Me and two buddies decided to pull the boat to Ivie the 22nd of this month. This will be our first trip out there and we are all super excited to fish new water instead of fishing Toledo and Rayburn that we grew up on.
Does anybody have any recommendations they'd be willing to share about the lake and area? Good places to eat and stuff like that as well. We know the lake will probably fish completely different from what we are used to in East Texas but we are looking forward to the challenge and hope we catch a few solid fish!

Not sure what direction you're coming from but Big O's is a great stop in Valera. Decent Q. Good burgers. My favorite is the DT special. Owner is a riot.

In Coleman, hidalgos for tex mex breakfast/lunch and rancho pizza for a great dinner after a long day on the water. Their steakhouse in town just next to the pizza restaurant is excellent. Either will rival anything in a big city. Trust me on this.

Heading there from beautiful Beaumont Texas!!

It's a very tough lake to fish. Don't expect to catch a share lunker on your first trip there. Because the lake is so low I would recommend launching at Elm Creek Marina. The primary success I have had was using Yamamoto senkos weightless or with a very light weight over submerged brush near ledges and drop offs. Use the #925s (I think it is green pumpkin-watermelon red laminate). Bring a lot of hooks because you will lose them in the brush. Good luck and report back on how you did.

Both marinas have little diners in them and that's where we always ate breakfast. The only restaurant open in the area that I know of in the evening is a BBQ joint below the dam. It was good BBQ after a day on the water.

I'll echo from above.

And if you're fishing for a big one....you're looking for one bite. One really good bite. Good luck. I haven't fished the lake at its current water level, so I dont feel confident in making suggestions. But back before it was this popular, we had good luck fishing sharp drop offs near the main river channel. Big fish liked the safety net of that depth, but could be conned into taking a look at a carolina rigged creature bait that was drug slowly through the drop off transition. Long days of slinging baits looking for one bait, but it often paid off with a least one 10+ pound fish in the boat.

Put in at Concho Park Marina or Elm Creek.

I like to fish the rivers. My buddy caught a 9, 7, and 10.5 in the same day on the Colorado a couple weeks ago.

Good luck!

Thanks for the recommendations so far everyone! Like I said we grew up fishing Toledo and Rayburn so we definitely understand the grind of chasing the big ones! We just hope we catch a few solid fish and maybe earn us a big one!

You could line up a guided trip with Josh Jones! Only $2000! He picks you up and puts you on one big fish, if you break off or catch it, you're done and he hauls you back to the dock immediately afterwards.

Pretty good deal, right?!?!

People paying 2k for that Facebook post about catching a double digit!!!

I guess there are plenty of schmucks around Midland with enough dough to keep him busy or he wouldn't be doing it at that price point. I don't imagine the locals of Concho County are lining up for his services. Just seems crazy to me.

No way that's real. Jeez… idiots and their money.

I'd pass on Hidalgos. We always eat at Rancho Pizzeria if you want real good pizza, or Black Cur if you want nice food. Also RLV winery for tasting if you want

https://www.facebook.com/p/Stankys-Guide-Service-100063443576651/

check out Stanky. My nieces fished with him at choke 2 years ago and had nothing but great things to say.

pretty sure he lives on OH now.

Lowake Steak House in Rowena was legit the last time I was there about 10 years ago. It's a 30-minute drive from Elm Creek.

https://www.lowakesteakhouse.com/

dr_boogs said:

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Not sure what direction you're coming from but Big O's is a great stop in Valera. Decent Q. Good burgers. My favorite is the DT special. Owner is a riot.

In Coleman, hidalgos for tex mex breakfast/lunch and rancho pizza for a great dinner after a long day on the water. Their steakhouse in town just next to the pizza restaurant is excellent. Either will rival anything in a big city. Trust me on this.

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Love me some Big O's Special - it's great

Seconded: Rancho Pizzeria is as nice as you will find anywhere. Woodfired options paired with locally sourced wines. The steak place next door (Black Cur) also serves locally sourced beef.

The owners also have a really nice, high-end B&B not too far away that you can park the wives at if they ever want to come.

dr_boogs said:

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Not sure what direction you're coming from but Big O's is a great stop in Valera. Decent Q. Good burgers. My favorite is the DT special. Owner is a riot.

In Coleman, hidalgos for tex mex breakfast/lunch and rancho pizza for a great dinner after a long day on the water. Their steakhouse in town just next to the pizza restaurant is excellent. Either will rival anything in a big city. Trust me on this.

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This…Big O's is the spot. Hidalgo's is great too!

I'd love to catch a dd especially a sharelunker. Jones seems to be the guru right now with live scope. But I'm not paying $2k and he seems difficult to deal with. More power too him though if he can keep it up.

Headed there in the morning bump! Anymore recommendations!?

Day 1 update.

Me and two buddies fished HARD from when we got here at 4:30pm to 9:30pm and didn't get a single fish in the boat. Tried every kinda bait we could think of. Going to try some offshore stuff tomorrow and hope we get a payoff! Going to keep at it until sunday!

Go deeper. It's hot. Those fish are in offshore cover of depth changes where they can escape pressure/heat, but come up to feed.

Tie on a 3/4oz Carolina rigged plastic of choice and get to dragging and hopping and pulling it up and down the offshore elevation changes.

I'd look for humps that have a peak of 10-12 feet, but dive down to 20+. Proximity to a larger flat where they might feed at night is good too.

Open water. Get off the bank.

Speaking from experience.

Bump for the OP. Y'all find some bites?

Found a ton of fish but could only get a few to bite. Biggest was around 5.5 lbs! Definitely wanna give the lake a try in the cooler months

The little cafe inside Elm Creek RV Campground's store has good burgers, and (on the days they make it) good fried catfish. Wife and I have ranchland 10 minutes from there, but have not hauled a boat up there ourselves yet.

World record from the 12 lb line class.

https://www.myhighplains.com/news/texas/texas-largemouth-bass-confirmed-as-world-record-catch/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral

Going to be exciting to see this lake when it catches the next round of water. Lots of open hills and banks filled with vegetation.

The rise and fall of Ivie means it will have something that Fork and other constant level lakes can never have.

Going to be a special place for a long time.