Is there a method or timing to finding fish on road beds? I have spent all year trying to find bass on various road beds at Ray Roberts and have had no success. I figured Roberts is a little tougher to find them on roads because there are fewer fish relative to a lake like Fork and so many other places for them to be.

Have you been able to locate the road beds/bridges?

There are a bunch on my Lowrance map. I scan those.

I went down this road.(Lol) I never had a lot of luck with many. I don't know if there are fewer fish, I know other than texoma I have never seen as much bait on a lake as Ray Bob.

There are so may; but like any other piece of structure only a few will produce.

I like the raised roadbeds best. They display as a sharp incline, followed by the tell-tale flat surface of the road, and then a sharp decline.

Roads etched into a hillside drops off on the deeper side and may have a shallow ditch on the uphill side. This works like a stair step for the fish to move up on from deeper water.

A recessed roadbed or sunken bed is one of the best. One side of the incline may be shorter than the other.

After locating a roadbed, I invest time studying it before I grab a rod. If the road is deep enough not to disturb the fish; I follow the structure with a crisscross pattern and look for features along the edge of the roadbed that bass find usable for ambush such as: rip rap, boulders, stumps, fence posts, and bushes or tree line. Bass like to hangout on the high or low spots near drop-offs and junctures with other roads.

I look for where a roadbed crosses a creek channel which gives you a double junction. If a submerged bridge that spans the creek channel is there you have a great stopping place for bass. Standing bridges or blown bridges both are leaving rocky rubble that provides a home. Not many fisherman bother with those in 30 ft. of water.

The real producers are submerged railroads. The bed is always built up from the bottom of the lake to avoid steep inclines and when it comes to a steep point they would just cut a deep trench through the point or hill to lay the tracks. Many lakes have these deep RR ditches like Amistad.

My advice would be once you find where you think there's a road bed, pick up a Carolina rig with a 1/2 o weight and start throwing it. The heavy weight will allow to feel exactly what's there. Bridges, rocks, fences, ect. Once you know exactly where the road is fish it like any other piece of cover. Ray Roberts is loaded with fish, they are just extremely spread out. We found a school a few weeks ago and caught close to 60 fish out of it suspended in 40' of water. Nothing big but some solid fish.

If able, would someone mind posting a few screen shots, with or without additional cover on 'em?....thanks

You wanting Side Scan and Down Scan Shots?

OR Contour shots showing the different kinds of road beds? These are the only ones I have.

We must be looking at the same deserted road beds. I never have had much luck on them at Roberts either. Old foundation or hump near them seem to produce better or if intersects with other structure. I am sure there are certain ones that produce better than others. However, I haven't found them.

Raised road bed where a bridge was removed that crossed a creek:



Depressed road bed (vertical) where a culvert was removed that crossed a creek:



Slightly raised road bed with bridge across a creek still intact:

Thanks, Donald...any and all would be appreciated...Contour shots as well...this will help me pinpoint key areas while doing my map study

Thanks, Wayne...nice shots

Road beds coming off the bank and running down a gentle slope are no good. You are waisting your time unless it is the only road bed in the lake or the lake does not have very much rock. Now if this bed is lined with heavy cover like bushes or a fence crow with good trees on it then yes Bass will be there. It only takes a few minutes to look at side scan to see if there is any cover on the shoulders of the bed.



Road beds with an intersection and Culverts are great spots as they cross a ditch or low spot in the lake and will have some heights working as a levy. We are talking about concrete and rock on this type of place, as well as a raised road bed.



I will look for other examples.

These two road bed both run parallel with the contours. This provides a flat spot on a very steep slope which work as a stair step for fish to move up on to spawn.

This road bed crosses several low spots and then several high spots. It will be a sunken bed as it climbs out of deep water to shallow water especially on the steeper drops.