Fayette County Suggestions

Looking to go to Fayette on Thanksgiving. Does anyone have current lake conditions? Any grass? Water temp? Techniques to try?
Haven't been in many years.
Thanks in advance.

I will be up there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday that week. In laws live in La Grange and that is where I typically spend Thanksgiving week. It's a great time to be on the lake with usually no more than 30-50 boats on the entire lake. The last 4 years, I have done nothing but drag a C-Rig with a fluke on old roadbeds and usually average between 40-50 fish a day in the 2-5 lb range. If ya see a Black/White/Silver 21i class Skeeter fishing offshore, it's probably me. Stop and say hi and I will gladly give ya a report!!

Going to check it out this weekend. I'll let you know what I find.

Fayette is not hard. Just go fish how you like and you will catch fish. Dragging points is always a way to catch some.

was out there today breaking in new boat, the lake is drawn down and there’s an algae bloom of some sort going on. Water looks horrible. Graphed a lot of fish around 15’ range. But you can catch them from 2-20’ at any given time. Go fish your strength and you’ll catch’em.

I was out there last weekend and it was the toughest outing I've ever had on the lake (I've probably fished it 100+ times). As John stated, the lake and water just looked awful. I still caught fish, but it was mighty tough. The lake can cycle quickly though. Off one day, on the next.

Glad I wasn’t the only one who had a tough time. Not sure if the fish kill a month ago had anything to do with it, but there was a lot of green in the water and some foamy scum too. Found bass eating shad in 13-18’ and caught some of deep diving cranks. But it was S-L-O-W compared to this time most years.

Thanks to all!

Fishing on Tuesday, Nov. 5 was not too bad, weather was great. Fish were very shallow first hour after daylight (worms and rattle traps) then they essentially disappeared.
But beware: the vultures/buzzards at Park Prairie were out in force and the park management was not there to run them off. In addition to "painting" my vehicle black and white (raw fish [censored]), they ate the rubber gasket all around the moon roof. Doesn't leak but not sure how long it will hold up through hot/cold weather cycles. Cover your vehicle.
Good luck on your trip.

Went yesterday afternoon. I talked with several people and they had either caught a handful or were skunked. I didn’t fare much better. Caught 5 and missed two. But at least they were decent sized and averaged around 4 lbs and two were very skinny. Where I was graphing fish last month they were not there yesterday, but the lake was a foot lower than then. A lot of small ones jumping out of the water in the shallows. Hope you find them.

Thank you!

The weather will change 10 times by the time Thanksgiving get here. This time of year is a weather roller coaster.

Fish a jerkbait and a drop shot on the rocks at the dam all day.
If the wind is too hard out the north go drag a Carolina rig on windy points.

Stay home. No fish in Fayette County.

Went yesterday during the front and pretty much had the joint to myself. No vehicles in Park Prairie when I got there at 10:00 am and only two others when I left at 5:00. Found some shallow early and more deep later butI had to work against the wind and it was slow. They were eating crankbaits and big wakebaits but not very readily. Should pick up as weather stabilizes.

Thank you!

I had one of the best days I've ever had on the water on Thanksgiving 2012 on Fayette. We were throwing football jigs in 20-24 foot of water on roadbeds and house foundations. We caught over 30 in the 3-5 pound range. I miss that place!

Lake is fishing really tough right now for most people. Don't know if it's related to the bite but the water has a florescent green look to it. Fish we did catch look healthy but bites are hard to come by.

I fished yesterday. I agree there is something seriously wrong with the water right now. I don't know if it's an algae bloom or if the lake has turned over multiple times or if something else is at play. I wound up with 6 fish in 4 hours which is downright awful for that lake. The good news is they were all solid fish. I talked to a bunch of guys on the water and most reported they were skunked or had only managed to squeak a fish or two. Water temps were 69-72 most places.

I had never fished Fayette until last year around December. I remember asking questions on here in Oct/Nov about fishing there and some guys that fish there all the time, said the fishing is tough and they weren't sure what was going on. When I went in December it was good even though I didn't know the lake at all. Hopefully that lake just a fall funk or something, who knows. I plan on going again around Thanksgiving, the summer was pretty good there.

Fished Sunday the 11th. 9am to 1230. Water temp 68-71 and water clarity was normal for fayette. Stayed offshore and couldn't buy a bite. Jig, Texas rig and a-rig when shad were near. Nada.

I'm not sure what you call normal, but 4" of visibility in taco bell toilet water is not normal for Fayette.

Any more recent updates?

I’ll post something after I check it out tomorrow.

It was pretty rough out there for me today. A couple of hits in jigs in 15’ but nothing else. Lots were pretty empty and it didn’t seem like anybody else did really well except the two guys cleaning tilapia ON the corner ramp as boats were trying to land and leave at Oak Thicket. Geniuses.

Waterdogs!

Use your electronics off shore on underwater points in 15 or so. If you don’t see them there look a little deeper or shallower. Keep looking until you find a major school. Hammer them with a Carolina Rig and a Rattlesnake, Centipede or Fluke. Usually watermelon or watermelon red. When this clicks you can have 100+ fish days. Last time. We got on them this way 3 off us had 177.

It doesn’t always work and sometimes it takes a while looking to find the right school in a mood to eat but when it all lines up it can almost be magic. If you see a school and they don’t bite good come back in a couple of hours and try them again. They need to be in feeding mood. When we caught the 177 we saw them early, only caught a couple then came back two hours later and hammered them.

Use the Oak Thicket ramp. The rubber eating buzzards are less destructive there.

Good info. Thank you!

Went today and caught two. One shallow, one deep. Water had a funky color to it.
Lots of bait in 15 ft, but didn't see many fish within them. Water temp around 65 degrees.
Many people fishing main lake points. Hydrilla in backs of some Northern creeks.

Be extremely careful on the ramp. My partner took a very nasty fall on the ramp due to the algae on it. Both ramp locations are slippery as all get out.

Be very careful on the ramps as they always seem to be be covered with algae. My partner took a very nasty fall there this week.

Fished a 40-man kayak charity event on 11/23 and caught 18 keepers to 19.5", best five went approx. 20 lbs. all caught offshore. I came in second to a guy who sacked approx 24 lbs, anchored by a couple fat 21.5"-ers. Lots of bait in the water right now and the bass are gorging on gizzard shad. If you mark a school and they're not biting, move on until you find one that's active. Almost all were caught on cranks, a few on A-rig. Water is low and has a weird greenish tint, temp 62 degrees warming to 65.