# White Perch Trinity River?



## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

All these crappie reports have me pumped up. They creep up the river all the way to the locks but not always noticable unless you're a local there. In the late 60's and early 70's there were reports of truck beds full of potatoe sacks stuffed with barn doors. People would walk up and down the banks with a cane pole with 20 lb test mono and a feather jig and fill stringers and feed sacks full in no time, half the catch would be caught on a jig with no feathers because the first half would knock them off. They would come up with the sand bass and leave about the same time back to the lake. It seems fish run in cycles on which is the most plentiful and maybe this is the year for the white perch. One year it was the bull heads and they were big,almost two lbs, them another year it was gou, a few years back it was stripers (Loy's fish) but most always if the river don't stay high and muddy there's blue catfish and sandbass. For those who make a pilgrimage for the sandbass run don't cheat yourself, you'll catch the other ruuning fish by accident and if it happens to be something you like change to suit the fish. They have to be thick to compete with the sandbass. I guess you can apply this battle plan anywhere you fish. Just sharing personal stories.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Interesting story. I enjoyed reading it. Last year I caught several nice crappie at the L&D in the white bass run and didn't expect it at all. Seems very likely that there may be a good run of them this year since they are all over the other feeder creeks. 

The river levels have just been too high and off color for me to test them for the runners, but hopefully we will get a break in the weather soon. 

Thanks again for the story.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

I remember back in the late 60's chatching so many that we would have 2 of us with a pole over our shoulders with stringers of fish taking them to the truck. I know we have more people fishin now and can not keep as many fish as before but it was fun and my family never let any fish go to waste. We didn't fillet fish back then. I was one of those kids that would rather fish than do anything else. The old timers always liked to fish with me and I remember them putting me on a leash tied to a tree so I would not fall in the river if I went to sleep. I was known to stay up too late and sometimes go to sleep with a pole in my hands. I remember catching eels on the Trinity also but I have not caught one or seen one in a long time. This does look like the year for crappie on Conroe also. The Trinity sure can produce a lot of good quality fish.

Matt


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

In the early 70s I fished the lock and dam starting about Jan.1st for whites and crappie for many years in a row. It was funny how on one side of the boat we would catch crappie and the other whites and bluecats.
Last year when I was up there I saw two different groups with about 50 to 75 crappie for each party, they were taking pics behind the restrooms there, trying to keep it on the down low. They were nice barn door crappie too.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

I can remember back in the early 70s my uncle and aunt would take me up river at night in a pontoon. The whole floor of the boat was covered with minnow bags. And we wore the crappie out. Ive told this before that we use to have a clothes dryer lookin fish scaling machine on the dock at the marina (Bells Camp) that my uncle owned then. Something I will never forget (I HOPE).


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Man at the stories that come around when the weather stinks for going outdoors, LOL!
My memories of crappie fishing go back to the late 50s and early 60s on Lake Arlington, about 15 miles from where I lived .
And we had a 57 Chevy that was always hooked to boat that looked a Corvette on top with a 40HP Sea King motor. 
When we fished for them we went at night and anchored off close to the spillway horn in deep water. 
My dad and a neighbor man would hang a lantern over the side with foil on the back side to keep from blinding you.
At some time during the night they would go crazy and you could catch them at all most any depth. Then they would go back down to just off the bottom and still bite, but differently. 
Dad would most of the time wake me up when the bite got right. If it was real late before they would bite he would let sleep sometimes.
And I want to blame Raysor for the lack of fishing SS reports lately. He is the one that diverted me back to deer hunting, now when it's as cold as it has been lately I choose to go hunt on a friends place where I'm only freezing on land, and not on the water.
Man this crappie bite is as bad as duck hunting, you go out on freezing days with high hopes.
Some may say I'm a fishing addict, well that's true, but Gator gar has been out running trotlines at night! And they say I'm crazy. 
Somebody catch some white bass and let's get it on!
SS


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

The full moon is on the 15 th and we should start catching some whites after that. I usually start chasing them on the 1 st of jan. each year but with all the rain we have had it may be a little earlier for the whites. I guess I ain't gonna get into the big blues down below the dam. Sure was hoping they would cut the water back but I do know they will not cut it back until the level goes down in the lake. 

Matt


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I bet your right about the full moon triggering the spawn, hoping anyway.
It is bad news about fishing in the river Matt, blue cat fishing in the cold months back there can be some of the best.
And it will be a while before they level out the discharge. 
I had every intention of going up WRC today, just chickened out due to the cold weather. Went deer hunting instead, the acorns must still be thick as they have not touched the corn I put out the last 3 days.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

