Hi y'all

This may have been talked about in the past and I searched for the info but did not find any results so I thought I would ask again...

A little background first. I just moved back to God's Country (Texas) from Minnesota this last summer. I spent 10 years up in that frozen @#$@ and am very glad to be home now. I will say the bass fishing up in Minnesota is awesome. If you ever get a chance to fish up there you will not be dissapointed.

Anyway I am back living in San Antonio and fish Choke three or four times a month. I had not been on Choke in probably 15 years or so and man has the lake changed a ton since I was a kid. From what I remember the river channel was marked fairly well but I may be mistaken. I was down there this last week and decided to lauch at the 99 ramp and head to Mason area. About a mile up into the lake the river channel kind a faded out and all I was able to see were trees and lots of them. I came off plane and slowly made my way to the open section of the lake near Mason where I felt a bit more comfortable getting back up to speed.

I have seen guys run this section at higher speeds so there must be a channel to run faster in but I am not comfortable running that fast. On the way back to the ramp I decide to run a bit faster and ran over a submerged tree. I just glanced off the tree and did no damage to the boat but man this is scary. Especially when the water temp is 52 degrees and the gators may be hungry. I dont want to wreck my boat and go for a swim with gators.

So my question is how do you navigate this river section of the lake? Is there a marked channel and if so how are you able to find it?

I have thought about just following a boat back in there and marking it with GPS, is this a good idea?

Forget Choke, Choke S@@ks anyway, Go to Falcon

Ha Ha , I have to say the fishing on Choke has been a bit tough lately. I fished a club event at the beginning of December and fishing was slow slow slow. I did manage to catch my biggest bass to date during the tourney. It weighed 8.99lbs. Another guy caught one that went 12.41lbs that same day. No one caught a limit either day but some big fish were caught. Both of those big fish had bloody and beat up tails so maybe they were getting ready to spawn.

I think I will fish Choke again this week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday depending on the weather. This is a great time of year to catch a toad.

I am heading to Falcon for the first time right after Chrismas for three days. I can not wait to try that lake.

Get a good navionics chip and follow the channel slow and mark your trail, watch your sonar to make sure there are no trees under you in case the water level goes down. I would go after a few calm days when the water is clear so you can see them better. There are no markers that I am aware of.

trim her out cross your fingers suck in your a$$ hole and pray.

bassfishin,

I have been fishsing Choke for the last 11 years and yes there is a channel to run in, but no there are no markers or "boat lanes" like other lakes in Texas.

You will have to buy a new navionics chip and run the river. I know this sounds odd, but find the biggest oak trees out there and odds are the river runs right beside them. The river is channel is about 12-20' deeper than the sides, so if you do not have a navionics you can simply use your depth finders and take is slow - This is how I found the river channel once the lake filled up in 98' Becareful and best of luck.

Most of the river itself is not too bad, and as said, get a good chip and you won't have problems. The part that scares me is the lower part of the lake from past Caliham to the bridge. It's easy to get disoriented and run off of the channel. Some of the boats I see flying through there I think are crazy.

+1 on the chip, or the lakes insight unit. I have the hds lakes and follow the channel without probs, and yes stay close to the big trees, thats where the channel is.

That was awesome!!!

Thanks for the comments. I do have a Navionics chip for my GPS but the map for Choke stinks. Right around Greyhound point the map just fades out and you are left to guess where the river channel went. I may have to get another version of the Navionics chip with Choke on it.

I usually am able to "zoom in" in that area and run the river channel very cautiously. It makes a few turns there also, left, then right, then left (or something like that), then becomes more visable. But, there is that area between just before (or past, depending on your direction) Greyhound point and Mason that requires some extra caution.

I have had same problem with Navionics chip switch to a Lowrance Hot Spots chip and I can see channel anywhere on Choke including way up San Miguel and Frio. Good luck