Strategies for fishing humps and Sunken islands

[CarlWBL]

I'm curious as to how people approach humps and sunken islands when targeting deeper water bass. Let's say hypothetically you are surveying the water in 15-20 fow and you mark a hump that comes to 8-10 fow. How do you guys approach a piece of structure like this? What is the first, second and possibly third lure/presentation that you throw? Is there a better side of the hump to fish, lets say one side goes to shallower water while the other drops down into 20fow? Any help with regards to this would be awesome.

Thanks

Carl

[hhguide]

What I do is go after those active fish right away throw soem crankbaits either a dt or a wart. and then if I catch a few I'll slow down with a jig of some sort. and then finally maybe go real slow with a wacky rig or something if their still biting otherwise move to the next.

[goblueM]

hard to go wrong fishing those. DTs/Xraps for active fish, go with a jig/tube, maybe a senko even. Like Carl said, try a few different things. Fish relate all over them, and they move around. I know one hump similar to what you are describing. Its about 50 yards long x 100 yards long. Some days it'll be all smallmouth. Then the next its solid bull gills. SOmetimes they are on one side, sometimes suspended off it, and rarely there is nothign there. Fish move around, so should you when trying to find em!

[Ray Esboldt]

Carl,

Generally, I'll take the side of the hump that breaks into deeper water faster. However, my main target on the hump is the hardest bottom material available. If I find what I think is rock, it doesn't matter to me what side it's on. Nowadays, I almost always start with a light worm (4" or 6") to pick off any fishing riding high in the water column. Then I switch to a bait like a Mr. Twister Comida on a mushroomhead jig.

[TonkaBass]

Well depending what kind of hump it is makes a huge difference. Assuming you're after largemouth, and the humphas weeds on it...

I like to stay off the shallow water to avoid spooking any fish, esspecially if it's clear. If the hump is more the less just a rise off of a large flat it can be a real fish holding area. I like to locate the hard bottom as Ray said and focus mostly on that and where it transitions to softer areas. I normally start with something to cover water, a crankbait is a good choice to start with. If they don't want the crank but I know there's fish there I will start throwing all sorts of slow presentations at them. Carolina rigs and texas rigs come to mind, but I also like the throw flipping jigs too. And with all the hype about drop shotting, I would definitly have one tied on. If the hump was larger and I hooked a good fish, I often throw a marker bouy as a reference point. There has been times, and I'm sure everyone would agree, where you would swear the fish are litterally "stacked" because you have to cast in a certain spot to get bit.

Either way keep your options open and if you find a hump on a lake where it is not shown on any maps, you have a spot that not many people know about sometimes!

Good Luck!

[Deitz Dittrich]

great posts above...

I feel it depends on the weather. IF calm and tough conditions, often times the fish are like ray says, off to the side of the hump. IF a little wind and falling baro... fish move up to the top. But again, there are too many other factors. They will almost always pull to what ray stated was the hardest part.

It also depends on how shallow the top of the hump gets.