Why Private Water Fishing?

I waited a long time to join, and now wish I'd done so when I first heard about PWF. Why? The 'reel solitude' is great, but that's not the main reason. Fishing PWF waters, my ten biggest fish during the month of September weighed more than 60 pounds. There are very few places I know of where someone like me can catch 10 bass that average heavier than six pounds. I'm so glad I joined. 

I can say why to join PWF. I've caught more quality fish in last 2 and a half year's than in at least previous 10 year's. I'd heard about club when was under previous name and owners then stumbled across again in spring 2012. All I know is it's best thing ever I think. I used to own a bass boat and think all the time and money wasted fishing public lakes boat payments gas insurance maintenance repairs etc. Doesn't make any sense to me to even fish public lakes any more but I know some members still do. I'm pretty much retired from fishing public lakes. Still lots of my friends own boats fight crowds high winds etc at public lakes and don't catch half as many fish as I do.

When passing trucks hauling bass boats on the way home on the interstate I always telling my fishing partner that we had a better day than them. I fought the crowds at Ray Roberts and only caught on the average of 6 to 10 bass an outing. So I sold the boat and couldn't be happier. The other turn off was using a guide who always tried to out fish me.  I used a guide on Travis one year and he told me we couldn't go into a specific cove as he had brush piles in there and had a tournament the coming weekend.  Or the guide who spent the whole morning on his cell phone making up to his girlfriend and appeasing bill collectors. No tips on that trip when he held out his hand I told to throw the cell phone into the lake.  From now on when I'm going to use a guide my first question is "are you going to fish" if he says yes then I look for another guide.

I'm a member of a bass club and we fish an 11 lake tournament trail each year.  I pre-fish most of the lakes, sometimes with a guide and sometimes without, and we go find the fish first and then fish for them during the two day tournaments.  Even marking and locating the fish ahead of time, I still rarely have a day on a public lake that rivals what we get at PWF.  Of course there are exceptions but the days I have off, I like to fish.   The days I fish, I like to have a chance to catch a big girl.  PWF gives me that opportunity.

 

 

 

Totally agree. Earlier this year I went with another member and a guide he uses and fished in Austin. It was the worst experience I have ever had using a guide. I felt like I rented a 2x2 space on his boat. I had not used a guide in several years and do not plan to use one anytime soon. In addition, 6 or more years ago I used a guide on several other lakes including Lake Fork and did not have near the success I have had multiple times with PWF. 

Steve and PWF staff keep-up the excellent work.

Bill Fetech

 

Thanks for the kind words. I truly love what I do and feel fortunate to have a great group of members and landowners. I love that so many of you are so passionate about the club and what it offers. Please accept my sincere appreciation for our thoughts and support of our business model. Having said that I understand the desire for some fisherman to fish on a public lake. It does not have to be one or the other. You can spend 1% of your fishing time on a public lake.

Steve,

Feel free to inculde my comments in any testimonial you might want to use.

Tom

 Since I joined PWF in July, I've caught 23 bass over 4 pounds:  11 fours, 6 fives, 4 sixes, 1 seven, and 1 nine. Where else outside Mexico could I ever hope to do that without a guide? I'm clueless! Thanks, Steve and Seth!

I'm impressed that you have kept count. Very few people make notes about their trips. The folks I know that do, use these notes to document water temp, barometric pressure, wind, lures used, amount and size caught, water depth of where the fish were caught, and of course the date. They will refer back to these notes for decades to come. In some cases it jogs their memory to use a certain bait at a certain depth and if nothing else it is fun to reminisce.

Steve, I started keeping records of each fishing trip back in the mid-70s. I found after a few years, for example, that if I caught big bass this year at Lake X the first two weeks of June by casting 8" black worms against the base of cypress trees (knocking on wood), unless conditions are totally different, I can do the same thing at that same lake next year with similar success. I keep all of the info you listed above except barometric pressure, and I log this information for virtually every fish caught during a trip. Except for a 13-year hiatus during which I didn't fish at all, I have complete records going back to January 1, 1974, and incomplete records for 2 years before that. It's sometimes difficult to make log entries  when I come home exhausted after fishing, but it definitely pays off later.