I have a weekend house at Tawakoni. I bought a center console boat, grayline bait tank, and have been fishing many times. I’m pretty good at catching and keeping baitfish. I haven’t caught any fish worth keeping! I’m soooo frustrated.

Have a few questions..

Do you use an anchor, or do you have spot lock?


Sandbass, hybrids, and striper are all about bait. They are nomads looking for bait. There are many areas of the lake that hold fish and bait throughout the seasons. I have only fished tawakoni about 4 times, and I was very lucky on the south east side of the lake on (Autumn point), (on the inside of Holiday hump, on the very tip of holiday hump), and (north east side at sun point). For my lake right now, i am seeing the bigger fish on the bottom stuck like glue. I am making contact with the bottom with a spoon, and they are reacting.. But all my spots right now are right at the edge of a drop. The long points, or humps have a high spot. I look for the high spot and when it starts to drop in depth very quickly I spot lock here. I am casting up to the top of the hump, or high spot and working it back to me. If you have bait, you can suspend it right down to the depths that you are seeing (actual fish on your graph). If you do not see bait, keep moving. If you don't know what bait looks like, versus fish on a graph: dont run your down sonar too sensative. For my hummingbird helix i use the plain down sonar with sensativity at 13. Small bait will look cloudy, 2"-3" bait will look like blobs on the graph, and sandies will look like a flock of birds. But you should be anchored, or spot locked. You will see lines in different sizes for bait and fish. When you see it, you will have a better understanding of what to look for. I wish i lived closer, as I would be happy to visit out on the water. I know it could be a little pricey, but you can always charter a guide for 4 hours. Ask them to show you what to look for, and tips. I would respect them, and use the info they give you to know what to look for. Good luck, and if you have questions throw them out there.

Let us know what graph you have, if you have spot lock, and if you have tried spoons.



>>>>>>>>>>>Forgot to add.. Right now you should be seeing allot of birds working bait on the surface. Birds are your best friend. They are the best fish locators you will ever use. Even if they are sitting on the water.. When I am looking for fish I use the contour map and down sonar. I want to see where the transition from deep to shallow is, and if there are fish in this zone.. (very important >> map contour areas where it shows a fast depth change, choke points, or humps. The lake I fish has smaller sandies, so the fish I see schooling are small. The bigger fish are deep. If you see birds diving, and picking up bait you need to go upwind, kill your motor and ease into them. Never idle into a group of boats fishing, use your trolling motor whenever you can around other boats.


Prosise




This is a picture from cooper lake during the summer. The consistent cloudy area above the bottom is the thermocline (not bait), and the lines represent fish coming under the boat.




This is from the lake near me. This is sandbass (smaller size, we don't have donkey sandbass like Tawakoni) that are filling the water column chasing bait. This is when you see them schooling, the fish were surrounding me. The signature's that are going from the bottom to the surface are of all things (Bubbles of air coming out of the ground).

This is great info. Thanks prosise

Fisherlady,

The best way to cut your learning curve by a year or so is to hire one of the many good Guides on Tawakoni for a Half Day Fishing/Learning trip. I guarantee you will learn more in a 4-5 hour trip than you could ever learn on your own. Google "Tawakoni Fishing Guides", and then call and talk to a couple of the Guides explaining to them what you want to learn (Electronics, Seasonal Patterns, Live Bait vs. Artificial, Lake Locations, etc.) and then lastly get a few recommendations from TFF members as to who to hire. You may think $300 or so for a two person trip is expensive, but looks like you've already spent a bunch on a house, boat, equipment, etc. and not quite figured the Lake out. Good Luck and Good Fishing!

I have spotlock. And I have the helix 7. I will try some of your suggestions this weekend. I feel like my problem might be staying on the fish when I find them. Or maybe I’m not figuring out what the fish look like. But I’m not quitting. That was a lot of information to digest. Lol thank you.

I didn’t think a guide would want to teach me. I’ll for sure be asking, and yes 3 or 400 is nothing at this point. 😁

Do you have a fish calling device on your boat? That would be a splasher or a thumper. If you have ever observed a picnic with .a few people having good food, you probably thought they were having a good time. That is like a school of fish eating your shad. Now imagine a sign at the picnic that said there was free food for everyone who wanted to stop in for dinner. There would be people everywhere trying to get some free food. That is what a splasher or a thumper does for fish. It rings the dinner bell. My first introduction to this was on Lake Tawakoni with a man named Matt Cartwright. We had a bare depth finder screen and he said "watch this". He banged on the floor of the boat with a rubber tipped 40 inch dowel and the screen filled up with fish. Every place we went it was the same story. No fish and then a full screen. I have seen people use the back end of a landing net to get started. You don't need to invest a lot of money to prove that this will work for you. I'm old and get tired after banging for more than an hour. I invested in a thumper and later iearned that a splasher works even better in the summer. I never fish without one. If you know how to get bait and keep it alive, then a fish caller is the ticket to improving your fishing.

https://www.thumpemupfishing.com/

Check this out...

PM sent. It’s the red box by your name at the top since I see you’re possibly new here