Texas Fishing Forum

Lake Houston

Posted By: King.

Lake Houston - 03/29/18 06:15 PM

I'm sure not too many of you care about Lake Houston, but man i'm disappointed in our city. As of yesterday they are permanently lowering the lake 2.5 feet. After having 2 kids in 2 years my tourney traveling days are over. Stuck fishing the local mudhole, but grateful to still have my boat! Not only is that gonna devastate home values, most of the bass habitat will be high and dry, it will choke out most of the back waters, and leave dangerous hazards all over the lake and rivers. Some of the local neighborhood parks have boat ramps that wont be usable anymore. It took "them" less than 48 hours to lower the lake 2.5 feet, with today's technology and advance notice of storms and hurricanes, why permanently lower the lake? I get they have to do something in response to the flooding Harvey caused, but i dont get this one. The sand pit mining up the west fork is a major player in the river and lake silting in. They need to regulate those suckers. They have been dumping sand in the river for years. Investors buying up all the river bottom land and developing it, gotta have less infrastructure on the bottoms, common sense if you ask me. They need to dredge the west fork of the San Jac from Conroe to Houston. I guess its easier to screw over a relatively small population of people, hurt the fisheries resource, and potentially kill someone because of the now exposed hazards than it is to come up with the money and litigation to mitigate the real issues at hand. I'm sure Conroe will be next on the list to permanently lower. There is way more money surrounding that pond, so i'm sure the red tape is thick.
Posted By: Chucked

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 06:33 PM

My understanding is that its not permanent, only for the summer/fall of this year while they dredge the lake and river.
Posted By: King.

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 06:42 PM

Haven't heard that, hope you are right. I did hear they were planning on dredging from 59 to LH Parkway but that wasn't a definite yet. Don't even know if that will be enough, its a start though.
Posted By: Walls

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 07:14 PM

I'm hopeful that it's the beginning of something being done. Actually bent my prop shaft and tore up my prop between 1960 bridge and the South RR tracks a couple of weeks ago captaining a high school team. I almost didn't captain that event, and committed to fishing South end of the lake for this exact reason.....and it happened anyway. I will never cast a shadow on that lake bottom again, but I hope it gets fixed for everyone else.
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 07:32 PM

First. How long have you lived on the lake. I remember back in 2011 the lake got real low. Like 5 plus feet. We still launched and caught a ton of fish. There is alot more than just the brush you see on the bank that holds fish on Houston. I agree that it will put more hazards in play but for the bass fisherman that know the lake it won't hurt a single thing. Only thing it's going to effect with my fishing is some of the spots I like you had to get past a super shallow spot to get to them and at 2' low those are out of play.
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 07:34 PM

Originally Posted By: 5X3Phoenix
I'm hopeful that it's the beginning of something being done. Actually bent my prop shaft and tore up my prop between 1960 bridge and the South RR tracks a couple of weeks ago captaining a high school team. I almost didn't captain that event, and committed to fishing South end of the lake for this exact reason.....and it happened anyway. I will never cast a shadow on that lake bottom again, but I hope it gets fixed for everyone else.


The whole south end is full of shallow flats with timber. I've found a few myself.
Posted By: kellisag

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 07:40 PM

Should make for a good spawn next year and better fishing in the future with all the new growth that will happen!
Posted By: Kisndismis

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 08:24 PM

The construction on 59 there is another reason they are lowering it also. But I tell you this, they killed the spawn in less than 48 hours on the lake. I am stuck fishing the mudhole here too but I catch enough to justify the effort. I have been on shallow fish for a month now and last week lost a big one in less than 2ft of water, while it rained last night and the lake is full, I predict by Tue that same spot will be dry. The lowering killed the spawn for sure. As if the lake is not F* up to begin with being shallow, not enough cover for decent bass to grow, no grass, no deep underwater structure, now this. I may just start frustrating myself with Conroe again, or take up basket weaving.

