hey brent this is Randy, just wanted to thank you again for allowing me to tie up to you on Sunday. had a blast in the short time i was out there. I definitely have a lot to learn, but I'm really having fun in the process. Discovered my trim tab is broken when i trailered the boat. Ordered one up and will add it to the list including getting trolling motor mounted. Im glad i met you and you told me about this forum. Your posts have a lot of value, very informative. Fish on, and hope to fish near you again.

Thank you Randy, much appreciated.. Never mind helping others get on the fish. Get that Trolling motor setup back on rhe boat, and if you need help with anything let me know.. Was fun, and I enjoyed the company..

Hope the thumb is better....

Prosise

Sandies were schooled up on the shoreline at Grapevine this morning from about a foot off to 30 ft from shore, shad everywhere. Caught and released 50 between 6:20 and 8:30a. Blue Fox #3 silver spinner basically (I make my own). The clear sky drove them out deeper after that.

Launched last night (5/5/21) from Katie Woods and fished the lake from Meadowmere to the dam from about 6pm to 8pm. Never found any birds really working, just an occasional one here or there. We caught 1 dink and 1 keeper just off the Meadowmere point with the thumper going. We had several large schools pass underneath us but couldn't get a bite on the slabs or humdingers. After giving up on that spot we headed to Murrell and fished there and caught two dinks as well. Finally, just before dusk headed over to sandbass point and found a lot of fish but couldn't get a bite here either.

That's how fishing goes, last week we hammered them and this week couldn't get bit.

One thing I noticed last week, but this could change day to day. The birds did not show up until about 2pm last sunday. I almost thought the storms gave them a lift elsewhere, but they showed up.. If you go looking around, just cruise down one bank out far enough that you can all the way back to the secondary points. I found them all the way back in meadomere by the boat ramp on Monday. But if you do not see birds, keep looking. The shad are on the run, so you may have to keep moving with them. I have also been running into fish up the lake on the north shore by the high end homes by the steep rocks. Very important, if you just don't see birds and it is dead calm or very light wind you might look for the white cranes on the windy side points. They are there for a reason. I am no expert, and I do not know if the shad have spawned. I hope they haven't because now we have so much brush in the water it will really help us in the long run. Yesterday was a bird blue light wind day, which is the toughest of conditions. The evening bite right at sunset has been really really good if you can fins some birds working. If you do not see birds, you may have to get up close and personal with some of the windy points, and coves where the shad can get corralled. Then look for the shad jumping out of the water. When things get quiet I will focus on these areas and work right up on the drop. The 24-27ft range above the big drop down to 33-40ft.. And I mean right on the drop, where the front of the boat is on the top and the back is on the drop. Murrell back by the mouth of the cove (towards the HOA marina) has been good when the wind is out of the south. I have been trying not to get localitis and just go to certain areas, so I will occasionally go off the beaten path and check some humps up near the Rock crusher. Between the Rock crusher and the north shore are some humps which are holding fish, but they are tougher to catch now. I know for a fact the bigger girls are on the move and are working hard at sunset on shad near the banks and points. We have been repeating this over and over in the last month..
If you get to an area, and not doing very good in about 20 minutes move on and scout. Some areas I fished last week had some fish in the area, but the redneck thumper did nothing to get them excited. Just picked up and started looking.. If you can look for bait, it is a start. I always favor the windy bank, but you never know what the bait will be doing. It is all up to them..

I found a 3/8 oz mean eye blade bait from basspro, wore that thing out the last few weeks. Then, I broke off on tuesday.. Only a dozen left at basspro and they were in dark colors. I picked up some white and bright yellow enamel paint from Joanne fabrics and doctored them up real good. I Tie this to 20lb fluor about 16 inches long, then to a swivel. Connecting this to 6lb braid I can cast it more than twice as far as most people can cast. So i picked up the last 11 they had and will finish them up tonight. They get down fast, and cast very well.. These are my go scouting lure to cover water.



Something interesting: I was working a spinnerbait down the east side of meadomere towards the swim area. About halfway in I catch a good sandbass on a "Big" spinnerbait. There is so much cover for the shad, so you never know where you will find them. Never did any good on that long stretch, but had to do some burn and turn on some sample spots to get a feel for the Bass..

