Ray Roberts sand bass are on a solid winter pattern laying close to the bottom most of the time. You have to find them with your electronics and then see if you have found active fish that will bite. it is not unusual in the 46 degree water that we have now to find fish that will not bite. The higher off the bottom the fish show on your electronics the better chance you have that they will bite. We are fishing mainly from Isle du Bois State Park to the hayfield on humps, points, roads and ridges. Best depth this week has been 32 to 34 feet deep. Catching all our fish on Cotton Cordell CC Spoons 3/4 oz. chrome color with a Flies-by-Night fly tied 14 inches above the spoon. The bites can be real light in cold water and a sensitive rod and line is important. We use 7ft. Castaway light action popping rods and 12lb. Silverthread copolymer line for maximum feel. A couple short hops of the spoon and then dead stick it just off of the bottom has been working for us.

Have fun fishing,

Tim


Tracy, Jeff, Bennie and Leroy on 12/29/2008 with 100 sandies.

Nice going Tim... when that water gets below 49-50 degrees is really takes patients.

Nice box of fish! Saw you out there Monday with a boat full of happy people.

nice report

Way to go Tim. We need to head up there soon!

you are the man on Ray Bob. Tim, is the Hayfield on the map or a special place of yours? If on the map pls. advise as related to Wolf island and or Johnsons creek. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated as I am headed there on Jan 01. I haven't been on your lake since May. Thx. GB.

Great looking box of fish!!!! Congrats on the trip!!!!

gborg,

The hayfield is north east of Wolf Island in between Wolf Creek and Indian Creek. It is an open area one tree line south of the road that runs between Wolf and Indian. This time of year there is usually a boat or 2 there.

Good luck,

Tim

Tim,
Was Monday as productive for you as last Sunday?

texasblueheron,

Sunday was slow and monday was good. I posted the pic with the wrong date and then changed it. We caught fish sunday but could not get a good bite going anywhere.

Tim

That's fishing. I was on Grapevine Monday afternoon and couldn't buy a bite. Maybe I was fishing too deep; 30 to 32 feet. I stuck with the deeper humps. It seems like Roberts has the most dependable winter bite in the area.

Thank you for the feedback and we appreciate the posts!