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.
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