Preferred Boat position fishing deep weed lines

[Lals]

Do you prefer parallel, deep casting shallow or shallow casting deep? I have a strong preference to cast parallel. .. thinking it keeps my bait closer for a longer time to fish on the weed line. The main application would be Jig n' pig and T-rig. Thanks.

[Igor Drackenwolf]

It depends on whether I've established a depth where I think the fish are at. Casting up shallow and working the bait over the through the weed tops, working deeper as the bait approaches the boat, is a great way to cover all depths of a target area. If I find that all fish are coming in a certain depth range, then I might work parallel. The problem with that is that you don't know if the fish are keying in on the bait shallow, and following it out before they strike. So usually I'll just work shallow to deep, or occasionally deep to shallow, using the same logic in reverse.

[Lals]

Thanks Igor. That gives me a good mental image of why and how to work a bait shallow to deep. I was fishing in Ottertail county a couple of weekends ago when temps hit 80 degrees. We found some nice bass deep.... nothing like the "thump" of a Bass hitting a jig! I need to work on staying deep and working the bait back. For some reason I have a strong "bias" to cast along the break line and I will spend some time shallow to deep.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I guess I am more of a position deeper and cast shallower kind of dude.. though parallel work for some techniques.

[Igor Drackenwolf]

I'm more apt to cast parallel to the weedline if I'm using a crank or spinner, and I know the fish are hitting jat a certain depth. That's a great way to keep the bait in the strike zone for the duration of the cast.