The July issue of Texas Fish and Game has Lake Calaveras "The Wall" as a hot spot. The GPS: N29 17.245, W98 18.770 It is a summer time hot spot. Try cutbait and livers for cats and reds...

I've been catching my tilapia in real shallow water usually near moss or reeds. The moss sure messes up your castnet. Know what you mean about a fickle wind, I had trouble setting up a good drift. Seems like I was always going the wrong way. Channels are a lot of fun to catch, I thought that the big one that I caught was going to turn out to be a red, but a channel is great too. Right now I am doing prett well , but I still haven't figured out how to catch them during the winter months.
The "crappie Wall" is a super place for catching reds, but it's usually crowded and plus your boat is constantly being beat against the wall.
Noone else fishing Calaveras but you and I, Jess ???
Roger

when you are drifting how deep are you usually fishing?

I am doing best drifting in 17' of water. Early- a little shallower and later a little deeper. I don't usually go shallower than 12' nor deeper than 26'.
I try to drift water that varies in depth. Also, I don't drift if I don't see fish or bait on the sonar.
Jess

Any particular area to start early at Calaveras since I'll be headin' out Fri. a.m. as soon as the gates open. Is the old pond in the ol' cove to the right of the dam doing any good?

I usually try drifting in shallow water at daybreak, reds,cats, and stripers seem to come into the shallows at night to feed and then move out as it gets light. Most of the stripers that I have been catching were in less then 5' of water.
30' is just about my maximum depth.
Roger

When drifting at calaveras how high off the bottom are you keeping the bait? Or are you free lining with out a weight and just letting it drift down towards the bottom as the boat drifts with the wind? I have never fished Either Braunig or calaveras but have been wanting to head down there and give them a try so any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

When drifting I usually hook my bait through the lips and let out about 50' of line, you can put a small splitshot above your bait 3 or 4 ft to help it run deeper if you prefer, but I think that perch or tilapia have an instinct to head for the bottom. Catching the right bait is the most important part of driftfishing. Live perch or tilapia 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches is ideal. Once it is dead or not very lively, put a new bait on.
Roger

what are the people with the baloons on there lines doing? ive seen it several times at caleveras and its always baffled me.

The balloons are a method where you can drift more than a couple rods at one time, and cover more water at different depths. Also works good fishing for wary fish that might spook from the approach of the boat. Fished on the downwind side of the boat you can then have the bottom draggers on the upwind side, thus covering more water at different depths.

After reading the Cally reports posted here I figured I'd head out there and give it a try. Saturday night I rigged three rods with Carolina rigs (half ounce of lead) for the next day.

The alarm went off way too early Sunday morning, but I rolled out, lit up the smoker, rubbed down a brisket and put it on the smoker for the day. Arrived at Cally in time to wait in line for the gate to open at 6 a.m. Two or three throws with the castnet and I had plenty of tilapia and rio grande perch for the day.

On the water at 6:30, ran up to the powerlines and made several drifts in the "magic" zone of 20 to 14 feet of water.

Being on the lake was akin to lurking in the bowels of hell. The slight north wind was blowing the superheated water vapor off the water's surface...then the sun started to rise...and the wind stayed light. The heat was oppressive by 8 a.m.

Next I anchored up in 23' of water just south of the power lines. Then I went over to the west arm. Drifted south of the tracks then anchored up near the tracks. Next drifted the hump between the dam and the wall.

By this time it was 11 a.m. and time to go home add some mesquite to the smoker.

No cats, no reds, no hybrids.

Sean:
Roger has made a believer out of me. Take the weights off the line. Fish two of the rods with live bait and drag one with a big chunk of Tilapia. Pray for a slight wind (not out of the North). The wind has been so light lately that even small weights will stop the boat.
Jess

This setup has worked out well for me, but I always fish with atlest 4 rods . Went this AM and things were very slow(Monday), I did manage to catch 2 good stripers and 3 good size channels, no reds. Lots of tilapia and shad...one cast and I had more then I could use. One thing that I try not to do and that is spend my time running all over the lake. I usually go to where I know they're at and fish em hard. Sometimes they're just not in the mood.
Roger

The wind did shift to the southeast at a decent clip, allowing me to cover water a little quicker. My baits were dragging bottom with the weight setup. I was amazed that I only got hung up once.

This being a learning experience, next time I'll ditch the weights and freeline the tilapia. I'm guessing the fish are supended in the water column rather than hugging bottom (I wonder where the theromocline is on Cally, or if it has one at all)?

Thanks for the info.

Attached are areas where I fished. Green lines indicate areas I drifted; the two red dots show where I anchored up.

Sean...You were fishing some choice areas, plus you had about the best bait....you should have connected with atlest a few. I would say that you did all you can, now the rest is up to the fish. I have had the best luck going with a combination of freelining and bottom bouncing. Bet next time your luck will change.
Roger