Living in Lake Conroe Texas [Everything You Need to Know]

Before we both made the dicision to move from Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Conroe. We tried to do as much research about Lake Conroe as we could. Most of the initial information we got was from realtors – mostly Pros & Cons about selling homes. But it’s not all what we wanted to know.

I learned more about Lake Conroe and the area after we moved into the new house we picked in Willis. We really knew nothing about Willis before we moved in, but we knew we wanted to live by the water!

Now I found that there are 3 big towns around Lake Conroe, Willis, Montgomery and Conroe (all in Montgomery county)

There are 2 Facebook pages that I follow to get more local knowledge about Conroe and Willis – and they got a large membership!

*Member numbers as of 8/8/2023

To drive around the lake, you pretty much pass those 3 towns (Willis, Montgomery and Conroe). And it might take about an hour or so!

The most popular spots on Lake Conroe are Bentwater, Walden & Magaritaville, April Sound, Marina (on 105) and Seven Coves.

The main highway from Willis is I-45 which is about 25-30mins to The Woodland’s and about an hour to Houston. Conroe is about an hour away from George Bush International Airport.

We are about 25mins away from Huntsville. 2-3 hrs away from Dallas and Austin. I think Willis is a good location to travel around Texas!

Lake Conroe holds 140 billion gallons of water!

Lake Conroe is a man-made lake, completed in 1973. The lake surface is 19,640 acres, with approximately 450 sq miles of shoreline, at an average depth of about 20 feet!
Lake Conroe is one of the reserves suppling drinking water for the City of Houston.
For more information and fun to read at https://www.sjra.net/lakeconroe/history/

Lake Conroe and Lake Houston: a Comparison https://www.sjra.net/2020/08/lake-conroe-and-lake-houston-a-comparison/
Lake Conroe is small but a popular attraction for boating, fishing, hunting, golfing, swimming, water skiing, jet skiing!!!

Waterfront or Lake House?!?!?

My husband loves to live by the water. He grew up in Lake Candlewood (CT) and he worked and owned the house in Lake Pontchatrain and now he wanted to retire in Lake Conroe.

Lake Conroe was booming the year that we’re looking for our new home. Waterfront homes were selling overnight and few lasted a week after listing for sale! We had been working with our realtor to help us for almost a year – we bid 3-4 houses during that time.

We can’t find (or afford) the OPEN-WATER homes listed, most were $1.5million to $5 million! The open-water house that we could afford were more like camps with tiny lots. My husband wanted the water and I I want more land because I’d like to do my gardens. We found a few nice lots but the canals they were on were just bairly navigable. The realtor told us we have to be a little careful for some canals because when it’s low water, it’s very shallow – some canals you can’t take the boat in or out!

Also, some HOA’s on the lake have restrictions on the types of boat houses that you can have (it’s about restricting your neighbors view), these look like capsules which we don’t really like. My husband prefers the boathouse to be more functional and to look like a boathouse – so he can do more by the water (fishing, sitting etc.)

Our house is in the canal which is only 2 minutes to the open water…
When we bought the house they were building the expansion for 1097, as part of that the were expanding a bridge and were keeping the water level low as they were working on the base for the new bridge.

We were worried that we can’t take the boat in or out the lake for almost 2 months, but it never got that low for us.

Around the end of December 2022, the water was back in to the “full” level that is great for us. To check water level in Lake Conroe: Water Data for Texas (for Lake Conroe)

Additional Information about the waterfront homes, you have to pay “Annual Residential Structure/Boat slip License” to San Jacinto River Authority. It’s new for us, we didn’t have to pay any annual fee in Lake Pontchatrain (Louisiana).

The water level also depends on rain!
In Summer 2023 (average daily temperature 80F-102F), we have no rain for months! (Late in June – Early in August). The water level is going down and water in our canal is almost too hot to jump in!

We finally bought the jet ski!!!

I wasn’t sure that I spoiled my husband too much to let him buy the jetski but I feel like the Jetski is right for Lake Conroe! When Lake Conroe is calm, you will feel how smooth you ride Jetski on the water!

But during the weekend or holiday, there are so many jetski’s (with young teen riders) around Lake Conroe – so we tried to avoid them for Safety issue!

We got this jetski from Cycle Shack North. I would recommend this shop. They are very nice and well service for both before and after sale!

Lake Conroe also has some Boat Show Deals! – the boat shows are not as big as the ones in Houston or New Orleans but it’s good enough if you are looking for a boat.

Pontoon boats are very popular on Lake Conroe!

Fishing in Lake Conroe

One more thing that my husband was concerned about Lake Conroe fishing and WHAT KIND OF FISH he’d catch in Lake Conroe. The answer is CATFISH and Catfish and Catfish! And I love catfish!

Catfish is so easy to catch from our dock! Even our grandkid can catch them easily!
I love making Thai Spicy stir fry catfish and my husband also loves blackened catfish. If we want to eat fish we can just catch them from our dock or go to HEB or Kroger! We just love it.

I also started to follow the fishing guides – we didn’t try to go with them yet. But I can figure out what kind of fish they got (Not just Catfish all the time). They also get Crappie, Bass, and Hybrid Bass.

By the way…in our canal, we also have so many turtles at all times. And sometimes nutria rat!

There are so many fishing guide services around Lake Conroe, https://www.visitconroe.com/lake-conroe/fishing/guides/

Did you know there is a small island in LAKE CONROE!
There is a very small island and they set it likes a public park in Lake Conroe. People like to swim there, it has a nice sandy beach.

4th July Firework on Lake Conroe
We took our boat out to see the fireworks – different shows surrounded us on the lake. The most popular shows will be at Walden, and Bentwater…
(We left the house around 8.30pm and got back home a little before 10pm)

Blue Bonnet around Lake Conroe
During Spring, I saw people talking about Blue Bonnet fields around Lake Conroe. We just jumped in the small field in Willis to take pictures. I wasn’t scared of snakes for those pictures but I don’t think I will ever do this again after I saw people sharing and talking about snakes on Facebook! Too many snakes here – watch out!

SADLY – when we moved to the Conroe area (late in 2022), the CONROE OUTLET MALL was already OUT OF BUSINESS.

I heard this outlet mall used to be a fun and lively spot!
I wanted to stop there to take pictures for my blog but I was scared to go there by myself. I waited for my husband to drive me there…he kept saying there’s nothing there but I told him I wanna see how NOTHING there is there.
Eventually, we went together and just drive around the mall, and it’s just a huge empty parking lot surrounded by empty store fronts. There are a few businesses left – like a UNIFORM shop or Antique shop. I didn’t even to try to get out of our car and walk inside – it looks like a ghost town. The few shops that are still there are all spaced out so you can’t really walk around… Its just sad looking.

I wish they would do something with this place. It’s mostly vacant but it’s got a nice location!