Thanks Kolban,Lance,and Chris for pm.. alot of info...
Bamaboy sorry bout the late reply,been busy working.. I just started posting on the forum...Nice to meet ya. I'm Kevin from Keller,just start boat fishing 2 year now... I use to fish on the bank but never hardly catch anything beside perch once in a while, and now it's a whole new level, and I got hooked...I got a 18ft Alumaweld Stryker boat 90hp, if you guy see me on lewisville lake, say hello ,but dont run me oval...I cant swim that good...About the reading the fish finder, somtimes I dont know if it accurate.I be seeing fish or trash and I try to drop my slab and not even a single bite... I got lowrance 332 color&gps ..I gota go fishing w you guys one day, and maybe I learn somthing or get a guide who will go on my boat and teach me.. And thanks JVnitro for the post, thats alot info...mine's not that clear like yours, guess i need alot of adjusting... Guess you guys have a good Memorial weekend,and if you guy fishing sunday pm me ...I'm meetin up w brian 007 or noogeese to get some of mouse lure at lewisville lake.. Good luck

I really need to get a new fish finder. I have a Lowrance that came with my boat, but it is one of those smaller ones. I have been in spots where the whole screen has what looks like black specks all over it and a few lines, but nothing like that above. I never had any luck so I figured it was just a ton of bait fish. Which I figured the fish would be right there with them as well. I have never tried the zoom feature so next time I get out I will see what that does. Did not go out today when it said the wind was going to be 18-25 mph.

How do you have the sensitiviy set? I manually set mine for the water depth because the auto sensitivity setting on mine tells me there are fish there when there isn't. David Everitt is the one who showed me how to set mine and that saved me hours of frustration. Thanks David

You know Dave that could be my problem. I don't know much about them so I have never changed the setting. Some of the screens I have seen would make anyone say there are fish everywhere. I drop humdingers and TNT's and still no bite. I have a ton of options so I will play with it a little bit. I know I have the sensitivity and also a depth option. I also turn off the fish tracker option which is on by default everytime I turn it on. It makes everything appear to be a fish.

Guys,
I was out at sunrise this morning (Sunday) ... and fished till noon. I caught ONE sandie. ONE!!!

I started off South of the island and then moved to the humps to the north of the dam. I spied some other fishermen there and politely asked what they were using and if they had any tips. They were using small slabs and their advice was to jig off the bottom. This is precisely what I was doing. The water was choppy and I used a weighted anchor to slow my drift. I must have fished there for a good two hours and caught my solitary fish.

But ... and here's the thing ... I watched my neighbours fishing from about 100 feet away. They were bringing in fish cast after cast. They must have been using double lures as I saw them brining in two fish at the same time on many occassions. Those guys were using a trolling motor and weren't stationary. I was drifting slowly. I covered the same area as they did after they left and still nothing.

I am at a loss!! I intend to go out there again at dawn tomorrow to try again. If anyone sees me (a Larson 19' bowrider) feel free to come up and say hi.

I finally got my new cell ... the # is 817-939-9916

Neil

Kolban,

That 100' can make ALL the difference in the world. There is probably something to that structure that makes them stay where the other guys are fishing. Where they are can be a huge depth diffence than where you are. Also when I see someone catching and I am not, I try to see how fast, slow or how much they are working the baits. Also, size of your lure can make a difference.

Keep trying and don't get discouraged, and also try to go with some of the guys that have offered and they can help you.

Good luck.

What type of rod and lures are you using? I had a guy go out with me a while back and brought his own rod. He told me he wasn't getting any bites and I was catching all the fish. I switched him rods and he immediately starting catching fish. We were using the same slab, but his rod had too much action(way to flimsy) and he could not feel the bite with it. Sometimes all you will feel is a tick or the rod load up and with a flimsy tipped rod it is difficult to detect a bite.
To catch a double tie on a jig using a dropper loop about 18 inches above the slab.
Good luck tomorrow.

What Lancer said is also very good advice.

When you are slabbing you should be able to feel the bottom and tell if it is mud, sand or rock.

I am no expert but I mostly catch my fish on hard or rock bottoms.

Neil I have seen 10 ft make a huge differance. There are two schools of thought on achoring up or using the trolling motor. I do both but most of the time I anchor up. If you were dragging an anchor you will not catch any fish that will put sandbass down quicker than anything. If you are going to ANCHOR you need one that will hold. Maybe we can get togeather in the latter part of this week. I have my buddies boat at my house but I am not real big on using it without him.Mine is getting fixed wednesday.
Johnny

Hi guys ... as for getting discouraged ... ain't gonna happen. I think I mentioned I grew up in Scotland. Land of river salmon and pretty trout (I didn't catch there either :-). Ive been fishing unsucessfully for about 7 years on EM and haven't stopped yet. Even when I don't catch fish, the peace of the day makes it wonderful.

Ive been PMing all the guys who offered to show me the ropes now I am back in town for a while and I hope to get something going ... but no rush. I am unspeakably gratefull to you all and the last thing I want to do is overstay my welcome or appear to be "pushy". I hope to be one of the "good guys" ... so again ... no rush and no dissapointment here about lack of success. I am sure it will all happen and click one day.

Todays posts on my report have been gold!!

