My Wife and I drove the 5 hours to Monticello with high hopes. The ramp parking lot was full as expected. Water was gorgeous, the sky was mostly cloudy, and the wind was mild. Not having any experience here, we headed straight to the discharge. Man, does that sucker put out some water! We fished a shoreline with a few stumps with no luck, so we moved one. Headed north and went underneath the railroad bridge. Fished the west shoreline for awhile without any bites and moved to the middle to check out the stumps. After another hundred casts, I caught a nice LMB at #4.2. I was optimistic that maybe we had finally found some fish. We did not get another bite the rest of the time we were there.
I took us to the north end of the lake to fish the stumps, but it was not to be. I let my Wife drive the boat slowly out as I stood on the front of the boat to spot stumps. I bent over to disconnect my trolling motor and as I did we bumped a stump. I was booted off the front deck into the water. Fortunately I did not have my wallet or phone on me. I also was lucky that I did not lose my prescription glasses as I hit the drink. The water was 63 degrees, so I just guided us out the rest of the way, took us back to the ramp and changed clothes in the bathroom. I did not bring another pair of shoes, so we called it a day and headed home. I will admit that the water WAS chilly! I can certainly understand how someone would be in really big trouble in colder water. I recently started wearing my auto-inflate life jacket when I fish by myself.
Maybe I’m crazy but I could have sworn that I read somewhere that Monticello had “grass” in it. The few people I spoke to said it did not and I certainly didn’t find any. That is a definite deterrent to driving all of that distance again.
I was also very disappointed at the depth of the water along the shorelines. I hate it when I fish a lake that is only 2 feet deep 50 yards from the bank. I would have thought that a lake this far north into Texas would have been deeper at the edge.
I know there are numerous fishermen that love this lake and I wish you the best on it. I’m not going to say we’ll never be back but I do not have the strong desire to fish there that I did in the past.

We were there Saturday, too. I caught one four pounder off the rip rap at the highway bridge and had another one get off at the boat from the stumps off the west side of the railroad bridge. My friend caught a three pounder in the same spot. Those were the only three bites we had.

It was a tough day for sure. That lake is getting pounded and every fish out there had probably seen 75 baits by the time we got to them.

No lake is a guarantee and one day can always be better than another. I only have to drive an hour and 45 minutes but I love Monti during certain times of the year. I haven't done as well as I hear from others on here but I keep going back. I tend to like it better during the week though since it can get really crowded on weekends during the time of year I (and everyone else) likes to fish it. Near the bridges with cranks, or under the bridges or near the discharge with c-rigs (some seem to really like brush hogs on the c-rigs), or in the pads with LFT Hyperstick or Senko is what seems to work for me.

dont give up. I live in mt. pleasant and have been out there a few times and witnessed som real hawgs come outta there. These guys are right, that lake gets alot of pressure this time of year. But when everything lines up right and hooks up straight it can be really exciting. oh and glad u survived the fall! its a little funny though u gotta admit.

I have no doubt that Monticello has quality fish and numbers in it. The problem is that this lake is 5 hours away.

Don't worry about laughing at my little dip in the pond. It was funny!

Yep, a 5 hour drive is a long way to go for Monticello. Looks like Falcon is maybe 6 and 1/2 hours or so from you... now that may be worth it, especially if you leave your boat home and hire a guide!

I live northwest of Houston. It's over 7 hours to Falcon. I'll get down there someday!

Monti gets a lot of pressure in the cold months. Those fish get pretty well educated. However, there are certain areas that seem to pay, year after year.

This is not a new idea but next time, why not hire a guide for a trip and learn something about the lake? He can answer a lot of questions and provide a great overview of this or any other lake you are unfamiliar with.

In the long run, it's much cheaper. Especially if you figure five hours road time and gasoline.