Thread: Wintertime fishing

So whatever happened to global warming?
I guess the polar ice caps quit melting with it being as cold as it is.

Originally Posted by dhaire

Hey, guys. Thinking of hanging it up here in Central Texas for wintertime fishing as I cannot seem to see a crappie much less buy one. Friend (guide) says find the bait you will find the fish. Also said go deep. So, in 54 degree water I went from 30 fow to 43 fow (about as deep as Lake Austin gets) searching for bait balls and fish. I have a Helix 10 and side view, down view, or traditional sonar found very few possibles. No bites either. Could someone post some pics of what I am supposed to look for? Either that or I am going to hit up Ketchn to take me dock fishing. Thanks.


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I think you may be to deep.

Originally Posted by IceNitro

The fellas who have replied know their stuff. Glad you narrowed search area. That's quite an intimidating lake to a guy on the prairie, like me. I looked at it on Lakemaster, Google Maps and Google Earth. I would look for abnormalities on structure/river channel (Rickie/Redge). The points of the incoming creeks; Dry*, Mayfield* & Bee; look promising. I would look for any type of cover on or around the break lines in those areas ; and the points of the cuts/coves up Bee Creek too. The steep ledges of the structure south of Bee Creek look to be worth checking out; easy access to shallow water from deep. On stretches of stable warm weather they can go shallow* (hays47); plenty of that on east side and creek mouths. Usually this time of year you have to fish many depths to find biting fish. I start fishing whatever I can see on fish finder (suspended or on bottom). I don't know about chirp but usually you cant easily distinguish species, just that there is something there. At first it takes a considerable investment of time to find them but when you do...

I forgot to add riprap near channel can be GOOD. I would like to hear some stories about smartstrike cards too...

Well, we broke the code. Friend and guide sent me a screenshot of 2D Mega with crappie balled up on the bottom. He was good enough to also tell me where we might find them. We did and slammed some slabs! Turns out everyone was correct. I just needed to see an example then “wham” there they were. Now have to improve my approach by going into the wind, finding them, then easing into spot lock. They do move but once I determine which direction I can ease along with them. Boy are they big ones! I am so appreciative of others willing to share insights. This forum is fantastic and my crappie chasing friends are out of this world. Thanks everyone for your insights.


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Originally Posted by dhaire

Well, we broke the code. Friend and guide sent me a screenshot of 2D Mega with crappie balled up on the bottom. He was good enough to also tell me where we might find them. We did and slammed some slabs! Turns out everyone was correct. I just needed to see an example then “wham” there they were. Now have to improve my approach by going into the wind, finding them, then easing into spot lock. They do move but once I determine which direction I can ease along with them. Boy are they big ones! I am so appreciative of others willing to share insights. This forum is fantastic and my crappie chasing friends are out of this world. Thanks everyone for your insights.


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Any chance you might post the picture for us to see? Thanks and glad you figured it out either way.

I have to figure this out. How about this?



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And here is the photo from my friend.



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Thanks for the pictures.

Very interesting. Looks like your using “bottom zoom”? I’ve used that feature for 15 years fishing offshore but it never crossed my mind to try it in freshwater.

What water temp are you looking at? How are you catching them that deep?