Dougw

If you spend some time scanning you are apt to find things like this.... one of many things I've found. Didn't fish it this time around...

True... True... True... Fished Tue-Thur. Caught one fish Tue. But on Wed. and Thur. Did much better. 7-10 keepers both days. An easy 5#er(might'a gone 6) on a rat-l-trap capped the day Wed. One around 4#s took the honors Thur. on a frog. 12-15# best 5 both days. Not great but it's a start. Finding an area holding fish then expanding on that area is what works for me. "Expanding" an area, for me, can be locating a spot on the spot or... A different bait on the same spot/area. I caught fish on a: trap, frog, chatter bait, stick bait, c'rig, finess rig(4" finess worm w/ 1/16oz. weight). By far the frog and trap were the best producers but I also threw them the most. I don't like fishing an area that has had a parade of boats fish it. I'm having to get over that - for now. I'm a bit unconventional on how/where I present a bait and that's been working in my favor. Eventually I'll locate some spots off the beaten path that aren't hammered by a ton of other boats but for now I've gotta go with what's working for me.

Nope... Not just yours. Bouys or BoatLanes, you need to keep a sharp lookout when running!!! Did a lot of scanning yesterday and a fair amount of fishing. Did not find the key that unlocks the lake. Got several bites c'riggin' ~15fow. Caught one about 3#s and got wrapped up in a tree with another. Worked a fluke and small swimbait in 2-6fow with nary a peck to show for it. Pitched a t'rig stickbait around wood and grass some with nothing to show for the effort. Caught a couple of dinks running the bank with a 1/4oz. Trap after the front came through. Late yesterday I did find a "confidence" spot. I'm going to hit it first thing this morning and see what happens. For you guys wanting to get off the bank and get better at off shore fishing I will say this... Just as there is an early bite shallow many times there is an equal or better early bite off shore. Hit it right and you can put 20-25#s in the boat w/o ever moving. Mid/late day is not always, or really even often, the best off shore bite.

The product is excellent. ^^^^^ that is the site you want to get it from.

"... 20+ #'s punching hay grass in 2' fow..."

I've got two spots in Housen. One is right on the edge of a boat lane. The other is within trolling distance of the first. I've been fishing Toledo fairly hard since last July and I have yet to see anyone on those two spots. They don't show up on any map electronic/paper that I have ever seen. Both are blatantly obvious with sonar. I anticipate both of them to really start kickin' once the spawn is done.

Army ramp.... I'll be there early tomorrow morning - thunder storms be danged.... Yup! Got a spot like that on Coleto Creek! Nobody else can fish it 'cause they don't know what I'm fishing. If you don't fish a c'rig a lot you'll never find it. If you do fish a c'rig a lot you may find it but if the fish aren't active you'll never have the confidence to sit there and wait on them! Go over it with side/down scan or 2d sonar you wouldn't give it a second thought.

Dedication.... Maybe. Actually it's the easiest part of the process. Having the self-discipline to stay seated and scanning vs getting up and fishing... Now let'em tell ya' - that's the tough part. On some lakes I fish the hazards aren't nearly as great as they are on Toledo. On those lakes I can get on the water at 2am and scan until daybreak. Then I don't feel as guilty when I do get up to fish. I know the area(s) I have marked on this map and many of them are near impossible to scan in the dark.

There's no structure in Caney Creek/Pirates Cove.... Below is a screen shot of Pirates Cove/Caney creek after several sessions sitting in the boat picking apart the navionics map. I don't know how many way points there are - a lot What I was looking for, and way pointed, were structure that contained one or more of the following 1.) Creekbeds 2.) Drop offs(contour lines stacked up) 3.) Roadbeds 4.) Building foundations 5.) Points 6.) Humps A combination of 2 or more from the above list makes it more desirable, to me. While it looks like the way point icons cover the map once zoomed in they really don't and it is easy enough to navigate from one to the next. Unfortunately I've got enough experience with Navionics to know that several/many will be wild goose chases simply because the structure does not exist. But I also know that by looking for it I could very well stumble on some great stuff that is not mapped - happened many times before on other lakes. While there are a lot of way points on this map - there won't always be. What I do is attempt to locate the structure I saw on the map. Sometimes it's there but not exactly as depicted on the map. In any case, When I'm on the water I'll put down yet another waypoint if the structure is as presented on the map or if I locate something not on the map. The difference is I'll use a different shape and color of the new icons. I use a color/shape that when I look at it I instantly know that the structure exist and that I actually scanned it. That icon is yellow. Yellow tells me I physically scanned it. Now.... should I fish that spot and catch a keeper, size doesn't matter as long as it would keep in a tournament, I change the icon color from yellow to green. Actually as soon as I get a keeper in the boat I immediately lay down a waypoint - 'cept this one is round and green. Now I have a waypoint on the structure indicating a keeper came from that location. Additionally I have another waypoint indicating boat position/location when that keeper was boated. Once I've physically scanned the blue 'X' waypoints I have either created a different shaped icon at the same place or in close proximity. If I didn't create another icon it's because nothing of interest was there. After I have scanned all the blue 'X' icons and created additional icons, or not, I'm done with the blue 'X' icons. At that time, with HDS gen2 touch capabilities, I can delete all 'X' icons while not impacting any of the other icons not shaped like an 'X'. It sounds way more complicated than it is and it works for me. May not work for you...

