Running lake palestine

Anyone here care to meet me at Palestine sometime befor Feb. to show me how to run above 155 bridge, I will be happy to give you gas money, never been on the lake just need do's and dont's!

Hire a guide no one is gonna show u the juice for gas money. Some of those trails are worth good money, don't want to sound rude. But Palestine is not easy to Run and the guys who do know it spend so much time finding these lanes

Hire Tom Mayne

I understand your statement is true and your just the messenger, but it's very sad. He didn't ask for brush piles or waypoints. He just wanted help in not losing a lower unit. People shouldn't have have to pay for that info. IMO

Ignore some of the young punk comments. I'm sure someone will be more than happy to show you. I would if it was closer.

Shoot me a PM I'll share info on how to run

He doesn't have to pay for it. He or anybody else can just spend countless hours like I have idling and finding the "safest" way to the best spots. Be very careful at the level the lake is now. Or you can just trim it out! That seems to work most of the time.

man tough crowd. I assume no one has ever lent a helping hand just 'cause? Goodwill is lost I'm afraid. Were not all tournament anglers looking for an edge.

Shouldn't be to hard for someone to show u how to run main lake. If u wanna know the run north of the villages get to idling! With the lake low now it's time to Figure it out. Google earth is also supper helpful you can see when lake was low and mark trails and then download to ur GPS.

man tough crowd. I assume no one has ever lent a helping hand just 'cause? Goodwill is lost I'm afraid. Were not all tournament anglers looking for an edge. [/quote] I lend a helping hand all the time. Goodwill is not lost at all. But running Palestine is dangerous all over. I'm not gonna take anybody out and tell them that we are running a safe way. im sure as hell not gonna take payment for it then I might be liable if something happens later on. The earlier comment about young punks is so far off base it isn't even funny. The old dogs on this lake have all the secrets. I have spent thousands of hours on Palestine and done tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage. It's just how the lake is. Why do you see so many flat bottoms at take off? (I got a sweet little 17' war eagle w/a 90 in the works). And it's only purpose is to be beat on in the stumps. I also have an extra lower unit for my 200 proxs in my tackle shed. Yea I can also tell you how well almost every fiberglass shop in east Texas does. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I lend a helping hand all the time. Goodwill is not lost at all. But running Palestine is dangerous all over. I'm not gonna take anybody out and tell them that we are running a safe way. im sure as hell not gonna take payment for it then I might be liable if something happens later on. The earlier comment about young punks is so far off base it isn't even funny. The old dogs on this lake have all the secrets. I have spent thousands of hours on Palestine and done tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage. It's just how the lake is. Why do you see so many flat bottoms at take off? (I got a sweet little 17' war eagle w/a 90 in the works). And it's only purpose is to be beat on in the stumps. I also have an extra lower unit for my 200 proxs in my tackle shed. Yea I can also tell you how well almost every fiberglass shop in east Texas does. Do you see where I'm going with this? [/quote]

very fair point actually. I certainly understand your position, I just don't agree with the "everyone can figure it out for themselves mentality."

well Chris I'm actually the opposite from you I guess. I think there should be absolutely zero info sharing before tournaments. When I get whooped in a tournament I could care less how or where anybody caught em. I want to figure it out all myself. I think this has made me a far better angler.

There are lots of threads that even have maps for running main lake. The search function should give you some stuff. The north end is just an experience thing. I think it's a fair thing to offer gas money and a little extra to be shown the run. If I knew something 100 percent solid I'd do it, but I've filed one insurance claim already this year and about to file another, both north end of Palestine. And that's stupid because I can't catch a dam fish up there anyways. Good luck sir.

Tournament fishing is a different animal and I understand not wanting to help the competition.

But a regular Joe like me who's just trying to teach myself how to be a better fisherman. We can use all the help we can get.

If your not a tourney angler then you have the option of unloading in the north end and you can idle most everywhere.

Hey everybody,Happy Turkey Day. Ok I've seen several post overtime that address running up north on Palestine and I really don't understand what the big deal is about showing a guy how to run that part of the lake. Must he risk damage to his boat or maybe bodily injury if it can be avoided by a little info about how to run that part of the lake? It would be different if the guy wanted waypoints or structure locations. I do believe that this is a forum where bass fisherman exchange info. A buddy of mine took me from the villages to the back of kickapoo, but I wouldn't try it in my boat. There are some really shallow tight spots where you only have a few feet of passage. To far right or left an kiss yourlower unit goodbye or you can easily bottom out on a sandbar. I would help you if I could but we would both probably end up stuck or worst. Even the south end of the lake has some dangerous areas and if the water dropped 4 ft you would see a lot of the areas that we run are full of timber.Anyways good luck and be safe.

Hey, winning club tourneys and that $150 and the fame that comes with it is serious business!!! No helping anyone anytime for anything!! Seriously folks..... let's all relax a bit. Help each other out with running lakes with timber if you can, you may save a guy a couple grand $. Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Take Skeeter Ronnie's advise. It will cost you a little up front but save you a whole lot more in the long run. Whatever you do, don't just follow someone else thinking they must know what they are doing.