I went to the indoor range with the wife today and squeezed of several anger rounds because of this. HC flood control drained the oxbow lake I have been fishing since 08 that was full of nice bass and crappie that was off the river close to 59 about a month ago, now this. Man Im pissed.
Posted By: Kisndismis

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 08:29 PM

And not to beat you up Chance, but when was the last time you saw a bag over 20 come out of the lake? 14 will get a check and 16-17 will win it. I have seen a couple at 19 recently but think that guy is fishing one of the oxbows up in the river that few very few can get into. We get back there in yaks, and did once during a flood, even made it to the condos off Townsen to crystal blue water when the lake looks like it does today! But not to disagree, a lot of bags come out of the S end for sure.
Posted By: King.

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 08:30 PM

Originally Posted By: ChanceHuiet
First. How long have you lived on the lake. I remember back in 2011 the lake got real low. Like 5 plus feet. We still launched and caught a ton of fish. There is alot more than just the brush you see on the bank that holds fish on Houston. I agree that it will put more hazards in play but for the bass fisherman that know the lake it won't hurt a single thing. Only thing it's going to effect with my fishing is some of the spots I like you had to get past a super shallow spot to get to them and at 2' low those are out of play.


I dont live on the lake. Fished it off an on for 20 years, recently started fishing it more seriously. I know how to run it, i was speaking for all the others that dont. Ive seen plenty of recreational boaters run right through places they shouldn't. Those people have no clue how to run, or how shallow that lake really is. Those folks are the ones that will get hurt. Some of the little private boat ramps that are shallower wont be usable. Yes, the new growth will be great if they bring it back to full pool. I cant find anything saying its a temporary drop, all is see it that its a permanent. I wasn't really bitching about the affects it will have on the fishing, although if it stays low it will definitely have a negative impact on the spawn for while because the new growth wont come into play. Yea, obviously there are places with deeper structure, maybe it will change those stubborn suckers into moving out to it. Out of all the deep stuff i've found, very little of it is productive. Speaking generally about lake Houston bass fishing, if you aint churning up mud, then you aint catching the fish. But my rant wasn't specifically about the bass fishing, its about the bureaucratic BS the city officials are doing. They can drop the lake in 2 days or less, we have more warning that that when a big rain/hurricane is coming. If its just being lowered so the can dredge 59 to WLHP, the why are they saying its permanent? They aren't trying to fix the real issues causing the flooding.
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 09:20 PM

Originally Posted By: Kisndismis
And not to beat you up Chance, but when was the last time you saw a bag over 20 come out of the lake? 14 will get a check and 16-17 will win it. I have seen a couple at 19 recently but think that guy is fishing one of the oxbows up in the river that few very few can get into. We get back there in yaks, and did once during a flood, even made it to the condos off Townsen to crystal blue water when the lake looks like it does today! But not to disagree, a lot of bags come out of the S end for sure.


Jimmy and Deans winning sack last week was caught out of community areas everyone else fishes. I've seen a few over 20 and personally caught a 23 pound sack out there, helps to have a 7lb kicker, but I agree 100% you rarely ever see it happen. I know of a few sacks around 23 that have been caught. The fishing has gotten alot better in the last few years as for as weight wise. I've been fishing Houston for about 15 years. I remember when 12 was a giant bag. Thanks the to Florida stockings last few years it's getting better.
Posted By: C130

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 09:48 PM

Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.
Posted By: Reel Addict

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 09:53 PM

https://www.click2houston.com/news/why-lake-houstons-water-level-is-being-lowered
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 10:00 PM

Originally Posted By: C130
Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.


Yeah it sucks horribly everyone got flooded but man Harvey was litteraly a freak of nature. They said what a 1000 year flood. Yeah he probably didn't need flood insurance normally but that wasnt a normal situation. It dont matter if the lake was lowered 10 feet I still think with all the bayous and river it would have flooded everything. Thats nobody fault in my opinion. Just an unfortunate scenario
Posted By: 361V

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 10:10 PM

Lake Houston could have been completely dry when the flooding hurricane stalled out and even backed up over them and it would have still flooded. That entire lake is nothing in compairison to the amount of runoff that was caused by Mother Nature.
Posted By: C130

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 10:14 PM

Originally Posted By: ChanceHuiet
Originally Posted By: C130
Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.


