Fishing on Lake Conroe is fair to good. Â The water temperature at the dam early in the morning has been running about 87 degrees. The water in the main lake at this time is still a little disturbed and stained in the run off areas. Watch for floating debris in the water. The level is 200.7 feet. The City of Houston Diversion (COH) is 0 CFS, the Ground Reduction Plan (GRP) is 30.74 CFS and the Lake release is 0 CFS according to the San Jacinto River Authority.
Black bass are good early just about anywhere you find vegetation on the lake using top water baits. They can be caught on Texas rig soft plastics and on spinner baits as well as square bill crankbaits. Later you can catch them using Carolina rigged worms around brush piles  in from 12 to 16 feet of water. Fishing guide Richard Tatsch said when fishing brush piles he changes to a Carolina rigged 11 inch Bass Assassin ribbon tail worm.
Crappie have been slow all year and now it is really slow.
Hybrid striped bass are really doing well on live shad and spoons. They are suspended from 14 to 20 feet depending on the cloud cover. Tatsch said they are trying to school on the surface occasionally. At those times they can be caught casting spoons or swim baits. It is important that juvenile hybrids not be mistaken for white bass, so if you catch one under 18 inches and aren’t sure which it is, throw them back.
Catfish are trying to spawn, so they are moving around closer to the flats with 8 to 12 feet of water. Find a channel that funnels toward those flat areas and you should do well using stink bait or chicken livers. Shrimp dipped in punch bait will also work well..
Bream are spawning all over the lake with most of the beds in five feet of water or less according to Tatsch. He said you can catch them on night crawlers, meal worms or crickets.
Richard Tatsch owns the FishDude’s Guide Service and has been a licensed professional fishing guide since 1996. His boat is a 24 foot Pathfinder bay boat, which is very spacious and safe enough for the roughest conditions on Lake Conroe. He can be reached on line at www.fishdudetx.com, email admin@fishdudetx.com, or phone 936-291-1277.
