I have never fished Fayette for catfish but am hoping to try it soon. Any help very much appreciated - bait, depth, time, etc. Thanks very much!!!

Punch bait in 3 to 12 foot of water. Fish the trees. But be ready for only larger fish, there seems to be no fish below 4 to 5 pounds. And the bites may come very light and very slow.

Thanks ChuChu 1. Sounds like very good advice.

There is something not right with the catfish at Fayette. TP&W admit it and their surveys prove it. The catfish don't have successful spawns for some reason. Each year the fish get bigger and no, and I mean no small fish are ever caught.

There are more 2-6lb bass per acre on Fayette than any other lake I've fished in Texas...likely it has to do with competition. There are a ton of catfish that stay deep year round (35-50ft).
I've caught some hoss catfish over the years while taking families out with waterdogs.

Oh yeah, there are some good fish. Just no small fish. Evidently there hasn't been a successful spawn in about ten years. Look at the lake survey, it tells a sad story. For all fish, not just catfish.

I have witnessed the reason for possibly bad spawns the last few years. Just as the buck bass have the beds ready and a few may even have infant fry, we get a good spring rain. The just plowed up fields on the lake's watershed dumps a load of sediment filled waters into Fayette killing the sunlight to the beds and the spawn.

Not much of a watershed, most of the water is pumped in by pipeline.

Tilapia takeover.........

I agree with Jim N. Too many tilapia but wondering why the bass are not taking advantage of this. Never hear any truly trophy size bass being caught from Fayette. 6-8# is top end from my experience.

Tilapia are mostly vegetarians. They have very little effect on bass other than spawning areas.


The bass problem is that catch and release has worked too well. The lake is overpopulated with 15 to 18 inch bass. The lake record bass is just over 12 pounds even though the lake has been managed as a trophy lake since it opened about 1980.

The Tilapia on Fayette are some of the BEST bait for both bass and cats. I always throw a cast net before fishing and get lots of small Tilapia for bait. I fish bottom rig fish finder and get big fish all the time!!!