Yeah it sucks horribly everyone got flooded but man Harvey was litteraly a freak of nature. They said what a 1000 year flood. Yeah he probably didn't need flood insurance normally but that wasnt a normal situation. It dont matter if the lake was lowered 10 feet I still think with all the bayous and river it would have flooded everything. Thats nobody fault in my opinion. Just an unfortunate scenario


Yes it was, so many people affected. I just don’t get anyone living in that area not having flood insurance, especially when you make that income. I have flood insurance just because I have a pool and it’s cheap, rather be safe than sorry. It definitely cost this guy some serious money. Another guy I work with had insurance and came out fairly good other than the nightmare of dealing with it all. He said his neighbor sold his house “as is”, got insurance money, government help, and basically came out ahead.
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/29/18 10:35 PM

I almost bought a house on the lake on Huffman side right in the subdivision behind dairy queen and i for sure wouldve gotten flood insurance. Piece of mind is worth it's weight in gold.
Posted By: dk2429

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 01:35 AM

Ehh, that lake isn't nothing but a mud hole anyway.. Never did any good bass fishing there, but the crappie were good at the bridge by Ponderosa. I'd rather drive the extra 30-40 miles and be in Conroe
Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 04:24 AM

Tons of fish if not most had already spawned. Been spawning for 4 weeks
Posted By: TxDispatcher

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 04:38 AM

Originally Posted By: ChanceHuiet
Originally Posted By: C130
Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.


Yeah it sucks horribly everyone got flooded but man Harvey was litteraly a freak of nature. They said what a 1000 year flood. Yeah he probably didn't need flood insurance normally but that wasnt a normal situation. It dont matter if the lake was lowered 10 feet I still think with all the bayous and river it would have flooded everything. Thats nobody fault in my opinion. Just an unfortunate scenario

Common sense doesn't come into play. You can't reason with some folks. They think that lowering Conroe and Houston would have saved everyone from being flooded during Harvey. As if the unbelievable amount of water being dumped wouldn't have flooded everyone anyways
Posted By: Kisndismis

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 01:13 PM

Originally Posted By: Jaret Latta
Tons of fish if not most had already spawned. Been spawning for 4 weeks


I agree with this but caught some real shallow just last weekend. Question how long do the fry stay in the beds after they spawn?
Posted By: Dean Coleman

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 04:54 PM

Originally Posted By: ChanceHuiet
Originally Posted By: Kisndismis
And not to beat you up Chance, but when was the last time you saw a bag over 20 come out of the lake? 14 will get a check and 16-17 will win it. I have seen a couple at 19 recently but think that guy is fishing one of the oxbows up in the river that few very few can get into. We get back there in yaks, and did once during a flood, even made it to the condos off Townsen to crystal blue water when the lake looks like it does today! But not to disagree, a lot of bags come out of the S end for sure.


Jimmy and Deans winning sack last week was caught out of community areas everyone else fishes. I've seen a few over 20 and personally caught a 23 pound sack out there, helps to have a 7lb kicker, but I agree 100% you rarely ever see it happen. I know of a few sacks around 23 that have been caught. The fishing has gotten alot better in the last few years as for as weight wise. I've been fishing Houston for about 15 years. I remember when 12 was a giant bag. Thanks the to Florida stockings last few years it's getting better.



HEY!! Quiet!! roflmao cheers

Seriously though...yes the lowering sucks, but we've fished it way lower than that over the years. The lake got to nearly 7 foot low during the drought a few years back. We still fished tourneys...guys would idle to luces or the east fork, or fish main lake stuff. I am glad I bought an aluminum boat though! The lake actually fishes pretty good low...and if history is any indicator, if it stays low long enough, good shore line cover will grow and when it (if) it fills back up, the fishing gets really good for a couple years after.
Posted By: Dean Coleman

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 04:59 PM

Originally Posted By: Jaret Latta
Tons of fish if not most had already spawned. Been spawning for 4 weeks


Yep...agree they are at the tail end.
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 05:19 PM

Yea Dean you took a page out of Jason’s book and got an aluminum for our mud hole.
Posted By: Dean Coleman

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 06:29 PM

Originally Posted By: ChanceHuiet
Yea Dean you took a page out of Jason’s book and got an aluminum for our mud hole.


From the looks of things..It will get used quite a bit!
Posted By: Dean Coleman

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 06:34 PM

Originally Posted By: C130
Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.


