Tom,
I've been fishing Lake Arthur for over 30 years. When you say fishing the flats for bass, I assume you are fishing for hybrid stripers? There are much better places to fish for largemouth bass than the mud flats on the lake, that's for sure. This time of year, hybrid stripers come onto the flats at night, usually after 11 or 12. Sometimes if the weather is cloudy and or stormy, they'll move on the flats during the day. When they are around you'll know it. They'll take Clousers, buggers, streamers, Zonkers, bunny strips, etc. Sometimes poppers. I always fish with white in the patterns. From personal experience: the game has changed over the years. The fish are pressured much more. They used to show themselves by busting bait on the flats. Easy to see the school location. They rarely do this anymore. So you just have to keep casting and hoping. Sometimes all you end up with is a sore arm. But then you hit into a school one night and you end up with a sore arm for a whole other reason. :-D Hope this helped. Good luck.