As for rods ... I have (literraly) 10 rods and reels on my boat. I figured I could throw money at the game and see what happens. Right now I can't honestly say I know to tell the differences between them. Some are 5ft, some are 7ft. Some are stiff and some have a lot of action. I have open face and bait casters.

As for lures, I am using Bomber Slab spoon:

http://www.bomberlures.com/details.aspx?category=B8800SlabSpoon

I am fishing silver. Today I fished a 7 ft, flimsy tipped rod. I had assumed that the flimsier the tip, the more "bouncy" action the lure would have which I had assumed would be easier.

As for the anchor drifting, that makes WAY too much sense. I had a nice "big" anchor last week but it got snagged and I had to cut it loose. I went to cabellas and thought I'd try one of their 13lb lead weight anchors as opposed to the "anchor" shapped anchors. In todays wind that just slowed down my rate of movement.

My technique in jigging a spoon probably needs some tweaking. I drop the lure to the bottom, give my reel a couple of turns and then jig gently. I don't know whether to jog continuously (which is pretty much what I do) or to jig and hold ... or something else.

Again ... MANY thanks and if you should spy me on the lake, come say hi.

Don't laugh but I lost my ball cap a couple of weeks back and went to a store to buy a new one and found one that tickled my sense of humor. Its a womans cap (complete with area for putting a pony tail through). It has pink trim ... but what sealed the deal for me was the logo stenciled on the front:

"So what if I do fish like a girl!!"

:-)

Neil

ah, you just stated what is off . like i say to other fishermen . look, listen, and ask. well you have been looking and asking and here is where i see the problem.
you are reeling in the slab off the bottom.
drop that lure- what ever it is - to the bottom.
make a tight line and make sure your rod tip is above the water and however your comfortable.
have enough room to set the hook.
jerk or raise your rod tip up vertically about 2 to 5 feet.
sometimes its only 6 inches then some times its two jerks and let the lure drop down to the bottom again.

*** very important ***

follow your lure to the bottom with your rod tip or look at your line and determine if something hit it.

fish will 99% of the time it on the drop.

****

if im giving kolban bad info , please correct me anyone .
oh, i might be out there too on EM in a teal/white Larson runabout.

John you are correct. The fish will hit the lure almost always on the drop so you must not have any slack in the line on the drop or you'll never know you got a bite.
Vary or hops until the fish tell you what they want. Sometimes 6 inches, sometimes a foot, other times they want it completely still or just shaking a bit.

John, Lance,
WOW!!! Gold my friends ... pure gold!!! I have been hitting bottom and then probably jigging with the lowest part of the jig being 6 inches - 1 to 2 feet from the bottom. If I hear you correctly I should try and always allow the spoon/slab to hit bottom each time. I also heard something here that was also new to me. I don't know whether it should be a "V" ... down/up ... or a "U" ... down ... wait ... up". But what I think I am hearing is that they hit the lure on the way down ... so I think we are talking a "V" and the hit will be on the way down ...

I realize that there are no "this is always the case" rules in fishing but today I have heard a WORLD of tips ... each one seems to point to my lack of success.

To date, here is what I think I have learned:

1. Use a graph
2. Don't drag an anchor. Be motionless or use no anchor. The anchor spooks the fish.
3. Potentially a a high action rod is a bad thing as you won't feel the bites
4. Sandies usually strike on the down flutter of the lure.
5. Fish the lure at the bottom ... don't hit bottom and bring up a bit before jigging. Jig with the lure starting at the bottom. The lure should hit bottom if not taken on every down flutter.
6. Try some different sized spoons/slabs
7. Learn from the fish what they want. Pay attention to where on the flutter the fish struck (6 inches, 12 inches from bottom) or if holding still and simple wiggling.

Again ... thank you my friends. As I say, I am now looking for some way to "pay it back" so everyone on the forum is welcome to holler to me if I can help in some/any way. At a minimum, if I see someone like me in the future ... I'll jump right in as best I can.

Neil

My first post on here but, I wanted to add something to this. I have been out there fishing Friday, Sat. and today in the afternoon. I have found the larger groups of fish off the humps a little bit and most of them have been in 34-40ft of water but, I have been catching them at 20-24ft.

Most of the time I can slab them right off the bottom but this weekend for some reason they have been about 8-10 cranks off the bottom. These fish have also been very good sized fish and we had 1 fish go 18" yesterday. I tried Yellow, White, Silver, Silver/Black, Blue/silver, some with white jigs, some with white/green jigs etc and they all seemed about equal. EM fish usually like the white one for me on a regular basis though, I have never fished when the white ones did not work.

Now, everything they said above is true but, somedays you have to make some changes.

I think if you want to catch them religiously you are going to have to learn to use a good graph.

Oh and on the bottom we caught quite a few kittyfish and stinkin drums.

I have been in a white Kenner with a Merc225 on it. If you see me come say high. Next week I will be in a 24' Champion, white with a blue arrow and a 300 zuke on it.

Welcome to TFF Qzilla. I had one day early spring where I had to keep the slab 10-12 feet down in 35 feet of water or I wouldn't get bit. Doesn't happen often, but there are those days. Glad you have been getting into them this weekend. I've been at home measuring my wifes contractions hoping to go to the hospital. I'm living vicariously through the reports on here. She was laughing at me today as I sat in the boat putting new line on my reels. She said its torture for not taking her the last 3 months.