I would like to hear from the white bass / hybrid fishermen on hear how you choose a spot to stop at. Screenshots would be great if you have some but mainly your thinking pattern. I have heard from a lot of good fishermen and their strategies are very different. I am not looking for anyone to reveal their "magic" spot, but rather share knowledge for a lot beginners or those just wanting to better themselves. I have heard some ride around predetermined locations and look for fish. Well explain what it looks like to find "fish". Are you talking about 1 or 2 on the screen or a bunch showing up on side imaging. Some have said they just look for bait. Well is that bait balls on the graph or shad hitting the surface and are the bait balls small or massive. Which one would you stop to fish. I think you get the idea. Now if you are basically a bird watcher, then I don't think an explanation is necessary. I pretty much think that everyone knows that if the water is exploding with fish, then that is a good place to fish. I will start with one of my favorite strategies. I like to go to a point, hump, drop-off, etc. and troll 4 different style baits. A deep diver with a pet spoon, a medium diver, a weighted alabama rig, and a 1/2 oz spreader rid. I troll at approx. 1-3 mph, or just fast enough to lift the heaviest bait off the bottom. When or if I get a strike, I immediately set a WP on the graph and pull in the trolling rods. I get out the slab rigs and shad baits and put two in the holders and cast a third. I start thumping to see if I can draw them to the boat. My thinking is that white bass/hybrids are schooling fish. Catch one, and there will be more. This usually works very well, but sometimes nothing comes to the boat. So I start trolling the area again. If I catch another one, I repeat the process. If nothing, I move on to another location. Now I should mention, that if I see a lot of bait on the graph, I tend to work that area a little longer than if I don't. Now, you guys, share your knowledge. Would love to compare notes. Tight lines and good fishing. CW

I rely on electronics. I don't fish dead water. I use Humminbird and Lake Master maps. It makes finding ledges and humps simple. You can look over a new lake from home and highlight the depths you want to target. As far as where I stop, I stop when I see fish. Side Scan is your best friend. Whites are easy. I target large schools. If you find Whites schooling, Hybrids are usually not far away. Usually a little deeper. On Cedar Creek I love throwing a Mepps. Richland Chambers has always been great with Chartreuse slabs. I like the RSR baits, but my son out fished me 5 to 1 with a cheap Bomber slab in Chartreuse this last Saturday. Tawakoni is great as they usually hit whatever you put in front of their face. The time of year dictates depth and lure type more than anything. But it all boils down to good electronics for me. I don't troll much, but a Hell Pet rig seems to put fish in the boat when nothing else will.

Also, the "Magic Spot" is the location that holds fish at any given moment.

C Worthy, you are not far from me. What lake do you mainly fish?

When I get to go, Lavon is the closest.... Next would be Hubbard, but if I get the opportunity, I really love to fish Tawakoni... just for the sheer size of the whites.

PM me and let's see if we can get together, plenty of room on my boat. Fishing Tawakoni this Friday.

You nailed it there. When I fish for sandbass & hybrids, I like to find an underwater point adjacent to deep water. If the point is 5 ft deep, then 'deep' water may be 15 feet, where a 15-20 foot deep point may be next to 40-45 foot deep water.

Good example (that isn't any kind of secret) is White House on Lewisville lake. If you look at the contour chart, you can see that really shallow ridge that starts only 3' deep and continues on to end in a point about 25' deep, adjacent to an old creek channel in the 40' range.

This looks like a good spot



Mo

Yes!! Thank you for this thread! These are the posts we need more of! I love the idea to troll several baits at different depths to find fish (aka Poor Man's Side Imaging), seems obvious, but I've never thought to try it. (I don't have side imaging)

I wish I had something profound to add to help out others, but I'm still a beginner, and probably couldn't find my own feet under water if they weren't attached.

Meanwhile, I'll just sit here and wait for the pro's to weigh in.

This is a really good spot . See something like this stop. No comment on trolling. If i have to do that i go watch
soaps on T.V.If I don't see something that looks like fish then I don't stop. Don't fish dead water.

Johnny

Sandjohnny: That's a one pole hole. if you bait a shad and drop it down into that a fish will have it before you could bait the second pole.

