Thread: Lake monticello

Three summers ago I was fishing around the spillway pipe when a wakeboard boat kept passing very close to me multiple time all the while knowing they were throwing my boat into the concrete....there were 5-6 people on the boat and they were watching me on every pass but they obviously didn't care. They could have gone to the other side of the open water but didn't. When I hit the concrete one time hard enough to crack the housing on my Terrova I wrote down their registration numbers (yea, they were that close) and went to the local AGFC office a few days later to complain. They said I would have to prove that the boat came within a hundred feet of my boat before they could do anything and basically made me feel like a fool for even bothering them with such nonsense. Like I carry a tape measure on my boat???? Even though there were fishermen in 7-8 boats on the lake at the time it turned out that the rights of the one wakeboard boat came before the rights of all the other boats who were out there first and trying to spend a peaceful morning fishing. All the other boats wound up having to go home because it was impossible to fish under those conditions. It's mostly politics and who knows who in this area in order to get anything done. I fish now mostly in MS and LA. BTW, for what it's worth, the truck pulling the wakeboard boat had a sticker on it that said "Wakeboard for Christ". Yea right, I thought that was a hoot. At this point I am pretty much done with that lake for anything except pulling the grandkids on a tube during summer holidays.

Originally Posted by gasper_goul

we went out there yesterday and pulled cranks for a few hours until the wake board boats ran us off....not a single crappie...I would have never in my wildest dreams guessed that lake would turn out to be nothing but a recreational body of water when it first opened but that's about all its good for unless you like catching white bass

I heard a lot of great stories about it some years ago. I was told it had huge crappie in there.

Yeah I have drive a long way to fish anymore and as high as gas has gotten I can't justify going as much. Just wishing we had something closer to go for a few hours and fish before it gets so hot. Steve I want to get a under water camera what would you recommend. I think you told me once but I can't remember:rolleyes:

Aqua-Vu makes a good one. I would look on ebay for a good used B&W unit because they have IR capability and can see clearly in the dark. I sold my B&W unit a few years ago and bought an expensive color unit and have regretted it ever since. The color one is useless below about 20-25 feet in LM because it gets dark at that depth and the LED lights just can't cut it past a few inches. With my B&W unit I could put it on the bottom and see 5-6 feet with no problem.

Steve...I'm thinking that might have been the very boat that did us in...he was running right on the levy and the guy on the wakeboard even touched the drain one time as he passed by it...just crazy...I will say they did have some good tunes playing lol...I went to Miss yesterday and had a good day but like Jerry said it would be nice to stay at home every now and then too...good post Jerry...that's been on my mind for a while also

I appreciate you guys commenting on this subject of Lake Monticello. I'm frustrated as well. I remember the glory days it was awesome for a time. However for the past several winters I have been able to catch some nice limits out there. The fish are 50-55 ft but there a few left out there. No wake boarders in Jan and feb. Would love some company this winter.

I went one time last winter and caught a few in the trenches.....pretty easy to find them with decent electronics that time of year as they cluster up on the bottom and there is nowhere to hide. However, the size has gone down drastically and I hate having to keep 6-8 inch fish to go onto a 20 fish limit. (Have to keep everything you catch after Dec.1 because of the depth.) We really liked fishing it during the hottest part of the summer hanging minnow rigs just over the 14 ft thermocline with a slipcork. We had 10 or so hotspots and there was always at least one of them loaded with Crappie. Those were the really good ole days that I would love to see return!

Would you happen to know anything about the Cain Creek lake drawdown? Same story with that lake. Use to catch some monsters before the grass left.