Deep water techniques/help??

I am a shallow water guy, 15 ft. or less most of the time is where I am comfortable and I catch plenty of fish there. I would like to expand my capabilities and get comfortable fishing deeper water. I am one of those guys who when I am trying to learn will do one thing until I figure it out. Some suggestions for where to begin the deep water bass quest with some techniques from some deep water guys/gals would be great!

P.S. I know I can go with guide X and learn and I have and will do that in the future but I learn better when I figure it out on my own.

You may learn better on your own but hiring a guide will greatly cut down the time you spend on the learning curve.......

Learn to read your electronics and do some research. Watch some of the guys on YouTube, etc....there's more info out there now than there ever has been. I've picked up several techniques and actually gained a lot of knowledge from things I've watched on the internet.

That being said, it's up to you to decide who/what to listen to and believe.

I will be glad to help you. I probably have some screen shots on your lake of choice and a write-up to go with them. Just shoot me a PM and we will see what I have.

Thanks,
Donald

Hey Bassbuster, no need to hire a guide,save your money.Assuming that you have decent electronics here's a deep water technique that works for me. If you have a unit that has mapping you can pull up a topo map of the lake that you intend to fish the night before. Find at least 12 to 15 humps,roadbeds,submerged bridges etc. The closer the spots are to a creek or bend/ledge the better. Look for humps that are surrounded by deeper water (example 15 ft hump surrounded by 30ft of water or deeper). Generally as a rule if you see fish suspended say 13ft in 20ft of water than you search for humps or structure that is 13 feet deep and you will find the fish holding there. If there'really on the bottom c-rig or dropshot will get it done,if they are suspended a few feet off the bottom crank bait or swim bait usually works. Once you locate them drop a boy about 20 ft to one side of them,that way you can pinpoint your cast without hanging the boy string. These deep spots are sometimes only the size of a small car so your presentations have to be precise. Takes some practice and patience but most of the time once you catch 1,it fires up the school and you can have a ball. T take your time this is just one of many ways to key in on deep fish. Good luck and tight lines. PA check your spots several times at different times of the day and if you don't mark fish go to the next spot. Use downscan and sonar on a split screen to easily distinguish fish from structure . Hook on sonar and little dots on downscan. Good luck

SK1, you guys make it sound easy. I've been with a excellent guide on Fork deep water fishing and he kept us on big bass all day long!!!!!
I try to use some of the techniques I see on YouTube and what I saw him doing, but I never have those kind of results. And I want to become a offshore angler very badly because I know the potential if you can figure it out.
But I mainly fish Lewisville too, and it's not known as a deep water lake. But somewhere on that lake had to be a sweet deep spot that gets no pressure and I want to find it...

I never said that this technique is easy,but with time and patience it can be learned. All that I gave you above was a template of a system that works.It's not magic and as with any new technique the more you do it the better you will become at it.Not knocking fishing with a guide,but how do you think they learned? As with anything you have to be willing to put in some work at perfecting your craft. Too often guys want to pay someone for information that is readily available by going out and doing your own footwork.

Look for fish on main lake points, underwater bridges, roads, humps, pond dams and then figure out what they will bite.


Drop shot
Carolina rig
Jig
Swing head
Deep crank bait
Spoon
Etc.

Some days you will find the fish but just can't make them bite. Just part of fishing. Keep looking and trying different techniques till you find something that works.

Caddo lake is the only natural lake in Texas and it has some very very deep spots

I wasn't trying to Smart or anything... I just know I want to become a good offshore angler but it just hadn't happened yet. I wish I was closer to Fork, that is a Great Lake to learn how to fish deep water but it's hard to learn if you can't do it very often...

I use to fish Caddo almost everyday and I love that lake, but I never tried fishing deep there..

Here's what I believe are the 2 most important parts, learn and trust your electronics and spend all your time looking. It takes a lot of time to find stuff out there. Sometimes you might get it right the first time out and others you might look for a day or 2 before you find what your looking for. The more time you spend looking and marking, the less time it will take in the future.

I totally agree with SK1 and his template. The process is not easy. It takes time and dedication to look for deep fish and if you find them now you have to figure out a technique to catch them. The process can be very rewarding in the end.

Definitely learn to read your graph and know what you are looking at.

I totally agree, this isn't easy. But those dang guides make it look that way... but as you all have mentioned, they are on the water daily and once they find good schools of fish they can kindacteack them.

I'm gonna get there eventually!!!! Once you have experienced how great deep water fishing can be, and how many good fish you can catch in a small area, it sure makes me want to stay away from shallow water... lol

Thank you for all of the great info, looks like I need to spend more time driving and less time fishing next trip out. That is hard for me to do when I know I can catch them shallow, but I really want to improve in this area and add it to my confidence arsenal. Mr. Harper, I have been out to your place and visited with you and bought a few lures, I appreciate the offer and will send you a PM.

Down scan or side scan is your friend. Focus on 18 to 28ft for metroplex lakes (you can catch them deeper, but efficiency drops off and life is too short). What I do is take the time to input the waypoints with "SCAN" at the end of the label. I usually fish the morning and then do my side scanning mid-day / B time. I have had good luck with using a C rig as my search bait deep as its fairly time efficient. I will try and fish the spot a couple of times and if I don't see anything on the cover / structure difference or get bit, then I delete it and take it out of the try rotation.