff rods.  The creek channel is obvious and the two main lake points Steve mentioned extend out off of the opposite side and are worth spending time on.  I'd have one or two crank baits tied on, a deep diver and a square bill and throw them right into the timber and reel them really slowly, bouncing them off as much wood as you can.  You'll also want a Texas or Carolina rig ready to go to drag through the deep stuff.  In the past guys have done well on big flutter spoons.  Think BIG baits and you're looking for the one BIG bite and keep in mind that those girls don't bite very often so getting blanked is a possibility.  I've caught smaller fish on white flukes rigged weightless up in the shallows and on a shaky head with watermelon red finesse worms thrown up onto those points we mentioned.  I've really been wanting to take another trip out here but just haven't done it yet.  It's been discussed in the past that this lake is one of your highest chances to catch a really big fish.  Have a blast and let us know how you do.

Jackson