Help fishing deeper water for LM

[FlipR70]

I'll looking for advice learning to find LM bass in deeper water.

For years, I've been an avid shallow (less than 10 ft) water LM bass fisherman. I want to start using maps & electronics more to find the bass in deeper water.

I'm looking for your advice on what you look for to find bass in deeper water. I obviously will be looking for humps & deep water channels etc. But beyond that, what do you look for when you look on maps & your electronics.

Thanks,
FlipR70

[Glenn_S]

Hey Flip,

Get ahold of MarkG, he can help you out there. He's in bldg 201? The analytical lab.

Glenn

[Ray Esboldt]

Flip,

I have 3 criteria for fishing outside the weedlines.

1) Hard bottom - the harder the better. Big rocks are good. Little rocks or clay work well too.
2) A tapering break that ends in a vertical drop within a reasonable distance. 100 yards or less is reasonable. 3/4 of mile is a bit too much.
3) A traceable route to cover. Sometimes I fudge this one to figure out a route. But, a lone 30 ft hump in the middle of 500 acre bay won't get a ton of consideration.

Admittedly, everytime a put a theorem about bass together, I prove it wrong within a couple weeks. I've proved all 3 of those wrong numerouse times. And, finding all 3 together doesn't guarantee fish.

The biggest favor you can do yourself when probing "deep" water is tell yourself the next cast is the one. That's the way that it is out there, beyond the weedlines.

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Ray Esboldt

Catch-N Tackle
MarCum
Stone Legacy

[Clay.P]

The best advice I would be able to give is to learn how to use a lake map and your electronics in conjunction to pinpoint key locations. Finding hardspots along a breakline or a weedline are the key. Use your map to locate irregular breaklines and then use your electronics to locate the hardspots. Not all hardspots on points or breaks will hold fish all of the time. If you find a spot that you think should hold fish. Hit that spot multiple times during the day.

[RandyFish]

Flip...

I asked basically the same question when I asked about "Jigging deep water" as an earlier post on this page....I got a ton of help...maybe you can look there.

[Wayne Ek]

Flip....
(1) get comfortable and confident reading lake maps.
(2) Do some research on when LM start to use the deep water habitat.
(3) Learn to I.D. caggage, both tobacco and curly leaf.

On a new lake from late June on into the fall period one of the first things I look for is an expansive flat with a deep caggage break, that is usually where I will start my search.

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Wayne
Agape Fishing Guides
www.agapefishingguides.com

[Deitz Dittrich]

First a couple of tips.

#1 realise that when fishing deep your still fishing a precise area. Most often people that have problems fishing in deep water are fan casting deep water areas. Not what you want to do. Find the productive area and make acurate casts to that area.

#2 Get it in your mind that it doesnt matter if you are fishing 30 feet of line out in 5 feet of water or 30 feet of line out in 20 feet of water.. its still only 30 feet of line.

#3 when looking at a map, find out where the weed line stops. Then look at just that contour. Many times you will then see different points and turns that are not shore related in any way.

#4 and underwater camera can be a very valuable tool when learning deep water fishing. Use the camera to locate fish before you hurt your confidence fishing areas that are not holding fish. Once you have caught some fish deep then you may no longer need the camera to locate areas like the one you found fish on!

Best of luck, and practice... its what will help you the most. TIME ON THE WATER!