In my quest to become better at deep water fishing, I have some questions. I try to use my graphs the best that I can but I'm still learning and obviously, I'm not proficient yet. So, I will graph, but if it looks good to me, I'll go ahead and fish it. How long do you stay on a point or structure fishing before you move on to the next area? Also, do you try different techniques at each area? I usually try a T-rig, jig, and a crank bait before I move on but somedays I feel like I may be wasting time and should move to another spot.

when you get the feeling your wasting time, its time to move. For me normally about 30 mins

Typically you know pretty quick if fish are there. For me, it's a Carolina rig cause I can cover water fast.

Search Donald Harper and read what you can about how he recommends breaking down an area and fishing it. If you only spend a few minutes on a point or hump, or any other type of structure, that is new to you you might miss a �spot on a spot� by a few feet. And never realize that you missed fish.

30 min is a good rule of thumb......

Fish it shallow to deep, across it then go up shallow and cast out deep. Doesnt mean that there aren't fish there if you dont catch any just means there may not be active fish feeding. Watch for Blue herons and the white egrets when looking at new points to tell you if there is bait there. Also watch for shad balls deeper with your electronics as your fishing. Lastly seems when there is wind blowing in on a point it creates current that turns fish into feeding frenzy at times.

It definitely is important to learn the sweet spots, but you have to know if there are fish there to have the confidence to hunt for them. I throw a Vick Jig and Shaky Head combo 90% of the time to find them. If it�s windy, I�ll crank em. I try to comb it shallow to deep primarily, but it definitely helps to change angles. I generally won�t fish a spot for more than 20 minutes if I know the sweet spot and am not getting bit. There is also a SOLID YouTube series that Ken Smith did on offshore structure fishing. It would be worth some time studying.

It's all by how I feel about the spot and how big of an area the spot is. Sometimes 4 or 5 cast and I feel like I'm wasting my time and sometimes I might stay for 30 minutes or so to make sure I cover all I see down there.

All great advice, thank you.
@FishTheBite- I read everything Mr. Harper writes but I'll search and reread about his structure fishing.
@CoyAintNoGoldFish- I will most definitely check out Ken Smith on YouTube.

I do like the 30 minute rule. Some days I've stayed on a spot for almost an hour throwing everything. I'll start fishing all areas of the point/structure instead of fan casting in one area.

15 minutes in Practice/Prefish and gone.

I tell my mapping customers we are fishing on contour for several reasons. We want to keep the boat in 20 ft. of water as not to disturb the Bass. We fish deep water contours right next to funnel points, spawning flats, creek channel swings, at the mouth of coves and secondary points inside the coves. We are going to catch the big bass coming in to spawn as they stage up on these irregular contours and we are going to catch them as they are leaving the area as they will stage for the second time to start their feeding patterns.

This is best done with two fisherman in the boat. Man in front is casting to shallow water where fish may be setting up to feed on top of a point, flat, inside bend of a creek, top of a hump and on the sides of drainage ditches or gouges that feed into the creeks. The man in the back of the boat drags a Crig on this deeper contour as the features make irregular changes. An irregular feature is a steeper drop on one side of the point that we are working, tight lines on the contour map then a wider line on the slop means heavy rock and the ups and down of the terrain as we cross small protrusions coming off the shore. Your boat will be fishing both of the best worlds from shallow up front to the deeper contours of the terrain from the back.

The key to reading contours is understanding the distance between lines. The wider the distance between lines, the flatter and more gradual the slope of the bottom. The narrower the distance, it�s just the opposite with a steeper and a quick drop-off. If these irregular features have cover like wood, heavy rock or grass on them then you have found the spot. Look for places on contour maps where there are relatively flat spawning areas which have deeper water next to them. As fish migrate in and out during particular times of year, these channels often become their main pathways and sources of food. Also look for places where lines are close together. These are indications of drop-offs, ridges or deeper structure. Look for small circles on the map; circles are likely an indication of a ridge or mound coming up from the bottom. Bass love these irregular features with cover and when you find fish they are there for a reason; so pay attention to the contour from where they were caught. This will allow you to repeat your success in another similar sections of the lake.

