Fishing Natural Lake (Bayou's)

[SwampDog]

I'm trying to do my best to stay with crappie fishing but I'm so discouraged trying to find these darn fish. I fish a natural Lake(somewhat coastal). What I'm getting at is that I've ran my entire lake over back and forth and have seen only the range of 4.3ft to 5.4 ft. I've looked it over on my depth finder for natural structure but can't seem to find any.

So with all this being said and reading this website as much as I do I have put out some condo's. I have put out 2 PVC ones and am making around 12 bamboo ones tommorrow. So along with everything I've got going on I should find these hidden fish.

Could anyone offer me any advice that I might be doing wrong? Any tips for this type of enviroment.

I just get so discouraged with not being able to locate these fish and I hit some of the most probable spots. Anyway's I suppose I'm finished venting. Thanks for everyone that posts and offers any advice. Thanks!

[Wiskers]

We have something close to what you are discribing. We have natural lakes up here in the river bottoms that are shallow and get very clear at times. Some have some good structure others don't. Back years ago, before Spider Riggin was a buzz word and depth findes were the rage, my grandpa & I would hang several rods out of his ol'jon boat and just let the wind drift us across the lake. When we'd hit fish grandpa would drop an old piece of wood with a big nut tied to it to mark the spot and he'd skull the boat around the marker till we quit catching fish. Then we go to drifting again. Try relaxing, set out a few long poles and let the wind do the work.

[Mo'nBack]

SD; I fish bayous here alot and I was wondering if the lake you're talking about has a bayou that connects to it? Does one come into it somewhere or go out of it somewhere? If it does, then that's where I would look for the deeper water right now and the fish. Around here the fish come out of the lakes and shallow water following the shad into the deeper bayous this time of the year. If there's no deeper water, then I would suggest relying more on your fishing to find the fish and not the depth finders. I believe in depth finders, but I believe in fish on the end of my line more. Also lately with the mild winter I have found the fish VERY shallow for this time of the year. Try within 30 yds from the bank around the lake. I don't minnow fish, but you might try jigs and or minnows. Ask around to see if anyone else catches fish there and try to found out a general direction (they may not tell you exactly where, but give you an idea where to start). Don't know if any of this helps, but I hope it does.

[SwampDog]

Thanks so much for the support guys. I greatly appreciate it.

Wiskers>> I've actually thought about what you said and possibly try it. I've got me some rod holders coming to help with this type of fishing. So hopefully I might be able to find some crappie.

Mo'nBack>> You are exactly right We have a few tributaries(very small bayou's) that lead into the lake THEN you hit the lake(which is around the depth mentioned above) and it goes back to a main Bayou which is where I've found the major depth changes. I've seen the bayou as deep in some spots almost 14ft. The place I set my condo's is before a big bend in about 8ft of water. It's approximatley 20 yards of the bank(bank is about 2ft deep) and it goes from 2 to 4 to 8 to 12 feet in that general location. (On the depth finder there were fish everywhere in that elevation change. So I decided to drop my condo's there.

Is this the right thing to do? Am I in any type of right direction?

Thanks again guys for all the help.

Chad

[SwampDog]

here is the link from terraserver of a picture of my lake I fish on. Take a look at it and if you anyway understand my post you probably can guess where I placed my condo's.

http://www.terraserver.com/imagery/i...&t=zoompt&dat=

[Mo'nBack]

SD; I think right now I would either be checking out the small cuts on the north and east side of the bayou and the main bayou itself. In the lower right of the pic is a large bend in the bayou away from the big lake and the smaller one in the middle. It widens out right there and I'd be checking it out for now. Come spring I would head back to the middle body of water or the rectangular body of water on the north side of the lower part of the bayou. The bayou splits and makes a island, and this body of water is on the north leg of the split. What I really like though, is the river at the top right of the pic! If that's the Miss, then just go up river a little and you should find some oxbows off of it pretty close. I fish oxbows on the Red in spring and summer with great success. At least if you went there you could give yourself a break on the hard to find ones and perhaps refresh your mind so that you could see the bayou in a different light the next time you went. They can be aggravating, but once you find'em, it's well worth the effort.
Good luck!

[SwampDog]

Mo'nBack>> Thank you so much for offering me your advice. I have often thought about fishing one area you talked about but somewhat was skeptical about doing so. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me out with this subject.

Thanks again a Million,

Chad