Deep Water Fishing

[BJ Laster]

90% of the time I fish it is in less than 6 or 7 feet deep. The other 10% is in water less than 10 feet deep. I rarely fish in water deeper than 10 feet. I love flippin and pitchin and do that about 60 to 70 percent of the time I am on the water. The other 30 to 40 percent is casting a spinnerbait. This year my totoal weight for one tournament club was 40 pounds. 35 of those pounds came from spinnerbait/jig/buzzbait. The other would be from flukes/crankbaits. It seems when I fish deeper than 6 or 7 feet I can't tell what is going on down there. I have no feel so to speak and it always seems like my lure leaves the bottom, and it gets back to the boat too quickly for fishing slow.. I hope you understand what I mean but what do ya'll do while fishing deeper water. I go to Table Rock 3 or 4 times a year and I fish in 30 feet or deeper but that is with live bait (I hate to admit that)or jiggin a grub or something.

Thanks

BJ

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Deep water favorite of mine is a carolina rig. If it is set up right you have just as much feel as if you were fishing shallow. I don't think there is a lot of "feel" required for any of the cast and retrive baits (buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, flukes, grubs etc..) because you really rely on the fish to stop the action of the bait or the retrieve. Topwater is no feel at all. The vibration from a buzzbait would cancel any feel. Jerking your rod on a spook or pop-r would also limit your feel. Feel fishing is reserved for more deep or finesse presentations like dropshot (very good deep), senko, J&P, wormin, tubes, and C-rigging. Rod is very important as well as line.



TOXIC

 

[Greg Duggan]

i will second what Toxic has to say,

first slow it down and stay in contact with your bait, i personal prefer to use a drop shot rig over a caralina rig.

try using a #2 offset hook riged with an XPS finess wieght.

depending on how deep you are i like to use 1/8 or 1/4 oz.

my favoriet bait would be a Zoom green pumpkin brushhog.

toss it out and ever so slowly drag the weight back with short breaks in between.

i also love to toss out a spider jig, smallies love em.

my advise would be to slow down, once you start to land some fish you will gain the confidence in deep water that you have in your spinner and buzz baits.

 

[Travis Smith]

Senkos are my favorite bait for 15 ft+ when fishing deep water but also dont forget about the old fashoned texas rigged worm or tube grub with a 1/8 oz or 1/4 oz weight on it. A drop shot would not be a bad idea eiter with a 4 inch berkly drop shot worm.





T.S.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Anytime I'm fishin' deeper than say 25 ft...I make sure I use a low-stretch line and use as much weight as I can get by with on a given situation.

On live bait I'd much rather have a heavy weight and adjust my leader length if I want the bait up higher.

And yes you can still fish those spinners at pretty deep depths if you add weight to the hook shaft and SLOOOOWWW roll that baby...even at deep depths you'll know when you get a hit...not always(sometimes the blades just stop thumpin').

I fish livebait as deep as 50 ft. sometimes but, will admit you just have to pay a little more attention to the strikes when deeper..if your not sure set the hook anyway...doesn't cost a thing except maybe your feelin's on a lost fish.

TEE

 

[Larry Harp]

BJ, last spring when I fished Broken Bow I had pretty good luck with a shad colored fluke on a Mustad back-weighted hook, (3/16 oz I think.) It would drop it down in a kind of tail first dying fish mode that worked pretty good. The water is crystal clear there and it was a very sunny calm day. Bass seemed to be holding at 25 to 30 feet. Good luck.



Harpo

 

[JT Kukucka]

When fishing deep, make sure you let enough line off the spool to give your bait a more natural vertical fall. If you are immediately closing your bail or engaging the reel you are causing your bait to pendulum back towards to boat in a very unnatural manner. This may be why you are having trouble keeping in contact with the bottom.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Good point Jon...a lot of people don't realize the more line that's out the more sensitvity you'll lose. If I'm driftin' shiners deep..I only let out enough on a verical fall(that's why I like goin' heavier) to stay in contact.

TEE

 

[BJ Laster]

Thank you so much for all of this info. I will use it on my next outing.

Thanks

BJ