When the going gets tough, this is where I focus.. Sometimes you will see fish, but getting them to bite is another thing.. These are areas where I will get a spoon out (med size cordell with #6 sharp hook) and work the fish I see on the sonar. Typically up on the top of the drop, or just below to see if they will bite.. Some areas are saturated with Buffalo/carp/gar, and you will see lots of fish but no takers. The areas below are what I like in the last few months. Not to rule out Twin coves, but I get hung up there allot. The fish we are picking up lately are the ones floating about 10-15 ft off the bottom. These are the active ones, but banging them on the head is not a bad trick.. Will be out sunday morning rain, sleet, or snow.. Work calls..

That's a real shallow area normally by Dove Loop Ramp. Good to know.
I should be out there today around 5 pm looking for sandies myself.

Thursday report was spotty. You could catch 3 or 4 and then they were gone. Caught a few at Meadowmear, the Island and close to the Dove loop ramp. Tried other usual spot but never had a bite at those. No bird action at all on the lake that I could see.

Launched at 5:00 and picked up some good fish before the sun came up (green fish). When the sun started to come up I noticed shad on the bank, appeared to be jumping out of the water. Saw this for several hours, there was some light sprinkle moving in and it was semi-dark for a bit. Caught some of this on my cell, and will add below. Shad spawn is on, I saw this at the mouth of twin coves, ramp at twin coves, meadomere, and two other major points on the non-windy side of the lake. Everywhere I bass fished I caught sandbass, some on a big spinnerbait. Did not stay out all day, hanging out with the gang and doing some chores.. Villiage idiot was set free from somewhere, got some video of a guy that has absolutely no clue whatsoever. He really didn't know what he did, so I just called him a bleeping Idiot and kept fishing. The back of the boat appeared to be 4 women all head down. Focused on mudlines, and caught some dink bass with sandbass. Good bass were all before sunrise within about 40 minutes. Fish are eating like there is no tomorrow, fat bellies seen on bass and sandies.. Sandbass are everywhere, the small island on the right as you go into twin coves is saturated with small sandies. They corralled some shad and worked them for hours. Any major point with a semi mudline had sand bass up close to the bank in the early morning. I left at 1pm, the wind changed and was coming out of the NW, the mudline off the tip of meadomere was long and towards the swim area. Pretty good ones caught with a 3xd working the edge real fast. Did not go down, or see any birds. Only saw cranes on the points.. Hope all are well, and have a great day..




I keep catching these really small sandbass and wonder how they get all 3 hooks..



SHAD SPAWN
This was taken near the Parasail dock west of meadomere point.



Village idiot: caution fowl language
I stop way out on a point, a wakeboat coming from my right slows down and is curteous. Then from behind me comes the guy with no common sense, I have no clue how to describe this.

Launched at Dove at 11am, went out to battle the green fish. Long story short, if you want to catch some sandies just go bass fishing. I did not fish for Sandies at all today, they just were in the area I was fishing. Caught the sandbass at every major point I fished, using a crankbait and occasionally a spinnerbait. Fished major points, and secondary points and covered allot of water from dove down. Last spot I fished was at Meadomere and it was thick with smaller fish. Just doing some testing of areas with shallow, mid, and 10-15ft baits for the green fish.. Slight pattern found which was repeated on two other main points with the right variables. Was listening to music and the sandbass would attack my area. Every time I looked down and it was peppered on the 360 I just had to move. They just wouldn't leave me alone. Caught some real nice sandbass down close to the Dam, but it was one every 5-10 minutes. Big ones too.. Left around 5 to beat the storms, and was a good day out. Looks like the rain is going to hit tomorrow, so will be home doing some rat killin. Take care all & God Bless. BTW: If anyone is in a kayak/canoe/boat and do not have a depth finder IM me.. I have a depth finder for someone who is trying to make ends meet and still get out there and fish. Have a small Garmin Stryker depth finder which I used for a couple years on the front of the boat. Works well and would like to gift it to someone who needs it, not who wants it.

Picture of an area with no sandies near.


When you are being attacked from the side by them


When you have been overrun by them. I was fishing a rock pile on a major point when I was attacked


Funny when you don't have to cast to catch them.. The upper end is slightly stained from the high winds. I was on the tip of meadomere and the small sandbass attacked me.

