Lake Conroe Fishing Report - Lake Conditions The Lake is at pool and the water is clear. The surface temperature is on the rise now with the high 70's being pretty much the norm all over the Lake. Black bass fishing continues to be very good. The early and late bite continues to be the best. Hybrid fishing has been outstanding with lots of fish in the flats and shallow water early. White Bass fishing continues to improve with fish on points and over sandbars. Crappie fishing has been good under 1097 Bridge and in brush piles. Big Bream fishing continues to be outstanding, with lots of palm size bream being caught in 6 to 10 feet of water in and around rocks. The daylight bite continues to be the best for most fish, with midday and the afternoon bite also being good for catfish in the shallows. Hybrid fishing with live bait back out in deeper water has also produced a lot of fish. You just have to find the fish with your electronics.
Black Bass
Bass fishing has just been remarkable. The early bite on topwater baits and small shad colored crankbaits has prodced so nice fish. There are still fish in the shallows and in the backs of all the coves with many on main lake points and secondary points where there is some sort of cover or grass in the shallows. Some good fish are also being caught on the bulkheads early feeding on shad. With most of the grass gone, most are fishing boat docks, brush on the edge and backs of creeks, underwater structure and brush piles.Texas rigged worms in pumpkin seed, plum/blue, june bug, black, plum and watermelon worms all are producing good solid fish. Senkos have also been a good bait. Strolling continues to be a favorite with some of the fisherman the past few weeks. Most use a Carolina rigged worm about three feet behind the sinker and swivel. They are strolling areas where this is significant depth change near bulkheads and boat docks. When they locate fish, they stop and use traditional methods.
Catfish
Catfish fishing has really picked up. See our photo page for recent catches of catfish. There are more and more catfish that have finished spawning and are returning to deeper water; however, there are still lots of fish in the shade in shallow watere. Nice fish have been caught all week under the 1097 Bridge, on baited holes on the Tram, along the River Bed and just off the rocks in all areas of the lake. We are testing a new punch bait for Magic Bait Company. It has been remarkable. You can cast the bait while fishing the bulkheads and docks and several limits of catfish have been caught this past week using several varieties of the ‘test bait'. It will be a real winner and we will keep you posted. Papa John, Wethook Guide Service, Walter Stearns, Kenny Venghaus and others that are testing the bait are very excited about the results and how it can make both deep water and shallow water catfish fishing even more productive. The guides have all been finding catfish on baited holes in 8 to 15 feet of water. A lot of fish are being caught early in the weeds in and around bulkheads and close to rocks. The shad have not been coming in early each day making fishing on the bulkheads a little more difficult. More and more big fish are being caught using King Kat Fish Bait (Premo). under the bridge and in baited holes after chumming with range cubes and soured deer corn. Other baits include cut shad, cheese baits, nightcrawlers and liver.
White Bass and Hybrid/Striped Bass
The Hybrid fishing has been outstanding. All of the guides are finding hybrids early using live shad and fresh shad under a cork or casting Storm Swim Shad or small crankbaits with large hooks. If you can find the shad on a bulkhead or near rocks and grass with the wind blowing into the area at daylight, you can be sure you will catch fish. Finding the hybrids on humps in 18 -21 feet has been great later in the day. Look for humps with some old timber stubble and trash. They love it. There have been a few reports of see hybrids and white bass school on the surface early. Backs of creeks with the wind blowing into the back of the creek have been great early. Another technique used by many is to troll very slow using a 3/4 oz barrel weight above a swivel followed by a 3 foot leader with the Swim Shad tied to the leader. Go slow enough to bounce the bait of the bottom. This technique has also caught some large White Bass. White Bass fishing is picking up and many fish are being caught trolling for hybrid. Jigging spoons & slabs along all the creek beds on the drop-offs in 20 to 24 feet of water has been good for White Bass. We also have several fishermen and some of the guides using live bait for White Bass. White Bass are moving onto the tops of sandbars at the mouth of creeks and on humps along the River. The white bas are not in as big of schools this year; but, the size of the fish has been much larger than last year. Minnows under lights at night under the 1097 Bridge have produced good catches of crappie and white bass. Several fishermen have reported using minnows over their brush piles and catching both White Bass and Crappie. Crappie fishermen are not real happy with the White Bass showing up in their brush piles; but, that just goes with the territory. Yellow Bass have also been somewhat of a problem with minnow fishermen.
Bream & Crappie
Crappie fishing reports have been good this week. Most of the crappie are now in deeper water on brush piles 10 - 17 feet of water. The early morning bite has been best this week and some nice stringers have been caught under lights at night under the 1097 Bridge. Some of the crappie fishermen working the various marinas around the Lake have been doing real good with both minnows and crappie jigs. There have been more and more larger fish being caught this week. Bream fishing continues to be good with lots of good sized fish moving to shallow water. Light tackle provides a action packed adventure when bream fishing. Bream are being caught along the bulkheads as well as in deeper water when chumming for catfish. We now have some really big bream in this Lake. Many fishermen chum with range cubes to attract and hold the bream. Only problem, this has also been attracting the grass carp. The grass carp are biting night crawlers and put up a real fight when caught. These fish must be released unharmed back into the Lake. Fly fishermen have been working the rocks and grass areas using a small shad colored fly catching bream. Crickets continue to be the bait of choice for many serious bream fishermen. Meal Worms and regular night crawlers are also a good bet. Several buckets of hand sized bream were caught this week using crickets.
Keep A Tight Line & Enjoy!
Papa John
