Live Well Not Big Enough




East Texas has become famous for its winter trophy blue catfish fishing, with Lake Palestine ranking number two behind Lake Tawakoni. Robert Holloway recently caught a 48.2 pound lake rod and reel record from Lake Palestine.

Fishing four poles Holloway was about to call it a day when the fish took the bait. He reported the fish went down, but it didn’t stay down like normal. The big Blue swam to the left 80 yards out and then did a 180-degree turn to the other side of the boat and got in the anchor line. Fishing alone it took him several minutes to land the big fish, realizing that neither his net nor his live well were big enough for a fish that was 45.5 inches long and 31.75 inches in girth. His previous big blue catfish was a 32-pounder.

March, April and May are all good catfish catching months, but March and April have been his best months. He attributes it the warming water temperature, switching to drift fishing.

When he caught his record fish he was sitting in 7 feet of water and fishing only 3- to 4-feet deep. Holloway only uses 25-pound monofilament line in case he is drifting and needs to break off. He does use a 50-pound leader the last two feet to a No. 7 circle hook, a style he uses because of the hook-up success over the years.

Photo courtesy Robert Holloway

 




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Lake Palestine Current Weather Alerts

There are no active watches, warnings or advisories.

 

Lake Palestine Weather Forecast

Thursday

Sunny

Hi: 70

Thursday Night

Clear

Lo: 53

Friday

Mostly Sunny

Hi: 75

Friday Night

Mostly Cloudy

Lo: 59

Saturday

Mostly Cloudy

Hi: 78

Saturday Night

Mostly Cloudy

Lo: 63

Sunday

Mostly Cloudy

Hi: 80

Sunday Night

Mostly Cloudy

Lo: 67


Lake Palestine Water Level (last 30 days)


Water Level on 3/28: 345.77 (+0.77)



Lake Palestine

Fishing Report from TPWD (Mar. 27)

GOOD. Water normal stain; 63 degrees; 0.48 feet above pool. The lake continues at the full level, giving lots of area for spawning activity. However, the weather continues to be uncooperative, keeping the water temperatures about 5 degrees lower than normal for this date. The fish are moving in through the staging areas, but in 2-3 days they are pushed back out by north winds and lower temperatures. All species can be caught and fishing is good, but the bite periods remain short. Best bet is to watch the wind forecasts for south to southeast winds at less than 10-12 mph, and watch the moon position for the classic rise, set, and meridian times. Blue catfish remain very good on live minnows and cut bait. Hybrid stripers are good trolling rigs, but they tend to move out of an area quickly, a pattern that will continue until the strong shad spawn develops. Report by Jim Beggerly, Jim’s Fishing. Crappie fishing is good on jigs and minnows in 1-15 feet of water. About half of the fish have already spawned. Bass fishing is good in 2-8 feet of water on plastics around structure and baits that displace water on grass lines and edges of structure. Report by Sam Parker, Freshwater Fishing Adventures.

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