Tips for finding winter time fish , deep open water ?

[Ketchn]

My boat dock is about 6 miles from the big bridge, I have not fished it in years, Too loud , too many people , it is always more cold and windy
under the bridge. But yes , it does hold fish. When I first started fishing here , that was about the only place I could catch fish consistantly.


Yes I have livescope, and side imaging, I have seen pictures of open water schools of crappie , just not on my machine.

thanks for the replys

MO

maybe watch ole fishingkens version of open water crappie on his home lake ....?
he is targeting roamers on deep open water flats .....are you up by the lil er bridge or down by the dam btw ?

[mozingo1952]

I am just north of the mouth of Stone Chimney Creek. It is about 2 miles to the dam , about 6 miles to the big bridge.
In the past , I have just fished areas where they have been caught historically. As I say it is hit or miss,
This year I am going to make more of an effort to use electronics to locate schools , rather than just fishing blind.
I may even resort to dunking minnows, as much as I hate to.

Mo

[NIMROD]

Not all lakes are the same. We see them follow Shad up the creeks here in winter. Some shallow lakes they will be shallow and big deep lakes not usual for them to be 30' or deeper on stumps.

[Foxy Jig]

you need to talk to TackleBoat from the SC forum

he uses livescope to locate schools and targets them with great success

[mozingo1952]

On my end of the lake , the river channel is 40 + with lots of 35 ft water, lots of water less than 20. In a few weeks , I will be able to eliminate all the 20 ft water For some reason , I can only seem to catch them down to around 28-30. I hope to do better this winter.

Thanks for all the replies and tips

MO

[skeetbum]

My thought, ledges that fall in that sweet spot depth can hold ‘em. If there’s no bait nearby, they aren’t gonna be there. I’ve done well on standing timber and deeper brush. Find em and then switch to DI and hammer em. I also don’t use spot lock on low wind days. I do better drifting off of them or the structure and re approaching, usually from downwind. Extra slow. I fished some standing timber in 50’ and caught em about 35’. Caught em good enough that I still smile when I think about those trips. Also, dead stick. You can’t hold the jig still and the fish don’t exert much energy for anything.,

[chaunc]

Can’t really speak of Texas fishing but here up north, when the water temps drop below 40, the shad move towards the shallower warmer water around our shorelines. Not uncommon for us to catch crappies in 3-5 ft water using a small bait under a bobber set just above bottom. Wouldn’t hurt to check these area with your livescope. Find the wood and your chances increase.