Hello!

I have been reading about the Neighborhood Fishing Program through TPWD and was very happy to see that one of the ponds (at Tom Bass 1) is right near me in Pearland. I plan to take my son (8) over there to fish once they start stocking catfish. This is scheduled for Thursday, April 26th (I also called the hatchery to confirm).

My question is - has anyone tried this pond (or other designated Neighborhood Fishing ponds) during these stocking periods and how long do the fish last between stockings (they are stocked every couple of weeks)?

I'm trying to determine if I'll be ok to wait until the Sunday following to go or do I need to go the day of if I want to catch anything. The gentleman I spoke to at the hatchery seemed to indicate that the fish go fast so I got nervous about waiting the two or three days after the initial stocking day.

Thanks for any info!!

Try Tom Bass III. It's a smaller pond, but the cats are more concentrated. My girlfriend pulled put two nice cats last Saturday.

The big pond at Tom Bass I is sometimes tough Fishin. Lots of water, crazy deep. But if you get there right when they are stocking you might be ok.

Whoops think I got the I and III ponds switched. Whichever the small pond is by the amphitheater is the one I'd suggest. Lots of sunfish too if the cats aren't biting.

The pond in Duncanville get's stocked on a Monday night and by Wed the bite is slow

Yes - I is the small one off of Fellows road (and near the amphitheater) and III is the big one with the dock off of Cullen.

We fished the small one on Sunday and got bites galore but no catches to speak of except for a couple of really small bluegill. Mostly we were donating night crawlers to those tiny guys and the turtles.

I was hoping to get a catfish but no such luck. Figured we'd try again once they stock on the 26th.

Glad to hear you and your girlfriend had better luck than we did!

What were you using to catch the cats?

Hmmmm...that's what I'm worried about happening here...

We had leftover minnows from a crappie trip to Livingston. But I usually catch them there on stink bait, gulp 1" minnows, fish fry (or any of the gulp panfish/crappie lures in those little jars) or whatever else that stinks and usually on 5' ultralight rods.

Thanks for the info! We had some minnows as well but maybe we just weren't in the right place. Do you usually fish the bottom there for the cats or will they bite on a regular bobber set up. That's what we were using. It was a bunch of us there for a Cub Scout outing. The boys had fun getting all the nibbles and bites but I would have liked to have seen someone get a nice catfish too.

Here is an FYI for anyone interested. Looks like the date has changed for Houston. I got this update from TPWD today:

Catfish stocking begins next week at most Neighborhood Fishin' lakes!

Sites in Amarillo, Austin, San Antonio, Wichita Falls and Waco will be stocked Thursday, April 26.
Lakes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will also be stocked Thursday, except Lakeside Park in Duncanville where the dam is being repaired. That lake will receive its first catfish stocking in early May.
Sites in Houston, Katy and College Station will be stocked Friday, April 27.

Neighborhood Fishin' lakes will receive new catfish approximately every two weeks through July. Visit the program website for more information.

We were fishing with a tiny bobber and about a 2' leader casting into the wind and letting the wind blow it back across to cover more ground but others were catching on the bottom

When is the next stocking for Hurst Chisolm Park?

I think Thursday.

Great weekend at Tom Bass 1!!

I'm going to answer my own question + add some info for anyone interested.

The Houston ponds (Tom Bass 1 and Mary Jo Peckham) were actually stocked on Friday, April 27th.

My family went out to Tom Bass 1 on Friday evening around 5pm. My daughter (4) on her first cast, caught her very first fish! (a little bluegill). She proceeded to catch four more over the next 40 minutes or so. That was fun!!

My wife and daughter left around 6 but my son (8) and I stayed on. He really wanted to catch a catfish since he had never caught one before.

We stayed until 8:15ish. The whole time we were there, we only saw three cats caught. One guy caught two early on and one other person caught one. I spoke to a gentleman who had also been to Mary Jo Peckham that day. He said he was there when they were putting the stock fish in. But he didn't catch anything there or at Tom Bass.

So, while we went home without catching a catfish, the fact that my daughter caught her first and my son did catch a couple of bluegills himself still made it a fun, worthwhile evening. Actually, we were also joined by a friend of mine and his two kids and right toward the end, his son caught a catfish so that was fun for all of us too.

On Saturday evening, we decided to make a quick trip and try again. This time, within five minutes, my son caught a really nice catfish! I didn't measure it but it was BIG - I'd say 14 - 16 inches and a good 3 - 4 lbs. He was thrilled. We stayed another 40 - 45 minutes and didn't catch any more. But, that was ok because he was so happy to have caught the one. (he did get some more bites, though)

On Sunday afternoon, we did even better. Got there around 2:20pm. Within 40 minutes, he had caught three decent sized catfish. None as big as the one Saturday night, though, but still very fun to catch.

We also had the pleasure on Sunday to speak to a TPWD representative. He was going around to various parks to ask some survey ?'s. I asked him if it was always hard to catch fish on the first day of stocking which I assumed to be true based on our experience on Friday. He said that that wasn't always the case. In fact, he said that they try to not feed them for a couple of days before the transport so they will be hungry and it also helps somehow with the transporting. Anyway, thought that was interesting.

I'm really glad to have discovered this park. It's a great place to introduce the kids to fishing. And, it was never really crowded. The most crowded was Friday night - there were maybe 6 - 10 other people. Otherwise, I don't think there were more than 4 or 5 on Saturday and Sunday.