By Billy Seaman
Catching SandBass on Cedar Creek Lake this time of year is quite simple, early morning use topwaters like a Humbug from Humdingerlures.com, a good are to look is the Key Ranch Shoreline. Watch for circling birds. If no schooling is present, use jigging spoons such as a Chartreuse casting spoon from www.tntslabs.com or www.moestackleshop.com and fish humps around 20 ft. The humps just south of Pinnacle and also Enchanted Island are usually loaded with fish. During the hot summer months, use the hell/pet rig to find and catch schools of Sandies stacked up on shallow points.
For Hybrid Stripers use large Bass Assassins or Sassy Shads over deeper humps and points south of Pinnacle. Remember the Hybrids have to be over 18 inches to legally retain them, watch your fish carefully, tons of undersized ones mixed in with the Sandies. A good way to tell the difference is the tooth patch, on a Sandy it is a solid patch and on a Hybrid it is broken.
For Crappie use small tube jigs and or minnows around shaded boathouses and over the hundreds of brushpiles around the lake. Some of these brushpiles are made up of PVC pipe cemented into 5 gallon Buckets, these are called Crappie Condos, find any sheltered area on the lake and look for them in 8-14 ft. of water. This time of year fish the metal retaining walls, a bobber and jig worked along the edges will catch fish.
For Catfish, drifting cut shad or anchoring on windy points will catch many eating sized Blues in the 1-5 lb. size, for bigger fish try drifitng Goldfish and larger Shad over deeper humps.
