Deep weed edge

[Craigums]

Might be a bit early yet but fish should start moving to deep weed edges for the summer shortly (74*F on Lake Jane Saturday). This is the first year I've had quality electronics on the boat and really want to get better at fishing deep.

1. When you guys work a weed edge are you looking for a clean edge? Most of the time I notice the weeds don't abrutly stop but rather the weeds get less and less prominant until they are gone.

2. When the entire lake has a weed edge were are you starting? Structure point, inside turns, fast drop offs?

3. When trying to find hard bottom areas are you guys strictly using your color graph trying to find a deep red band or are there better ways?

[Cecil]

1. I am looking for something different. If 90% of the lake has a sharp weed edge, I am looking for something more scattered, and vice versa. Or even a different type of weed. A coontail patch on a lake that has curly leaf pond weed can be lights out.

2. Again, something a little different. Kind of have to let the fish tell you where they are at on the weedlines.

3. A flasher works very well for this. As well as looking for the double echo (another bottom showing up at 20' when you are in 10')

[Craigums]

Is fishing deep usually a numbers game or are you going for a bigger bite.....or is it just another option if you can't get anything going shallow?

[Bassburch]

Is fishing deep usually a numbers game or are you going for a bigger bite.....or is it just another option if you can't get anything going shallow?

The best thing about going deep is that you can find giant schools of relatively similar sized fish. Schools that replenish that fewer fisherman fish for.

Some spots will be loaded with 12"-15" fish, some spots will be a mix of all sizes, and every now and then you can hit the jackpot and find a school of 17"-21" fish. It's the funnest thing in the world.

These schools move around based on a ton of factors, so a spot that used to be good 'dries up' until the next school moves in. Sometimes it can take hours to replenish, sometimes weeks, and sometimes a spot may 'fire' once a year. If you do find one of the gem spots, make sure to keep track of what time of year and the conditions that your spot was best.

[Wayne Ek]

In this order I look for:

1. Hard spot on deep edge. The Humminbird Side Scan comes in very handy for this.

2. Deep weedlines tend to thin out as they go deeper,if you can find a thicker portion jutting out further than the general taper line or if you find a place that has a thinner pocket pushing into the thick portion of the weedlines, both are worth exploring.

3. Any change in weed types like cabbage to coontail.

4. And any abrupt end of any weedline. Cabbage does this. It will run along as a good weedline at say 12-feet deep for some distance, then start to thin and abruptly end... the abruply end is a good place to check out.

[Cecil]

There are just bigger schools out deep. Sure you can find an area shallow that is holding some fish. But not too many spots the size of your boat that will hold 10-20 fish like you can find deep.

[kt]

If you've got side imagining that can help a ton. It helps pinpoint hard bottom, irregularities in the weedline, cuts/pockets/indentations, areas where the weeds thin and the thickest clumps.

The one thing I've found fishing weedlines is what attracts schools of fish on one lake doesn't always hold true on a different lake. For example some lakes the fish are more attracted to thick clumps of weeds, while other lakes they tend to congregate in sparse areas. Some lakes steep dropoffs with thin weedlines are dynamite and on other lakes those dropoffs don't hold as many fish. The best advice I can give is to try to find all of these different types of areas and then fish them, sometimes they are a bust sometimes you hit the gold mine.

[Craigums]

I do have SI on this boat. Do you just cruise a little ways away from the edge to map out the weeds or do you position the boat over the weed bed? How can you tell what hard bottom looks like on SI?

[kt]

I usually position myself a little ways off the weededge if im planning on working the edge. If I'm working inside the edge then i might get on top of the weeds. Then just run the edge watching your sonar for good looking areas. Hard bottom appears brighter in color (ie whiter) than soft bottom. Rocks also show up nicely, as well as depressions along and off the weededge. Isolated clumps of weeds off the main wall really show up nicely as well. If I were you, to help with the learning curve, i would set my distance shown out to each side as fairly small, that way you will get a more zoomed in picture of the bottom. I have mine set at 90 feet each direction. Another thing you can do is decide to only show right scan or left scan depending on where the weedline is. That can also give you a more zoomed in image of the bottom.

