Fish38017

What a day! Kudos to you (and that chatterbait).

Holy mackerel! You got one. They're in there, but I continue to have the same flurry of one pounders on my line. Way to go. I wish she would eat all the little ones. haha. There are SO MANY small fish in that lake.

Is Grove the lake with a real small parking area on the northeast side, off the Dogwood Creek neighborhood street?

There are so many little ponds there, I've always thought the city would be doing a great thing if they stocked them all with something different. The 2 or 3 little ponds next to those baseball fields are just perfect to throw some blue cats in! That new pond seemed so shallow when I was there this past weekend. I stayed in one area for the most part, but where I cast to, it seemed it never went deeper than a couple feet. I'm sure the other side (along the tree line) is probably deeper, but I never went over there.

JoeP, What were you guys catching them on? Plastics? How were you fishing them?

My personal recommendation would be to cast out as far as you can, beyond the ledge, and work it back at a crawl, up that ledge. My experiences the last couple times out there have been that fish hit it on the fall after my cast. I was pleased by that, and it's inspired me to try out a swimbait (maybe a shadalicious) like roadwarrior suggested, because if they're interested in a slow-fall bait, maybe they'll be all over a slow-retrieve swimbait working its way back to shore, up the ledge. A general rule for fishing jigs in cold water though is to work it slower than you would ever imagine you should work it. Even letting it sit for a minute with no movement, let the big, lethargic fish get an eye on it, then hope they nail it on next movement. I know I've hooked some cold water bass using worms after letting them sit still for a little bit. This ain't warm water spinner and crankbait fishing, that's for sure!

New lake? Which one is considered the new lake at Johnson Park? The one back in the woods at the end of the long blacktop walking path?

Every time I run into people fishing, someone tells me about some new, random spot to try out whenever certain species come up in conversation. I believe there are hundreds of places to go around here, but I only have so much time! It's frustrating. Google Maps reveals just how many little ponds/lakes are around us.

Tubes. Tutty Fruity Tubes and Squirming Squirts. I caught a baby bass fishing for crappie. Haven't targeted bass there.

When I'm catching medium crappie in small numbers, I'm eating ... And let's just say the family had a great meal last night. I had to deal with a half dozen snags to get 'em, but I was happy since it was a new spot and I was catchin' fish. If I could float over the fallen trees, I know I could get some really big ones, but I had to grab the medium-sized ones on the edges of the cover. I was fishing in this muddy little shallow lake BEHIND Johnson Park. You take a paved trail behind a neighborhood where the woods begin. It's tucked back there with little-to-no traffic.

I hear ya! Yesterday's wind almost kept me in, but I had to go hook a few crappie since the sun was keepin' it (somewhat) warm. This chill today is brutal.

Right. And what I meant is that I'm restricted to bank fishing, in the neverending quest to land the big one in the local ponds.

A lot of people would have a hard time believing this, but I've pulled my biggest largemouth out of the Johnson Park pond in the last year. A couple 3.5's and a 4. Now I'm trying to figure out this deep pond at the Library. It's a big one to walk around and guess with. It's steep ledge all the way around. Still haven't figured it out. I've been hunting crappie spots lately while I'm in a bit of a largemouth drought. I may go give the Chick-fil-A lake a go this week or next. I don't have a boat, so I'm limited.

Any luck over there today, rw? This wind!

Ah, OK. Thanks for clearing that up. It's so close to my house I've never even paid attention to the street names. Looking at Google satellite images will make you want to try a million new spots. It looks like there are a couple of nice-sized lakes across the street from Houston High School, behind a pair of church, or middle school baseball fields. Not a lot of homes on it. Has anyone given these a shot?