Interesting thread! What people mean by "dead water". Deep area with no structures?

Dead water----no fish on the screen

Sometimes, that 'dead water' does have fish. Good example is the submerged roadbeds in Ray Roberts by Wolf Island. I'll drift those in the winter and won't mark any fish, but will consistently catch sandbass on a slab right on the bottom.

But yes, all other things being equal, I'd druther fish where there's a big school on the fishfinder.

Mo, that's a great side scan shot. Mine doesn't come close to being that good. What electronics do you use?

These bumps along the bottom on a point or hump is what white bass look like when water is cold and fish are hugging the bottom. Normally this bottom is smooth, so I know it is fish.

Thanks Dennis, that is an outstanding explanation. I would not have never even suspected that. Great shot and great explanation.

When you guys are looking for fish at a particular spot, are you using the big motor or do you cut it off and use the trolling motor. I have often wondered because I see that the boat speeds are usually pretty slow.

Big motor so you can cover more water in less time.

That is from my old 1197 humminbird, I have since replaced it with onix 10.

Mo

C worthy, haven't you heard you can drive around without looking at your electronics and watch everyone else until you see them catching fish?Then move in close to see exactly what lures and how they are presenting them and copy them. It's too much trouble to work it out myself. My folks didn't teach me about ethics and that do unto others stuff and I don't know any better and don't care anyway. It's all about me!

With that out of the way, and sorry I couldn't resist the temptation, like others I look for drops and humps with bait holding on or close to them. A fish or 2 showing is preferable too in winter. In summer I like to see more fish on the screen before I'll stop. If fish are scattered I will sometimes troll an area with helllpets or umbrella rigs and then stop to fish where I had hookups. Usually I'll just start thumping on a hump or drop if I see bait and a fish or 2.

Lot's of good information, tagged for later.

Yea, I used to do that, but MANNN they would get mad when I started tying up to their boat and asking if I could bum a few baits they were using that I didn't have.

OK lets go back to 1980. Now where you suckers gonna fish? Most people have become spoiled with electronics.

So you turn on your old Lowrance Basswater Pro LFG-312. She spinning and the light shows debt and some occasional flickers in between. You now better have more tricks up your sleeve. Some methods work better than others depending on the lake.




1. Birds- diving birds usually mean bait fish which can mean feeding strippers and hybrids. FPH that is not always true. Sometimes they will dive and feed over our gar feeding. Ya see a gar move on. Trust me on that one.



2. Wind- the wind with push shad into the steep humps on shore breaks. Waves are bigger but on FPH fishing is better.

3. Smell/Oil Slick- That's right you can smell them. When Hybrids at FPH are feeding on shad you can smell the oil slick from the shad before you will see it. Calm days are best if you are trying to locate fish this way and make sure your fishing partner took a bath that day.


4. Pattern- I can honestly say that many times I will come in and guys with 12 inch side scan finders get stumped and my arm is wore out from catching. Knowing the lake, locations, times of day mean a lot. I don't mind helping people find fish but I don't like keeping Hybrids. They have red meat and don't taste that good to me so I like to encourage people to let them go. The quickest way to get me to not tell is to keep fish.





5. Understanding your prey- I have also found people who say they were stacked up but all they caught was 16-17 inch fish and one or two keepers. Hybrid in FPH have a tendency to hang out by size for some reason. If you are on a large stack of smaller fish move out a little. Those Phat Girls like to hunt on packs together. They move 100-200 yards or more constantly. They tend to run in and out of the shad and smaller stacks of fish.

6. Color- I have been on the boat in heavy action and running white while another guy ran chartreuse. One lure that day performed better than another. Switch till you get it right. One rule ids bright day bright lure, dark day dark lure.

7. Sound- thumping works but I swear to Michael Jackson. I do have one speaker aimed down in the hull. No bull. Not sure if it works but hey it makes the beer go down smooth.

Last- Take an Ausie fishing. Those people from down under know how to have fun MATE.

Great post Timmy! The Kiwi's are a lot of fun also, I have a friend who visits in the summer from down south and he is a riot to fish with. Outfishes me everytime.

Time to get out the ol' cast net and start practicing !!