Drove out to Cedar Hill State Park to get my park pass renewed today. I have never fished JP but I drove completely around the lake and saw some places that looked like they might produce cats and crappie. I saw a few birds(comorants) in the trees in the south fork west of the bridge. The park ranger people had no information to share on shad numbers in the lake.
The lake was white capping pretty good and I saw no boats out even though there are now two boat ramps open.
Does anybody fish this lake and if so how productive can it be?

Thanks

No fish in the Pool

Just Kidding haven't fished it much but there are bound to be some fish there. maybe someone will chime in and help you out.

Catfish bite when the waters warm.
They are small.
Big ones on the west side of the lake.
Tough lake to fish.
Water has been flooding all year.Messed up patterns.

I will be giving it a try this year. Never fished it before as I always heard bad things about it regarding traffic and ski boats and water fleas etc. It's the closest state park launch to me and since I am now retired I can go fish it during the week.

There is a decent population of channel catfish at Joe Pool but most are small. By small I mean in the 8"-12" range. There are larger ones out there but they are kind of few and far between. There are also some small blue cats as well. I've never seen one larger than 3-4lbs and they all seem to be concentrated on the south end of the lake. I've fished Joe Pool quite a bit but mostly for bass. It is an excellent bass lake and I've caught bass up to 7.5lbs. I live right down the street from it so I've spent quite a bit of time there.

That south fork of the lake looked pretty good in places from what I could see from the roads. Looked like some flooded timber and flats near the south banks. How far west can you get up in there with a boat?
I have a 17.5' Bass Tracker and usually fish shallow about 2 to 4 feet for eater cats.

Right now you can get WAY in there. Even when the lake is at normal pool there is still lots and lots of flooded timber south of the Lake Ridge Pkwy bridge that's all accessible. The south end of the lake is so full of timber that all of the skiers and jet skis stay away from it.

Joe Pool last week......all released

[img]http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics...429816530252049[/img]

[img]http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics...365140504760303[/img]

Them are some good ones. Healthy looking fish.

Nice fish, looks like you would have had a lake record if you got it certified.

No doubt it would have been....the guy in the picture is my neighbor.....it was after midnight...cold as all get out...so back in the water the fish went.