Lake Raven

Lake Raven in Huntsville state park used to be my favorite lake, but several things have happened to flip it. The park poisoned off the weeds one year, and things haven't been the same since. The weeds are back, which is good, but the fish population appears way down to me. We used to get numbers and size, now neither.

Anyway, fished three days over the past week. Grand total of four bass, biggest a three lber. Water was clear, until the last time. Appears a bunch of cold muddy water has washed in. Spinnerbaits took the best fish, for what its worth.

I was there a couple of weeks ago and the water clarity was a bit better. Also, I noticed in the upper arms, there was some new growth hydrilla that was starting to bud out and I was glad to see it. Some years back, TPWD really did a number on the aquatic vegetation and it really hurt fishing. That said, Raven has (at least in the last 20-25 years) has never been a consistent, "always on" fishery. If I can find it, I'll post a video of a TPWD shocking survey of the bass population in Raven that was done a few years back. IIRC, it was filmed by a member of this board. It was amusing to watch in that there was a fisherman out the day they were doing the shocking. He was probably 100 yards or so ahead of where they were doing the shocking and it was funny to watch as this guy was looking back and seeing how many numbers and the quality of fish they were shocking up over water he had just fished. The problem with Raven is not quantity nor quality of the bass population. The problems are with the TPWD's seeming need to kill all the aquatic vegetation and turn it into a mud hole, AND it's heavily pressured. It's only 200 acres and it's also a "back up lake" for when the wind gets up and Conroe is blown out. I rarely fish it on a weekend and try to always give it a couple of days rest after a weekend, if I can, before I fish there. Even though I've fished it hundreds of times and kinda understand its idiosyncrasies, it's not uncommon for me to blank on it.

Spot on Big C. I found that hydrilla patch too, don’t tell anybody it’s there. You are exactly right that the lake changed dramatically after that big weed poisoning. I have a theory that it changed fish behavior and now the vast majority of fish live primarily offshore almost exclusively. The problem with the mass weed kill is it wrecked the homes of the bluegills and assorted perch. No cover, they got wiped out. No more consistent shallow food, no more consistent shallow bass.