CONROE, Texas – The headline of today’s local paper says, “Low lake levels leave residents high, dry.” The same could be said of the 100 Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail championship contenders attempting to fish Lake Conroe this weekend.
Lake Conroe’s unusually low levels was expected to impact this weekend’s championship, and judging from day one’s low weights and numbers, it certainly did. A feast-or-famine situation developed, with several competitors blanking but an 18-pound-plus stringer leading the Pro Division.
Guy Adams of Corpus Christi ended day one in third place, and though he said yesterday that the bite was improving every day, this morning he predicted more of the same for today’s weigh-in.
“It looks like it’ll be about the same,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s going to be more fishing pressure, whether everybody’s going to be running around or if everybody’s going to settle down. Boat pressure is what’s worrying me.”
Indeed, perhaps the biggest problem is not so much low water but the fishing pressure that situation created. When a bigger lake starts to fish small, expect a lot of crowding on competition day. However, Adams said now that the drawdown has ceased, a calm to the madness is starting to develop, at least as far as the fish are concerned.
“It’s starting to stabilize now,” Adams said. “They’ve got the water about where they want it, and I think that’s helping.”
Just as 15 to 18 pounds was a solid stringer yesterday on the pro side, Adams looks for that weight to land guys near the top again today. Today’s weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 18700 State Highway 105 West in Montgomery, with the winning pro and co-angler determined by heaviest two-day catch.
Sunday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 7:25 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 50 degrees
Expected high temperature: 88 degrees
Wind: from the east-southeast at 5 mph
Maximum humidity: 48 percent
Day’s outlook: plentiful sunshine