Texas Rig Fishing on Richland Chambers Reservoir
Richland Chambers Reservoir · Texas · South Central
Richland Chambers sits in Freestone and Navarro counties about 75 miles southeast of Dallas, impounding the Richland and Chambers creeks on the Trinity River watershed. The reservoir's shallow, stained-to-moderately-clear water hosts extensive submerged timber, brush piles, and creek channel ledges that concentrate largemouth bass year-round. It's a numbers fishery with a legitimate big-bass undercurrent — double-digit largemouth are caught here more than most Texas anglers outside the region realize.
A bullet sinker slides freely on the line ahead of a wide-gap hook with a weedless-rigged soft plastic. The rig is completely snag-resistant, making it the go-to choice for grass, timber, and heavy cover. Works with virtually any soft plastic — worms, craws, creatures, lizards.
Texas Rig Setup for Richland Chambers Reservoir
| Rod | 7'–7'3" medium-heavy casting rod, fast action |
| Reel | 7.1:1 or faster baitcaster |
| Line | 15–20 lb fluorocarbon or 30–50 lb braid in heavy cover |
| Weight | 3/16–1/2 oz tungsten bullet weight (peg it in heavy cover) |
| Hook | 3/0–5/0 EWG wide gap hook sized to plastic |
Seasonal Tactics on Richland Chambers Reservoir
Lake: Pre-spawn bass stage on creek channel bends in 8–14 ft before moving to shallow flats and submerged timber in the 2–5 ft range as water temps push through the low 60s. Lipless crankbaits like the Strike King Red Eye Shad and jig-and-chunk combos produce heavily near spawning coves from late February through April.
Texas Rig: Slow drag through spawning flats and around beds. Lizards and creature baits in crawfish colors.
Lake: Fish move off the flats and stack on deeper brush piles and creek channel edges in 15–25 ft once surface temps climb past 85°F. Offshore structure fishing with a Texas-rigged Zoom Trick Worm or a 3/4 oz football jig becomes the dominant late-summer pattern, and early-morning topwater action on shallow timber flats can still fire before the heat sets in.
Texas Rig: Pitch into shade — docks, mats, and laydowns. Pegged weight for matted grass punching.
Lake: Shad migrations pull bass into the back halves of coves and onto shallow flats through October and November. A squarebill crankbait like the Strike King KVD 1.5 banged off submerged stumps or a walking topwater over open flats will find schooling fish, and the bite often stays active later into the season than on more northerly Texas reservoirs.
Texas Rig: Cover water quickly on points and along weed lines. Faster retrieve with a reaction element.
Lake: Cold-front cycles push fish deep onto main-lake brush piles and channel drops in the 20–30 ft range. A blade bait like the Swedish Pimple or a slow-rolled swimbait on a heavy head produces, but the honest answer is that some of the biggest bass of the year come on slow-dragged jigs during January's most lethargic conditions.
Texas Rig: Slow drag on deep structure, 15–30 feet. Finesse Texas rig with 1/4 oz and 6" worm.
Best Conditions
Heavy cover — grass, timber, laydowns, docks; murky to stained water; any season; pre-spawn and post-spawn periods
Peg the weight with a rubber toothpick when fishing grass. A sliding weight catches weeds; a pegged weight punches through clean.
More Techniques for Richland Chambers Reservoir
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