Thread: My summer poor on South end of Rayburn.

Bummer! Is there any timber still standing in water say 15' deep or a little less? I would give standing timber a shot especially early in the day. I feel like there is a depth of water over in that lake that they are going to right now so they can feed up for winter. Finding that spot/area and depth will surely pay off if found. I seem to remember one of the coves West of Farmers long ago had timber in the back of it, maybe 3 fingers? If so I would probably see if anything is in there.

Very little standing timber left showing, ocassional submerged snag shows on sonar.

The submerged stuff would be my go to, would have to find the depth the fish are at.....

Originally Posted by silentkilla

The submerged stuff would be my go to, would have to find the depth the fish are at.....

That is the real key especially when looking for them in a given area. Find fish first and just see what depth of water that is and keep looking in the same depth until you have a good spot. I am hearing over here on Toledo Bend it depends on where you are if there is any Hydrilla or not. Seems some places have a lot and some not so much. I do know when I go here before long it will be where there is some Hydrilla! I learned this lake when it was a structure lake and no Hydrilla here then, it came later and changed how you had to fish. So when our Hydrilla gets hit it changes the fishing so much. I guess fishing structure would be ket on Rayburn now if the Hydrilla is not plentiful. With Hydrilla I am pretty sure you can look shallower, but with structure you need to fish something for them to relate to in a depth they want. I would sure take a sonar look around creek edges in the shallower water, like 15' and less, maybe even 10' water depth. I can't imagine them just going deep from summer to deep for winter without a trip shallow to gouge full of food first. Try and find large balls of shad and they should be around them now!

Skip

Late in the trip yesterday I looked for and believe I found bait balls in 15-20ft. of water, but we didn't locate fish there either.

Sound like you did some good hunting.....

Don't feel like you had a failed trip, enjoying the hunt is part of fishn for crappie.... gotta get the non-productive waters under your belt......
So now on your next trip you'll have more areas to hunt.....

Skip posted some valuable info.... I've never fished a lake with hydrilla so that would that would be a new experience for me......

Thanks for the encouragement. I bass and striper fished on Toledo Bend in the 70's and 80's when I lived in the Indian Mounds area. Got involved in family and other things and didn't fish for 30+ years. Now semi-retired pastor with time to fish, I bought a boat last summer. Wanted to learn crappie fishing in the hope of having fish to share with others. I'll keep working to figure it out. Thanks for help.