Deep water Bass

[MedicineMan]

I'm just curious as too how many of you fish deep water for Bass? Or even prefer fishing deep for Bass over fishing shallow for Bass. I for one will fish docks, pads, reeds, etc for Bass. But I seem to be one of very few who actually prefer fishing deep for Bass. So, are there any others like me or am I just "special".

[Lunker]

It's not that I don't like it, it's that I haven't gotten very good at it. I need to work at it more.

[Deitz Dittrich]

For me it really depends on the time of year.. I would say, under most cases I would rather fish shallow. Flipping and pitching is my fave way to catch a bass. Feels more like hand to hand combat up close and in thier face.

Yet, on them hot summer days, I like hand out in the deep myself. Its a lot of fun to pull up on a school of bass and pull a dozen bass without moving the boat.

[carlcmc]

And Medicine Man, what would be your favorite tactics and most productive (not necessarily the same) tactics for deep water bass?

When you say deep do you mean edge of the weed line 10-15 ft? Or do you mean way down yonder in the depths of davy jone's locker on the edge of humps 30' or more?

[bassin]

Whenever the fish allow it, I fish deep. Medicine lake is my favorite lake to fish "deep" or off shore structure. Deep is sort of a realative term though. It all depends on the lake your on. 8 feet might be "deep" on some lakes, 30 on others. Out west 75 feet is deep. I love to fish drop shots, carolina rigs and large cranks like the Fat free shad. I don't think there is a better crankbait out there for reaching depths down to 10-16ft.

[outdoor ran]

What I like to do is find a under water point like a 15ft point that drops off to 30-35ft on the sides. If its calm I take a couple of cast with a top water bait llike a chug bug or rapala. Its amazing how far a bass will come up to hit the top on a clear water lake.

Next, I'll run a rattle trap along side and across the top of the point. Sometimes jigging a trap back to the boat will trigger them. Just keep it out of the weeds. Then its time for a big billed deep diving crankbait. I'll get this down and rip it in the weed tops. Then i'll take a berkley red shad plastic texas rigged worm and work the area very slowly.

What a person should do is take 15 min- 1/2 hour every trip and try a new spot in some deep water. You never know when your going to come across the honey hole of a lifetime.

[carlcmc]

thanks for the info and tips.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Great post Outdoor Ran-

Each person fishes deep water differently, and conditions also play a big role in this...I just got a handheld DVR for my Aqua Vu, this summer I plan on recording quite a bit of underwater stuff and posting it on FM for all to see.. I hope by people seeing whats down there they will learn to fish it better.

[Banger]

You are not alone on the deep water fishing. I prefer to fish deep (15 ft. +). Most of the lakes in my are have a real good deep weedline bite. I like to work the deep water with a jig or carolina rig, but as mentioned before you have to find them and a crankbait or spinner bait is a great way to cover the water to find a school. Once I catch a fish I usually put down the search bait and drop a jig or jigworm. This way I can figure out if the fish are schooled are just roaming. As Deitz mentioned it is a riot catching a dozen fish without moving the boat.

[sicheneder]

I also prefer to fish deep, because i like the search of it and it is hard for me to fish shallow when you have saw a boat or two fish a section of docks or shallow area. Those fish seem to be very territorial.

[Ole the Guide]

I used to only fish shallow, that is up to a few years ago when Med Man and then later on Deitz turned me on to fishing deep (15' and down). I never had the patience (keyword) to fish in the middle of the lake until I started to see what was down there.

Now I always take time to fish deeper edges everytime I go out unless it's just one of those phenominal surface bite days. Then I stay shallow.

Ole

[ikeslayer]

i am a bank beater from the beginning but you all are making me think i am missing out. Where and how do you even start when all you know is shore, docks, shore, timber, shore, etc. A little help for the beginners thanks ike

[Wayne Ek]

I would prefer to fish deep water bass, they tend to hold in an area longer and usually don't get beat up as much as shallow water fish. I usually will not look for deep water fish until we hit the end of a post spawn period, and the larger fish start to filter back to the deep water. Deep water fish are not always the most active fish, in fact I would guess that most of the time they are neutral at best. The nice thing about shallow water fish is that they are usually active and feeding. I think alot of new hooks get discouraged on deep water fish because the presentations usually need to be a little slower and methodical.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ike here is a post from this last summer... might help.. otherwise I would start a new post of this topic,..

