Conroe help

[elkhunter49]

Hey folks I was thinking of heading to Lake Conroe on Thursday
to try a little catfishing. What do you guys expect all this rain
to do to the fishing. I live on Lake Houston and it's running
hard and full of debris. The water at Conroe always looks
better than Lake Houston but I was thinking it might be a waste
of time with that much rain in the area. Thanks fellas. Baker

[across777]

I have the same question...I am heading to Conroe this weekend and I'm not very familiar with the lake.

I did found this fishing report that I found very informative..

http://www.lakeconroefishingguides.com/Fishing_Report/fishing_report.html

[elkhunter49]

Thanks for the help !!

[randyrandy]

I drive across the FM1097 Bridge every day at least twice. It has been W-I-N-D-Y!
Whitecaps every day. Past weekend was so bad (again) I didn't make an effort to go out. Today, Wed., the water color was real dirty (greenish-brown) for Lake Conroe. Having stated the bad, here's the good.
Cats are feeding early, jumping. Early the lake is the smoothest. When it gets rough you can head into the wind and find a cove or creek that blocks the wind, then fish bulkheads. Hold on to your hat.

[across777]

thanks randyrandy...

Any help on the best meathods for fishing for cats?

I will be staying at a lake house in one of the big developments. THey are right on the lake so hopefully there is some good fishing close in. What baits are best for cats? Do you usually fish on the bottom, or under a bobber? How deep? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[randyrandy]

They probably have a bulkhead. Early, before dawn you could castnet shad fight off the bulkhead and use shad for catfish. Step on the shad then hook it and soak it an inch or two above the bottom, with or without a bobber. Fresh peeled shrimp are also a sure bait. I also have good luck with nightcrawlers. If you throw some range cubes right off the bulkhead about 30 minutes to an hour before you fish, that'll bring them in however right now the shad themselves are bringing the cats to the bulkheads. You might just hook up a hybrid or two also, great fight, they pull like a redfish and never jump. Set the hook hard like on a largemouth and loosen the drag a bit so they don't break your line. Whites might be in there with the hybrids too. Hybrids have to be 18" or longer, whites 10" and cats 12". Remember, on Conroe largemouths have to be 16" or better. This afternoon when I drove across the long bridge, the water was calmer thanI have sees it in days and clearing but still dirty for Conroe. If it doesn't rain tonight it should look pretty good tomorrow. If you have access to a boat then you can go find a hole in about 25+ feet of water and bait it with range cubes and use any of the above baits or even a dip bait on a treblehook with a sponge on it. Put it 6" above the bottom. Catfish will show up within the hour. Best of luck.

[elkhunter49]

That sounds like solid advise Randy. Thank you for the help !

[NitroNX898]

Elkhunter, I just got back and we did great. 36 cats in about 1.5 hours. It was getting to rough and my anchor wouldn't hold or we would have kept on fishing. Every fish was between 3-7 pounds. I will post pictures in another thread. call me @ 832-729-6795 and I will point you in the direction I was at.

Wil

[across777]

We ended up doing pretty well...caught cats fairly consistently in the evenings. We really didn't end up fishing too much (had too much fun in the hot tub) but the Conroe catfish population is clearly very healthy. We caught all channel cats, and the smallest was about 14", with the biggest being about 4 lbs.