I see a lot of people know the old days pretty good. Who knows names like Big Eddy, even Alabama Crossing, Indian Crossing maybe not so popular Blue Hole above the Locks. SS you bring back the days of my youth when my exbrother in law and I went to Conroe for some white perch fun. It was April I think and we had a deep vee alumin. we found in a trash dump that we rigged with a 40 hrs. Johnson I bought for 50$. We caught over 400 white perch in one night, no limits then. Don't worry, the older people in our church that couldn't fish really enjoyed them. We stopped at a bait shop/ camping ground on FM 830 to buy ice and he took our pic and sent our names to the Chronicle. We came back the next week and did the same thing but as we past by the bait shop we noticed there wasn't a camping space open along the creek that I think was his camp property. We laugh so hard we go a head ache, it looked like a scene from Wood Stock concert. If we could go back I think most of us could really enjoy even more what we had back then when it was happening.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

I remember the Big Eddy and Wilson Shoals. A lot of people tell me the Wilson Shoals is up the Bedias creek near the bridge but the Wilson Shoals is under water just north of where the Bedias comes into the Trinity. I almost went deer huntin today but I was too lazy. I had 3 deer come about 25 yards from my back door. The deer are used to my dog in his keenel and he had his head stickin out of his house watching them. They were about 10 yards from his kennel but if I walk outside they run like you know what.

Matt


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## Dwight (Dec 15, 2007)

*Question for wise men.*

I'm not denying that I'm no spring chicken but you guys are telling your age by these reports.(lol). It makes me think when I here these stories. Back in the day you here of filling truck beds up with animals and fish at anytime. The point is there was no laws or limits. or was there? and there was plenty of fish and animals to harvest. Now politics and laws and blah blah blah are envolved to make everything better Do you (How do I say this?)(I'll call you wise men) Wise men find the fishing as plentiful as back in the day? Anyway heres some pics from last year at this time.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Dwight said:


> I'm not denying that I'm no spring chicken but you guys are telling your age by these reports.(lol). Do you (How do I say this?)(I'll call you wise men) Wise men find the fishing as plentiful as back in the day? Anyway heres some pics from last year at this time.


I doubt I clasify as a wise man, but I think it all has to do with timing, now versus then. I started fishing Bedias Creek about 1974. I can't really say about the fishing is the upper river and feeder creeks prior to then. But I do believe the fishing can still be very good. This time of year is tricky IMO because the levels and flows can change so quickly. Local rains versus upstream rains make a big difference too. Is the river dirtier or cleaner than a feeder creek that empties into it? Not THAT long ago, I found whites so thick in a feeder creek that you did not have to use your reel. All you had to do was leave a few feet of line between your rod tip and jig and use the rod like a cane pole. Jiggle the lure a couple times and come up with a white. That was in a creek. More recently, in the river, my partner and I caught and released over 200 whites in less than 4 hours. I realize the post started as crappie and don't mean to hi-jack, but I think timing is everything no matter what species you are after. My point is that good fishing is still available in my opinion. Have you ever been told "should have been here yesterday?" Yesterday, not 40 years ago.

Also, the newer laws and limits were needed in my opinion. I think the resource can hold out if we stay legal, but the resource would have been depleted by illegal netters.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

I am an old timer here. I was in Polk county long before the Trinity River became Lake Livingston. 
As for critters the deer were scarce. The locals legally hunted them with dogs in three counties. A fork horn baby buck was a trophy. There are hundreds times more deer now that in the 60's and early 70's. The squirrels were more abundant then But cutting hard woods has reduced them drastically.
There has always been blue cats in the Trinity. But the population of blues in Livingston just keeps growing. In the early 70's there were at least 30 commercial fishermen on the lake. They used every means possible to catch cat fish. Even with illegal traps, nets and trot lines plus the heavy sport fisherman pressure the blue just keep multiplying. There are not many places in the US where the catfish limit is 50 per day.
All of this without a stocking program.
In 1970 when I was building Triple creek you could walk the bank with a cane pole and catch small crappie by the 100's. As the pressure increased the numbers went down.
In the last 10 years to me the quantity has been very low but the quality has been great. The crappie I've caught prior to Rita around the docks and marina was unreal. Six or so fish a morning would be a good day but the size was fantastic. Many times I have had a half dozen fish that weighed 12 pounds. Then this year the crappie have exploded. Limit after limit coming from the creeks. But again although they are nice fish I have only seen a few that weighed over a pound.
When Danny and Paul Davis, Sweet William and I guided in the early 70's you could catch a boat limit of black bass any day you got on the lake. Two to three pound fish were every where. Of course there was standing timber and thousands of acres of cover. The shore line only had 10% of the bulkheads that now block the spawning grounds. We caught and kept all the bass. No one ever heard of catch and release. If it was legal it when in the boat. If I remember it was 10" and 15 per day. Those kind of populations will never return.
White bass were even more numerous than now. In the summer afternoons I have seen whites on the surface so thick it looked like you could walk on them. Hundreds of acres of white water thrashing from the 190 bridge to Pine Island. But the fish were much smaller that we have now. Most only 10 inches or less.
A typical day was to take a party out for blacks in the morning. Have lunch at the KOA restaurant and then hit the big water about 1PM. Let the clients catch whites on top waters until their arms fell off then back to the ramp.
As the lake was filling up there would be legal gill nets every half mile on the river from Highway 19 to the lock and dam. They caught gar, buffalo and ops.
Mrs. Paul's fish stick factory (near Palacious I think) sent a truck to Trinity twice a week. They bought all the iced fish to make commercial fish sticks for the prisoners and our school kids. The ops were sold on the local market.
I left the lake in the mid 70's and did not return until July 2000. I would say that the hunting in much better now than back then. With the exception of the black bass the fishing is as good or better now than then. Of course I do not depend on the lake to make a living now and my burning desire to catch every fish in the lake before sun down has quelled some with age.
Livingston distance from Houston has reduced fishing and boating pressure.
Conroe is closer and has suffered from the over use in the summer. If some one wants to drive up 59 they might as well go on to Rayburn or Toledo Bend for their bass fishing. Livingston is a blue collar lake that draws the cat and white bass fishermen.
There is very little land left to be developed so the summer pressure should remain fairly constant for years to come. For sure us "seasoned veterans" and you young whipper snappers are not going to hurt the fish population or their ability to continue to reproduce.
Crappie will be crappie. Feast or Famine. Enjoy them while they are here.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Fantastic post Sunbeam! Thanks


