Targeting The Deeper Fish

[TUMBLEWEED]

With this season's late ice out, there seems to be a lot of fish staged out in the deeper water. I would like to know the easiest way to try and catch them. Is it leadcore or

a dipsy maybe?? What kind of set-ups are some of you guys

using? We all know presentation is a huge key to having

success. What does leadcore give you vs a dipsy diver etc?

Do you need a special rod/reel for running either lead-

core or dipsy-divers, or will any medium-heavy set-up

work? I have always wanted to try one of these methods,

and would appreciate any help you old dogs can give me....

[PerchJerker]

One thing to keep in mind is that deeper fish tend to be more neutral and negative, making it harder to catch them. Suspended fish should be more active, but are harder to target. But at this time of year there's probably not much food out in deeper water yet, so those fish are probably just hanging out there in the deeper water until they want to move up shallow to feed.

If you're talking about trolling, the easiest is to use a thin no-stretch line like power pro or fireline, and run deep-diving crankbaits, and with that you can get your baits down 35 feet. Leadcore is another good option, it lets you get smaller baits down deeper. I've used dipsys for walleyes and caught them on dipsys, but flatlines and leadcore and snap weights are more effective at getting bites if you ask me.

The biggest hurdle with leadcore is having a large enough reel with enough line capacity, leadcore will fill a reel up very quickly. You can use a line counter reel but you don't need to, since leadcore changes colors every 10 yards. A slower, softer-bending rod is ideal for leadcore but a MH setup should work fine until you decide you want to buy more specialized gear.

Typically the deep open water trolling bite starts up in mid-late June, and is rolling in July and August.

[fishermatt]

How deep is deep? Where in the water column are you marking these fish? If they're within a couple feet of the bottom, use a Lindy rig with a heavy enough sinker to get down there and feel bottom. 1/2 or 3/4 oz is usually enough, but sometimes going a little faster will trigger bites, which might require a 1 oz or more to keep on bottom.

[markkstanley]

Don't forget a 3way rig. 1oz per 10ft, 18" to 24" dropper, 4 to 6ft leader. I use a modified 3way by putting on a clevis and then a bead before I tie a small swivel to the mainline. The clevis allows me to switch dropper lengths and weights very quickly (have a bunch pretied to which I add weights) and to still have the ability to feed line to the fish if needed. I then attach the leader to the swivel and add whatever I want to the other end - spinner rig, bare hook, crankbait, swimbait. A lot more fun to fight fish this way over leadcore, no hassling with getting a snap weight to release and I find it to be a big improvement in sensitivity over snaps and lead and even bottom bouncers. Works equally well in rivers and lakes.

[HOT SPOT]

I have a question to.

I have been marking biger fish in 30ft and they are in about 20ft. I am willing to bet they are bigger eyes. I personally have never really fished suspended eyes. The spot they are on is only about 50yrds long and then they are gone and the structure starts .I was just wondering what you guys think might be the best way to try to get one.

Thanks

[Team Otter]

Fish them vertically with the same presentations you would through an 8" hole.

[slabchaser]

two years ago in ontario there were some unsatisfactory conditions and marked many fish in 30-35FOW so my brother in law and I mcgivered some bottom bouncers with 5ft of line running from it to some raps and we ended up catching many more fish including two wallhangers. there is prolly a better way to do it but it produced fish on that trip.

[fishermatt]

Hot Spot, if you're marking suspended fish 10 feet off the bottom in a small area, you could maybe try using a slip bobber set at the same level or slighly above where you're seeing the fish.