# Conroe 3/24/18



## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

Water temps 62-65 degrees, depending time of day and locations.
Water green for the most part of the lake.
Wind from the South-Southwest at 12-15 with gust as high as 15-20.
The bait of choice #13 and #14 pet spoons trolled (match the hatch).
All fish caught trolling.

I had plan on hitting Livingston Dam and above the lake this weekend but wind forecast is too high for my little tin can so I opt to checkout Conroe. Conroe doesn't chop as bad as Livingston. I plan to check the entire lake and go as far as to the river upstream of the lake but windy conditions only allowed me as far as mid-lake. It had really gotten bad for my tin can at times. The winds roller-coasted all day high then back low.
We found a good school of big hybrids just hanging around pretty much doing nothing. Comes to my conclusion today they were all full of shads (see pics) and just hanging out to digest. I tried throwing all kinds of baits at them but they would not take it. Leave the area and found more fish just roaming around. I had to troll and chase after it to get them to bite. Went back to the spot with all them hybrids where they were just hanging out and still couldn't get them to bite. I then switch tactics to a reaction bite and sure enough got them to bite. It was double hookups and limits were fast. Pretty soon it was catch and released. It was a good day with minimal boat traffic. Not bad for a tuff windy day. All fish were caught on the lake. I think they are pretty much almost ready to leave the lake and head to their spawning grounds judging from the pics ??? (see egg sack pics) Caught equal numbers of males hybrids, but on the boat and inside of cooler cooler has no milking activity so your guess is as good as mine when they are leaving. Also, bonus largemouth Billy the bass released. Oh, btw shads are showing up in good numbers on the windblown shorelines. If you are into that bulkheads catfish thingy I think Y'all should check out the catfish bites soon. Also, Game Warden is out in force. I see two boats out checking yesterday.


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## bearwhiz (Jan 30, 2011)

Where do you launch at?


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

Bear wiz 830 Boat ramp on 830 road got a free launch double ramp good protection from winds from the South to launch. Avoid launching there during a hard westerly wind or any hard wind coming from the North, Northeast or Northwest. Under windy conditions, I usually pay a steep 25 bucks and launch at Inland Marina. It's totally protected from all winds directions.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

All them hybrids stomachs were packed full of shads. This 21"hybrid swallow a huge 5" gizzard shad


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

All hybrids still full of eggs.


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## O&G-HAND (Nov 27, 2017)

Mmmmm, them eggs are gunna eat good!!!


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

Sorry I said 25 dollar to launch at Inland I mean 15 bucks. Inland is open 24/7. Just put the money in envelope and drop it in their box next to the envelope.


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## O&G-HAND (Nov 27, 2017)

Were ya trolling those Pets behind Hell Benders or on top? If Heâ€™ll Benders, how long of a leader?


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

I troll using down riggers. But there is a least expensive way to troll with them pet spoons is to buy you some pre determine deep diving crank baits. Attach a short leader to a three way swivel to your crank bait. On the third eye of the swivel attach an extra long leader and attach your pet spoons. Remove front treble hook and add bell weight of assorted sizes to achieve greater depth then what the crank bait is designed to dive. 80% of time they will hit the pet spoons. Bonuses doubles hybrids on the crank bait and spoon is common. Leave the treble hook at the tail end of the crank bait attaches. 
Reason I use crank bait is many times they are on sale and is a lot cheaper than hell benders. I use braided line as my main line. 20-30lb braided line. DO NOT attach your pet spoons to your crank bait. You want that crank bait to swim freely with nothing to effect it's action. The rattle inside the crank bait attracts near by fish. Unlike the hell bender no rattle. Chartreuse color crank baits is them hybrids favorite color. Be prepare to loose a few crank baits or spoons due to hybrids playing tug of war on each other when hook up doubles. Just remove all treble hook from crank bait if you want to avoid tug of war. I suggested that rig set up to friends and they do pretty well catching hybrids. I still use that setups a lot when I don't want to mess with the down riggers. Many time I would use the same trolling set up and cast and do equally good, but casting has it's depth limitations.


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

brucevannguyen said:


> Sorry I said 25 dollar to launch at Inland I mean 15 bucks. Inland is open 24/7. Just put the money in envelope and drop it in their box next to the envelope.


About three or four feet leader behind any diving device is good. The longer the leader the better the actions on them spoons.

My advice is to avoid trolling during the early morning hours and late evening because those hybrids are in there right next to the banks chasing shads. They will move out on to open water once the shads move out. Go look for open structures and you have a good chance of running into a few schools. Timing is everything right now. Hopefully y'all catch some before they disappear to their spawning grounds. Think bass fisherman when you are hitting them early morning and late evening. Youtube 2018 Conroe confirms it. Good luck!!