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## neverlimit (Mar 26, 2007)

Dec. 16th - New Moon... Sorry, had to say it...


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## SaltH2oAssassin (Jan 25, 2006)

Some great stories, thanks for sharing.


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## slimyhand (May 3, 2009)

Yeah, yall really make me feel like a young buck. Me being 28 and all. Good stories and I like learning from the "wise men" in this group!!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

slimyhand said:


> Yeah, yall really make me feel like a young buck. Me being 28 and all. Good stories and I like learning from the "wise men" in this group!!


Here's the deal. We try to make you a better steward of the land by passing on our meager knowledge. In turn you must teach that little one on your avatar the same.
It's up to you and your son to protect what we all love.
Lord only knows if we don't stand together we certainly will fall apart.


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## GSMAN (May 22, 2004)

Thanks for sharing Sunbeam. I really enjoy fishing up there. Although I live on the coast I make several trips to the river starting January. There's is just something about fishing the river. Maybe the solitude or just the fact that the scenery is awesome. 

WhitebassFisher, I know what you are talking about regarding the whites being so thick in the creeks. Not too long ago I made my way down to Beaver Dam/Creek and proceeded to load the boat up with whites on every single cast. Lots of two at a times as well. Took a non fishing buddy of mine on that trip and he was totally floored. Can't imagine it was any better back in the day. Those times will be my "back in the day" stories.


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## Dwight (Dec 15, 2007)

*should have been there yesterday*

Funny that was mentioned. The pics I posted we had three or four trips that weekend. the water just came up and if we been there a day or two earlier when the water was lower we would have caught some big cats.(8 lbers) which is nice for rod and reel. so I'm watching the dam release now like a hawk.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

I think a lot of us over 50 say ''back in the day'' not so much it was better then but we as individuals were younger and fished or hunted like blind dogs in a meat locker. Saying this it turned out trophy days which required youth and the strength to stay in there to produce those mile stone stories of a lifetime. I still can get into mass fish for numbers and such but it's not as important now as ''back then'', kind of like many other things which change as you get older and hopefully wiser. I also like that Joe Burns haircut the young man is sporting with those catfish pics.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Just a little side note, early this summer I went white bass fishing with my son, Lee, we jigged at the little hump and the fish were stacked from about 2' all the way to the bottom. Just for fun I would let out 2' of line and watch white bass fight over the slab. The wind was up pretty strong and we blew off anchor. 
Normally when that happens at the hump you stop catching fish pretty quick when you get off the structure. That day I did not know we had blown off anchor until I looked up and saw we were even with the middle of pine island, and the depth finder was blacked out with fish in 40' of water. We were still catching them at a rate where your slab could not get to the bottom.
Just to see how big the school was I dropped a marker when we got to the end of the school and then went back to the other end, it was 600 yards, then I idled around to find out how wide it was, about 300 yards. They were nice 12" to 14" white bass.
These are the good old days. At least this year, lol.
SS


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Thanks johnmyjohn for starting and contributing to such a great post. I have enjoyed it.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

shadslinger said:


> ....These are the good old days. At least this year, lol.
> SS


Totally agree with you Loy. Although I've missed a few gap years on the lake (fished in early 70's and now), the fishing this past summer was as good as anyone could want on any freshwater public water body.

Before folks became aware of the Stripers, I had one morning where I caught 10 large Stripers all over 24 inches, before 10:00am....released all that could survive and kept 5 that couldn't, including the last one.

Followed the school, which had only big fish in it, until I lost them in very deep water. There must have been hundreds of big Stripers in that school...had to be for me to catch any. Although I prefer quality over quantity, the quantity of big Stripers was amazing. Few fresh water fish provide the thrill and excitement of big schooling Stripers....they can turn an old salt into a fumbling rookie. :spineyes:

If the good old days were better than that, then I'm sorry to have missed them...but the present days are just fine for me.


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## HAIRCUTTER (Aug 2, 2006)

Thanks for sharing the memories guys,the stories were great!
R.E.B.


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