CONROE, Tex. – The waters of Lake Conroe, Texas, are hallowed ground for bass anglers. This 22,000-acre impoundment of the San Jacinto River located an hour due north of Houston is well known for its population of big bass. That’s why it was the perfect choice to kick off the first tournament on the 2025 Bass Pro Tour Schedule – B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Power-Pole.
Viewers tuning in to the Saturday, Sept. 6 premiere of the Stage 1 Championship Round on Discovery (7 to 9 a.m. ET) will see Lake Conroe on full display as it fished in early February, with largemouth to 8 pounds hitting SCORETRACKER® on the final day.
While Stage 1 competition was happening on Conroe, the MLF Fisheries Management Division was also hard at work on the first Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project of the year, supported by Kubota. FMD Director Steven Bardin, MLF staff, Bass Pro Tour anglers Gary Klein, Greg Vinson and Mark Rose, members of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division, and the San Jacinto River Authority spearheaded a project that placed crucial fish habitat at six locations around Lake Conroe.
A team of volunteers from local schools and organizations pitched in to construct 14 MossBack Fish Habitat 40-inch Conservation Cubes and 17 MossBack ReedMats, which were deployed by the TPWD habitat barge, with locations marked for anglers to fish. Kubota tractors provided by Ewald Kubota were crucial in moving and loading the habitat. Anchoring materials were provided by Lowe’s of Conroe, Texas No. 232.
Volunteers included: the Montgomery High School Bass Team; the Willis Jr. Basskats from Brabham Middle School; the Grand Oaks Bass Team; the Magnolia Bass Team; the Seven Coves Bass Club; the Conroe High School Bass Team; Texas BASS Nation Conservation Director Dave Terre; the Texas BASS Nation Katy Bassmasters; and the Tomball Memorial Bass Team.
The Conroe project was the first of four 2025 Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Projects supported by Kubota. Successful projects were also completed at Stage 3 (Lake Murray, South Carolina), Stage 4 (Lake Chickamauga, Tennessee) and Stage 5 (Kentucky/Barkley Lakes, Kentucky).
About MLF FMD
Fisheries enhancement is one of four pillars on which the MLF Fisheries Management Division is built, and one of the best ways for local anglers and organizations to take part in improving and preserving fisheries around the country, through projects like habitat restorations. The other pillars are: Education, fish care and research.