Went out with the wifey for a little sand bass fun. Got into em south of the island per norm with top water schools. big boat show but that's to be expected (the tool who big motored through the middle then cut around and started casting directly towards my boat then managed to keep between me and the school the rest of the morning is also becoming expected but you're still a tool) wandered off a few times tryin to find separate schools, came into one only to have the whole show follow me over lol. Still had a good morning. Got a few over 12 and 1 that was 14.5 and about 1lb 5oz. Is that big? It's the biggest we've caught...

Went over near the dam to see if we could find any on the bottom near those humps but while we saw fish on the finder they weren't interested in eating our slabs so we eventually headed back to EM marina to try the breakwater. Another guy in a little plastic bass boat flew between us and the breakwater then cut the engine and started casting and slowing blowing towards us due to wind. He kept cranking up the big motor cause he didn't have a trolling motor and would use that to position himself for more casting (looked like he was after largemouth based on what he was throwing) he eventually snagged his lure on the shore and moved his boat to the rocks to try and get it. After all the noise I figured fishing was pretty much done in that area so we went in.


All in all a pretty decent morning, still having issues finding fish on the bottom and catching them but I'm hearing a lot of people having issues so I don't feel too bad. Still walked out with 8 nice fish, smallest being right at 12inches so I'm gonna have a nice dinner tomorrow

I'll be out tomorrow morning as well, most likely hit the island and the breakwater and not doa lot of exploring since I don't feel like filling up the fuel tanks again lol.

Lance it is getting close to the time that the thermocline will become a strong influence on the sandbass fishing. At that time a lot of people troll with a hell pet rig which I hate with a passion. But at times it is the only way to get sandbass. The fish will suspend above the thermocline. I am surprised it has not happened with the hot water temp.
Johnny

Based on what I know about other fish species if they're chillin at the thermocline they're nabbing bait fish as they come from the colder water up to the warmer water. Shad and minnows treat the thermocline like any other major water feature, it just happens to be horizontal.

I wont be trolling. I'm all for people doing whatever they want to catch fish I just hate the idea of driving around in circles dragging bait. I'll hang a crank or even a real heavy slab over the side when I'm cruising between schools or navigating areas tryin to map fish just incase one decides he wants a munchie and I'm driving by but I won't troll as my main method of catching fish.

Went out again today, take the first post, replace it with 7/31 and it was pretty much the same Had fun, found out a trick to getting the bigger sand bass when the dinks are schooling which I'm sure is common knowledge but I just figured it out lol. Y'all have fun, I"ll be out again tomorrow morning hoping to avoid some boat shows by being out on a workday :P

Sounds like a good morning Lance! I had to read your last paragraph a couple times, I thought I was overlooking the trick to bigger sand bass!

went out this morning as well hoping to catch a school on top without such a big boat show. No such luck, the lake was like glass and the schools were spread out all over. No real concentrations that I could find. Got in em for a few minutes and pulled up about 8 with the biggest being a 15inch skinny lil guy.

Wife pulled in 6 including one 14inch tubbo that probbaly weighed twice what my 15incher did.

Wish I'd gotten a picture of it but I pulled one up that had one of Johnny's ol ugly flies hanging out of it's face like an exotic piercing. I took it out for him and threw him back lol. Just ot be clear, it wasn't my fly... he had that in him when I caught him.

slow morning but the ol ugly slabs are still producing like mad. I swapped to a bomber for a little bit while she threw the ol ugly yesterday and she was getting more fish than me so there's somethin to them ugly slabs, soon as I swapped back I started getting hit every cast again.

sorry, what I was doing was basically casting past the school and locking the line so it fell towards me and down. It'd get the backside of the school or be deeper than normal by the time it got up to the school itself. The bigger boys seem to be deeper and around the peripheral of the main body of fish so by hitting the edges and letting it fall into deeper water before it gets to the school it's bypassing the smaller fish and attracting the bigger guys. cast for cast I was pulling in consistently bigger fish than my wife doing this and we were casting around the same 60sq ft of water. WHen I told her to try casting a little further from teh center of the action and letting it fall into em she immediately started catching fish the same size as me.

Just for testing I cast right into the middle of em again and pulled out 5 dinks back to back. swapped back to hitting the edge and letting it fall into the bottom of the school and right back up to 13inch fish instead of the little throwbacks busting the top.

Lance I have found the biggest and best fish are to be caught after the schoolies leave and the big boys are still there cleaning up the scraps. Plus all the boat show leaves. I have found this to be very ture in nearly all instances. But like I say the longer I fish the less I know. Kinda like my Dad went to night school when I was 21 to 24 bcause he sure got smart. Before that he wasn't smart enough to put on his pants.
Johnny

Ahh. I thought that might have been what you were talking about. I have always heard that about hybrids. Of course, that's in lakes that actually have a good hybrid population. I am going to give it a try next time I see some schooling. Thanks for the reports and info Lance.

Lance,i was out there Saturday as well. One thing I learned years ago was to stay down current from the school on top and vertical jig my slabs.Move around the school using my trolling motor and the current to catch the larger fish.

Thanks Lance for the report. It's fun to learn their habits!

and tasty too

Lance,
I'll be out there tomorrow morning (Tuesday). Give me a holler. I'll have my 2 youngins and my nephew in an 86 blue and silver Astroglass with a TFF sticker on the passenger side window.

Hey Proud tell Payson(spelling) it is up to him to put you all on fish. He was suppose to have learned by now.
Johnny

I just told him that tomorrow I'm followin his lead cause he was supposed to be makin all the mental notes but he started crab walkin on me and said "Hey I was just there to catch fish" I told him he's gonna have to start payin his way by puttin us on fish, I'll pay for the fuel and slabs!

In the morning when we load up I think I'll actually make him plot the course and we'll see what happens, lol.

speaking of paying for slabs, I'm gonna need osme more soon Johnny :P

This morning was funky... I'm still having issues finding them with the electronics so I sort of depend on seeing a little top water action and then cast around it until I find where they're hiding.

One thing my wife and I both noticed though is the lil guys will absolutely SMASH the slab and hook themselves with 2-3 of the hooks or swallow the freaking thing where hte big boys are a much gentler hit and tend to only lip hook or if I set too fast I end up snagging them outside the mouth cause they apparently just brushed the slab taking a test hit. I suppose that's to be expected, black bass act a lot like that with the bigger guys often times having a much more subtle strike.

Funny little side storey, saturday morning my wife pulls in a nice sized sandie and she puts on the glove I got for her so she could grab the fish, as soon as she grabs it it threw up like 5 little baby shad. She freaked out, dropped the fish who came unhooked and started flopping around on deck which sent her into a panic tryin to catch him so she could get him back into the water and the whole time she's squeekin and saying 'Bad fishy, sit still, stupid fishy, sit still!'

Havn't laughed that hard on a boat in a looong time.

she also got competitive today and said that her fish count if she sees em, she doesn't have to get em into the boat. This was after 4 of em spit the hook right as she was pulling em out of the water lol. I made a little fishin monster.