Maybe a hook for grabbing square bales by the wire

Head of an old Pickaroon, used to move logs.

New to the forum, but have been kayak fishing Grapevine Lake pretty heavy the last few months. Primarily using the Lakeview non-motorized launch on the southeast side of the lake and pounding the bank. Managed to hook into a nice one on Saturday morning cruising around some rocks in shallow water. Unfortunately, no scale, just lucky to have the Ketch board.

That is a fat one! Nice fish. I also kayak fish the the Vine a good deal. Never used that ramp, did not even know it was there until I saw this post. I usually launch at Merrell or have been going out of Rockledge park but I have to drag my yak and gear a good 30 yards to the water... but it gives me good access to the damn where I have done pretty well the last time I went.

Weather depending I might get out there Friday and give it a go.

Again props on the big one and thanks for sharing!

Rockledge looks like an awesome spot to put in and fish the dam. I haven’t ventured that far yet, I’ve stuck to the rocky banks and boat houses on the south side of the lake. Good luck on Friday, hopefully the weather will hold off long enough to at least get a few hours in on the water! I’m planning on going Saturday morning, weather permitting, then bundling up and hitting it hard next week.

Dude, good job. That's a really good fish.. Night bite was good until the rain came , when the lake settles down give it a try.

We got a doozy of a rain storm last night. If you ever want to get rain data from around your area, you can goto and internet browser and type in (aprs.fi). It will show you a map of the United States, just move around the map to find your location. Zoom in until you can see the area, and all of the small blue circles which are labeled (WX). Some report rain data, some do not. These are individuals which have weather stations that report wx data via the aprs system. I'm a ham radio operator, and this is something in the amateur radio hobby. We have several locations on the upper end of Grapevine lake reporting 4+ inches of rain last night. The creeks around the town look like the Colorado River. Lake should get a good top off this week, and if it fills up will have miles of banks up into bushes that have grown since the lake has gone down. If you like to catch catfish, you should goto trophy club Park and see if you can get a line out. This is when the big cats are caught. Me and Mason caught many nice catfish in the past when we have had rain like this when Denton Creek was rolling. Anyhoo, take care all. I fished Sun, Tues, and Wed for the green fish and it was a little off. Caught some decent fish, and allot of gaspergoo (drum). Me and my fishing Mentor fished yesterday, and tinkered with sandbass some but it was slow. Some bird action at the mouth of Scott's Marina outside the main point in 12-15ft, but they were moving so fast it's not worth it. Just hunker down and pick a spot, I tapped the boat with my foot to simulate the thumper but it was tough to do. The water in Scotts landing yesterday looked like chocolate milk from the previous day. I'm expecting that the upper end will loaded with timber, and debris from Denton Creek flushing out. Tuesday I dragged the giant tire that escaped one of the marinas over and secured it to the bank. We saw a boat from one of the marinas dragging it back to it's home yesterday, so that is something that will not become a hazard. Take care all, and will get out on Sunday to check out the lake.

APRS.FI screenshot




Escaped Tire captured






Video from 2020. Here is one of the most memorable fishing trips me and Mason had fishing the mouth of grapevine lake in Denton Creek. You can see my truck parked in the background. We were tied up to a bush, the lake was about 5 ft over full level at that time.

Grapevine Lake is full. I went to Trophy Club park and checked out the boat ramp. Crossed paths with a father/son going out in a John boat, but they didn't have any life jackets. I went home and got them three jackets, so they could go out safely. Denton Creek is not somewhere you need to be on right now, considering the flow moving right now. Then went to Meadomere ramp. The gate is still locked from when the lake was low, I asked Dom (at Meadomere park) to check on it. Lake is warm, and the wind is high. I wasn't mad at them today, and I'm glad I stayed home.

Trophy Club Park ramp





Meadowmere Ramp


Meadowmere Park



Looking out from Meadomere park

Good decision on your part , glad to see and hear someone looking out for another !

Decided that I was tired of staying cooped up in the house so I would brave the elements and get the kayak out yesterday afternoon. Suited up in enough layers to look like the Michelin Man, got out to the lake, threw on my life jacket, and started paddling. 10 minutes later I was back at the truck, loading up, ready to go home. Needless to say, not the best conditions to be paddling around looking for the green fish, lol. Better safe than sorry!

I didn't fish Sunday, or Monday due to the cold WX. First time in over a year I didn't get out, but winds were 20+ on Sunday, and 30+ on Monday which made it a no-go. I got out Tuesday for about 5 hours, and had a great day. Lake is full and there is vegetation in the water everywhere. I will add a few pictures I took from the sides of Katy Woods ramp. I still do not know if the gate at Meadomere ramp is open. If anyone drives by that ramp please let me know. I caught some good sandbass over near Rock Ledge park on a 5xd in about 15ft of water bumping the rocks. Good Sandies were just sitting on the drop in ambush mode. I have been catching good bass in the areas I catch gaspergoo (freshwater drum) all summer, so if your fishing and you catch a drum slow down. These areas have been good for me, the drum are there for a reason and they are a great fighter. Anyhoo, still have two more days of work and then I will be back out looking around. After the water rises I like to find the debris piles, and look for lures and other items that are concentrated in the mass of floating debris. I haven't been up the lake yet, but will check on the mid lake area this week. BTW, if anyone needs anchors, or rope let me know. I have a few that need homes and I have high end anchors that I will sell at a very reasonable price.
Lastly, the heavy rains raised the lake about 5ft, and all the cool rock structures are covered up. Hopefully some of you had a chance to get out on the water to see the rock piles. The lake has turned, and with the heavy rains we got a good flush of good water to help with the turning. I launched at Katy Woods and idled around graphing. I saw mega schools of fish (Sandies) and (bait) in 30+ ft down by the area between the dam and silver lake. First time I have seen the fish down that deep without seeing a defined thermocline. The two days of north winds blowing right into this area stacked up bait along the south Banks on the lower end. When I launched at Katy I also graphed bait balls up near the ramp and dock so bait is everywhere. So try and find the mass of bait, and then check the closest goto spots in that area. I saw groups of 3-4 birds erratically working the surface from noon, until the time I left around 4pm (out in the center of the lake). I didn't go out and check on them. Take care all, and be safe.

Prosise





Area along the sides of Katy woods ramp

maybe part of a hame?

I went bank fishing at Murrel park on the 2nd and 3rd trying to get catfish. Was able to net some shad on the high water ramp. Not a lot but enough. Caught 2 dinky channel cats there a gaspergoo on the 2nd. On the 3rd I caught one dinky catfish in that same spot.

Hoping to change my luck on the 4th I went bank fishing over by Scotts landing....one dinky catfish, again.

Could not get any shad at Scotts from the bank but had some chicken breast and a few shad from the day before. The chicken breast seems to get about as much attention as the shad. All of those trips I was using big baits and big hooks, getting a lot of bites but very few hook ups. I could see the bite marks out of my shad from the little bitty catfish hitting them.

Not sure this helps much... other than what NOT to be trying now lol. All three of those days were too windy or I had too short of window to take the kayak and try to get to some better spots.

Anyways, good luck fellas! Tight lines!

Need other set of eyes. This was caught on Grapevine and it looks like a hybrid to me. Wasn't me, but a friend took this. Mr R knows hybrid/Sandies/stripers and pinged me for my opinion.


What do you think.

looks like a hybrid to me. pros will be along shortly.