i fished from 6a-3p yesterday with zero bites. my goal was to not go shallower than 10ft and with the exception of fishing a few shallow windblown points i stayed true to the plan. i lived on the main lake the whole time in 12-32 ft. graphing about 60% of the time. found brush and rock but only saw crappie on brush and no life on the rocks. i did find some fish in a couple of ponds on active target but i couldn’t even get them to bite dropping on their heads with a finesse dropshot. yesterday was my 5th time on RR since i moved azle 3 yrs ago and i know its a tough lake for most so i don’t expect to catch a lot of fish but i ASSumed i could manufacture a bite in 9hrs of fishing. so i need advice as to what i did or didn’t do right? wondering if the fish have not made it out to the ledges yet, which i doubt in 87 degree water. anyone do anything out there yesterday or lately willing to share water depth at least? TIA

Just fish your strengths... Dan

The Classic was in early June 2 years ago.
The fish were shallow then. I believe all the top finishers were fishing in under 10'.

Crankbaits, jigs, topwaters and worms if I remember right.

The water conditions were a lot different during the Classic. The water level was up and it was then tail end of the shad spawn. I was whacking them pretty good back then with a swim jig in the flooded brush.

This year Roberts if fishing a lot tougher. If you are going to fish shallow, I would look for some type of vegetation. Some areas have pond weed, millfoil, potato weed, etc. With that said, I haven't found an area that's had a concentration of fish for the last month or so. I have found some offshore areas off long or underwater points were there are lots of shad and other fish. They end up being a mixture of fish and I might pull a bass out of there occasionally. It's got me scratching my head for the last month and I have fished Roberts for 20 years.

Like Dan said, you're probably better off fishing your strength and confidence baits. Find areas that fit and grind away. That is usually my fallback after a few failed trips trying to find fish or a different pattern out there.

This time of year on Ray Bob...this is how I start

Go shallow early morning with topwater. Buzzbaits, walking baits, and wakebaits. Focus on the coves or points that have rock and trees on them. Put your baits as close as you can to them and pause near the base.

Once the sun starts to come up, switch to a t-rig worm or creature bait. Mix in a squarebill or chatterbait. Stay shallow (1-8') focus on the areas that have shade.

Once the sun is high, go deeper with t-rig worm (7+ inches) and focus on the 10-20' depths. Also, a c-rig fluke or brush hog.

Hope this helps.

Roberts has always fished shallow regardless of the time of year. Back when there was hydrilla we caught fish on top waters in January in 45 degree water and on stick baits on wind blown points dirt shallow. I have also caught them dirt shallow on top waters on 100 degree days especially on wind blown points and I am not talking dinks. They also used to love to suspend in the timber in deep water in the summer and winter versus relating to the bottom. It seems all the trinity river basin lake bass like to stay shallow compared to other lakes like Fork. I have not fished it in a while but my PB a13.9 came from there the first week of March on a weightless fluke in 2 fow and I had several others that day in the 4-8 lb range with the troll motor dragging in the dirt. This time of year look for those tank dams, points and rock piles in 10-12 fow adjacent to deep water and always check the shallows especially if you know where some submergent grass is. I fished it an almost every week from before it opened until 2011 ish. I never fished more than 15 foot deep and always caught fish…..

Caught fish as deep as 26 feet 2.5 weeks ago.

fish were in 10 to 15 foot of water yesterday on rock humps and house foundations caught them on c-rigs and t-rigs big worms, did not catch very many and only keepers

All the bass I saw Friday were in 26ft of water. Dropped all kind of baits on em nothing bit just investigated. Its tough this time of year

Lake sucks. Period.

I'm not sure anyone goes to roberts in middle of summer expecting to catch much

Ridiculously scattered and spread out on that lake.

And basically impossible to pattern outside of the spawn. They should drain it.

Or they could try stocking it.

In my opinion, Roberts is a terrible lake!!