Lake Conroe Fishing Report - Lake Conditions: The weather has been outstanding the past week. Little to no wind and fishing couldn't have been better. The Lake is currently at 201.05 The water is clear on the main lake and slightly stained at the heads of the creeks. Surface water temperature is 65 to 69 degrees depending on the area of the Lake you are fishing. Weather conditions look great for the early part of next week with some winds out of the North and cooler mornings. Black bass fishing has been fair with the fish holding around boat dock, riprap, jetties and other structure in 12 -15 feet of water. Crappie fishing has been outstanding all week with the bite early and late. The fish were in 17 to 22 feet of water. Catfish fishing has been outstanding in 16-20 feet of water. Hybrid activity has been fair with the fish starting to move to the points to feed when shad move in on the main lake and secondary points. Huge schools of shad on the top can be located in numerous parts of the Lake when the wind is calm. Find the shad and find the hybrids. Be sure and listen to the reports on Sports Radio 610 for weekend updates by Tex Bonin. If you have a fishing story you would like to share with our readers, go to our "Blog" and let us hear all about it in the "comments" section or you can send pictures and the story to Papa John at: papajohn@lakeconroefishingguides.com and I will post it for you.
Black Bass.
Black Bass fishing has been fair this past week. Good solid fish are being caught early in shallow water, near the bulkheads and boat stalls, marina walls and riprap. Good baits to fish early and late are small crank baits in Perch, Tennessee Shad and crawfish colors. Carolina rigged worms in Watermelon Red Flake and Plumb have been great. Soft plastics and Texas rigged dark colored worms have been the bait of choice of many fishermen. The Original Texas Weedless Wacky Worm® is still a favorite and is catching lots of fish. When fishing with the guides on a bass trip they are going to want to leave early in the morning to get the early bit. Toyota ShareLunker 473 was caught by Paul Detwiler of Tyler. His was fishing in five feet of water on November 16 when the big bass attacked his Strike King lipless crankbait. The fish weighed 14.43 pounds and was 27.5 inches long and 21.75 inches in girth. CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.
Catfish
Catfish fishing has been outstanding . Tex Bonin has been finding his fish in baited holes in 12 -18 feet of water. Tex is fishing for both catfish and bream on most of his trips; but, has had some very productive bass trips. Carl Bostick, WetHook Guide Service has been catching lots of catfish on most trips and crappie trips have been outstanding during the week. CatTales Guide Service has been fishing baited holes for both catfish and bream. Magic Bait Company "Stick!It" continues to produce good fish both shallow and deep. Other baits of choice have been Premo, Shad and Liver. Tex Bonin is a fan of the Glo-Worm under a cork in 12 -18 feet of water on baited bulkheads. Stump patches baited with range cubes have also been producing some nice stringers of catfish. Joey Anderson caught a 53.8 pound flathead cat that was 48 inches long on ULTRA-LITE tackle fishing for crappie. Click Here For the rest of the story. Joey has his own website. Click Here to check it out! Lake Conroe continues to be one of the highest producing catfish lakes in Texas. The fish feed mostly on shad giving them a wonderful taste and making them the favorite of many fish fries.
White Bass and Hybrid/Striped Bass
Hybrid and White Bass activity has picked up some. The shad are starting to move to main Lake points during the day and will be more active now that we have more sun. On calm days there are huge schools of sad on the surface in many areas of the Lake. Keep an eye out for these schools and stop and check them for hybrids. Usually, if you find the shad, the hybrids will be close by. Jigging slabs and three-quarter ounce spoons off the bottom has been working for some fishermen and trolling a Pet Spoon behind a deep diving crank bait or other device to get the spoon down is another technique many are starting to use. Some have been caught trolling swim baits using a worm weight forward of a swivel and a three foot leader behind the swivel. Humps on the river channel, down on the South end of the Lake and North of the 1097 Bridge have been places to troll for Hybrids and White Bass. Several good catches have been reported on the South end of the Lake and over around Walden. The shad keep moving...find the shad and find the hybrids. Very few White Bass have been reported this week.
Bream & Crappie
Crappie fishing continues to be good and should only improve as we get cooler weather. Most fish have been caught in (16 - 22 feet) of water, under the 1097 Bridge (which continues to get hammered ) and in brush piles on the edge of creeks and humps. Lots of fish have also moved into the deep water marinas and in 16 - 22 feet of water up the creeks with shallow water on both sides. There are lots of points and secondary points holding crappie on brush piles. A 1/32 - 1/16 oz. crappie jig with chartreuse grubs has been a very popular bait. The "Baby Assassin" ( Click For Picture)has also been very productive with a double rig. Minnows are always the favorite of many fishermen. The crappie bite has been pretty steady on the 'solunar times, with the "Minor Times" also are getting a good bite. Crappie around boat docks tend to get in the shade and wait for food. Rick Bridges of Magnolia, Texas caught a 16.876 inch Crappie weighing 2.13 lbs this past Saturday. See Blog for photo and more info. Carol Lorch also caught a 16 inch Crappie last week. Becky Anderson caught 9 nice crappie in one of our marinas between 8:40 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Be sure and be aware of your 10 inch minimum length for a crappie to be kept. You can visit The Texas Parks & Wildlife online to make sure you know how to measure your fish. This link will take you right to the correct page online. We have been blessed with a huge increase in our crappie population and we want to be sure and do everything possible to keep the growth cycle in tact.
Bream fishing is also getting better with "monster" bream being caught on crappie jigs. Most of the bream are in the brush with the Crappie. Glow-Worms (Green Nightcrawlers) have been paying off for several of the guides. We now have some really big bream in Lake Conroe. We have also had several fly fishermen fishing for Bream the past week. Now those big Bream give them a real fight. Tex Bonin has several places baited where he catches huge bream and nice catfish all in the same place.
Many fishermen chum with range cubes to attract and hold the bream. "Big Bream" have been a favorite of many fishermen this year. This is fishing for some real good eats! Don't forget to check out our "Blog". Let us know if there is something that you would like to discuss with others and we will post it
Keep A Tight Line & Enjoy - Papa John
