I have figured out how to dead stick (I think) and the areas that are productive for me. The problem is I only catch very small sandbass with an occasional keeper. I move to a similar area of depth and structure, look for shad and start my thumping, see the fish and can only catch little ones. Is this an overfished lake (Lewisville) or am I doing something wrong? I'm fishing a slab on the bottom and then a 1/4 ounce jig head with a 3" fluke. I catch sand bass on both. I even tried a 2oz 6 inch bucktail jib today just to see if there was something wanting larger bait. I would have maybe 100 plus fish under me while thumping.

Should I change lakes or tactics on my home lake for bigger fish. Prob caught 6-1 throwbacks to keeps yesterday and pro the same today.

Any advice would be appreciated.

To be perfectly honest. Welcome to Winter fishing, thats all i can say. If your catching fish, rock on.. I am catching fish, but most are small. Occasionally i am picking up some good fish, with a nice one every now and them. Water is cold, and they are out there somewhere.. If your catching fish, keep doing what your doing.. You will luck upon them, and then they are gone. In a blink of an eye it will be march, and we will be following them up the creek. Fished today, and I really had to finesse them. Had to get out, as it is getting cold the next part of the week.

Just keep doing it, maybe someone will chime in. I am fishing Grapevine, and there are three to four spots that just hold fish.. You have to find those spots and scale your jig down smaller and finesse them.

Good luck

Prosise

I have noticed the same thing here at Cedar Creek Lake - when I thump I catch more small fish. If you are deadsticking out in deep water for suspended fish, you have to thump to bring fish under the boat. Since I fish structures throughout the winter, when I find a good concentration of fish and start catching good fish, I don't thump so the small fish won't come to me. The fish are where they are because of the structure, so thumping is unnecessary. I do thump when the fish are scattered or when the concentration I started fishing over pans out.

Everyone is catching crappie on Lewisville now. I've had some fairly successful 10-20 keepers per trip the last few weeks. I've thought about thumping the main lake, but I might give it another month.

Thank you Prosise I'll keep at it.

Dennis
I appreciate all your post and feedback. I can find them very easy on side scan in the late spring because I know what they look like. In the winter I can't find them that way. Either they are schooled on the bottom at less frequency, I'm just not finding them or there all suspended (which I doubt). Just wondering why in may/june I can find them so easy on side scan. Maybe it's because they are more shallow. I'm really trying to figure this thing out.

Thanks for your input

I am still seeing some on side-scan (I see them on side-scan year-round), but during cold months I sometimes can't see them because they are hugging the bottom so tight. So, in addition to side-scan, I have a shortcut button on the graph set to sonar magnified X2 or X4. That will show them hugging the bottom. They look like little bumps. A good school looks like continuous little bumps almost touching one another over a 10 yard or more stretch of the bottom. Here some screenshots of what I/m talking about: Note on the last one the speed is only 0.2 mph so bumps are spread out, and fish are hard to see without magnification.

Oak Point Aggie.

Fellow Oak Point resident here. I have not been focusing on Lewisville lately but I know the lake well enough to give some advice. In the winter your largest concentrations of fish are going to be in a couple areas. I don't recommend you spend time focusing on your typical summer structure because it is too shallow. The fish are suspended in deeper water because it is warmer. Only occasionally they will be hugging the bottom on a hump or point when the water temps are as low as they are.

look here:

1. In the creek/river channel to the NE of twin trees point. There is a several mile long channel that goes all the way to the dam. Near the dam it splits into an V shape and creates to channels. literally anywhere in the river channel will hold fish. You have a couple of miles to play with. focus on 55'ish and look for fish at 32-42' suspended.
2. The entrance of Hidden Cove. It is shallower here, more like 38-44'. Your not going to find a well defined creek channel so just park somewhere in between the two narrowest points where the bay opens up to the main lake. they will be suspended somewhere in the water column. This is also your most likely area to catch wintertime hybrids on Lew.

try using a tandem jig setup. Don't waste your time with slabs this time of year. Tie up two 1/4 oz jig heads. make sure the way you tie them you have a horizontal presentation. I ONLY use Berkley Gulp Alive minnows as my bait. They are scented and will outfish an unscented fluke 8-1. https://www.berkley-fishing.com/products/gulp-alive-minnow-1285410

RSR Lures sells a 1/4oz jig head that has an eye on the top and bottom. They work great and keep the top bait horizontal. If you don't buy that jig head just tie your top jig on with a dropper loop like you would if you were crappie fishing. Jig head color does not matter.

Good luck. call if you need help.

I just did a quick read and want to throw up a suggestion. I fish PK and Bridgeport regularly, I went from 1/2 oz jighead to 3/4oz jigheads. Started using 5inch flukes drifting. Drop bait a little below the smaller feeding fish. Has been working for bigger striper and Hybrids. Sandie population is stellar on these lakes, hard to keep them off. I also use tandem jigs to keep the bait straight down and fish 2 different depths. MT Pockets and RSR have everything you need. Been having great success with leadhead unpainted jigs as well. Also try putting a rod in the rod holder as a ghost pole to try different and sometimes crazy combinations for bigger fish. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll try looking on structure some but if I thump I'll try to fish deeper in the school and see if I cant avoid the smaller ones. I'll let yall know how I do. I also appreciate all the incite from Phill.

Definitely in the channels. Caught about 20 today, but only 6 keepers.

We ended up catching 4 small ones yesterday. Could not really get them to bite like I did last week. If Feeding Fish caught 20 he did way better than us. Next time I'm going to try the mepps as well.

I found these on the side scan. There were so many I'm guessing they are not crappie. Please let me know what you think.

Hi Oakpoint, I pm'd you back. We were catching sandbass. Definitely a grind, but it's possible. I'm not sure what is on that graph, but there's a lot of them!