Decided to teach myself how to bass fish.
Have watched tons of videos on youtube, and done quite a bit of reading.

Been fishing on lake Grapevine 6 times since the spring started and have not caught one single fish.
I understand a few basic techniques. I practice pitching and flipping in my backyard. Have small Tupperware's at various distances to practice landing in. Getting pretty good at pitching. Don't really flip much yet.
I love pitching a jig or Texas rigged creature into cover along the banks. (This is the way I really want to fish the most, but I'll try anything.)
I put in on Denton creek in trophy club. I have fished the holy hell outta those back shallows everywhere on the north end. I have never even gotten one bite. (Soooo many gars in the north end). There is bait fish popping all ove the place up there though.
I still don't quite know when and where to use my dropshot / finesse rig yet. So I just randomly bust it out from time to time. Cast it out and slowly pull it back in. Have tried letting it land near large sunken trees or just in open water. I don't really see any grass beds in Grapevine, but maybe I don't know how to locate them yet.
Yesterday I went out to deeper waters. It's tough on Grapevine because its so rough, and I only have a 15' bass tracker.
But I found an area I really liked about 15-18' deep with plenty fish showing on my finder at about 10' deep.
I tried a round bill crankbait and my daughter used a lipless crank bait for a couple hours. I got one thump the entire time.
I also tried yoyo'ing a jig, and my drop shot rig in that area.

I don't think Grapevine is the greatest lake to fish (too much pressure?), but I live 5 miles from it, so I really want to learn how to make it work. Visibility is bad, maybe 6 inches. I could give Eagle Mountain a try though if it's easier to fish.

I have some basics in lures. jigs, a frog, Texas or Carolina rig plastics (creatures or worms), drop shot rigs, and a couple of crankbaits. (don't have a chatterbait, or spinner yet).

One thing I should work on is getting out earlier. I've been getting on the water around 10AM.

Advise welcome. Starting to get a discouraged.

Thanks!

Try around the marinas on the other end of the lake and report back to us.

Launch at Katie's Woods. Will put you about midway between the 2 marinas on south side, good protection from s/se wind. Can also hit rip rap on south end of dam if wind is not too bad. And go earlier - or much later. Personally never had any luck during middle of day on grapevine. No grass there either

Don't worry, you'll start catching them and developing your confidence! One thing I always recommend would be to hire a guide that can devote solid time discussing techniques, bass migration and patterns, structure, while at the same time catching a lot of fish!

Grapevine is one of the easiest lakes to fish in the DFW area. Once you get your confidence up and find some key spots, you'll catch them every time. When I fished there a lot, wind blown rocky areas would usually produce. The dam always holds fish, try a shaky head out deeper. Also, rather then hitting the early bite, go in the evening until dark this time of year.

You'll figure out how to catch them but they will constantly be moving too, so switch it up.

Go early and throw a shad imitating bait on wind blown banks and you should change the no fish thing very fast.

It can be frustrating. I still get frustrated with fishing. What you might try is to leave the boat at home and hit a few small ponds where there is less pressure. Get a feel for it and pay attention to what kind of structure and cover they are hanging around. Then try to go to the lake with the boat and duplicate it.

I'd also recommend getting in touch with James Biggs on here. He does instructional fishing. He would tell you what lures to bring, have a sit down before ever getting on the water to talk to you about patterns and reading a lake and then will go out and put all of what you were taught into use. I used him last year at Joe Pool and it really improved my fishing. His rate is pretty low, especially when you think about the time that he will save you just learning how to begin.

I've only been on Grapevine twice but most of my bites were on all the docks.

Pm sent

This is something I've really been thinking about also. I remember a small catch/release pond in the Arlington area that was really nice (Or maybe it was Hurst); for the life of me I can't remember where it is. I think there is a really nice stocked pond in Euless too off Bear Creek.

The pond by the Roanoke fire department according to parks and rec. is only stocked right before the big fishing contest and then is completely hammered. I went out there one day and there is absolutely no sign of life. Same with Bob Eden, called their parks and rec and it hasn't been stocked in years.

+1 JAMES BIGGS!!!

Trust me, you�re causing yourself more harm by learning from YouTube. Don�t get me wrong - some of it is good and useful information but if you don�t have a practical foundation to start with it becomes information overload and you�ll forever lack confidence and clarity. Been there.

Flip buck brush wherever you can find it from mid lake to the dam. On sunny days they are in em and eating. Went through 2 bags of Rowdy Bugs on my last trip there.... fished a half day and had 14 fish with 3 overs all on the flipping bait. Funniest thing ever, I started off fishing the shad spawn and killed an hour without a bite, not even a darn sandbass. I put down the shad baits, grabbed the Rowdy Bug and hit the bushes to save the day.

Throw finesse worms on shaky head or drop shot. In general points or rocky areas are the key. I�ll be happy to show you around out there sometime. PM me & we can coordinate.

Thanks for all the replies. Lots to take in. I'm gonna process all of this, and see what changes I can make. for sure I need to abandon mid-day fishing. And checkout the south end, and more rocky areas, and up my finesse game. Shakyhead finesse worms near rip rap closer to the marina's and the damn sound like a promising plan of action.

Getting a "little" better.
We tried fishing nearer the south side, closer to the dam.
I've been focusing on finesse fishing. Have some light XT 6lb line on a spinning reel.
I've been experimenting with a GYCB 4" Fat Ika with a EWG 4/0 hook Texas rigged. Letting it hit and rest for about 30 seconds and slowly methodically moving it a foot at a time.
I've been focusing on sitting on points, right around the edge of any drop offs I can find.
Played around with a wacky rig and a drop shot rig. But I think I wanna focus on Texas rig's right now and build up confidence in it first.
I have only caught a couple of white bass and nearly had a widemouth in the boat but he shook off while he was up in the air just over my boat.
And all those were on crank baits, after I get tired of finesse fishing. The white bass were on medium diving spoon nose cranks, and the WM was on a cheap $2 lipless, and he was hanging around a rocky point late morning on a hot day, when the water temp was upper 80's in like 10ft of water.
We are now trying evening fishing. Rigged the daughter up with 8lb flouro and a 7" Berkley power-worm (ring tail) T-rigged (Tequila sunrise).
We went to a real rocky point on the north side just north of Rockledge. at sundown. Water was about 84.5 degrees. I had her fan out starting near the shore on one side of the boat while I did a Fat Ika out the other side. First cast near the shore working her way back she hooks a decent SM. We were both stoked. It's the best fish we have caught since I started bass fishing.
She gut hooked it, but I was able to perform successful surgery without hurting him too much.

TLDR;
We are getting a bit better. Caught a couple. Trying to perfect Texas rigged presentation.
Oh, and I hate fishing the main body of Lake Grapevine on the weekends. Too many selfish idiots.

[img]http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics..._52575008202948[/img]

If you can't find time to go with Jigger, I will be more than happy to show you around the lake. I'm limited to Sundays and Mondays. You can PM me your number to shoot me a text. I keep my boat at Jigger's house