Btw those spoons are expensive. Tie something cheap to the crank bait like plastic swim baits until you confirm very little or no snags in the areas


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## tpool (Aug 21, 2005)

"Conroe doesn't chop as bad as Livingston."..... HAHAHAHAHA!!! You may be right Bruce, but if so, I don't EVER want to go on Livingston!!!! All joking aside, Conroe bulkheads and a 15mph+ wind and I won't go!!! Too rough!

Awesome catches and information!!! How big was that LMB? Looks big!!!

On a side note, I have a small downrigger and have always said if someone would run a downrigger in this lake they could catch them hybrids all summer long! I need to get it installed on my rig!

T-BONE
(tpool)


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Great advice Bruce and nice Hybrids!


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

T bone i took one look at that bass and said it's a trophy bass and needed to be released. We took quick pictures and released it for someone else to catch it another day. Conroe chops pretty bad when all them boats comes out to play. They generate their on chops Lol!!


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## SD Hawkins (Jan 2, 2008)

BVG, the mouth on that fish made it look like something over 8 and maybe a 10 if full of eggs, big bass for sure!! Thanks for chunking it back for us bass guys!!


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

Bass guys in Arkansas will go skinny dipping in 50 degrees water for that size bass. Up in Arkansas large mouth just dont get that big. I think the cold water up there suppresses their growth rates.

Guy's information I give is just 50 % requirements to catch fish. The other 50% all comes down to learning how to read your sonar, and you need that 100% to catch fish consistently. The 10% fisherman reads their sonar well. It's the age of electronics. You either learn it or get left behind. Goes for everthing else electronics. Fisherman will lie to you where the fishes are but electronic don't lie.


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## GotJacked (Mar 18, 2016)

Bruce, nice meeting you at the ramp Saturday and sure glad someone found the fish. I only managed 2 Hybrids and didn't see but one small school on the sonar throughout the day. You certainly have them figured out and hope one day I can get em dialed in as well as you have :fish:


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

GotJacked said:


> Bruce, nice meeting you at the ramp Saturday and sure glad someone found the fish. I only managed 2 Hybrids and didn't see but one small school on the sonar throughout the day. You certainly have them figured out and hope one day I can get em dialed in as well as you have :fish:


Nice to meet you!! Im horrible with remembering names but like I said it all comes down to learning to read your sonar well. A guide once told me fishing reports only gives you a trend of whats biting but it does not give you fish catching results until you figured out a pattern and able to read your sonar well. I can honestly tell you starting the month of May the hybrids bite will be on fire on all lakes. But catching them or not is up to you. Fish will be on a constant move moving around a lot. To catch them effectively you must move with the fish. Good electronics give you that capabilities.
Example of good electronics at work. I found a good school. Marked it and just tell my i pilot to take me there and spot lock on top of them upon arrival. While it's taking me there I deployed 8 rods with live baits. The instant it spot-lock, locked on arrival rods starts bending. Now to me that is good electronics at work. Let the electronics work for you is what I'm trying to get at. The technologies is there guys.


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## tpool (Aug 21, 2005)

brucevannguyen said:


> T bone i took one look at that bass and said it's a trophy bass and needed to be released. We took quick pictures and released it for someone else to catch it another day. Conroe chops pretty bad when all them boats comes out to play. They generate their on chops Lol!!


Awesome fish and release! Yes, I was thinking something north of 9lbs!!! And thanks for stressing learning the electronics! I sure have a lot of work to do in that area with these new side scan depthfinders!!! I (we) appreciate your reports and knowledge Bruce!!

T-BONE
(tpool)


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## brucevannguyen (Oct 21, 2012)

tpool said:


> Awesome fish and release! Yes, I was thinking something north of 9lbs!!! And thanks for stressing learning the electronics! I sure have a lot of work to do in that area with these new side scan depthfinders!!! I (we) appreciate your reports and knowledge Bruce!!
> 
> T-BONE
> (tpool)


It's all good tp!! If I can do it y'all can do it. If you have the love for fishing you will figured it out. I believe it's just a matter of time everyone will catch on with technologies. Getting skunked will be a thing of the past.The entire foundations of catching fish all comes down to reading your electronics and utilizing all the functions and accessories. Examples: I-pilot trolling motor, map cards,gps etc... etc...
My advice is be generous when buying a fish finder. Buy one time. Buy a good one. They are your eyes under the water. You want a good pair of eyes. Once you get good at identifying fish the last thing I advice is to be able to tell if the fish are moving or are they stationery. It helps because I see a lot of guys wasting a lot of times trying to spot lock on moving fish. If a school of fish is moving non stop wouldn't it be a good idea to troll into the school and get double or quadruple hookup non stop ? Yes I say non stop. With side scan if you are trolling an area and as long as you are moving you can see the group where ever they moved if they are still in the general area. All you have to do is mark and play connect the dots and you will catch fish all day long I prefer live baits and casting and jigging. But at certain lake like Conroe I found out them hybrids rarely stay put in one spot for too long during the hot summer month. So I troll


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

Great read and education ,Bruce as always..and always makes me smile to see that lil guy with a BIg Fish...


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