I'm new to using fake lures, I've been fishing on the bottom all my life with some variation of dead bait. Just recently started using artificial lures in an attempt to target whites/hybrid. There's all these reports of people catching them at certain depths. My question is how do you know what depth your lure is at?

I just cast it out and vary the time I let it sink before I start retrieving. Don't have a clue how far down it is.

One way to figure is drop it in water that you know the depth
and count it down til it hits bottom to see how fast it drops if it sinks a foot
a second that is easy to figure but you may have to break out
the calculator for other sinking speeds. If it is a floating
lure that is a different story.

When I need to fish the exact depth each and ever time over humps and points in 10 - 60ft. Of water with slabs, jigs, and shad I like using a Old Yankee trick Depth Finder and Line counter reels such as Daiwa AccuDepth Plus Line counter or Shimano Tekota Reels spooled with PowerPro Braid it takes the depth guessing out of fishing!

Just do not buy cheap liner counter reels you get what you pay for!

How long does it take for a floating lure to sink?

You can tie a tag line on your line at any depth say 20' and when that tag line or knot reaches the water you know you will be close to the 20' mark on a free fall. You must strip out line so that you can get the free fall. If you are fishing vertical you can strip line from the reel to the first eye and count the pulls each pull is about 2' so when your lure hits the water 10 pulls would be 20' deep. Hope this helps.

Are you fishing from a boat? I do not have a clue if you are bank fishing.
Filletmaker's method is a good one. Another method is to drop your lure to the bottom and then reel it up and count the turns on the handle. If it is twenty turns to the surface, ten turns would get you about half way up. It is not exact, but I have found a few feet either way is close enough.

Knowing your lure depth with just your rod and reel is fairly easy, but you have to know your gear. You will need a tape measure, rod/reel combo and a couple of pieces of tape. First mark the fishing line on your rod/reel just before the first eyelet on your rod (between the reel and eyelet). Turn the reel handle one full revolution (not half but full) and then use the tape measure to measure from the tape you marked to the eyelet. Depending on your gear ratio this measurement can be as little as 12� to 24� or higher. Based on that measurement you can now target a depth range. Let�s say that one crank on your reel takes in 12� of line, the depth to the bottom is 24�, but the target depth is 18�. Simply crank up 6 full revolutions and your lure will be there. This isn�t going to be precise, but will get your very close. This will change from reel to reel and also depends on amount of line a given reel has or doesn�t have. I use this method for slabbing and dead sticking, with very good results. Good luck to you

Try to stay above or even with the fish. Sandbass will rise to take a bait more often then diving.

Another variation to the line pull is to get the reels you wish to use for slabbing, bait fishing and or dead sticking and move to a protected cove with some deep water. Turn the sensitivity up on your depth finder so you can watch your lure falling. While it is falling watch how many pulls or turns of your reel it takes to get to 10, 15, 20, or 30' and so on. That will give you the accurate distance from your transducer, not the actual depth. However, if you are marking fish on your depth finder and it says 18', that depth is marked from the transducer as well unless you have offset the depth finder to compensate for keel, hull or whatever.

Wow, all great suggestions. I'll try out all of these techniques and see which one suits me best. At the very minimum this advise will give me a general idea of where my lure is at.

Thanks for all the helpful input.



Yes.