I am determined this year to learn to fish out deeper and utilize my new mega imaging more. Do you guys catch more fish shallow (ie beating the banks) or do you seem to do better fishing off shore on structure that most guys arent fishing? It seems logical that catching fish off shore would be easier and probably in greater numbers. Whats everyones opinion and experience with this? TIA
I used to be a bank beater and probably caught more fish, but small fish. Got tired of always losing tournaments and forced myself to fish deep. Unreal results for me. Offshore can be a grind, but all it takes is one bite and you can trigger the school. And the average quality blows bank fishing away. Early season when the big girls start to move up by all means fish the bank. When that water hits 70ish move out and don't look back unless you're capitalizing on a shad spawn or early morning topwater. Good luck and stick with it. It will pay off!
^^^^^+1 Very well said. I fish pretty much the same way.
2008 BULLET 21XD 2007 Merc 300xs
Fishing standing timber in deep water is a great spot to catch summer to fall big bass. Most guys do bash the banks and a lot of them get out of their comfort zone in deeper water and I was one of them years ago. They feel suspended bass are the hardest to catch. Once you get a knack for it, you'll be in the timber 80% of the time. The big girls like the security of deep water. Now some lakes have little to no structure out in the deep, like standing timber or humps. This is where doing your homework comes in. Spend some time running patterns to find creek channels or irregular features that bass will collect on. Don't look at deep water as a whole. Think of it as the spot where most of the guys aren't to where you can pick out a depth and concentrate on lure selection and presentation. Good luck!Originally Posted by swardrn
2008 BULLET 21XD 2007 Merc 300xs
It all depends on the body of water. Some bodies of water are meant to fish shallow and some are ideal for deep. Some of the larger lakes offer both styles. You need to fish the lake itself. If you go to a shallow fishing lake and attempt to fish deep, it will be a long day for you. Fish the lake and conditions and learn from that.
Once you hit a school of 4-6 lb fish on the ledge you will never go back.
Enjoy the hunt!!
+1. And fish your strengths. Deep lakes can be won shallow, and shallow lakes can be won deep. Don't get locked in to any style.
also consider muddy water vs. clear water. Big fish aint gonna be up shallow in clear water..sorry (spawn..thats all). Big ones WILL be up shallow in dirty water, year round. It really depends on the lake and what you mean by "deep". For the most part , Im fishing grass in the 3-10 foot range..submerged, emergent, matted...grass equal big bass...
1999 Champion 186 SC/DC Tournament
1999 Mercury EFI 150hp
Both my 10+ lbers came in a foot of clear water, on a topwater, and it wasn't the spawn. A lot of my 8+ lbers came that way. The fish don't read the books or follow what we think should be happening.
We won the southeast district last November on Clarks Hill (2 day tourney) and caught four over 5 lbs in <2' of clear water, in the middle of the day, on crankbaits.
As I said earlier, don't get locked into any style.
I think my new Ultrex along with the new Helix 10 SI Mega on the bow will get me off the bank. I fish a couple of lakes with lots of underwater structure and have had some success with dropshoting in deeper 20+ foot water. However, I always ran into the problem of staying on a particular spot. I think the Ultrex will be a real game changer in that respect.
Don't worry Ma'am....
I'm only here for the Bass.
Learning to fish offshore has completely changed the quality of fish I catch. MUCH better quality!
2015 Ranger Z520c / 2015 Mercury 250 Pro XS
In my experience the answer is yes and no. It really all depends on time of year, hydrology of the lake, conditions and selected patterns. Knowing when to do one or the other is the key to being successful.
Take a few pro’s as a for instance. Guys like Bryan Thrift & John Cox are blowing away the competition recently running and gunning the bank even on lakes known for being won on ledges. But then you have guys like Mark Rose who have made a career fishing deep offshore structure. BUT, any one of these guys are experienced and talented enough to switch it up and do well doing the opposite of their normal program.
Here is my understanding of Big Bass. You can catch them shallow or deep on just about any lake in the country. Or rather on the bank or offshore is a better way to phrase it. But they will behave differently.
Big bass that are shallow will often roam or wolf pack in small groups of 1-3 fish. They will key on ambush points like docks, isolated boulders, logs etc. But they likely won’t school up too much on these targets. So you have to fish a dink load of targets and hope you get 5 decent bites.
Deep fish however tend to school up more primarily because they have 360 degrees of “where to go’s” than shallow fish do who typically only have 180 degrees of directional restriction due to the bank (hope this makes sense). And this doesn’t even cover vertical movement, only horizontal.
So fishing Deep, again, you may have to fish a bunch of areas to find that school, but once you do, often times you don’t have to search any further once you’ve found them. Both approaches can involve using your electronics to locate fish. But you will be using them differently. Lots of articles and videos to explain what I mean as this is a huge topic within itself.
So again, in my experience you can catch good numbers or Big Fish doing either or at any given time. Figuring out what you need to do to catch the Bigger fish deep or shallow is often the difference between a check and a limit.
If I had to suggest anything it’s that if you are only doing so-so shallow, move fast and fish more targets. If you can’t get them that way, learn to fish deep. But understand that fishing deep is different than fishing shallow in more vastly ways than the depth of the area you’re fishing. So don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.
When I fished club tx, one of the guy's wife often caught one of the largest fish brought in, almost always bigger than her hubby's best fish. She'd drag a C'rig behind the boat while she read a paperback. He'd be beating the shallow water to a froth, of course. Some of us paid attention!
I've done that myself. There have been studies that show bass move away from an approaching boat, but once that boat passes, move back in. Dragging something behind the boat catches these bigger than average bass.When I fished club tx, one of the guy's wife often caught one of the largest fish brought in, almost always bigger than her hubby's best fish. She'd drag a C'rig behind the boat while she read a paperback. He'd be beating the shallow water to a froth, of course. Some of us paid attention!
Aka the "stupid stick", "idiot rod", "bonus rod", etc. Been doing this a long time on the Great Lakes for smallmouth with a tub behind the boat and the rod in a rod holder or wherever you can cram the butt without the fish ripping the rod out of the boat.When I fished club tx, one of the guy's wife often caught one of the largest fish brought in, almost always bigger than her hubby's best fish. She'd drag a C'rig behind the boat while she read a paperback. He'd be beating the shallow water to a froth, of course. Some of us paid attention!
Dragging a c-rig is a deadly technique.When I fished club tx, one of the guy's wife often caught one of the largest fish brought in, almost always bigger than her hubby's best fish. She'd drag a C'rig behind the boat while she read a paperback. He'd be beating the shallow water to a froth, of course. Some of us paid attention!
Definitely effective. It’s why Trolling is banned on many tours. Trolling, or Strolling…or whatever… bores you to tears but it catches them!When I fished club tx, one of the guy's wife often caught one of the largest fish brought in, almost always bigger than her hubby's best fish. She'd drag a C'rig behind the boat while she read a paperback. He'd be beating the shallow water to a froth, of course. Some of us paid attention!
Next time you're out on Sturgeon try that with a little black hair jig
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