Dan, this has been a strange season for the blue cats. I'm normally catching them 40-50' deep right now but Thursday me and a buddy found them in 17-20'. We were drifting cut shad in these two areas where the red lines are drawn...




We ended up with 9 or 10 fish with the biggest being 15 pounds. Most were in the 4-6 pound range.

We had some good luck Saturday. In the morning snagged a few Sandy's in the 27 to 35ft sitting about 2-4ft off the bottom around Twin Coves using white slabs. Moved over to the Dove Loop area got a 1 Catfish bait was moving around a lot.
Then we moved back over by Twin Coves and got 7 more cats. Over all ended up with 8 keeper cats. Black cherry Kool Aid chicken was on FIRE!! We also used livers and cheese bait and did not get one hit on it.
Lots of bait in the deep water coves did not see anything in shallow water also found bait was hanging around the inlets of the coves on points to deep water.

Was able to get the kayak out yesterday (3/10) and do some fishing.

Launched near Murrel Park and fished from 10am to about 5pm. I brought three jugs I baited with chicken breast done up strawberry jello and garlic style trying to catch a nice blue cat for dinner... no dice. As I moved spots I would deploy those and never saw any action. Bass action was slow most the day. Tried everything. Cranks, c-rig, jerk bait, shakey heads and nada. THEN I moved into a new spot and hit the jackpot! Caught 7 bass in an hour. These fish were still deep. I found them in 20-25 feet on a drop off and they were happy to hit soft plastics or crankbaits. Most the water I fished I saw very little action on the graph but that spot showed bait and all kinds of fish. So my advice... if you are not catching them keep looking around and they may be deeper still than you might think. I saw lots of guys beating the banks but did not see any other fish caught but the ones that came into my kayak to visit me.

Bummer was my buddy had gone with me and just before I moved to that last spot he called the lake "A lifeless bowl of jet skiers and wake boats" and swore again he would never fish there again...Then left I wished he could have gotten into what was a pretty good bite. Next time I know where to START the day and not to finish there.

I did not see anything that looked like sandies but talked to a young dude launching his boat as I was leaving who said he had been catching them on Murrell point in 30 feet on dead sticked slabs lately. So there is a bit of data perhaps? Or maybe total BS lol who knows!? But sounded reasonable to me.

How yall been doing?

Good reports.. Sorry for not posting but I have been strictly fishing for the green fish, and I haven't seen or heard a peep from the Sandies. With all the rains the upper end and (Denton creek) has been heavily stained. So I'm chasing the Bass. Been a very good year so far, bass bite for me is wayyyyy better at night than during the daytime. Spawn hasn't started, still catching big fish deeper on main lake. I know some may have moved up but, not where I have been. Male bass are shallow and easily caught. I ventured up to the north west end of the lake last Tuesday morning. Up west of rocky point towards the small private marine in the cove on the north side. There are massive school's of gar in the mouth of this cove and out on main lake. As I was coming into this area about 2am I felt several thuds in the boat. I hit many fish with the motor going about 30mph, and it was alarming. No damage, but several fish had a bad morning. I should prob go up there and drive around all night. Anyhoo, take care all and be safe out there..

Prosise

Some pictures from night fishing, absolutely amazing moon.

So I finally took a break yesterday and pulled out a spinning rod for Sandies. I stopped at the dam (middle), out in front of the swim area near rock ledge, on the end of Murrell point, grapevine point, and on the east point coming out of meadomere. If you go out to 30-34 ft and turn on the thumper you can catch small fish. The only spot I caught big fish at was meadomere point, and I was way out of the point in 34-38. Wind was stupid bad out of the north. Fish were even working bait and birds were helping me find cruisers closer to the surface. Did I mention the wind was blowing, wow it was bad. Lake is tore up and stained from all the mud lines. I caught many good fish, both males were oozing, and females were showing signs of eggs. Guess these are lake spawners. Besides meadomere area the fish will just come off the bottom and congregate by the boat. Dead sticking small Cordell jig about 2-4"off the bottom. Some would only bite it if I lifted it above their position. Didn't see fish in water shallower than 30ft. I should have tried the top of Murrell, but I didn't. Take care all.. lots of fish still in the lake, will be fishing upper end of the lake in a few days, will check the humps. Lake level is going up slowly so I would expect Denton creek is heavily stained, and I don't like water that's chocolate milk.


These are two different fish

Good report. I just got my Livescope installed and my T top back on. So, I need to get out there and start scouting.

Nice! Sounds like what that kid told me about catching them dead sticking slabs in 30 FOW was not BS lol.

Open question but aimed at Mr. Prosise, how if it all will these cooler temps impact the bass moving up shallower? I am looking at the longer range forecast and although there are few nice days mixed in most of the next two weeks looks quite cool.

Looking forward to getting to back out there... stupid work always messes up my fishing.

sandies will spawn on wind blown rocky shores around the deep end of a lake. not all of them make the trip to the creeks. I've caught some big chunkies off the rocks.