Fellow Joe Pool fisherman. I am at complete loss the last three weeks. Did ok in the Spring, did ok in the summer, no clue since water temps have started dropping. Don't need specifics just a few hints would be greatly appreciated.

What have you tried?

I caught a few small fish sunday morning cranking shallow wood in pockets. Temp was 62 degrees. No sight of shad moving shallow yet.

Joe Pool has a very low quantity of shad according to tpw doing thier lake surveys,which means a low quantity of fish,which means its a tough lake to fish.

I'm serious about this - I can't believe that JP has a low shad population!

-Alton

i have alot of luck dragging c rig slow and big football jigs over humps in about 40ft

I think it's a size problem rather than quantity. I have not seen tiny shad like Joe Pool shad in any of the other lakes I fish.

Oh, and they were all over the banks for a couple of weeks about a month ago.

They should stock a bunch of gizzard shad then

Go to the tpw website and lake survey reports.In the summary it says with electroshocking for several years that the shad population was much lower than that of other reservoirs in the area.

Yep, a pretty dismal report. It basically says if the hydrilla doesn't come back bass fishing will continue to decline.

I still see schools of shad in the creeks early morning, and just before sunset. I have fished Joe Pool probably 75 times in the past year, and it is has been very inconsistent. Still waiting to catch a big girl outta there, but there are definitely fish to catch. Broke my line off on a fatty about a month ago on a wake bait in a creek around alot of timber. I have most luck on t-rigged hypersticks...blue bruiser or watermelon red, and square bills...usually light colors. Good luck

The big girls are there. I was fortunate enough to have a 7 and a 9 (approximately) on back to back days in early summer.

I have pulled an 8 and 10 out,but countless dinks.

I have spent the most time fishing the grass and in the creeks. Shocked that I have not had much luck around the grass, mostly dinks. Also surprised by the lack of shad/bass in the creeks with the temps dropping. Keep expecting to pull in there and see big balls of shad but really have not seen much. While the size of the shad on the lake is small, recents falls have had good quantities when water temps reach these numbers.

they should stock that lake with shad why dont they