Lake Palestine ’ s north end is loaded with stereotypical east Texas standing timber .
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE
Digging further back into Palestine ’ s tournament history reveals more five-fish bags of 30-plus pounds in February . The lake record – a 13.22-pound behemoth caught on a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw by Casey Laughlin – came during a Media Bass tournament in early February of 2014 .
“ Pretty much any tournament from 1990 until now , if you fish Lake Palestine in January or February and the wind isn ’ t blowing 100 mph , you better have close to 30 pounds ,” said MLF pro Kelly Jordon , who lives a block away from Palestine . “ The last team tournament I fished here in the late 1990s , my team had 27 pounds and we came in fourth . The weights went 32 ( pounds ), 32 , 29 , and we were fourth with 27 . It just has that east Texas ‘ thing ’: Palestine grows bass like crazy , and it ’ s full of fish .”
HOW WILL PALESTINE FISH ? BIG
As he idled around Palestine during a pre-practice day , Jacob Wheeler was quickly reminded of another well-known Texas tournament lake : “ This place reminds me a lot of Lake Conroe ,” Wheeler said . “ It looks like a classic east Texas lake . I see timber , docks , plenty of grass . The first thing I think of is Conroe .”
Jordon agrees with Wheeler ’ s assessment , but with a nod to Palestine ’ s fish population .
“ Palestine does look a lot like Lake Conroe , but there are more ( fish ),” he said . “ You ’ d have to say that historically , the best largemouth cover is on the northern half of the lake , above the Highway 155 bridge – the dynamic thing about Palestine , though , is that every now and then , somebody will win on the main lake on boat docks , or in the smaller creeks that don ’ t get a lot of pressure . The whole lake fishes . In ( the MLF ) format , the sky ’ s the limit . I think these guys are going to smash ‘ em .”
“ palestine has bass from end to end . it ’ s a phenomenal lake ; there are a lot of quality , big fish in that lake .
— Jeff Sprague
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