I fished Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week. Cliffshot joined me on Wednesday. The pattern in both shallow (9 to15 fow) and deep (18 to 25 fow) has continued. There are plenty of fish being marked, but the biting is still finicky. Throwing into fish I can see on side-scan or sonar, I averaged 10 to 15 fish caught per hour. Fishing straight down in deep water, I tap the floor of the boat and jig the #4 Mepps and move it either sideways or up with my rod with just enough speed to make it spin. For fish in shallow water, I cast over them and work the #4 Mepps back to me along the bottom. The presentation that gets the most strikes is to start a retrieve from the bottom, then with tension on the line, hit the release button. This causes a sudden stop. Then I point the rod toward the line, carefully take up the slack, hesitate, then reel smoothly as slow as I can and still make the Mepps spin.

I'm anxious to get back over to Tawakoni and see if this works there. I took a couple of pics today, one showing fish on side-scan on my graph and the other of a 21-inch hybrid caught at Key Ranch Drop-off in 13 fow. Note that water temp is down to 56 degrees.

Thanks for the detailed report Dennis. I think you could catch fish in a huricane on a frozen lake.
Your comment about tapping the bottom of the boat is spot on. Rob and I use a thumper but we have found that sometimes tapping the bottom of the boat with your foot works better.

Nice post and fish.

Nice Hydrid! Great post and hope you get to enjoy more exciting times on Tawakoni soon.

1/13/2022: Went out with friend cliffshot and his neighbor. Fished from 10 am to 3 PM and it was a slow day. we fished multiple spots and would catch from 1 to 4 at most spots. We ended up with 33 whites and a 24.5 inch hybrid. Fish were more finicky than usual. We fished both the shallow pattern and deep pattern that I have been reporting.The frustrating thing is that after catching a few, we could still see fish but it was the devil trying to get them to bite. We were jigging #4 Mepps off the bottom and swimming it up or left and right. If someone has found a lure they will take more readily, please weigh in on what it is.

I'll be out there this afternoon with a friend of mine.

Fished 12 - 3 yesterday with a friend that wanted some fish for a fish fry. We made 3 stops. Key Ranch Drop Off, Long Ridge (east) and Merimac Point. The wind was SSW at 15 and the water temps were 54 to 55. The most productive depth was 18 to 20 FOW. Key Ranch Drop Off yielded just a couple of fish so we moved to Long Ridge. The numbers were better on Long Ridge but we were in rougher water and the air temp was much colder. We made our last move to Merimac Point. The water was calmer and the air temp was warmer. The fishing was also better than the other 2 spots. As for the totals, we caught 24 sandbass, 2 hybrids (22.5" and 24") and 2 cats on the Mepps #4 slow rolling on the bottom. After I cast the Mepps and let it sink to the bottom, I would take the slack out, crank just fast enough get get the blade to rotate, crank slowly about 3 to 4 turns and stop. I would repeat this process all the way back to the boat. The strike could occur at any time since the fish were scattered and plastered to the bottom. When I am in my "fishing area", I usually operate in triple screen mode (map, chirp and down imaging) . As I said, the fish were so tight on the bottom, I could not see some of them with the chirp screen but I could see them with down imaging.

2 stories came out of this short trip. While on Long Ridge, the guy I was fishing with caught a cat. On my next cast I also caught a cat about the same size. This was after catching several sandbass in the same spot. My guess is that the fish species were moving together. The other story was way more exciting. While we were fish Merimac, we both cast at the same time. After a couple of cranks, I hook up with one of the big hybrids. Not 5 seconds later, the other guy hooks up with the other big hybrid. The next thing you know those darn fish decided to cross over. Let's just say we were dancing on the back deck trying not to let those fish tangle us up. It sort of reminded me of multiple big fish hook ups while saltwater fishing. I've never had a double hybrid hook up like that when fishing with someone else. It sure was fun!

Thanks for the report. I was out last Thursday and yesterday. Fish are still biting finicky but can be caught. Yesterday we discovered that they will also take a #2 Mepps reeled very low and slow for a long drag - say 7 reel turns. Water temp is down to 53 degrees yet fish are still in shallow water - 10 to 15 fow in addition to 20 to 27 fow..

Thanks Dennis. My current plan is to be out there tomorrow afternoon.

Well sounds like the fall bulk-up bite is over? Are there any creek mouth where they might start to stage for the spawn?

I was out for a couple of hours then the rain and north wind came so I headed for the house. It was pretty much like what Dennis said. The fish were at two different depth levels and they were scattered. I never found any real heavy concentrations. The several fish that bit, bit with vengeance but many came unbuttoned for some reason. Low and slow on the bottom with a Mepps #4. I was going to try the #2 and a #3 but weather changed quicker than what I thought.

Very nice Dennis. Glad you are getting out and catching.

1/25/2022: Got out today and hit several spots: Long Ridge, Long Ridge West, Key Ranch, Merimac, Spillway Hump, Enchanted Isle Ridge, and the Rock Pile. I caught a few at each spot ending up with 30 whites and 2 short hybrids. Caught all but one in 18 to 23 fow on #4 silver Mepps worked vertically. The other was in 15 fow and caught with a #2 Mepps. Water temp is 49.5 to 50.5 degrees. In addition to finding a small concentration of fish and setting up right over them, I've found that to catch scattered fish over a structure, I can just drift across it and fish the Mepps about 4 yards behind me on the bottom with the thumper going.

Good report. Sound like dead sticking with a Mepps? We finally found a day to go and went to Phantom Hill, here is some pics of the baitfish I was telling you about in winter in the lakes I fish and one of Patti with a nice hybrid.