Happy thanksgiving guys, I appreciate all the input, I can understand both sides, I am just the type guy that if someone asked about running safely the areas you can or areas that are risky on pines, caddo or red river, I would happily do it, I don't want fishing locations just want to be able to run around lake hey you clear here over there is risky and so on!

Palestine is risky everywhere, even south of 155. There are guys tearing up boats and motors this year that have been fishing the lake for 30 years. Stumps sprout up in places that you have always thought was clear.

Honestly Palestine is a lake where you can sink your boat fishing, literally (not running). I have seen several boat impaled on stumps from just fishing.

The way I've learned what I know about it is through trial and error at very very slow pace. I actually found some of my best areas, because I was idling to get to the "good areas", that I would have never know about had I known how to get to where I thought everyone else fished.

Some of my productive areas, on new to me lakes, have been found just exploring.

To be honest, from my limited knowledge of the north end of Palestine, I would not want to show anyone the "safe" places to run, because there aren't really many. At full pool or a little over full pool a lot of the places people run are not navigable when the lake gets 1+ feet below full pool.

The best advice I have is to head out and do some exploring and FYI, I have caught some good sacks of fish below 155 on the Spring as well...

+1
Don't just follow anyone.

Hire Tom Mayne.

Even then it is a dangerous lake. But Mayne knows the lake paths. Important knowledge on the north-end is knowing where to get on and where to get off plane when running. Several shallow humps to cross. The south end is not 100% clear from timber.

Also you can catch some fish while learning.

There are no safe trails on Palestine, just some safer than others. No 2 people will run a path the same so even if someone shows you something, you run the risk of still tearing your boat up. Safest bet is flatbottom and make your own trails

That's why someone just handing you info isn't gonna work. I know because It has happened to me before!

Back in the day when I was fishing the Cowboy division of Redman we would launch at Deep End Marina and I would run on pad all the way to Kickapoo bridge except for a short piece after the Villages where you had a no wake zone. There was a small cut through the timber to the high lines, a sharp left turn and gone all the way to 315. I've done that at least 3 times but back then I was young, dumb and full of you know what. Also was very very lucky looking back on it. I wouldn't attempt to try that again. I know a couple of dudes who can run flat creek a long ways past the bridge. A lot of good advice to the OP here but like most lakes with timber, lake elevation makes a big difference on when,how and where you can run on pad. There's times you can run to the river on Hubbard and times you can't because of lake level. My suggestion to the OP would be if you want to fish Kickapoo or the Neches launch at the 315 Kickapoo ramp. If you're dead set on getting there quick from say the Villages you do it at your own risk and there's no tournament I know of that pays enough to make it worth that risk. There's plenty of fish south with less risk to you and your boat.

Well appreciate the advice guys, it took me 2 years to figure out how to run the backwaters of the red river, still haven't learned it good, yeah I am not rich so don't want to take a chance of tearing something up, I guess I am just going to have to go and see what I am up against!
Thanks

The only reason someone would be in a rush to run all over the lake from the villages is because of a tournament. I noticed while fishing the ABA that 75% of the locals have gator/gorilla hulls and the other 25% just repair their hull.

Also I believe in no charity. If a man has spent his time and money he should have the right to sell his knowledge.

P.S. There is a lot of money to fish for on Lake Palestine. Not just dinky tournaments.

I launched at Kickapoo ramp one afternoon last week. Only saw two other boats in parking lot that evening when returning. One was duck hunters who limped back in with broken prop on long tail motor, I think the other boat was cat fishermen that didn't fish more than a hundred yards north of the the second bridge. I haven't seen the lake so low since the drought years three or four years ago. I saw one other boat on the water that looked to be a bass boat throwing a rooster tail for a quarter mile slowly making his way around. First time I had to pay attention getting around back there and I was in a kayak. Had me wondering if there were better choices.

Is Palestine similar/better or worse than the west arm of Aquilla?

nothing is worse than Aquilla....lol. I must have high centered my boat a dozen times last Monday in the wind.
Nuts. In fact, I was stuck on a tripod of stumps within 10 minutes of launching the boat...could have used a helicopter a few times. Caught some really good fish though so I guess it's ok. Haha

Edit..... Aquilla negates the need for power poles. Just drift/troll onto a stump. You ain't gonna move.

Was that you in the Nitro near the Old School ramp then up around Snake Island? We were in the Skeeter that wen up north of a Nitro in the west arm.

We caught one dink.

Yes. That was me. I was thinking "man, if I was in that skeeter, I'd be so much less likely to go overboard". Haha.

Nice boat.

Thanks, Your's too. Mine's an '04 SX190.

I don't know how less likely it'd be to go overboard. A few years back on the coldest and calmest day of the year, I fell out at Amon Carter. Trolling to the right, took a step as we hit a stump and out I went. Way back up in the creek too. It was a long slow cold ride back to the truck.