I need new spots... I live in Alvin, TX. Help please?

[FishDewd]

So lately I am having no luck catching anything whatsoever; the ones I do catch are really small and not keepable. As much as I enjoying fishing, I feel like I am doing something very wrong, or simply have terrible luck. I mostly fish ponds and creeks. Occasionally lakes or rivers if the opportunity arises, but that's rare, and I've never had any luck fishing from lakes or rivers. The weather here has been pretty good lately, so on warmer days when I see the catfish in my own pond jumping or making ripples, I try a few local spots hoping to catch something larger than what my pond currently has. Plus, my pond cats are spawning and I don't want to bother them until spring time.

 

I hate to ask this, but I need to find some spots worth fishing at. I've tried all the local parks... once in a blue moon I can actually catch something, but typically I watch others catch stuff, or simply hear rumors that "yeah, that place has nice bass and/or catfish!", but never catch anything notable myself at those locations. Never had a keeper anyway, ever. I've tried every rig, every bait or lure imaginable... I am really discouraged and about ready to just give up on fishing and just buy my eating fish at the fish market, or just eat the cats in my pond. I prefer fresh ones I catch obviously, cause they just taste much better than the fish market. Another issue I have is snagging. NO matter what I do, I will find the ONE SNAG underwater that costs me my term tackle, or my floats, and fishing trip is over for me. Supplies are not cheap, and it makes me angry when that happens.

 

I am seeking spots where there are actually fish to catch, that don't have hidden snags, sticks, rocks, or aeration hoses to catch on, since "weedless" setups do not seem to work for me. If anyone lives in my area, or near it, and knows some places to go that aren't too far away, I'd appreciate a tip or two. Not looking to steal anyone's spots (since I am apparently very unlucky, it's unlikely I'll do any damage to your fishing hole anyway lol), I just want somewhere I can catch 1-2 nice fish and call it a day. I am also looking for a fishing buddy or two... that know what they're doing, if anyone is interested. I hardly think I am totally incompetent since I do a lot of research on techniques, seasons, temperatures, etc, and have actually been fishing for most of my life, on and off... but obviously I need to change something I do, whether it's my rigs, where I fish at, or how I fish. I don't have a boat either, I am purely a bank fisherman. I'd get a kayak if they weren't outrageously priced.

 

Any advice or tips would be great.

[Catt]

Within 30 miles there are 129 lakes including Thurmond Lake, Archer Lake, Mowery Lake, Tankersley Lake, Jackson Lake, Coffee Lake, Willow Lake, Cow Lake, Chenango Lake and Jamison Lake. For those anglers preferring to fish in rivers, creeks and streams, they will find the area around Alvin offers about 164 options within 30 miles. Some of these rivers are Hayes Creek, West Fork Chocolate Bayou, Big Creek, Copper Bayou, Cow Creek, Dry Bayou, Cow Bayou, Bee Creek, Turkey Creek and Cottonwood Bayou.

[FishDewd]

Yeah... I've seen that page too. Several of those places don't even show up on GPS, so I have no idea where they even are. Archer Lake is anything but a lake last I checked. Next closest is Thurman, but I didn't have any luck there when I tried. Didn't see anyone else bank fishing either. Chocolate bayou is always an option, so long as I avoid the highway sides because we had a fisherman get murdered fishing from a bridge there not too long ago. But it's a heck of a stretch down that bayou... no idea where to start with it. Be nice if there were maps showing depth and currents of waterways here, but I've never found any.

[MichaelCopeland]