Argh, I cant get it to work.. nevermind

Do a serach for a post named Plea For Help....not a bite

[Ray Esboldt]

I'll take deep water bass over shallow bass when I can. The potential for quantity and quality at the same time is just far more likely than beating through the shallows.

The main thing I look for is a connection to shallow, vegetation laden water. This kind of works on the spot on the spot theory Dietz and many others have posted about. A point coming off the main shoreline ending in hard bottom is much more likely to hold fish than a 20 foot rock hump in the middle of a lake. Rock slides off main lake humps that have some weeds on top are another likely candidate. Bass want cover. They don't spend there entire day cruising a gravel flat. You need to find a link between that cover and the deep water. Does that make some sense? There are exceptions to this rule depending on current and forage, but it helps me eliminate water that most of the time will not produce.

I'm not real picky on bait selection here. What works shallow can work equally well deep (I guess with the exception of topwater baits, but they have there place in open water some days as well). Heavy baits can help out if the fish are grubbing on the bottom. A Carolina Rig, a 1/4oz. or better mushroom head jig and worm, a 3/4 jig-n-pig combo, or a 3/4oz. football jig are all used by me. My favorite being the football jig.

So, what's my ideal deep water spot - a long, slow tapering point that has about the last 30 yards of it in rocks in less than 20 feet of water. I've been known to ride out an entire 8 hour tournament on stuff like that.

[MedicineMan]

Deitz, that DVR seems pretty neat. It would be easier to record with the DVR then have to bring out the VCR to record. I have myself a brief Bass video from the fall. And fitting in with the deep Bass theme, these fish were in 15-18'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIWYbfQa-kY

[OnTheWater]

Wow, those are some nice pigs! ...and the gps cordinates are??

[Wayne Ek]

Neat video, did everyone notice the rocks and sand. I would love to hear a scientific explanation why some late fall bass move to deep rocks and others to expansive flats. Are they exploiting differant food sources or just confused... maybe they are muti-cultural and like walleyes or northerns.

[beeflover]

Great video, I've never seen anything from an AquaView before, it looked like you could move along pretty good scouting with it.

What did your sonar look like on this spot? Could you see a rough bottom indicating the rocks?

Were you marking these fish?

[beeflover]

I went to Bassmaster U last weekend. Woo Daves says he rarely ever fishes deeper than 6 ft because he says 95% of tournaments are won 5 ft or less.

I asked about summer or winter and he said the active fish will come up to feed. The deep fish are not feeding.

I think a lot of summer tournaments are won 10-25 feet here in MN.

Anybody know for sure?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Beef---I can answer that.. No, depthfinder do not show rocks like that. A depthfinder will read the highest rock within the cone angle. At 15 feet that would be about 5 feet I would guess... Owning an aqua vu has really opened my eyes to the underwater world...

I cant wait to get some footage up this summer...

[Wayne Ek]

In the spring alot of tournaments are won shallow. And all summer long alot of tournament guys will get a "kicker" fish from shallow cover. But,during a majority of the summer I will catch most of my fish from 12' or deeper. Woo is a great stick, but remember most of the majors are held on southern waters, where 10 feet maybe "deep" water. Also, the southern waters primary bait-fish is probably the shad. In Minnesota we have a large variety of minnows, but for the most part I think our large predatory fish like(bass,walleye,northern) target perch and sunfish. Which tend to hold on both deep weed lines and inside weed lines. The nice thing about shallow fish is that they are ususally in an active mode and ready to feed.

[Slyster]

On Sunday (Feb 26) there's a Lindner's show on suspended bass.. might be of interest... FOXN channel according to my dish tv guide.

[grab the net]

Deep is fun, but for most the pitching and flipping shallow water cover, trees, docks, emergent weeds is where its at. Mostly because it's visual, you can see what your fishing, and are able to relate more easily. IMHO, shallow fish will beat deep fish in most tournaments, most kicker fish come from shallow water.

[Boedigheimer]

I'm a better dragger then I am a flipper, therefore I fish deep most of time. Deep fish don't get harrased like shallow fish. From mid-June to freeze up.Big bass jigs and swimbaits.