Well just got back in from Choke Canyon!  It was a hot calm day, temps were well into the 80s and the wind never blew more than 5 mph but was dead for long periods inbetween.  There was good cloud cover.  The water is still stained from all the run off we had a few weeks back and surface temps ranged from 63-64 degrees, maybee you could find some 65 and up in the backs of some creeks or coves but I didnt fish too far back today!

The lake was absolutely packed crowded!  By 7 am you could not even find a parking spot at S.Shore which is the secondary launching area (about 100 spots)!  There had to be at least 250 boats on the water.  There were not any major tournys, this was all clubs and recreation crowds.  Half of the people on the lake were from out of state.  All the recent Mag articles really have people coming in!

We stay well away from coves, small creeks, and shorelines today cause that is were most people fish, and we knew that we had a better chance of finding un-molested fish if we backed off a little and looked for offshore staging and spawing areas!

We concentrated on points that had flats running in to them, points that came close to the frio river channel, the mouths of big drains and moderate sized creeks, and the middle of creek channels that led into back water spawning grounds (flats, coves, creeks).  We concentrated most of our fishing between 8 ft and 12 ft, though we did catch fish as shallow as 5 ft and as deep as 17 ft!

We pretty much stuck with Carolina rigs the whole day!  We C-Rigged Senkos, Lizards, Power Worms, Culprits, and Zoom Trick Worms!

We fished for 7 hrs and landed about 20 fish!  That thats not a whole lot, we did have some decent size; our best five fish went 26 lbs!  I caught the big fish of the day, an 8 lber, I will ask my wife to post it when she has time cause I dont know how!  My dad also caught a 6 lber!

I will tell you that the fish are finally starting to show signs of life.  Its way behind schedule but they are definately starting to move up into the spawning grounds.  There are lots of small males roaming the banks, with a few females mixed in here and there.

We caught all of our fish out of the same 100 yd area, and it was a little pocket o pre spawners, males and Big Females.  I will not dare say where, but the area did have heavy grass and was a flat with quick deep water access!  I couldnt quite tell if they were just staging in this area, as it was on the side of a creek channel that led back to a creek/cove area, or if they were actually getting down right there.  The water was too stained to see.  Some of the hits seemed indicitive of bed fish, but I saw no beat tails!  My bet is that they were staging there in that grass and will move up into the creek area, or closer to the bank.  We were a good 60-100 yds from shore and in 6-10 feet of water for most of the fish!

Also, I got good news from the TPWD guys that were doing a creel survey at the ramp.  The fishing has been so bad lately, but they told me that they shocked up awsome numbers and size this winter.  They said that there was not even a need to stock!  Its good to know that we still got plenty of fish.  The huge crowds have just made them way more picky I guess!

Good Luck!

Other TX boards are reporting its on like Donkey Kong on Choke.

Well, like I said; I had a pretty good day on sunday.  Caught some real nice fish, about 26 lbs for the best five!

However, the fishing has been very bad for the past several months untill just recently.  We are way behind schedule and we usually see fishing like this as early as Jan and early Feb.!!  Fish are finally starting to move up, but I garuntee you that the imense fishing pressure will have them a little spooky.  I would definately try and target specific locations and not just beat banks and jump into coves like 99% of people do!

check out the tff fresh water fishing reports on choke w/pics for the 27th, maybe you saw this dad and his son out there.

  They had one of those days, kid wasn't a teenager I don't think, the son has new PB of 9+, they had 7's, 8's 9's and a host of other football pictures.

Nothing explains a picture better than a youngsters face lit up like a xmas tree. 

   

By the way, Zona and Elite Lake Fork pro, Kelley Jordan started taping a show yesterday on Choke.

 

Oh great!  Thats all we need, another fishing show to bring more crowds in!  Man, I am just praying that Mathis rebounds with the recent increase in lake level, and gets good again.  I hate fighting these huge crowds on Choke these days!

Its funny, everyone talks about how good Choke is now, you should have seen it about 3-5 yrs ago; before the pressure started!  Sure, the fish are still in there, but back then they didnt know what a lure was.  You could fish all day with nothing but a spinnerbait and catch 100 fish, many of which were over 5 lbs!

The parking lots were completly full this weekend and most of the trucks had out-of-state plates on them!  Trust me, the lake doesnt need any more publicity! 

I just dont understand why all the attention just gets focussed on a few lakes in TX; Choke, Falcon, Fork, Amistad!  There are many awesome lakes in this state that regularly produce 30 lb sacks! 

First off,   those lakes have been around for 40+ years and they weren't kicking out those types of sacks or the SALs. 

    Past SALs  or lack of and tournaments prove the catch rates  prior to the rains coming.

   OH Ivie is only half their age and has kicked out as many SALs in half the time.

    Can't blame BASS or FLW or out of state plates for the decline for 5-6 years of very few big girls showing up at Ivie. 

   What history will show on Ivie, is water fluctuations, like getting 20-30 ft low for those 3-4 years and then filling up all the new growth and the fishing turned on again.    Big fish showing up again.

   The only thing that hurt Ivie was Mother Nature and lack of water.

  I'm firm believer that fish go into survival mode, those big fish ya'll grow down south weren't stocked after the rains showed up, they were there, just not being caught.   

Best thing us Texans can do to keep the fishing great is learn to do RAIN DANCES.

   Rains effect deer populations, quail, turkey, and other species sought after by man.   

    Mother nature takes care of her own in Texas, always has.   

 

   

Very well said.

Spot on. Rains have more to do with it than any other thing. Flooded new growth just starts the cycle over again. Lakes go through cycles. It is all very normal.

Hey, I never said that the fish went anywhere! I agree, they are still there in full force. I even stated that the TPWD people told me that they had great fish counts!

However, I am stating that the fishing is not as good as it used to be. I know that it is because of the big increases in angler pressure! The fish are more accustomed to lures and not nearly as agressive as they once were! I live by the lake and fish it every week, I know!

When the fishing gets back to where it was, I will gladly say so!  Yes rain, and other factors play a role, but so does a 100% increase in angler pressure!