Hi Y'all,
I'm a high school angler and recently started fishing for Whites/Stripers/Hybrid a few month ago. I've mastered the winter deadsticking pattern pretty well but am a bit confused as the pattern right now. I fish on Lake Buchanan, where the water temp is around 57-60F. I have a boat but no downriggers and only use artificials. I have a few questions:

1: Should I stick to the vertically fishing near the river channel(50-60FOW) like during Winter or should I be heading to shallower water? What is the best pattern right now?

2: I ran up the Colorado river above Buchanan and caught 18 Whites once, but at the same spots the next week I was skunked twice. The conditions were stable and nearly identical. Is this normal?

3: Should I focus on fish spawning on sandy shorelines in the main lake? I know this is an unusual phenomenon on Buchanan and I did well last year doing it from shore.

***4: I understand that the Whites are swimming up the creek, but will Stripers/Hybrids do that also? Since they can't spawn in Buchanan will they just stay in the main lake but towards the upper end? How do I specificlly target Stripers/Hybrids this time of year instead of accidently running into them when fishing for Whites?***

I appreciate all information, Thanks!

They will try but not all Fish make the run and not all Fish make the run at the same time. I feel there’s always some fish in the lake on structures and yes one of the great things about these fish as they can be deep shallow or in between all in the same day sometimes.

Spring is topwater time. If you can can find where a deep sharp ledge runs within a couple hundred yards of the bank the stripers will move up in the shallows during morning and evening. After the topwater bite fades move out near the ledge and start casting slabs, jigs, deep diving cranks swim baits while keeping an eye on your electronics, most likely they will retreat to the ledge area and once you find em you can either cast out or vertical jig. Also look for humps that are near the river channel. Stripers like to roam the area between the hump and river channel and it can be really good when they start chasing shad onto the humps