|
|
 |
|
|
|
  The Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival
will be celebrating their 20th annivarsary in 2009. Preparations are already in full swing for the 2009 Festival. This festival is several notches above the basic community festival. The Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival annually draws 30,000 to 40,000people to hear it's stellar
music line-up, browse through the many craft booths and exhibits and eat a variety of Cajun style food, including Catfish!
A strong regional attraction, the featival is beginning to attract nation wide attention. The Festival
benefits the non-profit Friends of Conroe, Inc., who are working to enhance the quality of life in Conroe and Montgomery County through civic and cultural improvements. The Friends contribute
funds to other established nonprofit organizations, promote community projects and support the renovation of the downtown Conroe area. The Conroe Kids Fest is another community project that is supported each year.
This year during the Festival, the TPWL began filming a documentary they will be showing on PBS in
the Spring of 2009. The film crew interviewed many of our local Lake Conroe fishermen and some of the Lake Conroe Fishing Guides that support the Festival. Many of those interviewed participate in a
fishing contest that is held in conjunction with the Festival each year.
On October 30th and 31st Alan Fisher, TPWL photographer returned to the Lake to document several
aspects of catfish fishing that occur on the Lake. The afternoon of the 30th and most of the night, local experienced “Jug Line” fishermen demonstrated the techniques of Jug Line fishing with tremendous
success. They were able to film and record lots of catfish being caught on the Jug Lines. See pictures of big fish below. One boat limited out and had to return early.
|
|
|
|
|
On Friday, October 31 Carl Bostick of WetHook Guide Service and Brett Radabaugh of CatTales Guide Service spent the day on the Lake with the film crew filming the techniques of ‘drift fishing’, shallow water dock fishing and vertical fishing over baited catfish holes. They were able to catch good numbers of fish that day and the film crew recorded the entire days trip from boat preparation, type of bait used, locations and stragedy. It was a great day on the Lake. The film crew rode with Papa John most of the day on his boat and then got onboard with Carl and Brett for some close up shooting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fishing tournament associated with the Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival
was was a little slow due to lossing a couple weeks because of hurricane Ike.
With the Lake off limits for several days, all of the aftermath of hurricane Ike and the demands on the time of all the fishermen, the numbers of fish caught in the 2008 tournament were much lower than usual. The tournament winner in 2008 was Morris Taymon with a 47 pound 9 once Flathead Catfish. Past tournaments with normal fishing conditions have produced some huge fish as pictured on this page.
|
|
|
|
