Getting where we are really needing some rain before long..

Great post DC, looks like you need a Thumper for Christmas to hold the fish a little longer under your boat . Merry Christmas to you and your family . Thanks for all the great post through out the past years . Take Care !!!!!

Have a bad cold, can't sleep, so I thought i'd give report from yesterday. It was a sunny day with calm waters - one of those days that just beckons you to the lake. I left the dock at 11:40 AM, and the mission was to see if the bad fishing I experienced Saturday had gotten better. I started at Saint Annes Point East and found a few there in 22 fow.. But they kept moving around. After catching 4 nice whites I went to Saint Annes Point West and found more fish. These were in 21 to 25 fow. I caught 7 more there including a 17 inch hybrid, but these fish also wouldn't stay under me - even though I was thumping the boat with my feet (BTW I have a thumper on order).

So, I headed to Long Ridge and found a few there also moving around. Caught 5 there then went to Long Ridge West. The count when I left there was 20 whites, a legal and a short hybrid. I finished at Key Ranch Drop-off finding fish all along the drop-off as you scope it moving from south to north. I'm pretty sure there were hybrids included since I could see the bigger reflections mixed in with the smaller ones. I set up at the spot where I saw the most fish and caught big whites and 3 more legal hybrids, Ended up with 51: 44 whites, 4 legal hybrids, the 17 inch hybrid, a cat and a keeper size yellow bass. I wanted to go in after 3 hours and left still catching fish.

So, the fishing was good. Water temp is now down to 54.5 degrees. I caught all the fish on a Mepps #4 silver spinner. Sometimes I just reeled it up from the bottom. Sometimes I used the rod to lift it up or move it sideways along the bottom. And sometimes I found the fish wanted Uncle Charlie's technique. With the bait on the bottom, bump it sharply, wait a second or two the drag it sideways with the rod. Caught quite a a few this way.

In case I forget to do this later, Merry Christmas to all my TFF friends!!! I am looking forward to fishing with you again in 2020.

Dennis,I bought a house down there in Bluff View in May. I need to get with you sometime if you are close and do some fishing with you. I have tried your technique on some other lakes with limited success so I know I am doing something wrong. Thanks for your reports!

Send me a PM when you are going to be here and we'll try to get together.

Those are some really good points about sharing Denis . I know I always check your reports b4 I go fishing.
My goal is to see my friends catching fish especially the young ones. I fished for many years on Ray Hubbard,Lavon and Twok. There's so many people who dont know what being curtious on the water means.
Finaly it got to where I dreaded taking people fishing the on weekends. I'm retired now here on CC and I still try and avoid weekends. My experience on CC has been that finding consistent patterns on the hybrids have been hard to lock down, and at first even the samdies, but as I find the "right areas inside the right areas lol" I'm getting much better at it I know it takes many many years to really learn a lake. Although modern electronics have greatly reduced that time, I've found that the most important thing to remember is pay attention you can learn something new every day if you try.
Thank goodness I dont have to remember land Mark's any more I dont think I my memory is capable of that now Im glad to have a gps. Your reports have helped me greatly . Thank You. Your post about sharing inspired me to do better , you are so right that being more friendly makes a better day on the lake. For me it's just getting out of the house , catching fish is just a bonus to a great day outdoors. I see you catching fish on the lake many times when I'm out there I would enjoy chatting with you. When the lake is low I have to trailer to a ramp so I fish the south end of the lake much more. I have a
. My back and knees have paid the price for fishing rough waters all these years so my boat of choice now is a Big,lowes,pontoon, coverted to fishing boat. Join us anytime.. cya on the lake, thank you again.

bullcrappie: If you see me out there, come on over and fish with me. Thanks for your feedback.

I got out on Christmas day (Seems as grandparents we can't get together on Christmas Eve or day any more - it was the 22nd with extended family (sisters and nieces and nephews) and on the 28th this year with my kids and grand-kids). So, after wife and I exchanged gifts yesterday, and since it was a beautiful day on the lake, I went fishing! I got to try my new thumper I bought from Jeff Bobo for the 1st time. I started out dead-sticking in 35 fow near my house and within 5 minutes of turning on the thumper, I caught my 1st dead-sticking fish - a 17 inch hybrid. See pic below. But I only caught one other - a small white bass - trying to fish in deep water for suspended fish. I think my rig - a sassy shad on a heavy lead-head jig was sub-optimal . I could feel them bumping it when holding the rod and see them bumping it when I set the rod down, but they were not getting hooked. Finally, I started fishing structures - keeping the thumper going - and ended up with 50 fish - 45 whites and 5 hybrids. The thumper definitely did a good job of drawing the fish up under me. An interesting note, the number 5 Mepps out-fished the # 4. Most fish were caught at Dam Hump West of the Pole and Dam Ridge in 21 to 25 fow. A lot of under-sized whites were drawn up under me, so I moved around on the structures to get over bigger whites.

Oh no, Dennis went to the deep dark side

Good detailed report as always, DC

Happy you were able to give your new thumper a test run. Also glad the fish responded favorably for you. Water can be as shallow as 15 or so for fish to come under the boat. Up to 8 or 10 ft they sometimes form a perimeter around about 20 ft out to 60 ft away while thumping. Good luck and thanks for your report sir.

This was taken on Christmas Day around 2:00pm. There was a boat just southwest of long ridge. That's about all I could see from our altitude.

I fished on the 26th, 27th and today. Caught 38 on the 26th but half were in the last 30 minutes. Caught 35 on the 27th with neighbor Pat. Today I caught 45. Over these three days I fished from the humps along the dam to as far north as Spillway Hump, and found the pattern about the same at each spot. First, although I can still mark some fish in 12 to 16 fow, they are slow to bite. The fish I am catching are on main lake humps and points in depths from 19 fow to 27 fow. Some of the better spots have been Kevin's Point, Slide Hump, Dam Hump West of Pole, Dam Ridge and Long Ridge West. #5 Mepps is still doing better than #4. Today I caught 40 legal whites most of which were 10 to 11 inches. I probably caught another 80 that were 6 to 9 inches - only about half a dozen 14 to 16 inch fish. Also caught a 19 inch hybrid, two 17 inch hybrids and a 16 inch black bass.

So, finding and catching quantities of good sized white bass has gotten more difficult the last week or two. Too many small whites are being drawn up under the boat by the thumper. Like usual this time of year it is harder to catch a limit of good fish. What I haven't done is really give fishing suspended fish in deep water a good try. I'm hoping to get out with a person who knows how to do this well and see how that compares to winter-fishing structures.