What advice can you give a first timer on Palestine? I'm thinking about trying it out since our lakes around here are so high and because Fork is so crowded. any other suggestions?

Talk to someone who knows that lake well. There are a lot of hazards that you may not see depending on the lake level. I spent the 40 bucks to get the guide lanes for a little piece of mind.

There is timber all over that lake and that is where I would start. Look just north of the 155 bridge in the middle of the lake (east to west). There is also some good timber just south of the Villages.

You could try shallow as there should be some lingering spawners but it takes awhile to get back to those spots and if you don't know how to safely get back there, it won't be worth it to you.

Try silver baits on a pink head, blue/chartreuse, purple/chartreuse and Paradise color from Bonehead and give em hell.

Timber has been good! They’re not picky about color. Use what you got faith in!!

Be very careful running if you don’t know the lake!

I love Palestine and fish it almost exclusively. Took my boys last weekend and we caught Largemouth, Kentuckies, yellow bass, catfish, bream, white crappie, black crappie, white bass in one spot about 20 yards across.

first timers are required to fish the big bridge at 155 only.

good luck

Mo

Can you elaborate on the guide lanes, please, BlueNitro?

Tom, a guide on lake Palestine, made a chip that you load onto your chart plotter to help in the navigation. It is available on his website. http://www.lakepalestinefishingguide.com/

...speaking up for BlueNitro just in case he doesn’t see this before you need it.

Thank you very much. I'll check it out

I heard that bridge is on Fire!

Straight up Legends reporting right there! Sweat pants guy for the win!!

From the bridge on Friday.. From a friend.

I fish Palestine most of the time, when not traveling. The comment about fishing the bridge is really funny, but I hate to say a good one. Depending on what kind of boat you are using, I would consider trolling. I run in a bass boat and easy to troll and get around but the fish are coming back to the bridge. Here is a link to one of my trolling the bridge videos. I believe that I talk about my setup in here but just in case I do not, I use a heavy weight, a jig, then another weight to start with. Then I put a 1 foot leader on it, and another heavy jig. The reason for this is that I am trolling around 1.5 mph the the two heavy weights keep the line down at aprox 15 feet of water. I started putting a jig on there as well because I keep getting a hit on the weight by the crappie. Once you start moving, the jig will trail shortly below the weights and I slay them at the bridge.

Now, with that said, the biggger fish are in the stumps. I saw a recommendation to get Tom's chip with the boat lanes in it and I also endorse that. I have it for both of my console units. If you get a chance, look at this video and then look at the other videos as most are on Lake Palestine right now. It is a great lake and have caught a ton of 16 inch crappie. Biggest so far I believe is a 2.78. Let me know if you need some help.