Piney Z water levels

[CoastalPirate]

The work week is almost over, my dreams of fishing can finally come true soon!!! I just saw a post on talgov.com that mentioned that the paddling trails on lower lafayette are closed due to low water levels and vegetation congestion. I plan on hitting Piney Z this Saturday and was wondering if any of yall had been out there recently and could give me a report as to how the water levels are looking. Thank you for the info!
Mike

[geib20]

i went out there about a month ago and it was lower than i have ever seen it....if you ar planning on fishing, i would bring a jon boat or yak and head out toward the cypress trees...its a little deeper there...and i bet with the low levels and the extreme heat, the deeper holes and shade of trees will be a great spot to fish...in the spring i was killing it fishing off the fingers...last couple times, all i found were mudfish and little gar

[CoastalPirate]

Thanks for the heads up geib. I was out there 2 weeks ago in my bass raider and you could see the multiple water level rings on the cypress trees dropping. Almost brought a tear to my eye. I have never had any luck in the cypress trees. Bass would be blasting baitfish all around me in the trees and not one of them would hit my lizard, crankbait or spinnerbait. Will try again though!

[wevans]

Throw a top water lure and just jiggle it and let sit, jiggle and let sit....... and see what happens

[TheWhaler15]

Can you fish in Lafayette? It's right behind my house. Would be an easy place to fish. Or do you just recommend Piney Z?

[CoastalPirate]

A couple friends of mine recently went back there with kayaks and caught some small bass. So there is life in there, however it is congested with plants that would clog a trolling motor if you tried to use a boat. Just from experience and from what other fishermen have told me I would recommend Piney Z over Lafayette. The biggest bass i've caught out there is 3.5lbs and i've been told by those fishing out there that they've caught 8lbs and up.

[geib20]

if you can get some live shiners, throw em out and let them swim around the cypress trees...there are monsters out there....but they can be finicke sometimes...but nice ones are out there...here are a couple pics of 5lb+ bass caught in feb and march on the most overfished finger with the 2 docks...one is off the wooded dock...one of the new one...my bait of choice has been a drop shot rig, with 1/4 oz weight...2-3/0 circle hook with a gulp! black worm wakey rigged...i was hot with that bait in march/April....but water was up and it wasnt 500 degrees either

[TheWhaler15]

Dang, now I wanna go out there. It's right by my house. How do you access the lake? What street do you turn onto from Apalachee Parkway?

[geib20]

I think it's called heritage boulevard.... if you are on appalachee.... turn on connor boulevard.... turn into tiny the plantation... there is a couple insurances but I think heritage is right.
. just follow straight back in see you get to the parking lot annual see where you can walk

[geib20]

Sorry..autocorrect on my phone made that not make any sense.....its real easy...just down street from lincoln hs...turn on heritage rd off Conner...go straight back..u will see kids park...and path a mile long with 8 fingers to fish off of

[TheWhaler15]

Thanks for the info. Went and scouted it some today. There's a sign that says you can't keep bass....do you keep 'em? And it says a max of 6 channel cats. Those things get HUGE! I would love to catch a 30 pounder in there!

[geib20]

no, I dont keep the bass...never fished for cats out there...

one thing to try that is fun though is catching the carp....im talking 10-20lb fish...

saw a guy doing it oneday and gave it a whirl...had one of the best fights ever with a 15lber...

just bring a rod with heavier line(i use like 20/30 lb power pro...use a bobber with 5 ft or so of 30lb flourocarbon leader..

5/0 circle hook and white bread....chum the water up with bread till you see the carp start eating it...

take crust off a piece of bread and ball up(get all the air out of it...

completly cover the whole hook...if any metal is exposed the carp will let go when they bite the bread...

throw it out there and hold on!...its awesome, trust me(from someone who doubted the idea of catching a carp)

[TheWhaler15]

That sounds awesome. Didn't know carp could put up such a fight. Which finger should I fish off of? The one with the docks? The second one right next to it looked pretty good too. The one in between the two islands.

[geib20]

carp fight like a red fish....i thought same as you before i caught one.

If on finger with docks...best bet is off wooden dock, walk to end of wooden dock and throw staight out...(there is a little trough there) and since water is low, maybe it will be holding some fish since its a little deeper...

on floating dock at the end of finger...fish edges to about 5/6 feet out...their is a trench that runs down the middle island on both sides, that along with the cover from brush there might be a good bet...

i usually like finger number 4..(dock finger is 2)...but last time i went it was really low and there isnt much cover out there.

if you want to walk or i suggest bring a bike...go to all the fingers and see if you can find some deeper water off of them....most of the lake between the fingers is pretty flat though...

[CoastalPirate]

***Update***
Piney Z water level was definitely down. Ended up catching a 1.2lb bass in the cypress trees, sapphire paddle tail worm texas rigged! Friend hooked a foot in a half gar on a top water, but lost it at the boat. Looking forward to the next time!