There's a device that's sold for the bank fisherman called Deeper. It's a depth and fish finder that interacts with an app on your smartphone. I've heard good things about it and plan on getting myself one as soon as I start working again(should be soon). It turns your phone into basically the same thing boaters use. It shows depth, fish and even water temp. Also shows the structure and underwater cover that's around. You can find videos about it on YouTube. Until you get one of those, look for weedlines, grasslines, brush piles, stick ups, laydowns, overhanging branches, points and riprap(rocky areas) and eventually you'll find the fish. Unfortunately you're never gonna avoid snags all the time. It's part of fishing and we all deal with it at times. What kind of line do you use? Mono, flouro, braid or copolymer? I recommend braided line, if you're not already using it. When it comes to snags, you may bend a hook out every now and then, but most of the time you won't lose your bait setup with braided line. When you do get a snag try the best you can to finesse it out by lifting your rod tip and giving a few shakes til you feel it come free of the snag. Don't yank hard to where you bury the hook, weight, jig head etc. into whatever you're snagged on. This time of year try fishing deeper water as most of the bass and other fish are in that area of the water. Won't be too much longer and they'll be moving up shallow again. Also try rigging soft plastic worms, craws etc. Texas rigged weedless. That'll help with less snags as well. Whatever you do, don't give up. You'll start catching some good ones before you know it. Hope this helps. Good luck and tight lines! ?

[Catt]

I lived & fished all around Houston, ya gonna have to get out & do some foot work. Ya not gonna find a lot on the internet, ya gonna have to talk to people, go to land survey offices, ya gonna have get out your rod-n-reels & fish.

[FishDewd]

On 1/11/2018 at 2:23 AM, MichaelCopeland said:

There's a device that's sold for the bank fisherman called Deeper. It's a depth and fish finder that interacts with an app on your smartphone. I've heard good things about it and plan on getting myself one as soon as I start working again(should be soon). It turns your phone into basically the same thing boaters use. It shows depth, fish and even water temp. Also shows the structure and underwater cover that's around. You can find videos about it on YouTube. Until you get one of those, look for weedlines, grasslines, brush piles, stick ups, laydowns, overhanging branches, points and riprap(rocky areas) and eventually you'll find the fish. Unfortunately you're never gonna avoid snags all the time. It's part of fishing and we all deal with it at times. What kind of line do you use? Mono, flouro, braid or copolymer? I recommend braided line, if you're not already using it. When it comes to snags, you may bend a hook out every now and then, but most of the time you won't lose your bait setup with braided line. When you do get a snag try the best you can to finesse it out by lifting your rod tip and giving a few shakes til you feel it come free of the snag. Don't yank hard to where you bury the hook, weight, jig head etc. into whatever you're snagged on. This time of year try fishing deeper water as most of the bass and other fish are in that area of the water. Won't be too much longer and they'll be moving up shallow again. Also try rigging soft plastic worms, craws etc. Texas rigged weedless. That'll help with less snags as well. Whatever you do, don't give up. You'll start catching some good ones before you know it. Hope this helps. Good luck and tight lines! ?

I haven't heard about that, I'll definitely look into that gizmo, thanks!

 

As far as line goes... I use any of them at a given time depending on what I am doing. Lately for my spinning type reels, I have gotten to where I really like to use a P-line co-polymer mainline because it seems to give me a nice blend between the properties of mono and fluorocarbon. I like that its the same strength as mono, but doesn't have the stretch or the memory that straight mono does, and that it sinks like fluorocarbon and maintains a small profile. I do prefer to run lower strength line on these, but given that I tend to snag maybe I should upgrade from a 12 pound to like a 20 pound or so. Sometimes I will run this straight to the lure, or sometimes I will attach it via small swivel to fluorocarbon or lighter mono, depending. If I am exclusively catfishing I will upgrade this to a 20 pound mono since visibility isn't an issue with catfish. My baitcasters run exclusively a braided mainline. My low profile reel runs a 20 pound Spiderwire EZ Braid, and I run a 50 pound version on my Abu Garcia and Penn reels. I normally only do a 12-20 pound leader line with these. They do break less than the spinners, but probably because the lines are stronger, and I don't finesse these as often. Though sometimes the casters are more useful for finessing, just depends on what I want to do of course. I've gotten some practice on my pond with skipping some texas rigged weightless lures, so maybe I can use that for some brush areas to pull out a bass or two. I really do prefer catfish though.

 

I it very possible that I yank them too hard when snagged, that's an excellent point I'll keep in mind. I come from mostly a pond-lake background so I have to learn to adapt to rivers and streams a little more.

 

On 1/11/2018 at 5:00 AM, Catt said:

lived & fished all around Houston, ya gonna have to get out & do some foot work. Ya not gonna find a lot on the internet, ya gonna have to talk to people, go to land survey offices, ya gonna have get out your rod-n-reels & fish.

