Went last Sunday and caught several small keepers. Going again tomorrow. Water was mid 60’s and catching them from 24-30’ off the bottom on sides of humps. Where do I need to try and look for better quality? Catching mostly channels with occasional small blue.

can be Anywhere Still - 3' - 38' (probably look around 12-25' till it gets Colder ) follow underwater creek channels, bowls (underwater ponds), drop offs, In timber and Near timber (both Shallow and Deep) Find Shad balls, schools , fish usually nearby.

Once water gets a lil Colder find this and Drift thru it :





I will Scout a couple areas at 4 mph for 1 to 1.5 hours before fishing sometimes.............

If I see Sand Bass fisherman I will drift nearby - or thru the area when they move. or Birds working top water.

I like to have 2 kinds of bait - shad and carp, shad and buffalo, shad and chicken breast. Mix up your shad cuts too - fillets and chunks and heads. Some days 1 bait works and not the other and vice versa. Some days 1 bait works in 1 area and other bait works in other areas.

Learn your Fish Finder. My fishing Improved a cpl years Ago when I stepped up to a Helix 10.

I was doing pretty fair drifting on Flats in the 25 to 30 feet of water range but then I started chasing the dang crappie again

Good advice on the sand bass guys, usually there will be Blues under the Sand Bass chowing down on falling shad pieces. Often they will stay for a while after the sandies have gone, to 'Clean Up" too.

Also look for points, with flats that face the wind. The wind will carry the plankton, towards the bank, and the shad will often follow. Especially if the sun has warmed the water in the shallows. This time of year, I've caught some nice blues in just a couple feet of water, doing that.

Me and my son will be scanning a big mud flat in 5 ft of water first thing in morning. If the fish aren’t there we’ll move out deeper onto the flat. After that we’ll be scanning the channel in 20, 25, and 30 ft until we find them. I’m looking for big schools of this years gizzard hatch which are 5-7” right now and I don’t get a line wet until I find em with big blues around em. I fish a sandbass pattern in the summer and a gizzard Shad pattern in the fall and winter.

Great advice here Sir