I feel for the guy and everyone else who flooded, but please tell me this guy is smart enough to know 40 inches of rain in 2 days is going to flood a lot of places that never flooded previously. Amazing how emotionally charged denial will affect some people.
Posted By: 1Fisher77316

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 11:13 PM

2 ft low on Wednesday and now they are releasing quite a bit of water out of Lake Conroe so hopefully there will be plenty of water back in Lake Houston.
Tight lines!
Posted By: Fishspanker

Re: Lake Houston - 03/30/18 11:27 PM

Being relegated to fishing Lake Houston is cruel and unusual punishment. I live 15 minutes from that dink infested mud hole. Fished it twice. No desire to ever go back.

They need to drain the whole lake a dredge it out.
Posted By: C130

Re: Lake Houston - 03/31/18 01:54 AM

Originally Posted By: Dean Coleman
Originally Posted By: C130
Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.


I feel for the guy and everyone else who flooded, but please tell me this guy is smart enough to know 40 inches of rain in 2 days is going to flood a lot of places that never flooded previously. Amazing how emotionally charged denial will affect some people.


No, he blames the SJRA and Lake Conroe for the flooding. He’s part of a group suing the SJRA also. I asked him initially if he had flood insurance and he replied, “why would I have had flood insurance”. He also thinks they’ll fight until Conroe is permanently lowered. I told him the lawyers must love all of the people helping them get rich because the lawyers were the only ones going to win.
Posted By: ChanceHuiet

Re: Lake Houston - 03/31/18 03:59 AM

Originally Posted By: 1Fisher77316
2 ft low on Wednesday and now they are releasing quite a bit of water out of Lake Conroe so hopefully there will be plenty of water back in Lake Houston.
Tight lines!


They lowered it 2 foot and after the rain it got to 2 foot high. That’s 6 feet of movement in about 50 hours. Right now it’s at 44.04 and pool is 41.7
Posted By: TxDispatcher

Re: Lake Houston - 03/31/18 11:21 AM

Originally Posted By: C130
Originally Posted By: Dean Coleman
Originally Posted By: C130
Guy I work with and lives in Kingwood told me the drop was permanent this morning. He is thrilled about it. He lives in Kingwood and was severely flooded during the hurricane and blames everyone else for the flooding. He makes well over $400,000 a year and didn’t have flood insurance, says he shouldn’t have needed it. He’s also one of the homeowners suing the SJRA and fighting for Conroe to be lowered also. We had some words at breakfast but he’s all about himself and it’s everyone else’s fault. Same guy also went to our employee help fund and got several thousand.


I feel for the guy and everyone else who flooded, but please tell me this guy is smart enough to know 40 inches of rain in 2 days is going to flood a lot of places that never flooded previously. Amazing how emotionally charged denial will affect some people.


No, he blames the SJRA and Lake Conroe for the flooding. He’s part of a group suing the SJRA also. I asked him initially if he had flood insurance and he replied, “why would I have had flood insurance”. He also thinks they’ll fight until Conroe is permanently lowered. I told him the lawyers must love all of the people helping them get rich because the lawyers were the only ones going to win.

I have acquaintances who are in on that. I used to call them friends, but I can't after that decision. As stated above, a 6' swing with 7" of rain. So theoretically 40" of rain would have caused a 42' difference. Yep, SJRA is to blame for all of the flooding hammer roflmao
Posted By: RKT

Re: Lake Houston - 03/31/18 03:49 PM

The higher the water level the more volume of water it takes to raise the lake each foot.
Posted By: BassMaster56

Re: Lake Houston - 04/01/18 09:37 PM

With the day being so nice to ride my bike I drove across the bridge on 1960, the lake is up at the moment and you can see how silty it is. I live 2 miles from the mud pit and won't put my boat in that lake until they can figure a way of cleaning the large floating debris, and mind you this lake is utilized for the fresh water to Houston residents. As for the flooding from Harvey, when Conroe decided to dump their level to keep the homes from flooding around the lake it created a catastrophic event down river, they did not inform anyone what they were doing. Because of this fiasco the highway has to go through major repairs over the river- this will screw up morning traffic for the next 5-6 months and cost the taxpayer a few hundred mil. So what, its all going to be good, until the next hurricane hits our area, then we will go through this all over again. Did y'all notice that Conroe had to be shut down due to its level this week? What we need are very large under ground aquifers to dump all the excess/runoff from the major storms that we do see to get hit with.
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