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  1. #1
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    Thumbs Up Finding deep water smallmouth on northern bodies of water

    Most of you here are probably more knowledgeable in fishing than I am, so I'm not sure how helpful this may be. For those that know me and my channel, you know I always try to educate when & where I can, especially from a northern fishing climate. There's not a ton of information out there that relates to fishing deep glacial lakes where the primary forage is smelt, even though there's a considerable amount of the country that has fishing like this.

    One thing I did a few years ago was go over the how, where, and why of my decision making in looking for smallmouth. Since then, I've learned quite a bit more, and that has narrowed down my approach in how I go about finding new deep water areas for smallmouth, especially later in the year. Threw together this video while I was out scouting new water for my high school team's state championship, in the hopes that someone would find it helpful. So far, getting great feedback from local FB groups that I've posted on, so figured maybe there would be a few guys here that could find this helpful.

    Would love to hear your thoughts on how I presented it too. I did it in one take, no prepping, just speaking as best as I could from my general base of knowledge. I've worked hard to get better at more directly and succinctly presenting knowledge (something I had to work on as an Engineering Supervisor when presenting data/projects for my boss), but I know I can still ramble at times, and it throws off the flow a bit. I'm happy with how it came out, but I'm always looking to improve too, so any constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks everyone.


  2. Member
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    #2
    Good job Sean
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  3. Member
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    #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Phrog Phil View Post
    Good job Sean
    Thanks Phil!

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    #4
    Will you wait till you mark fish on a spot, or just fish the structure?

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    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Grahamb View Post
    Will you wait till you mark fish on a spot, or just fish the structure?
    Same question here. Are you running 2d / DI over the structure to see if its holding fish or just fishing structure. Smallies are pretty tough to pick up sometimes on the sonar / di when they are hiding tight under cover, I might be better off trying to fish more structure rather than looking more for fish. Good video!
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    #6
    2019 Ford F-150 Platinum (3.5EcoBoost/10spd)
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  7. Member
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    #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Grahamb View Post
    Will you wait till you mark fish on a spot, or just fish the structure?
    Quote Originally Posted by Mcjenson View Post
    Same question here. Are you running 2d / DI over the structure to see if its holding fish or just fishing structure. Smallies are pretty tough to pick up sometimes on the sonar / di when they are hiding tight under cover, I might be better off trying to fish more structure rather than looking more for fish. Good video!
    It depends. Previous years, I would just start fishing the structure if it looked good to me at the time, even if I wasn't marking any bait with SI/DI as I'm idling around. This year though, I've been a little more picky, and I won't really start picking apart an area unless I've marked some bait or bass on it or nearby...with some exceptions. If the new area I've found is pretty similar to other areas I have that are always good for producing fish, then I'll just fish the structure even if I don't mark any fish on it during my first pass. As Mcjenson said, sometimes you just can't mark the fish on your pass by. That's where that last 1/3 of my scouting comes in, just getting up front and dropping a line for a bit to see what I can pull up.

    Glad you guys enjoyed it though, thank you!

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