[Craigums]

So you run the boat parrallel to the weed line, right? I've currently got my SI set up at 50' so I can interpret what im seeing more easily. I didn't realize you could change it to just left or right scan do you know how to do that with the HB units by chance? I've got an older one, 979cSI I believe it is.

[Slob_Samurai]

Yep, I usually run parrallel to the weedline out within a cast length and if a bright area starts shining (hard bottom) smack a waypoint down. As stating above these are "jackpot" areas...

[RK]

Hiya -

Others can fill you in on the side imaging, but to the original questions...

It's not too early. Personally, post-spawn, especially on clear lakes, one of the best shots at a big fish is on green weed edges, especially if you can find thicker weedgrowth that held over from the year before. Caught some big bass on deep diving crankbaits and jigs the first two weeks of the season over the years.

1.) I look for irregularities along a weed edge - little fingers or inside turns, thicker clumps out beyond where the majority of the weeds fade out, weed type transitions, etc. Fishing parallel to the edge helps you feel them out, and you can see them on electronics too.

2.) When the entire lake is an endless weedline, look for structure first - points, inside turns, changes in the breakline, bigger flats, access to spawning habitat. Then look at the weeds themselves.

3.) I find a lot of hard bottom spots with my lures. Crankbaits and jigs are great interpretive tools... A crankbait is side imaging before there was side imaging. Good electronics reading skills helps too for sure.

[PurpleCatMan]

Don't be afraid to get right on top of the weed beds and fish in the weeds... You don't need to be on the edge. This can be challenging, but with some light weights and a bait that is ultra weedless, it can produce a lot of fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

craigums.. if on the side image screen, hit menu. I think the top button will say "both", hit your curser left or right to switch it.. to just left or just right.

[Craigums]

craigums.. if on the side image screen, hit menu. I think the top button will say "both", hit your curser left or right to switch it.. to just left or just right.

Awesome, I bet it makes interpreting what your seeing more obvious that way

Thank you

[Griggs]

Awesome discussion! I'm also using structure scan for the first time this season. I got it to try to improve my deeper fishing. The best thing for me has been throwing buoys out when I see something that looks good. This way I have something to actually cast to. Just remember, when you see it on your SI its already behind you. So you have to throw the buoy out a ways behind you. I still have a ways to go, but I feel like its helping already

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Griggs, move the cursor and the screen stops, then move the cursor directly over the area you want to go to or fish and hit mark. You now have a GPS location saved for that exact item.

[RK]

The best thing for me has been throwing buoys out when I see something that looks good. This way I have something to actually cast to.

Smart man. GPS and all that is cool, but there's still no replacement for going analog sometimes... I throw markers a lot. I'll sometimes have 3-4 of them scattered around me. Puzzles the heck out of the walleye heads...

[goblueM]

Don't be afraid to get right on top of the weed beds and fish in the weeds... You don't need to be on the edge. This can be challenging, but with some light weights and a bait that is ultra weedless, it can produce a lot of fish.

Or you can use heavy weights and a bigger lure and rip it through the weeds. I've caught far more nice bass than muskies when using big J-mac jigs ripping through thick weeds

[BTL]

My boat has crappy electronics. I just find a weedbed and fan cast a crankbait until I find a spot where I only pick up small pieces of grass instead of massive clumps.

[Craigums]

Does anybody know if you can get a screen grab on the Humminbird 797c2i? I think I found something special and I'd like to share it. It's only got one slot for an SD card (which had my lake chip in it). If anybody can help me out if its possible I will post the picture.

[Doonbuggy]

Curious to know if anyone is finding bass schooling up on the deep edge yet here in the metro. Am hoping this heat might move things along.

Anyone have a magic temperature that they look for?

Bassburch's comments above were spot on. Only thing I'd add is to have a marker available. I toss one out when I catch one fish because it's amazing how highly schooled they can be and sometimes you can pick up a bonus fish like a nice northern, muskie, or walleye, too.

DB

[Ham]

I had a 2006 Navionics chip in my 797 that I saved recordings and screen shots with. Try it