Lewisville Deep Water (points, humps, graphs, spoons, crankin, jigs)

Howdy,

I just got my first boat this year. I've spent my last 8 or so trips trying to figure out the deep water game. 3 days on Fork and 5 back home on Lewisville. I know there are fish to be had shallow, but I am enjoying the challenge of learning something new. I am also just a tiny bit frustrated. When I am doing my homework the night before I will find something like this:


Main lake point/hump. Looks perfect. And then I get out there and realize that that feature is nearly a half-mile long. It would take all day to graph. So the next day I say okay Im going to focus on that one point with the green fish at the top of the photo because it has more dramatic topography and deep water close by. So I go out there and even that area is the size of 3 football fields.

I drive around. Not much of anything living on top in 12-16FOW. When I drop off the side I see bait in 22-30FOW. I drive and drive as long as my patience allows. Im looking at my structure scan for a nice line of big white dots right on the bottom. I figure if I see five or more in a row that will be worth my time. The most I see is maybe 3 or 4. Are those fish? I cant really tell. I see some white dashes on my side scan 30 ft to the left but when I circle back to look I don't see anything. My back is soaked with sweat.


I throw out a buoy. My hand burns as I pick up my scorched Concept A. Can my gear even survive this weather? I see some bait in the water. Some kind 6-8 inch fish are busting minnows on the surface. Occasionally a 4ft gar rolls on the surface. It's 105 degrees and the sunscreen has melted into my eyes. I wonder if that wind that tormented me all spring is ever going to blow again, or if perhaps this is the end of times and the Mayans were just off a few years. Something ticks my ten inch worm and I reel down to it. But it's gone. Maybe it was a rock.

On my 45th cast something hits my spoon but doesn't connect. I repeat another 20 times and nothing. Another wake boat passes within a hundred feet and I half hope they hit a tree on their way to the party cove.

The only salvation is my over-priced cooler in which I keep the essentials: ice, water, Coors Light, Copenhagen, and my cell phone. Pictured below on a previous trip.


Eventually the sun sets and I spend the rest of my evening sitting in construction traffic on I35. At home I watch videos about offshore fishing on YouTube. LakeForkGuy Justin Rackley has some great ones. They make it look so easy. I look at new graphs. Perhaps the definition is better on the new ones. Onix, Helix. I don't know. $3000?! Maybe if I had a touch screen I would catch more fish? Maybe if I had two console units? If 2 is good maybe 3 is better? Maybe I should get SCUBA gear? Maybe I should get some sleep before work.

I appreciate the last pic.

I appreciate everything you have said and have been there myself. I've diagnosed your problem though--a couple of distractions.

I will tell you I graphed that whole area you are showing today and the only thing I found was hybrids and shad. I would focus on smaller areas closer to shore try and pick a smaller area of the lake and get you 5-10 spots that look good from home then go graph them. Deep bite wasn't to good for me today, so don't let the slow bite get you down. Fishing deep is more of a timing thing you need to be there when the fish you have located are ready to eat.

Where is the pic of the over priced cooler you are talking about?

That is funny. Feel ur pain. Maybe I need to get a cooler like that to help my day go by better.

I'd definetly be focused on the humps....

4:11 p.m. Is not the right time to be out. Early and late in the day is always going to be your best time to catch fish. The position of the fish on humps or points is key once you find them. Start with the bow into the wind. Drag a football jig through the area. Try all angles. Then try a c-rig (3-4' leader). Again try all angles. Next I would throw a 10" worm. Then back to the FB jig. Vary your retrieve...bounce, stroke and drag. Try different colors or patterns. The bottom line is sometimes they just won't bite. The most expensive piece of electronics isn't in control of the rod/reel. You still have to fish and you still have to catch.

If possible try to get out on the lake during the week when there is less recreation boaters out. That too can effect catching fish.

Good luck. Hope this helps you out

Well, nice "Yetti"!

Lewisville is your issue its not much of an offshore lake. My only luck out there fishing deep has been max 15ft and usually rock or road beds.

Also August is supper tough out deep for allot of people. June-July is best time to learn your deep stuff. October is also an awesome time to fish deep especially points leading into major creeks 10-20fow the fish just follow the bait and then gang up on structure to feed on them.

Love this post. We went to Pines today and tried some deep water. Figured we could catch something on a main lake point. NOPE. It was slow for us. We stayed on the water until 1:30 and gave up when the temp hit 99 with very little wind.

