Tiger260

Tough one yesterday. Flipped grass edges and the grass itself from 10-18'. Covered miles of grassline, but Nada. Picked up a trap around 11:00am just try something completely different. Right at that time the wind went from blowing to howling, but we snagged 6 in 8 casts in 11'. One keeper, 4 dinks, and one still had an umbilical chord I think. That was all of the action for the day. Fished Housen and the Mounds from dawn til dusk. Tried t-rig, a-rig, swim jigs, and crankbaits also.

Heading to the Bend in the am. It should be blazing wind and freezing cold, mostly because I've got a free day to go. I keep blaming my partner for that, ever since we went one day last August and a high pressure cool front hit that same day. We should be post-front experts by now! Launching at FnF in a big gray Haynie. If you see us say hi.

Just for clarification, what are you calling deep? Especially since you were catching pre-spawners headed "in". When I think deep in May, I'm thinking straight summer pattern - fish on points headed "out" or set up on ledges in 15-30'.

In the office today, looks like tomorrow is a go.

If I make it up there(mid-morning) I'll be happy to grab you up. I'll be alone, planning on launching at FnF.

I've put in an application for leave tomorrow, so I might be in that same area as well. It'll all depend on if everyone stays in their bed all night, and the new baby doesn't start kicking! I'm not too hard to find. Probably be the only bay boat on the water.

Good deal, now let me know when you're ready to cash in your free lunch ticket!

Bass_Fanatic, We're on the same page in regards to them setting up and moving around. Catt, So it really is the KISS method of finding the main channel, be it, Sabine River at 1215, Housen Bayou through middle of the cove, or the deep channel running down the middle of Hurricane, starting at the channel, finding the points or ledges along the channel, then finding the breakline/grassline on the point/ledge? This instead of starting at the bank, going outward to find the same exact looking conditions, but not along any kind of channel? Pardon my beating of the dead horse, but I'd rather trade bad assumption for good clarity (until you'll let me buy you lunch here in town one day and pick your brain in person!)

Thanks for the response. If you would not consider those two places actual main lake points, then I would assume they would fall under secondary points, correct me if I'm wrong? My thought process, based on your example at Lowe's/Oilwell, at the way beginning of the thread, with these being right up next to an intersection of the main river channel & feeder creek channel, only difference- in a large creek miles from the main lake, they would be the final stop for the summer. Then this leads me to another component of confusion of the migration/summer pattern in these types of really large creeks. If the aforementioned points are not main lake, and the bass are setting up on main lake points & ledges next to deep water/main channels for their summer pattern... a) Do the fish that spawn in places like Jack's, Bull, Ashmore (i.e. in big drains well into major creeks) go all the way back out the actual main lake for the summer to get on main lake points, humps, ledges? If not, then where is the final destination of those fish once they leave the spawning creeks/coves/flats in a major creek like Housen. I assumed to treat the deep main channel as a that of a mini-main lake, given the size of the creek. If you would be kind enough to talk specifics on the map, that would help clear it up, and you can use any creek on the lake. I am more interested in the process of finding their "deep home" not the waypoint. It's just a different animal down south than up north, where there is such an abundance of deep water other than just out on the main lake. Heck, some secondary creeks like Jack's, Hurricane, etc. have deeper ledges and points than some of the summer stuff at 1215! I just want to decipher what is "where are they headed to vs. where they just stop by" b/c I'm sure the first early spawners are about where they are going to be for the summer by now.

Catt, I'm somewhere in my 4th-5th time of reading all 220 pages of this thread, and I'm still needing a little clarification on a topic. My partner and I fish b/w the mounds and 6 Mile, with Housen accounting for about 80-90% of that time, so I'm pretty familiar with several of its nuances. My question is, given a creek of that size being virtually its own lake, would the points along its main river channel be considered "main lake points", such as the one just north of the red dot at w/p 37 and the point just south of the red dot at w/p 38 on the map? We banished ourselves from the bank last year after 4 years of 12-14lb sacks in our big friend tournament each year (coming up next weekend), and found out how productive the outside grass edge could be postspawn. We found it Forrest Gump style, but called our shot at every grass line we pulled up to that day landing 4-6 pounders within a few casts at each spot. If the fish are there on that pattern one day, but "gone the next", where are they likely at? They're not heading back to the bank, and they were at the outside edge in 14-18'.

What's the average temp in the creeks/drains? Females still holding in the ditches and on the edges of the flats?