great responses everybody.

regarding humps. john, i know you talk about them a lot.....

how big of a hump do you guys have to find before you mark it? it it comes up a foot or two, is that significant?

i can see myself with 100 waypoints and wasting my time.... LOL

Very simple stuff. Hire a guide on your home lake.
Tell them up front, you want to learn. You can spend
countless hours, lots of $$$ on fuel, equipment, etc
trying to learn. You can climb the learning curve
very quickly with a good guide. The guide's fee is
inexpensive compared to the alternate and will save
you $$$ in the future. Consider his fee, a great
investment that will pay large dividends in the
future. Most of your "education" can be applied to
other lakes as well. I learned on my own and spent
countless hours and $$$$. Never again! I teach some
now. Most of my "students" make me look like a
novice after one teach trip.

David
www.davesguideservice.net

this has potential to be the hottest thread this forum has ever seen!!!!!

DLG,

I am sure some of the guides will be able to give you a better explanation of humps than I can but here is my 2 cents worth.

Seems to me it is not a matter of how tall the hump is vs. the surrounding water but if that hump is in the water column that the fish want to be in. Confused yet? LOL.
Basically if there is a hump that is 25' surrounded by 35' of water but the fish are in 17' of water then not much will be on that hump.

Basically if I am on a lake I don't know much about, I try to find out what depth the fish have been caught lately and then find humps that correlate to that depth. Doesn't have to be the top of the hump, but goes at least to that depth if not higher.

Sorry for the rambling but I have been at the Phoenix airport since 5:30 this morning trying to get a flight out and and going stir crazy. Not far to go either.

Bruce

Also forgot to add, doesn't have to be a hump in the correct depth. Points can also hold lots of fish, if the depth is correct.

If I am not sure what depth, I will set up a drift that goes from deep to shallow. I watch the depth and can tell the bottom composition from the feel of the slab. If I start catching fish, I remember the depth and either anchor (if the wind is bad,) or use the trolling motor to keep me at that depth.
That is if I don't see lots of fish on the ff. Obviously, if they are schooling well, all bets are off.

I am with you David, I am no guide but I know how much I spent $$$ and time I spent to figure out a few things, not that I have them all figured out by any means... On my home lake my favorite hump is very large in size depending on water level when they irrigate out of the lake it can change often. But seems best when top of the hump is say 17-19ft and droppens off to say 22-25 on edges. Another thing that helps if rather or not the hump is holding shad on it.

I am also with David, hire a guide. But if you have a boat and fish for yourself, concentrate on what the guide can teach you more than putting a limit in the boat. And keep a good log. If you limit out on fish on a certain hump at a certain time of year, chances are the next year at under about the same conditions you will probably do well also. When you are with your guide be asking questions about what the fish will be doing and how to go about catching them 30, 60, or however many days from now. The fish will not do the same thing or will be in the same place all year. And still spend $$$$$$$$ to spend all the time on the water. The only guaranteed way not to catch fish is when your hook is not in the water. Hope this helps, good luck.

Man, I really do thank you guys for your input im taking all this down , and would love for some more input ... some of you have said some stuff i have never heard of that sounds great to do i plan to test some of these skills this saturday on my local lake, hopefully the fish gods will like that day or maybe i will just be doing the right stuff this time. once again thanks for all the input and keep it coming .. now if we could just get some of YOU GUIDES to tell us all a lil tips and tricks out ofthe goodness of your heart hahaha!!!

I did

LoanGuy, some humps produce differnt times of year. Their is a hump on Lewisville that is a little bigger then my boat, but the creek channel runs by it.... it will hold fish. This time of year bait is running around...bait will hold to structure, so will fish. As the water warms on Hubbard, the fish will suspend above the humps. The pronlem with Hubbard is the old road bed and levee, it runs north and south on the lake, the fish will run on it...their are trees on the old levee, its hard to fish... Now Lew and CC have alot of humps

you aint ramblin..... that was an awesome response!!

yes, i understand points..... and i really like that robertson's(?) point.... *or whatever it is called....cant find the map*
there is some SERIOUS depth changes there. had fun with the whif and kiddo while hanging out there with live bait!!!
\

udaman

quote:
"Basically if there is a hump that is 25' surrounded by 35' of water but the fish are in 17' of water then not much will be on that hump."

I really follow the above statement. I've also found you can be a couple of feet off on a particular hump and look like a novice and the other guy looks like a pro. In my opinion once you find fish in a certain depth then those are the depths I look for. So I would not be too hard on myself. Sandbass are not the finickiest of fish and will bite most chrome plated lead. (Not to dish anyone on here thats selling their stuff)

Good sensitive rod.

The right chrome plated, white, chartruese, rainbow, glow head, little george, humdinger, TnT, little river, baits you can find.

A good graph and enjoy figuring it out. Once you catch fish, see what it looks like on the graph, then duplicate as many times as you can.

Now you're ready for rocket science.

EAT SANDBASS

These fish seem to like structure like any other
fish and the location of bait is a big deal and
the size of the bait whickh alot of people have
talked about.Humdingers,Slabs and bait immitation
lures all work.
As of late the depth has been important because the
bait is up shallower.The structure can be the bank,timber,and humbers or shallow water close to
deeper channels.Lately I have been doing well close to deep water on flats and sand Bars in shallow water.There are alot of good guides that
post on TFF all of which can help anyone wanting to learn the spring fever for Sand Bass/White bass.I like TNT,and Humdingers because they match the bait well onlLake Lewisville.Great fishing everyone