There is a ton of bayous and streams around me... I've been looking at some spots along Chocolate bayou and Clear Creek that I think may be promising. I found an interesting spot on Clear Creek where two section of the stream converge in front of a park in Friendswood. There might be an eddy there where a big, fat 'ole fish may be sitting or hiding out. Could be a nice hole. I'll check that out for sure when the weather gets a bit better. Possibly could be some decent fishing days coming up in the next week or so to check out a few places.

 

 

[FishDewd]

Well, weather was good today, mid-70's, so I decided to try to do a little fishing. Since I didn't anticipate a great deal of action, I went to an standby- a local state park that usually has some bass and catfish. Today was mostly a trial day, cause as you may know, I had a lot of issues with snagging and whatnot. So I tried some different things, with reasonably good results!

 

I caught 3 fish total- 1 little pounder bass (which ties my PB :P) and a couple of little 10" catfish. I missed one good bite that I presume was a large catfish. My set-ups was one modified slip float rig on a spincast that I allowed to drift along with the current- this one had a nibble or two but got nothing on it. My other rigs were more productive. I had a finessing rig set-up on my Lew's spinning reel/rod and alternated between weightless and carolina rigged baits/lures. I got the small bass on a makeshift Ned rig with a 1/8th standup jig head on my second to last cast of the day. Yay! First time I ever used the old Ned rig, and turns out it does actually work! Even if the Finesse TRD I used was the pink bubble gum color, lol. The water is so murky at the park I guess they preferred it to the larger mudbug colors I have in hula sticks and Big TRDs. The other lures I used had less results, but I did snag a catfish on a green pumpkin Zoom Magnum Lizard that I weedless carolina rigged with a 5/0 offset worm hook. The other I caught on a modified Kentucky drop shot rig, the modification being that I added a very small oval shaped peg float to the drop loop so it would hold it at a certain distance and not get tangled. I basically let this one and the slip float do their own thing while I worked the various finesse rigs that I tried. I missed one catfish while finessing though... looked over and saw the kentucky pole bending over and pulling off drag, but by the time I got over there to set it, the fish had taken the bait and ran.

 

So, I'm figuring out this finessing stuff to not get snagged, and that's all that's important. I have a planned trip to an appealing location soon as weather gets more consistent, so I'll be ready at least! Can't wait! Come on, weather!

[Catt]

Now we talking ?

 

Weather should be improving along with the fishing!

 

Keep us informed!

[Sharkicane]

On 1/10/2018 at 9:08 PM, Catt said:

Within 30 miles there are 129 lakes including Thurmond Lake, Archer Lake, Mowery Lake, Tankersley Lake, Jackson Lake, Coffee Lake, Willow Lake, Cow Lake, Chenango Lake and Jamison Lake. For those anglers preferring to fish in rivers, creeks and streams, they will find the area around Alvin offers about 164 options within 30 miles. Some of these rivers are Hayes Creek, West Fork Chocolate Bayou, Big Creek, Copper Bayou, Cow Creek, Dry Bayou, Cow Bayou, Bee Creek, Turkey Creek and Cottonwood Bayou.

Were all these listed on a website somewhere? I also live in alvin and just started bass fishing so I would be nice to scout out some various spots. I have heard of a few you have listed but most of them I have not heard.

[Catt]

15 minutes ago, Sharkicane said:

Were all these listed on a website somewhere? I also live in alvin and just started bass fishing so I would be nice to scout out some various spots. I have heard of a few you have listed but most of them I have not heard.

 

Try Google ?

[FishDewd]

Google isn't really reliable with this... keep in mind we had a hurricane last year. Some of these locations are closed. Thurmond lake being one of them. Maybe it'll open again at some point. Some of those other lakes also do not exist/are no longer there. You can look at them on google maps to see what I mean.

 

Also, if you're from Alvin that's kind of cool! Never met anyone else online who was. I usually go to parks these days. Went to Challenger 7 in Friendswood today, I go there quite a bit because I usually catch something there.

