Sheldon Reservoir

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bigred90gt
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Sheldon Reservoir

Post by bigred90gt »

I’ve been checking out Sheldon Reservoir as a place fairly close to home to go and catch some bass. I stopped on my way home from work the other day (working nights) at the spot off Garret and fished the back left corner of it. I caught 4 bass in about 2 hours. All of them 13-16”. They have an interesting color pattern to them there. They’re extremely dark on their backs. I’m assuming it is something to do with adapting to their surroundings as an evolutional camouflage kind of thing, because that water is extremely dark as well. This brings me to my question: is there any reason to be concerned about eating the fish from there? There’s no plants or anything nearby, it’s not some old dump, so I can’t see any reason why there would be issue. The color of the water and the color of the bass are my only concern.

By all accounts, it looks like a great spot that would hold some huge pigs. I want to get my yak out into it and see what I can pull out of it, but I’m not a fan of catch and release. If I’m fishing, it’s because I want to eat some fresh fish. Thanks in advance.

I can’t seem to upload a picture from my phone to show the color. When I get a chance to get to the computer, I’ll upload one.

EDIT: I did try searching google, but couldn’t find any reference to any concerns of eating them.
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Cuervo Jones
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by Cuervo Jones »

Try a few and see what happens.


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Crusader
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by Crusader »

bigred90gt wrote:This brings me to my question: is there any reason to be concerned about eating the fish from there?
If there is no official advisory -- this means government feels safe from claims you may make in court (if you get any health problems). This doesn't mean it is safe to eat -- it means government lawyers believe you won't be able to prove in court that your problem is related to fish you ate out of Sheldon Reservoir. :-)

Like with any fish caught in urban environment, I wouldn't eat it -- there are just too many opportunities to catch fish elsewhere, it makes no point rolling the dice with fish caught in city drainage system.
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by Cuervo Jones »

You’re not saying the government would LIE to us citizens, ARE you?!


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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by Crusader »

Uhm... define "LIE"
;)
bigred90gt
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by bigred90gt »

These are the 2 I got pics of.
IMG_2429.JPG
IMG_2430.JPG
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Cuervo Jones
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Sheldon Reservoir

Post by Cuervo Jones »

I see what you mean about the dark color. Fish are a bit like chameleons and their skin color changes with light, background color, and temperature. If there’s a lot of shallow weeds, they’ll be dark like that. Did these get released or eaten?


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Last edited by Cuervo Jones on Sun Dec 03, 2017 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
bigred90gt
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by bigred90gt »

They all got released. I stopped on my way home from work and didn’t have an ice chest with me.
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Chief Brody
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

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we've eaten bass from there - no obvious side effects.

I think they are either adapting their color to the environment or their color is coming from the dark colored fish they are eating - but I doubt seriously that color is anything to worry about. Maybe a biologist can weigh in.

watch out for gators is you fish there when the weather is warmer - there are tons of them in that place. There was a story last year about a fisherman getting bit by one - I think the story was that he reeled in a fish and the gator followed it up onto the levy and then got a little piece of the fisherman.

Yakke-T and I have paddled there a few times - it's one of the prettiest spots in the Houston area - and it does have a reputation for having some heavy bass in it. Good luck -
bigred90gt
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by bigred90gt »

Chief Brody wrote:we've eaten bass from there - no obvious side effects.

I think they are either adapting their color to the environment or their color is coming from the dark colored fish they are eating - but I doubt seriously that color is anything to worry about. Maybe a biologist can weigh in.

watch out for gators is you fish there when the weather is warmer - there are tons of them in that place. There was a story last year about a fisherman getting bit by one - I think the story was that he reeled in a fish and the gator followed it up onto the levy and then got a little piece of the fisherman.

Yakke-T and I have paddled there a few times - it's one of the prettiest spots in the Houston area - and it does have a reputation for having some heavy bass in it. Good luck -
Yeah, I read that story.

Personally, I'm not overly fussed about the gators. For the most part, as long as they're not protecting their young, they want less to do with you than you do them. When it's mating/hatching season, I'll fish elsewhere. If one decides he wants my fish, I'm not gonna pick it up and try to unhook it like he did, I'll cut the line and let him have it, lure and all.

I'm not worried about, as one poster called it "a city drainage system". I know that's not what it is, I've just never seen a bass that color, and I've been catching bass for over 30 years.

I'm looking forward to getting the kayak out there. Just from what little of it I could see from the parking lot on Garret it looks like it would be quite beautiful and quite peaceful in there. Now I just need to figure out a place to go on it. Looking at google maps, it's hard to tell where the water is in most of it. It almost looks like the images were taken when it was mostly dry. From being there, it looks like you could go straight out through the little cut off the southwest corner of that parking lot and it should take you out into the fat of it, but again, the image on googlemaps makes it look like land there.
sheldon.jpg
sheldon2.jpg
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Chief Brody
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Re: Sheldon Reservoir

Post by Chief Brody »

bigred90gt wrote:
Chief Brody wrote:we've eaten bass from there - no obvious side effects.

I think they are either adapting their color to the environment or their color is coming from the dark colored fish they are eating - but I doubt seriously that color is anything to worry about. Maybe a biologist can weigh in.

watch out for gators is you fish there when the weather is warmer - there are tons of them in that place. There was a story last year about a fisherman getting bit by one - I think the story was that he reeled in a fish and the gator followed it up onto the levy and then got a little piece of the fisherman.

Yakke-T and I have paddled there a few times - it's one of the prettiest spots in the Houston area - and it does have a reputation for having some heavy bass in it. Good luck -
Yeah, I read that story.

Personally, I'm not overly fussed about the gators. For the most part, as long as they're not protecting their young, they want less to do with you than you do them. When it's mating/hatching season, I'll fish elsewhere. If one decides he wants my fish, I'm not gonna pick it up and try to unhook it like he did, I'll cut the line and let him have it, lure and all.

I'm not worried about, as one poster called it "a city drainage system". I know that's not what it is, I've just never seen a bass that color, and I've been catching bass for over 30 years.

I'm looking forward to getting the kayak out there. Just from what little of it I could see from the parking lot on Garret it looks like it would be quite beautiful and quite peaceful in there. Now I just need to figure out a place to go on it. Looking at google maps, it's hard to tell where the water is in most of it. It almost looks like the images were taken when it was mostly dry. From being there, it looks like you could go straight out through the little cut off the southwest corner of that parking lot and it should take you out into the fat of it, but again, the image on googlemaps makes it look like land there.

sheldon.jpg
sheldon2.jpg

Those are interesting pics - I just looked at GM of that area and it still shows it like that - I wonder when those were taken, apparently during a low water time.

Best place to go in is at the boat ramp in the sw corner along Pineland, it's where the deepest water consistently is, from there you can get to wherever you like. There have been some breakins of cars reported over the years in that area - so don't leave the family fortune in your car. I've parked there dozens of times without incident - but I have seen the reports.

I was catching some really dark colored bass in a pond out by the Navy air strip near Goliad - it would get real heavy weed cover like Sheldon during the summer - maybe it's an adaptation to that?

I may be out on Sheldon Saturday - depends on the weather - if I go I'll let you know.
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