Lake is coming up quickly.. this is only a problem in the short term but will really set the stage for the whitebass run of the century!

Ben, do you tbink there was enough rain for Cedar Creek.

Palmetto bass verses Sunshine bass is different only by which parent fish is female.

Hybrid striped bass are produced two different ways. Some of these fish are produced by fertilizing eggs from white bass with sperm from striped bass; the resulting fish are also called "sunshine bass" or "Cherokee bass". Others are produced by fertilizing eggs from striped bass with sperm from white bass; the resulting fish is called a "palmetto bass".

Produced in hatcheries, the most common hybridization is the female striped bass Morone saxatilis and the male white bass M. chrysops. This is due to the high number of eggs produced by the female striped bass. This hybrid cross, palmetto bass, typically produces a faster-growing offspring which attains larger size than the sunshine bass. The female striped bass is injected with human gonadotropin which stimulates her to lay. Usually, around a dozen male white bass are in the tank when the spawn occurs. Once the eggs are fertilized, the brood fish are removed and the eggs must stay adrift in artificial current for about 48 hours to hatch. Natural hybridization occurs between the species, but it is usually the reverse cross which would be male M. saxatilis x female M. chrysops, since the white bass eggs do not require the same degree of flotation to hatch.


Wikipedia on Hybrid bass

YES and then-some!

All the creeks should have whitebass in them now after this much rain! Coupled that with a 2 or 3 foot rise in the lake and it will "seal the deal" for the whole run. The possibility now is that the lake will rise and flood us fishermen out for several weeks.. lets hope that doesn't happen!

This is the site I watch for Lake Somerville

When do you think they will open the spillway up a little more? Just curious if there is a rhyme or reason to how they operate the spillway...

There are pretty strict rules for how the COE operates any of the lakes they manage.

The two COE directives are flood control and water conservation which all depends on downstream needs.

If it is flooding downstream they hold water, if there is need for water they let it out.

What is most important to understand about the state of water in Texas is that all surface water is already owned by somebody and ground water is to be viewed the same as any other mineral rights (as in oil and gas).

Somebody already owns all the water in Lake Somerville so when they want it they get it.

There are other agencies that manage water and their directives are about the same as the COE except where money is to be made. That is the part that is so very often messy and sometimes criminal.

Well, that certainly answers my question. Thanks. The Houston area is getting hammered and was already experiencing flooding, so I guess the flow will be held to somewhere close to what it is now. With the yegua at Dime Box at 10' currently, the lake will come up rapidly. I'm going to fish somewhere this weekend, but I don't really know where I'll end up. I will be fishing with fresh caught crawdads. The amount of them in ditches and waterways is incredible this year, and with all this rain, I think the fish will be eating them pretty good.

Thanks guys for the answer on the Hybrids. We got another 1" of rain Wednesday morning. It has not rained sense.

Hey 1Tacklehoarder where and what is the best method to catch crawdads? I only know of one small creek that has them (and they are huge), but there are not many of them there and I don't want to over harvest I have many creeks around my house (Lick creek in south College Station) but I am never able to see or find any crawdads around there. Do you just use a net or do you catch them in a trap? How do you figure out which ditches have them and which don't?

I usually target agricultural drainage ditches in the river bottom. If you see chimneys from adults, there will be plenty of babies, too. Academy sells traps for 4.99 that work well. You can use a knit cotton glove filled with bait, or a perch head.

I use a good, fine mesh dip net most of the time. I sew on extra protection for the net at the hoop with denim and braided fishing line to help preserve the net. There are grass shrimp in the Brazos bottom too. They are also excellent bait, especially for the whites at the spillway.

There are also lots of creeks around the shopping centers and stuff around college station. The ditches around the ponds in creek meadows, castle gate, etc all have good numbers as well. They did in the past anyway.

Lake level is at 240 ft. 2 ft. above normal.

COE raised the flow rate to 968 cfs this afternoon.

The only thing I saw being caught at the dam today were a few bluegill and goo.

I wonder if that's enough flow to allow fish to swim upstream past the waterfalls and other obstructions between the dam and the Brazos.

There is a lot of water that comes into the lower yegua from old Brazos and several other creeks, so that combined with the 1000 +\- cfs from Somerville should be plenty. I went and drove over to Carlos yesterday and looked at lower Gibbons Creek and there was a bunch of water coming down from the lake. I wonder if the whites will find there way up there too? I have heard the flathead fishing can be phenomenal at the spillway when conditions are right.

Has anyone seen the creeks(nails, middle yegua) after all of this rain? Will they be reachable on foot to fish this weekend?