Fished all day yesterday for the Green fish. Shad spawn is over, and things are settling down. I fished from Meadomere down to the Dam from 4:30am to 8pm, was a long day but I enjoyed it. I did not see any birds working in any of the areas I fished, and I looked around most of the points. The points, and secondary points that had wind blowing right into them, had fish up close to the banks looking for shad. Carp are spawning, and real close to the banks working. I snagged a couple which was fun for the few seconds it lasted. I also hooked a big catfish on a spinnerbait, was on a windy rocky bank. It gave me a whipping, wasn't ready for that much horsepower. The water is slowly going back down, so the small bushes will be out of the water in about a week. When this happens, the shad that are up shallow will have no place to hide. I ran across several schools of small sandbass up in the 20ft range, at the mount of coves. One was in Dove right before I pulled out, but it was moving fast looking for bait. It is time to work the depth finder off the main drops like Murrell point, meadomere, etc. The lake is two-toned right now, the upper is lightly stained and the lower is pretty green and relatively clear. I am pretty sure the shad are up in the stained upper half If I am a guessing. I did better on bass in the upper half with a crankbait, and the lower half with a spinnerbait for the green fish. Sorry for not much info, but will get out on Sunday and scout out the sandies.. Take care all, and God Bless.. Bass fishing is good, you really have to slow down your bait (and I mean really slow). Once I did this, things picked up for me..


Additional info: Gravel/rock points on the south side of the lake that have the clay along the waterline. These areas are holding some good sandbass in the mud lines. Main points in the wind that are within 50-60 yards from the drop to deep water are holding both sandies and small bass.. morning bite before sunup was slow, think the lack of moon. At about 5:45 as it started to get semi-light things started to turn on. I have been working some top water to see if I can get some takers, but it's too early. Water cooled down to 68'ish, from 75 and up before the last big rain. Won't be long, and I cannot wait.. Will add some more info later this morning that will help you understand Grapevine lake, found a video that really will open your eyes about GV..


UPDATE >>> GOOD INFO
Super cool item I found and really will help you catch fish on any lake in the US. You can take any lake, and go back in time to see the lake when it was low. Google Earth Pro has a feature to view historical pictures. You will be suprised at what you see below the first 15 ft of water on Grapevine Lake. Now, I will say that I would not recommend anything concerning the waypoint transfer. You can do this at your own risk.. I do not need this feature, I just need screenshots to get me close. There is so little structure on Grapevine, that is why one Christmas tree planted becomes a gold mine. I have planted about 12 trees, and some hold fish others will at a certain time of the year. But these little items, can really help. Now, I know you might not think this will help you with sandbass but it will.

Go back to 2014 and prepare to be amazed..
Here is an example.. Dove ramp when the lake was about 15 ft low...





Prosise

Thank you for all the information you have posted. I hope to run across you at the lake soon!

Brent, I talked to you on Wednesday. I was in the Bass Tracker. I think I fished with you before. Back in 2019, I was fishing Denton Creek on the banks and you were nice enough to take me up the creek on your canoe. That was a great day of fishing. Nice to meet you again. The information you provide on this thread is awesome; very helpful. The birds were out in force Thursday afternoon. We caught a whole mess of big ones. My name is Alex, btw.

Saturday 5/15/21. The Shad spawn is still on. The wind is coming from the South and they were along the Northern rocky shores. I and several others caught a few Sandbass this morning.

How long before the shad span ends?

Grandson advanced from sunfish to white bass this weekend.

Did not see any shad on the banks, but i got to the lake at 8am. Don't think the shad spawn is still going on.

Launched at Dove at 8am, pulled out at 8:30pm. Fished for the Green fish until about 2pm. In case you didn't know, it rained today. Man, it really came down and was a good day out. Just for the record, I was not the only one out fishing today. Saw some high dollar bass boats out today.. About 2pm I went looking, found a monster flock of birds just east of Murrell point. Fished it for a bit but they were smaller fish, saw another large group of birds working near Murrell and went to check it out. Held out at the tip of Murrell point and even with the birds working all around me, I worked the small spoon on the top of the drop and picked up some Donkeys. Smaller fish were working the bait up on the surface, caught fish for an hour until I got an itch for some green. Went looking at a couple of rock piles, and all i caught was sandbass. Caught some real nice ones on a crankbait. Caught several catfish on the crankbait, and spinnerbait today. Fish are moving with the bait, look for the birds and hang with them. I saw a boat that was not able to use their trolling motor. They were using an anchor, but it was not holding. If you have an anchor, add about 4' to 5' foot of heavy chain between the anchor and the rope. This will hold you, the chain holds the anchor down to grab. Bass fishing was good early, but was tough after about 10:30am. Sandbass were on fire everywhere.
Caught some good bass on a spinnerbait.