Bass do not take just any direction to get to the shallows. Contours are routes with structure, steep drops and breaklines that show them the way to the shallows. As Bass move along the contour how far they go and how long they stay depends on the weather, food source, water conditions and how good that irregular feature is. We must control the depth and speed of our retrieve around these contour features to consistently catch fish. We all know how to cast to targets; but learning to drag on contour takes a little time with more benefits than you can imagine. We have all heard the story of how she caught the biggest Bass of the day just dragging it behind the boat. Well now you know.

There are many other ways to fish these different structures, and there are many more variations of the contours themselves. Fishing on contour has been a great success for me and I think you'll like the results. Like most other techniques, it is a matter of confidence over all others. Given the right situation, contour fishing can produce that big bit you have been looking for.

Mr. Harper, thanks for your reply. After reading your post, I believe I'm on the right track. When you map a lake for your customers, do you have them fish the spots you have mapped out or do you instruct them to graph that area to look for fish and/or structure on the bottom before fishing?

Both. They get a complete write-up on how to fish the contour with the irregular features that are within that contour which is also extremely irregular. You must study the write-up and bring that down to your best level of fishing that you have the most confidence in and fish the area hard for several trips at different times of the day keeping a log for that area. There is going to be active fish there several times during the day; but mostly just for a few minutes of each feeding period. How active and aggressive they become usually depends on the other species joining in on the chase. Bass do not like any other species acting out of the ordinary. Bass like hanging below all the actions and taking the weak and injured. This frenzy; as it gets close to the Bass, the action and irregular behavior seems to trigger the school into attacking all the different species.

Most of the time once you determine the depth that all this is going on; you are on top of the fish. The bait and predictor fish will scatter, the Bass will follow and you circle around and around to never see them again. As you drive around the lake from one cove to the next pay close attention at the level in which you are seeing the majority of suspended fish. Most of which are runs of bait. If that level is deep, say at 20 ft. then you can do some graphing of the Irregular Features that I have on the map for that area. If you are seeing fish at 10 ft. deep while driving the lake you are best to get to the area, keeping the boat in 20 ft. of water and make cast toward the irregular features that are in that 10 ft. feeding zone.

Main lake humps are good places to graph with deep water on all sides. My Irregular features are not a good place to be idling along looking for fish. I have been working on an article for months and just cannot find enough material to support my beliefs that Bass are masters at hiding from getting their picture taken. I have caught many big Bass on spots that I only saw a couple of fish on. This has happened time and time again; so I stopped doing it. I pick the best 20 spots that the lake has to offer and I concentrate on those only. I never drive in, out and around graphing the area. Even if the Bass are deep; but the bait is at 10 ft.; you scare the bait away, then the Bass will leave with them.

OK, great. I think I will leave the rods in the compartment one day and just use my graphs on all the places I believe I should be fishing. I think it will help me determine which areas with contours have structure, just to get a lay of the land. I'll definitely start keeping a log as well.

Good stuff Don. I'll add this, just my opinion, and this is hard for me just due to the fact I cant get on the water 2 to 3 times a week. But I have been doing this more and it has helped. In fact, I'm headed out Saturday and may only take one rod with me but I have a large area that don has described and i will go out and follow the contour line with side scan and mark as many stumps, brush piles, rock piles, etc. I run in that 20 foot range and mark on both the shallow and deep sides. Then I will go back over again with down scan and sonar and see if I missed anything. I may pick a few spots and cast but my goal is not to catch, just mark those spots then I will come back another day and fish those way points. I may spend 3 or 4 hours in this area just scanning.

Again, this is hard because I have a limited number of days to fish and I hate going out for a day and not really fishing but it has made the other days fishing better.

I will also add purchasing an ultrex certainly helps!