[Sharkicane]

On 4/18/2018 at 7:57 PM, FishDewd said:

Google isn't really reliable with this... keep in mind we had a hurricane last year. Some of these locations are closed. Thurmond lake being one of them. Maybe it'll open again at some point. Some of those other lakes also do not exist/are no longer there. You can look at them on google maps to see what I mean.

 

Also, if you're from Alvin that's kind of cool! Never met anyone else online who was. I usually go to parks these days. Went to Challenger 7 in Friendswood today, I go there quite a bit because I usually catch something there.

I’ve been wanting to try there but it seems pretty popular and pressured. I’ve been having a decent time at the friendswood lake park but again on the weekends it’s pretty busy. I’m looking into 2 big parks in Houston hopefully I can get some advice on them.

 

However I agree hard to find spots post Harvey most ponds are private or restricted to residents in that sub division. So finding a safe place to fish that’s not super pressured is tough.

 

me neither on the alvin bit it’s a small town lol. 

[FishDewd]

It's very pressured, but a lot of people don't run cranks, dropshots, or topwater. I'm the only one who seems to do so and I catch them. Least 1-2 on most trips. They like whopper ploppers, squarebills and most finesse presentations. Seen people have luck with inline spinners and chatterbaits, I just don't have luck with them so far hehe. Just don't run lipless in there! I've lost two lol. There are some decent bass in there, lot of catfish and bream too. Just focus on the shore lines. Down the left side along the grass banks, at the point, in the little cove over that. Opposite bank grass banks and tree shade too.

 

A more local park you can try is Mowhawk County Park, the former girlscout/boyscout camp. But it has a bad downside, you can't walk around it that's for cabin renters only. Can only fish the dock area. Somewhat frustrating. Very snaggy so don't run too many open hooks down the river there. Throw those to the right side. But there some bass in there and nice size catfish for frying. They destroy livers and hotdogs.

[Sharkicane]

On 5/14/2018 at 9:10 PM, FishDewd said:

It's very pressured, but a lot of people don't run cranks, dropshots, or topwater. I'm the only one who seems to do so and I catch them. Least 1-2 on most trips. They like whopper ploppers, squarebills and most finesse presentations. Seen people have luck with inline spinners and chatterbaits, I just don't have luck with them so far hehe. Just don't run lipless in there! I've lost two lol. There are some decent bass in there, lot of catfish and bream too. Just focus on the shore lines. Down the left side along the grass banks, at the point, in the little cove over that. Opposite bank grass banks and tree shade too.

 

A more local park you can try is Mowhawk County Park, the former girlscout/boyscout camp. But it has a bad downside, you can't walk around it that's for cabin renters only. Can only fish the dock area. Somewhat frustrating. Very snaggy so don't run too many open hooks down the river there. Throw those to the right side. But there some bass in there and nice size catfish for frying. They destroy livers and hotdogs.

Right In man yeah I like it I usually have luck with Trigged soft plastics and a Carolina rig. I have lost a lipless to a snag and a crank bait to a tree(courtesy of the wind) that’s the one downside about that place is there always seems to be a wind. I havnt had any luck on a whopper plopper there. I’m going to stick to finesse stuff so if I do get snagged it’s not an automatic 5 bucks down the drain lol. 

 

Im looking into a pond in league city called willow pond it’s in a subdivision but run and overseen by Galveston county so it’s open to the public. 

[FishDewd]

4 minutes ago, Sharkicane said:

Right In man yeah I like it I usually have luck with Trigged soft plastics and a Carolina rig. I have lost a lipless to a snag and a crank bait to a tree(courtesy of the wind) that’s the one downside about that place is there always seems to be a wind. I havnt had any luck on a whopper plopper there. I’m going to stick to finesse stuff so if I do get snagged it’s not an automatic 5 bucks down the drain lol. 

 

Im looking into a pond in league city called willow pond it’s in a subdivision but run and overseen by Galveston county so it’s open to the public. 

Yeah they have to be in a certain mood for the plopper. I only throw it on overcast days, they never bite it when it's sunny for some reason.

 

I tried to hit willow pond the other day on recommendation from someone I met at Challenger 7. I gave up on getting there lol. Calder drive from 517 is a disaster, first of all. If you go there I would recommend hitting league city parkway or wherever it was that calder spit on to, directly from 45. But the whole area is a lot of construction so watch out.

