What's your go-to approach for fishing points?
Do you sit on top, off to side, out deep or on shallow side?

I think generally I fish to the side and deep so that I'm fishing "downhill".
What say you?

All depends where the fish are positioned cause I fish all angles, even up slope.

As he said, wherever the fish are positioned is where and how you fish a point. There are lots of different ways to fish then, this also depends on where and how they are positioned. I like a c-rig, crank bait and a football jig with a Rage craw or mop top.

I first want to see if I can side scan and find the irregular feature on that point.
-This feature may be a heaver rock cropping that runs for a short distance.
-It may be a vertical small ledge that runs full length of the point.
-It may be a ledge that makes a huge drop and only runs for a short distance.
-It may be a gouge or drainage ditch cut into the side of the point, which will form two funnel points.
-It may have a old roadbed running on contour parallel with the point which provides a flat spot on the side of the point.
-It may have a heavily wooded area on the point that stands taller than the other cover.
-It may be a bare spot with larger rock than the rest of the cover around it.
-It may have a tall band or ring of Hydrilla around it.

Most long points will usually have at least one irregular feature on each side. Some of the best points have a rise on the end that will produce a small underwater island. I have found that 20 ft. is a good depth to work a point; keeping the boat on that contour out and around the point. Work down one side, around the tip and up the other side. Man in front of the boat is using search type baits casting toward the ridge of the point and shallower water. The man in the back is dragging a C-Rig on contour as the boat works around the point. Once you develop a pattern then both fisherman can begin to concentrate on that pattern over the whole lake, point after point.

(All depends where the fish are positioned cause I fish all angles, even up slope)
So how would the fish need to be "positioned to decide whether to fish uphill or downhill?

Just make sure you're throwing into the wind on your first approach. Generally they are facing into the wind. You want your bait coming to them head first, not from the tail then passed their face. I real aggressive school will bite it regardless, but those sluggish schools mAy not.

Fishing deep is usually about timing. Fish are always there, year round. They just have different feeding patterns

Several things here:
- Most fisherman are fishing on top of the fish and only catching the smaller ones that are really shallow on top of the point feeding aggressively.
- It is too time consuming for me to fish all angles waiting or hoping to get bit. I am only going to work around that point once and I want to do it in less than 30 minutes. Then it is off to the next one.
- Most fish feed looking up hill. Sometimes if just works best to put the boat shallow and fish uphill; but not often.
- Having two in the boat working different baits, different depths and different angles helps to determine what the fish are wanting at the depth they are most active.
- The old saying goes; "Never leave fish to go find fish". If you are catching turn around and make another contour drag a little deeper to see what happens.
- If your bites are coming from the top of the point up fairly shallow, you will probably get one more pass at them before they spook off to deeper water. Point hopping can be a lot of fun.

Edit: If the point has a nice irregular feature etched into the side of it and the fish are there; they will be more likely to hang around, so stay off of it when you find one such spot. They may quite biting for a few minutes or they may get fired up and it be a hay day.

current is all about how fish position on a point, wind or tide waters is where it will create your current. On slick calm days I like fishing up slope, it will create a more of a reaction bite when it comes up from behind them, instead of them seeing it coming from a distance.

If your fishing a lot of bottom baits and catching them good and they quit on you fire a crankbait out ther and it will normally fire them back up.

Favorite techniques for fishing points include: 1. Topwater; 2. CB; 3. C-rigged lizard or 10" worm; 4. Texas rig or jig, etc..

I stay off to the side in deeper water and throw up onto the point itself, MOST of the time. Same way I fish humps or ledges, too. If it is a LONG [point, I might start out in front of it with a bait and work my way up it, or vice versa, just depending on what the fish want. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains