Go to technique of late?

What’s been your “go to” technique of late?

C rig

Lipless Crankbait.

But now that the water temps are heading south of 55; that will change

Really been working on finding a jig bite (I have next to 0% confidence in them) and have finally forced a few to bite, but when my confidence is shot again I move to the C-rig with a Bull worm and have just been killing them with that worm lately.

Crankbait

This is a technique that has worked for me on all lakes and with your confidence baits. It is about finding fish that are moving up to feed.
- Do your mapping work at home.
- Look for contours in 10 to 15 ft of water that are extremely irregular.
- Irregular features are steep drops, rock piles, heavy brush setting on one side of a point, a gouge in a point, a underwater channel that slams against a point. All of which are different than the area before and after that feature on that contour.
- Already have Icons dropped on your depth finder map so you know where to cast to in order to target that feature.
- Drop a WayPoint at the beginning of your boat trail on the 20 ft contour so you are staying off the top of the fish.
- Drop a WayPoint at the end of the trail on that same contour. Highlight that contour line so you can follow that trail in and out around these irregular features.
- Having two fishermen in the boat is a big plus in catching bigger fish and developing a pattern.
- Man in front is glued to the chart keeping the boat off the fish and casting specific to the targeted irregular features in the 10 ft to 15 ft. range using all his confidence search baits.
- Man in the back of the boat is dragging the contour with a Crig. as the boat goes in and out on the contour. His rig crosses points, gouges and varies in depth from 10 ft to 30 ft. as the boat follows this trail.
- It is my experience that the man in the back will hook up with the big fish of the day.
- If fishing by yourself a decision has to be made. Do I want to target the smaller feeding fish up shallower and catch numbers or do I want to drag the outer edges of the irregular features for the one big bite?

Wobble head

Watching re-runs of MLF has been my go-to for the last couple of weeks. I haven't zeroed yet.

Had a jig in my hand a lot lately

Skunk

I grew up fishing worms . . . . and then lizards, senkos, etc. (all the same stuff really except the Senkos are usually fished weightless and I fish the others with a weight). I have been trying to branch out: swimbaits (not the great big muthas though), spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, square bills, hard jerkbaits (I did catch a lot of fish in the 70s on a clear Rattlin' Rogue), jigs, drop shot, C-rig, lipless . . . . the problem is that I have confused myself thoroughly. I think I am going to tackle swimbaits (including underspin headed ones) and med/deep crankbaits and just fish those exclusively for awhile until I figure some [censored] out. Then I may go to jerkbaits and drop shot exclusively until I have a handle on how that world works.

The most important thing for me is to figure out how to mark fish in open water or search for them efficiently in different types of cover in different areas of the lake. I always have trouble figuring out have I not found the fish or are they here and want another color . . . or another presentation . . . . or a rattle or no rattle . . .

If it wasn't for wanting to learn to fish the wind, I might just sit back and T-rig all day like the good ol' days. Maybe drifting for catfish would be more my thing!

Weightless Senko is what I have probably caught my last 10 fish on. That's all I can catch with lately!

I'm really trying to have a jig tied on and get better at that.

“Go to” someplace not crowded and fish soft plastics suuuuuuper slooooow.

jerk bait

C-rig, jig, square bill, t-rig.

This is why I have been keeping the crankbait in my hand lately. It's hard to argue with the fish when they are eating it like this.

Where are you fishing with those bites?!?! I have caught most of my fish, usually good numbers, with a square but not a one of them have choked a plug like that. Not in the last 4 months. Good gracious.

^^^ that was on Lewisville Saturday in our aba tournament. Actually caught them alot better 2 weeks ago.

Lol. I’ve been on Lewy a ton lately. Lawd help me!

Main lake rock stretches close to rock transitions from bolders to smaller rock caught all my fish the past couple weeks running the same pattern.

Must be submerged. Thanks! I’ll be on the hunt! Most of the hard structure I fish is either shallow or 20+ deep with 3 exceptions that are mid-depth that I know of. I like Lewy but still have a lot to learn about it.

You can see the transitions on the bank where I'm fishing, spend some time on Google earth. You can look at the lake 6-8 ft low and find some great areas. Just takes time to find them. The best quality I have found is in the 4-8ft range lately.

I feel dang foolish. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve used GE for Ray Roberts but not once for Lewy. Just now finding out that some of the areas I’m fishing have much more to offer that I’m not even touching. Hooking up the boat as we speak!

The shakey head has been my best friend for the last month. Its getting better and better as the temp drops. I'm just doing short drags and letting it sit for a few seconds. I'm catching good numbers and size, caught an 8lber on Hubbard last week.

On the shakey head, I'm using trick worms, finesse worms, robo worms, baby ragetail thumpers, and baby brush hogs. I'm mostly fishing between 8ft and 15ft these days.

12 oz curls have been the ticket

jig and swim bait

C-Rigged creature baits fished slow in 12'-16'

Weedless Wacky stick baits on edges of vegetation....4' or so where you can find it.

At least here in E.Tx

Anything that looks like a shad

I have 2 patterns going on right now. a CB, like anyone could guess that, and a swim jig with a trailer on it. Both have been being bit pretty regularly. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Been catching them pretty good on a-rigs the last month and a half when I've had the time to go.

The deer stand! I always want to fish in the Fall and Winter, but i'm too busy hunting!

This is what's been working for me.

tiling floors, kitchen backsplash, and showers.

caught some on a jerkbait on Texoma a couple weeks ago. that was fun. caught my PB smallmouth

A Small Finesse Jig a lot here lately.