[Sharkicane]

33 minutes ago, FishDewd said:

Yeah they have to be in a certain mood for the plopper. I only throw it on overcast days, they never bite it when it's sunny for some reason.

 

I tried to hit willow pond the other day on recommendation from someone I met at Challenger 7. I gave up on getting there lol. Calder drive from 517 is a disaster, first of all. If you go there I would recommend hitting league city parkway or wherever it was that calder spit on to, directly from 45. But the whole area is a lot of construction so watch out.

If you want pm me your info maybe one day we can hit up one of these spots. Also, have you had any lucky finding any bass clubs around here? I havnt found many or heard back from the ones I did find.

[FishDewd]

I was kinda thinking of going to challenger later. I usually only go in the beginning of the week since I work weekends. I have work next 4 days so won't be able to do much then.

[Sharkicane]

3 minutes ago, FishDewd said:

I was kinda thinking of going to challenger later. I usually only go in the beginning of the week since I work weekends. I have work next 4 days so won't be able to do much then.

yeah I am the same I usually go early in the mornings before work and on tuesdays or sundays my off days. 

[Nicron]

If you can only bank fish try the ponds in Tuscan Lakes off of 96 in League City.  Just park off the street so the residents don't get mad.  I have caught some nice fish out of those ponds with plastics and traps.  If you have access to a boat try Clear Creek launching out of Walter Hall Park on Hwy 3.  You can also try Hall's Bayou heading north out of the public ramp on 2004.  You probably wont catch much bank fishing at either and Clear Creek has a consumption advisory I think.  

 

Good luck. 

[FishDewd]

Hey, thanks! Funny, I was at Lake Friendswood Park the other day (doing some lure hunting for lures stuck in trees) and got to talking with a man there who fishing on the front bank. He told about a few spots to try and Tuscan Lakes actually came up briefly. He said the same thing about parking, told me when he did was ride a bike in there and no one ever said anything when he did that lol. I don't have a bike though. I'm going to trying out a few leads I got next week hopefully. Apparently the Kroger on 96 has a retention pond that is pretty hot with larger bass, so maybe I'll hit that and Tuscan while at it. Correct about Clear Lake, you don't want to eat anything that comes of there except for maybe in a few spots. I always catch and release there though, not risking it. Shame cause I know of a spot that has gar.

 

And nope, I don't have a boat, but I have an uncle who does and we go out occasionally.

[MichaelCopeland]

@FishDewd if you are losing crankbaits, try holding your rod tip at around the 10 o'clock position during your retrieve and reel it in fairly quick. It will keep it higher it the water column and away from more severe snags. You will pull in some weeds/moss occasionally but be less likely to hit a snag that could potentially end with losing your crankbait. Glad to hear you've been catching some. No matter their size post them in the Latest Catch Pics thread on this site. I wanna see your success too! ?

[FishDewd]

1 hour ago, MichaelCopeland said:

@FishDewd if you are losing crankbaits, try holding your rod tip at around the 10 o'clock position during your retrieve and reel it in fairly quick. It will keep it higher it the water column and away from more severe snags. You will pull in some weeds/moss occasionally but be less likely to hit a snag that could potentially end with losing your crankbait. Glad to hear you've been catching some. No matter their size post them in the Latest Catch Pics thread on this site. I wanna see your success too! ?

So far I've only lost a lipless crank on what I think was a cinder block based on how it felt. I do well with squarebills, don't think I've lost any. I put those through the ringer and they always somehow come back lol. But yeah, I do keep the rod tip fairly high most of the time. That's my trial technique in new waters. Once I get more comfortable I change it up a bit... lower/ raise the tip, vary the reel speed, add pauses. One I've been liking lately is to work it kinda like a jerk bait. I'll stand at about a 45 angle from it, give it a quick, short jerk towards then reel in to it. It really gives it a unique thump that can be felt.

[squirrelwhisperer]

So I just moved to alvin but have lived in the friendswood area for about the past 7 years and me and my.husband fish almost every day we have found some pretty good fishing spots over the years if interested we could show u some of these spots