Thanks Catt! I would estimate that I spend 90% of my time in Caney/pirates cove and always start there. Last week I was on Toledo for five days and burned less than ten gallons of fuel... I've located some absolutely dynamite structure there that don't have fish on'em... Yet. By far it seems Housen has the best structure front to back but Caney ain't so shabby in that regard either. As I'm sure you know, confidence either in area, technique, or bait or a combination of those is paramount to success. I'm lacking in confidence at this point and that makes sticking with one area/technique a bit more difficult - but not impossible. I'll be on the lake 3/7-9 next month. I had planned on hitting Negreet/Tenn. Bay Area then. Following your advice I will return to Caney and continue exploring. Obviously the fish are there I just need to connect the what/where/why/how dots to get'em in the boat. You see a raggedy azz burgundy Gambler on the water - swing by n' say howdy!

I'm fishing ABA Dist. 111 and we put in at the Army ramp. I stay at Big Bass Marina and when pre-fishing sometimes put in there or trailer to the Texas side. When I decided to fish the ABA T's I spent days several days in the boat studying my Navionics map. I told a friend of mine, that has been fishing that tournament for several years, that after looking at the structure in Caney/Pirates cove I couldn't see any reason a person would ever need to leave that area to catch fish. I still believe that but... It hasn't been working all that well for me. My "go to" technique is c'rigging and can literally spend hours on one spot/area if the bottom/structure feel/look good to me. Bite or no bite.

Nev'a! I prefer to fish offshore but I simply could not locate any biting fish out there. A guy ask me how I was doing on Friday, which was my best day, I told him I was catching about what you would expect to catch running the bank with a trap but I was hoping to get stupid lucky. History reveals that didn't happen but you just never know! Going back 3/7-9 and then again 3/15-19. I'll be doing a lot of scanning on those trips but I don't think this is the best time of year to figure out a consistent offshore bite, especially on a lake that I don't know. I did some pitching to the hay grass with a t'rig stick bait. It was heavy overcast and I thought the fish would set up on the outer edges but nada... I thought about punching the grass but just didn't think the fish would locate there given the conditions. Apparently I was wrong about that. One team that fished the TxTT that weighed in 20+#'s reported that they caught all their fish in Caney/Pirates Cove punching grass in 2 fow. I ignored one of my mantras which has served me well in the past - If you don't know where they are. You don't know where the aren't. Should'a tried punching.

Yup... That's what I did. I have an Xi5 trolling motor. Put that sucker on heading lock covering water a ~1mph. Friday was a bit congested with a lot pre-fishing going on but not such that I had to alter my course on completely change locations. Saturday was a completely different animal! With TxTT outta Cedar Bend a big tournament out of Pirates Cove and the yet another large tournament outta I don't know where made the places I know kinna popular. I'm still kind'a scared of Toledo and hesitant to make long run for fear of not being able to get back. I did cross the lake to Housen and c'rigged a few off-shore spots that has produced for me in the past but didn't this time - though I did catch a 4#er there on Thursday. Came back across at Blackland cove and fished a few points, coves and docks in there, to no avail. Then went back to Caney and finished up the day there. Sunday I never left Caney. i just started fishing Toledo last October and I figured then it would take a year to get somewhat comfortable with the lake and it appears to me, at this point, that was a pretty good estimate. Though disappointed I am by no means discouraged. To clarify that last statement... People I know that don't fish have told me "Man, you must have a lot of patience to fish for hours without getting so much as a bite!" The answer is no... Don't really have much patience at all. I expect to catch a fish on every cast! That said I will say I handle disappointment extremely well...

We be fine! We also be suckin' on T'bend. Fished 2 T's last weekend and if I can add both days together I caught a limit! Heck I wasn't even trying to win either of them. Simply trying to weigh in a limit. One would'a thought that going down wind blown banks near deep water w/61-65 degree water temps with'a trap that getting a 10# 5 fish limit would'a been easy... One would of been wrong thinking that. Worked well enough Friday but Sat.-Sun. Was a whole 'nuther story. Catt... I'll add my thanks, along with everyone else, for you starting this thread! While it certainly hasn't solved my problem(s) it has at least given me hope.... Thanks again!

Yes, boat lanes is excellent - get it!!!