Never really fished for whites this time of year so I want to learn how. Where should you target whites when slabbing. In river channels, or river ledges, humps, points, flats.


What about water depth?

Appreciate the info.

JT

The best tool is a good topographical map of the lakes - like Navonics Premium Hotmaps 2009. Second best tool is your fish finders (Side Image / Structure Scan - being the best).

Look at the (underwater) points and humps - points can come off of underwater flats or just an extention of the land that you can see.

Normally the fish are on the end of the points (normally where point drops down/falls to the more normal depth of the lakes).

Traget depths of 14 to 35 feet (mostly in the 20 to 30 feet range). Humps in the same depth ranges.

I do not look at river/creek channels, or really even ledges.

It's Underwater points and Humps.

Look in the right spots for that lake and use your fish finders to see them.

Slab em up - Keep what you Need and Release the Rest,

PS: Always keep your eyes open for birds, and if you know the lake and have previously seen working fish/birds in a particluar spot - that most like is always a good spot to look.

I agree with Mark but would add some things.

First, unless you are a guide most folks can't justify spending the big bucks for a side view depth finder. But there is a threshold of quality you need to get to. It needs to be a high definition that shows the actual arches and not the ones that filter and interpet the signals and put little fishes on the screen. Color is nice but is not needed - black and white works just fine once you know what you are looking for.

Second, you need to realize that when fishing structure, the fish you are looking for are congregated near the bottom - as Mark says on the point or hump as it is about to drop off into the deeper water. If you see them congregated at the bottom, then there may be some suspended as they chase shad up from the bottom, but if all you see is a scattering of fish suspended between top and bottom, it has been my experince you don't catch much there.(Of course I'm not talking about those few can't miss occasions when you see solid fish from the bottom to the top.)

Third, in some lakes the edges of rivers and creeks are good structures. The key is that they have to be at the right depths. For instance, at Lake Livingston the Trinity River channel winds back and forth down the length of the lake and in numerous places you have the channel edge dropping off from 10 to 15 ft into 50 or 60 ft water. Fish like to hang out right at the edge or down 2 to 3 ft from it. The same is true for Kickapoo Creek channel at Livingston. At Cedar Creek and Eagle Mt, the other lakes I know well, most of the rivers and creeks on the south ends where I fish are in water too deep to fish the edges. As Mark says it depends on the lake (and which end of the lake you're on) as to what are the fishable structures.

Right now at CC I am catching most fish in 17 to 25 ft on main lake points. By that I mean I work my way out the point to where the top of point is at 17 to 25 ft falling off deeper to both sides and farther out the point.

Good luck! Questions like yours are good because it also helps others who are trying to become better fishermen.

Are you slabbing the tops of the points and humps or the along the drop offs? Also do you drift or anchor over the structures?

Yes.

Every day is different. Earlier this week the whites were scattered on top of the humps in 20 feet of water. Tuesday they were right on the edges and they liked the slab with a slow presentation. Most days the active fish are the ones on the bottom. Fish for the suspended fish in cold water. Sometimes they are the only ones biting.

Anchor over the fish and catch a few, but soon they will move and you must start over. Drifting is good. IMHO the most effective method is to use the trolling motor to stay on top of them.

The catching is very good now and it is a good time to practice new methods.

Don

I agree with Don that day to day it can vary from on the top to on the slopes. The depth finder tells you which it is at that point in time. Sometimes fish will gradually move around the structure. If the structure is large and you are anchored they can move out of casting distance, and if you prefer anchoring as I do, you have to pick up anchor, locate the fish again and re-anchor. If the structure is small, you can stay anhored and reach every part of it and catch fish witout having to move. If you prefer fishing straight under the boat, then a trolling motor makes more sense - you just move the boat around to stay over the fish. Having a 2nd depth finder up front is important for this method.

I used to slab but years ago discovered what I believe is a better method to catch fish off structure - the inline spinner. I have described this in previous posts. The inline spinner aproach works best if you anchor and cast to the fish. From my observations though, most white bass/hybrid/striper fishermen prefer trolling motor to anchoring.

How do you fish the inline spinner for fish hugging the bottom?

There is a lot of info on this post--If fished sinse befor fish finders & i have the best today & i still learn or get reminded of somthing so offen on this site. Thanks Guys yall are good---good fishin--mike

JT here is copy and paste of post re inline spinner method:

I keep getting PM's about this, so here is an updated description with some subtleties added:

After casting, point rod toward fish, take up the slack and raise rod slightly and hold steady while cranking the reel at the same time. Crank from 3 to 6 turns. Keeping rod as still as you can helps you feel the bite. Raising the rod as you start gets the blade spinning immediately. If you don't get a fish after cranking the reel 6 turns, stop, release the line, and let the spinner free-fall back to the bottom, then take up the slack and crank it 3 to 6 turns again, repeating this all the way back to the boat. They strike it coming up from the bottom, so don't guess - make sure it gets back to bottom. The bite can be sharp but is usually soft or you feel something pecking at the bait. When you feel this raise the rod to set the hook. Try different speeds until you find what they want. The slowest speed to try is cranking barely fast enough to make the blade turn. If that speed is a 1 and burning it up is a 10, I usually crank it about a 3. Use that as starting point and vary up/down if needed. Try both holding the rod in front of you and reeling more vertically, and try holding the rod to the side down toward the water and dragging spinner more horizontally.

I usually use a #4 unless I know the pattern is smaller (#2) like it was in August and September. #4 is easier to fish because you don't need a weight added to the line, and you can feel the blade spinning easier. But back then they wouldn't touch a #4 but ate up a #2. When using a 2 or 3 I use a mash-on 1/4 oz lead weight up the line about 13 to 14 inches. This makes it heavy enough to cast with a casting reel and gets the bait to the bottom faster. I use Berkley Vanish 100% fluorocarbon 10 lb line, a Shimano Curado 5:1 reel and medium action 6 ft rod.

The Mepps to get is the Aglia, plain, silver. Retail stores like Walmart or Academy usually have only "dressed" Mepps if they have them at all. They will work just as well as plain if you cut off the the bucktail. I order mine online or use catalog from BassPro or Cabelas.

Good luck, Dennis

This topic is hurting my head

Find a hump mark some fish and drop a slab. If birds are working, get under birds and throw a spinner, slab, swimbait, bottle cap, shiny penny, whatever and catch whites. Sometimes they are deep and sometimes they are shallow. When you are out there, move from deep to shallow.

Oh and always fish down by the dam, by a bridge or near a ladder