I'm determined to figure out how to catch them deep, but I'm not very good at it yet. I think I need two 12s on the console and two 12s on the bow. That must be the problem.

I think I would have to give up fishing.

All you need on Lewisville to catch fish deep is a drop shot with a watermelon/red soft plastic lure, Strike king has some good choices. You may not catch a lot of big fish but it will get you started in the right direction then you can try to adjust to what the big fish might be doing (it is a timing thing). you will catch a lot of small fish. I fished with Brad today we caught a lot of small fish on one of our deep spots. That main lake hump can be good but boat traffic is hell. there is a lot of scattered junk on it and the fish don't usually school together.

Since I like your yeti pic I will tell you my 2 cents. Twin poles is a hybrid area. That flooded timber east of the humps is a good shoreline to look at. I believe you can follow that east a few hundred yards and find a couple of shallower points with timber. May give that a go, I have had some luck there in the past. Humps on Lewisville have to many sandies for me to hang around. Sandies bring in boat shows.
That funnel due east of your boat marker also looks good to graph.

Lewisville is a tough lake to fish deep. I've caught a few, but not too many. My buddy and I have a theory that the hybrids rule the deeper water and the bass stay shallow or if they go deep they stay close to shallow similar to Tawakoni. I've caught some deep not near shallow, but there was cover there.

Now, has anyone wore them out deep consistently and can disprove that theory? Interested in hearing other's experience to know if I've got more exploring to do.

Thank you all for the help, commiseration, and encouragement. I like Joe Friday's question. Has anyone found large schools offshore? And what factors would make Lewisville a poor deep water fishery? Do others subscribe to the hybrid/sandies theory?

Best post in months in bass section.

I know a few people who do good at 20+ but they are exclusively fishing cover whether it be marinas or brushpiles. 12 to 16 fow has been my sweet spot on points. The people flipping shallow are still bringing them to the scales on Friday. I haven't had much luck with offshore humps, I have been told the hybrid theory also, I doubt sandies have much effect.
Are you finding a thermocline? It hasn't been very defined this year as in years past, at least I have yet to get a good reading for it. This should help you, also mix in a little sonar if you want to see a better picture of the fish. DI is great, but sonar will let you see more in the water column.

I like what I see

Probably need to go deeper into that cove

that is a nice boat.

I've been finding it right around 20ft. Seems like it was around 25ft last year.

Just got back from lew and I was seeing it ( thermocline) at about 20ft also. Caught blacks and spots with a few nice crappie mixed in and most all were 9 to 15 ft deep.

Ok, I'll do it... How about some more pictures of your lady friend?

I agree with this post. My experience is that lakes with hybrids and stripers, the bass fishing is more of a shallow water pattern.

Coolers are a very important piece of the puzzle, thanks for sharing.

I'm sorry, I got distracted by the photo of the cooler ... what were you asking ?

You're on the right track.....you're looking for smooth and supple humps around the darker colored areas with ridges around those spots. Best if you move back and forth in a figure 8 to really find the key areas.

Go shallow and get her a sun hat!

Your problem seems to be that your are fishing.

So I decided to take a break from the deep water hunt. I fished shallow from 6 to 10am today around road beds and rock. Caught 11. Nothing big. So much easier. Crankbaits and drop shot.

what do you mean you're having trouble catching? looks like you boated a dd

if your fishing deep, you have to slow it down and accept that your fishing for 5 big bites rather than 15 small ones! I hate fishing slow but it paid off bigtime this weekend at Grapevine. I found the thermocline at 24-26' so that eliminated 1/2 the lake and fished off shore humps and ledges above that depth. Caught a 8.3 off the dam at 22' with a 12" worm on shaky head. several smaller fish with the drop shot and two solid slots with the big worm also. it pays to listen to the old hats! on here,,,,ill post a pic later when I can of the 8.3

Well played sir

less fish pics! More Cooler Pics!!! J/K good job catching some fish! deep fishing can be as much about timing as area. the more you watch them and fish for them out deep, the more you will learn when to fish deep and when to come back later. good luck.

Lewisville is just a shallow bass fishery. Never caught any fish deeper than 15 fow and that's not really deep fishing. One theory is they don't like to get out and compete with all the whites and hybrid. My theory is there just isn't much cover on Lew. No grass to speak of. Structure and cover is what works for me on this lake. PM me Yankee Fool. I will share some of my spots/techniques with you.

Yessir!