What's with the hate for Lake Somerville? I always hear people say it's bad and to fish Gibbons. I always have 10x more bites in Somerville. I usually fish just before sundown till I can't see anymore. What's the deal?

Clarification: no boat.

It just sucks...

Never had much problem catching fish there myself.

I have been skunked my last 3 times out there, but that was mostly because I was lazy and hit the water when the sun was well up, and on windy days too. To be honest, we weren't trying all that hard.

Many a time I've gone there and loaded up on whites and cats.

I think both Gibbons and Somerville suck...

Occasional bigger fish aside, they can't hold a candle to AVERAGE bass fishing in any of the lakes where I grew up. Also, one of the mississippi oxbows was much better white bass fishing than somerville, the white bass just didn't run in the late winter/spring (river was usually way high).

I like them both, but seem to do much better at Sommerville. Great place to catch limits of whites in the spring and great catfishing too.

I think it is more the type of people you see at Lake Somerville than the lake.

I much prefer redneck fisherman to yuppies in a boat designed for the ocean...

Somerville isn't a bass lake. It just isn't. But you can get good crappie, whites, and hybrids out of it if you know where to go and when.

The problem with it is I think the state has been a little lax on their stocking program for the lake. Catches seem kind of down over time, at least to me.

nevermind

[This message has been edited by moses1084ever (edited 5/27/2008 6:13p).]

Somerville has never recovered as a recreational lake after:

Years of super high water followed by years of super low water.

The demise of the free boat ramps and the park near the marina.

Used to be a fun place to go on the weekends-now it is just a PITA.

This, I will never understand...

Sommerville: 30min drive from Campus
Gibbons: 30min drive from Campus
Fayette Lake: 1hr drive from Campus

You can't even put Sommerville and Gibbons on the same page - much less the same book as Fayette. Why people don't travel an extra half hour, I just don't understand. At Gibbons, a good day is catching 10 bass. At Fayette, you will do that before 8am.

I know that gas prices are having a much steeper effect than ever before, but even when it didn't cost your 1st born son to fill up - most College Station area fisherman continued to settle for Gibbons and Sommerville. (This assuming you are looking to catch bass)

Not everyone fishes for Bass all the time.

yeah, but fishing a lot and not bass fishing at least some is like being an Aggie and not liking football...

I'll go so far as to say for me, bass fishing gets boring, and there are tastier fish in the water, and ones with more fight, too. With stripers, you have a chance of getting your drag pulled out some....the only time I've had a bass do that is when I hooked a 4-5lber on my ultralight spinning gear when fishing for crappie.

Somerville is actually a nice lake to cruise around in and ski/wakeboard on, because it has several large coves mostly protected from wind that are uniformly deep and free of stumps and logs, sandy/gravel beaches, and lots of public access.

I still bass fish some, but my preference is to chase them with ultralight gear where they can put up a serious fight, instead of winch them in with a baitcaster.

Thats a horrible analogy. Some people prefer not to fish for bass, doesnt make them less of a fisherman. (for golfer, not mouth)

[This message has been edited by geogaggie (edited 5/28/2008 9:14a).]

bass are the most popular freshwater sportfish in america, especially in texas. The analogy is solid.


[This message has been edited by aggiegolfer03 (edited 5/28/2008 9:17a).]

To each thier own. I prefer saltwater fishing any day of the week.

Yeah, I lose a few fish to breakoffs now and then using lighter gear, and catch more smallish bass, but its more fun when you have to play a fish to land it, lest it break you off. Of course, when you're tossing into pads and tree limbs, you really have no choice on the heavier gear.

I guess maybe since I grew up fishing for anything that was biting, I never got into the obsession with the green fish.

Somerville does for the most part suck. However, I did catch my largest bass out there (somewhere in the 9lb range). I have caught a few whites bass and a few white crappie and probably 3 other bass. Its just a pain to get out there and the possibility of reward is slim.

The lake looks like a nuclear wasteland. There is very little vegetation and little cover.

I grew up fishing NATURAL lakes and bayous that offered awesome avg. numbers of bass.

You weren't going to catch a fish over 5 pounds but about once a year, but you'd average at least 10-15 a day with most fish being between 1-4 lbs. We'd catch a lot more than that during some seasons though.

also if a lake has a healthy population of bass, the reason for that usually bodes well for it having good fishing for other species (see lake fork for example).

Has Gibbons Creek really declined that much? I haven't fished there in probably 8 years but I fished there at least twice a month when I was in college.

My buddy and I ALWAYS caught a good number of bass and plenty in the 5-7# range. And we did so without a boat and weren't using live bait.

We also fished Somerville about twice a month for whites and hybrids and always did well. We never targeted black bass there though.

[This message has been edited by Finn Maccumhail (edited 5/28/2008 10:29a).]

finn...yes, gibbons has declined that much...

Somerville has little natural cover, which hurts the bass population since they are mostly ambush feeders, but it has a heck of a white and hybrid population with all that open water and rock structure on the bottom, and loads of shad.

Where do ya'll catfish out at sommerville?

Anywhere near a creek channel, or in the creeks themselves. There were two guys in one spot a few weeks ago when the spawn was just gearing up that were fishing the inside of a point out in the lake, on a baited hole, and they must have caught 30 of them inside of 2 hours.

quote:

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aggiegolfer03
posted 10:29a, 05/28/08



finn...yes, gibbons has declined that much...

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Really? Any ideas as to why?

Reservoirs go through a lifecycle, and as they age, the underwater flooded structure dies and disintegrates, and the nutrient levels in the lake floor and the water drop off. You lose growth rate and numbers on your forage fish over time, and that translates to your gamefish density, size, and growth rates.