Some great replies. (When I wake up in the morning and it is leaning to the left, right or straight up lol). Also I felt I could fall out of the boat and not hit water either.

Here is an update. My buddy and I went to Lake Lavon Saturday night instead of Lewisville. We went out at 7:00 pm and fished till 6:00 am. Between the both of us we caught about 8 fish. Think they were brim or chad. But we talked to another guy who had been out for 4 hours and he not caught anything but the same things we had. We went all over that lake to. Hated a lot of it. The mosquitoes were so bad and I was coated in bug spray. But I never saw so many bait fish in my life. Odd thing is I only see them when the boat is running when I shut it off they kinda disappear from the radar.

Someone asked what fish finder I was using and it is this one. Lowrance Elite TI

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Lowrance-...mp;gclsrc=aw.ds

I guess my issue is I have always grown up just using worms, minnows and stuff like that. I see now that these artificial baits are the way to go. I just have to learn what they are used for and how to use them.

Would recommend you contact a couple of reputable Guides who fish the lake(s) you want to learn more about. Tell them you want to LEARN (1)How to find fish and (2) How to catch them. Hire him/her for a Half Day Learning Trip. Start off with some easy to catch fish like Catfish or White Bass. I'd recommend you learn with Live Bait if possible and save the Artificial Lures for later.

While most learning can apply to any body of water, I'd hire a Guide on the Lake you fish the most. From your thread, I can almost guarantee you are not seeing fish on your Graph. It's showing bait, electrical interference, or is not set to the best sensitivity, depths, etc.

Most fishermen can catch fish, but few novice fishermen can find fish. If you spend the $'s on a Half Day Trip with a good Guide, you'll learn more in 5 hours with him/her than you could on your own in several years.

Good Luck!

This sounds like the best thing I can do.

Don't know lake Lewisville but if you go to Ray Roberts you will catch fish. You will not get skunked at Ray Bob. I'm about to start fishing up there at Buck Creek in my small boat I keep in my garage in Allen. Be glad to give you some tips if you want. I've limited many times up there on Crappie and Sandbass.

If you want to continue fishing Lake Lewisville, I recommend you befriend Ernest Patty on the Crappie forum. He fishes that lake continually and could really help you.

First of all, a FISH FINDER is incorrectly named. Your initial post said that you are fishing where you SEE FISH. You are approaching it all wrong.

First decide what species you want to target. Then do a little research; it isn't all that time consuming, just find out what their habits, forage, and seasonal patterns are. For instance, you want to catch crappie and on your lake they are generally holding on brush piles in 12-18 feet this time of the year. You use your sonar to look for brush piles at that depth. You want the brush piles that are located on structure; basically humps, ridges, points, channel breaks, etc. If you mark bait on them, so much the better. The depth that the activity is occurring at can vary significantly, contingent on water clarity, PH, temperature, and several other factors, on different areas of the larger impoundments. Keep that in mind as you look.

Another thing you can do is watch your sonar unit as you leave the marina, running across the lake. You will notice that all of the activity, from both predator fish and prey, will be within a specific zone. Let's say, for instance, 8 to 16 feet. You should look for cover (brush piles, stumps, vegetation, etc.) on structure (points, humps, ridges, etc.) that intersects that depth range. Bait holding adjacent to or over that cover is a big bonus.

In other words, ditch that FISH FINDER mentality and adopt a SONAR mentality. Use it as it was intended, as a tool to locate high-percentage habitat. Many, many times I have caught bass and crappies off of cover where the only activity my sonar unit revealed (and when I was guiding I used high-end sonar) was baitfish. And with experience, even the posture of the baitfish over the cover will reveal valuable information to you.

Keep in mind that there are no hard and fast rules; only percentages. Some days everything is perfect and you can't catch a fish with dynamite and rotenone. Other days everything is all wrong and you load the boat. I know a guy who broke a lake record for largemouth bass during a tournament, crashing cover with a huge crankbait in 4' of water the day after a winter cold front passed through. The temperature was in the low forties, the north wind was howling, and all the textbooks say that bass should have been in deep water with terminal lockjaw, POSSIBLY sucking up a tiny bait barely crawling on the bottom.

Stick with it; it'll all come together for you. The main thing is to have fun. Revel in the learning, and pay your dues. And, as has been suggested above, hiring a guide will shorten your learning curve. They can teach you things that took them years to learn. They can show you what to look for on your sonar unit. And they can help[ you catch the fish that will boost your confidence in your knowledge. And remember: I once saw Ricky Clunn fish a three day tournament without weighing a single fish. If it can happen to Ricky, who is arguably one of the very best bass anglers in the world, we are all susceptible to failure.

I've been there, and still there, but mine is bank fishing, not boat fishing.

I read and ask buddies who are seasoned fisherman, I get tips, I watch videos, I have the "right" gear, but lately, more times than not, I get few bites and do not land anything.

I truly don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I even touch the water first, do an Apache-Indian chant and make a deal with the fish to bite, and I promise to thrown them back, but the fish are reaching out to accept my offer!

I'll try again soon.

Addendum: My main pond, where I've caught some decent fish, and seen many more jumping regularly, has skunked me the last two times out. I know it's not the pond, it's me and something I'm not doing right.

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To the OP - thank you for posting this. I was on the verge myself. Actually reached the point of frustration yesterday morning on Lewisville.

I could kick myself now for letting it get to that point. It was a gorgeous morning on the water, I was seeing what I thought was fish and just couldn't get them to bite. Drifting with minnows like many have suggested.

I have enjoyed fishing my entire life. I should never let it frustrate me.

This is why I do about 50/50 boat/kayak fishing - kayak fishing forces you to go back to the basics (less gear more thought about where/how/what your fishing) which helps your overall fishing game... and EVEN if you do mess things up - when your in a kayak on a beautiful day it doesn't matter if your catching(or not) as much

let me also say - i know kayak fishing isn't for everyone :^^:

I beg to differ. You are great at fishing, suck at catching. Me too some days.

I'm good at fishin'. I just suck at catchin'.

I have an update! A good one at that. I went back to the same spot that I had fished at previously but did a few different things. This was under the Little Elm Bridge under the lights. I fished from 7:00 pm till about 3:00 am.

Used Minnows this time along with my worms. I caught 3 cats and I don't even know how many bass. Caught 2 catfish on Minnows and the other on a worm. For the bass caught them on crank bait.

So I guess it's not that I didn't know what I was doing but more like they were just not biting. I didn't change anything but use Minnows. I used the same crank bait as before. There were other boats catching a lot to so it must have been just the right time.

While all of you are still trying your best, are you sticking to the mornings and evenings?

Are you being bold and still fishing during the middle/hotter part of the day?

Addendum: Renew license, then give it a go this weekend, bank'in.

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Instant classic!

I'm am generally the opposite, I know freshwater well and suck at saltwater. We need to join forces.

Try trolling with crankbaits to figure what fish you are most likely seeing on sonar. Use navionics maps to locate points and drop offs. You can catch just about anything that swims on a crankbait. Try to stay on certain contour/depth and work shallow to deep. If catch multiple fish and see lots on sonar hit a waypoint as soon as you catch one pay attention how much line was out and what direction the lure was traveling. So you can replicate it. Trolling or casting. If like only live bait drift I would don�t anchor unless you know there is an active school and are catching fish after fish. Between waypoint a marker bouts and electric motor if you have one most likely can stay in position without anchoring