Lake Conroe Keeps Kicking Out Giants

When a lake starts producing big bass in bunches, word gets around fast.

Right now, Lake Conroe isn’t just on the radar… it’s downright on fire.

With water temperatures hovering around 61 degrees, most anglers might expect a slow bite. Instead, Lake Conroe is doing the exact opposite. On a Thursday afternoon, the lake just north of Houston produced its fourth ShareLunker of the season, a thick 13.8-pound largemouth caught by Conroe angler Renee Linderoth.

That fish didn’t just make headlines for the day. It added to a growing legacy.

The catch marks the 16th ShareLunker entry from Lake Conroe, solidifying its place among Texas’ top trophy bass waters. Only a handful of lakes sit above it, legendary Lake Fork Reservoir with 240 entries, Alan Henry Reservoir with 25, and Sam Rayburn Reservoir with 23.

That’s good company by any measure.

Linderoth was fishing shallow, just two feet of water south of the FM 1097 bridge, when the bass inhaled a Hula Grub. It’s the kind of bite that comes without warning and stays with you a long time.

But she’s quick to point out she didn’t do it alone.

“I have to give credit to my guide, Ron Higgins of Higgy’s Freshwater Adventures,” she said. “Without him putting me in the right place and fishing the right way, I wouldn’t have caught that fish.”

And Higgins’ role didn’t stop when the fish hit the deck.

Like many anglers, Linderoth’s first instinct was to release the bass. She grew up fishing with her father but had only recently returned to the sport after buying a boat. The ShareLunker program wasn’t something she had on her radar.

That’s where experience stepped in.

“Ron said, ‘No, we need to get it weighed and see if it qualifies,’” she recalled.

It did.

Before long, the fish was swimming in a holding tank at April Plaza Marina, and David Campbell was already on the way.

For those unfamiliar, the ShareLunker program is one of Texas’ crown jewels in fisheries management. Any angler who legally lands a largemouth bass weighing 13 pounds or more between October 1 and April 30 can enter it into the program.

Those fish aren’t just recorded… they’re put to work.

At the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, these trophy bass are used in a selective breeding program designed to produce bigger, stronger fish for public waters across the state. It’s a long-game approach that’s helped make Texas one of the premier destinations in the country for chasing double-digit largemouth.

And every fish like Linderoth’s pushes that effort forward.

All it takes is one cast, one bite, and knowing what to do next.

Because these days, on Lake Conroe, the next cast just might be the one.