Between San Angelo, Texas and Brownwood, Texas lies O.H. Ivie Reservoir. O.H. Ivie Reservoir was impounded in 1990 and is a little more than 19,000 acres. Many do not know these facts about O.H. Ivie, but what many should know, is that in 2010, a lake record Largemouth Bass was caught at 16.08 pounds, and that in 2009-2010, eleven Largemouth Bass of at least thirteen pounds were donated to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Share Lunker program, in which Texas strives to breed a world record Largemouth by taking any largemouth that is thirteen pounds or more.
The Colorado River and the Concho River, two rivers which merge to form the Colorado River, feed O.H. Ivie Reservoir. I launched in past the dam of O.H. Ivie Reservoir, in the Colorado River, which had clear water of about four feet of clarity, and also rather cold water.
The travel down to the river was not easy at all, as I had to drag my boat a good 500 yards just to reach the river, where cactus and tall grass were surrounding me.
Getting access to the Colorado River off of the dam from the reservoir is by no means easy or short, but once you get access to the river, it will be well worth your visit.
I advise you not to travel to close to the dam for many reasons. One, getting within five hundred feet of the dam is illegal. Two, if water is being released, water conditions can be quite dangerous and hazardous, and three, if water is not being released, but if suddenly released, a large wave will hit you and bring great danger to your fishing visit. If one is careful though, there is nothing to worry about.
Once I did get to the river, I used a 1/8 ounce Firetiger Rooster Tail along with a Pflueger spinning reel, Cabelas Tourney medium action rod, and Berkley Trilene fishing line. At first, not much action occurred as it took about twenty minutes to catch my first Largemouth, which was approximately one pound. Eventually, I did catch what would be a trophy Largemouth, which would weigh nearly eight pounds.
As I approached a large fallen tree trunk, I flipped my Rooster Tail over the tree and began to retrieve my lure. After I did this, the near eight pound Largemouth struck my lure that was only attached with six pound fishing line. Thank goodness for a good drag system developed by Pflueger, for if I did not have one, I would have lost this great Largemouth Bass. Although it was hard to get this monster out of my mind, I did find several other nice Largemouth Bass, including a couple of two pounders and one three pound bass.
At the end of the day, the quote of “The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does,” was very true with the hard and long travel down to the Colorado River. I would advise any kayak fisher to pay a visit to this great body of water, because although O.H. Ivie is secluded from much of the major cities and restaurants, the fish certainly are not.
Pictured above is the Largemouth Bass. Below are the lures Taylor used on the trip.
About the author: My name is Clint Taylor and I fish the out of the way and mostly overlooked locations on Texas Rivers. I am a member of the Jackson Kayak Fishing Team, and I am a proud member of the Brownwood Lions Varsity Football Team – Go Lions. I enjoy outdoor activities and going target shooting as well. I also have a website,
