+2

James Biggs is a great teacher on all things fishing. You will not be disappointed with him!

Let me give you something that might hopefully help you if like me you thought fishing out deep was such a big deal. Was fishing with John Tanner one day and I was asking advice on getting over my problem with not having confidence in fishing deep and what might help me get over that problem. He told me he thought my problem with fishing deep was my thinking it was a major change and he asked me if I thought 20 feet was really a depth I couldn't fathom fishing. I said he was correct that I couldn't vision what it was like to fish that deep. He asked if I realized he was in the front of a 20+ foot boat and I was in the back, meaning we were about 20 feet apart. It was right then that I realized we were not that far apart and it really looked a lot smaller than what I was thinking in regards to fishing a bait that deep. It was like a light bulb went off and now I have no issue with fishing that deep or any deeper for that matter so just take a look next time you are in a boat and just look how actually close you are to a buddy at the other end of the boat and I think you will be surprised on how close you really are and fishing DEEP may not have the same meaning.

^^^^

Donald Harper put it the exact same way to me when we were fishing at RayRob one day. Like you, for some reason I thought of 20 ft as really deep. Don't know why, I have a tape measure and use it all the time.

First off deep is relative... On the river deep is 5 feet... On my home lake deep is 40-50 feet... Best thing to do is next time you want to concentrate on deep water is to leave the spinnerbaits, square bill, buzzbaits and other shallow water lures at home. That way while your on the water you're forced to stay deep... And the get someone who knows how to do it teach you... Great ways to quicken the learning curve... Dan

start by going semi-deep. Fish the ends of points where there is structure like standing timber in 13-23'. Fish a larger size shaky head with a big red worm. You'd be surprised what will eat that.

Excellent illustration!

Has anyone heard from John Tanner lately?

THIS!! I had a guide tell me the exact same thing about 10 years ago and it changed my perception forever on what fishing deep was. On my of the lakes I fish in NE Texas deep is 15-25 feet. The deepest end of that range is barely longer than my boat. So the first thing you have to do is mentally get over that it's "deep". The second is learning how to target things that will hold fish. The easiest way to start for me is to find any main lake point that has some wind blowing on it and throw a c-rig, Texas rig, football jigs, drop shot. This is probably the easiest way. I'd start by putting the boat in 25' and move up from there.

I'm just a hack but this is how I learned.

On a side note....

Right now AINT THE TIME for deep fishing, if ya get my drift. Practice deep fishing in late May.

Right now is the BEST time for deep fishing! We caught 132 and 62 out deep the past 2 trips.

The deep bite will pick up over the next couple of months. June is the best for me. There's nothing like sitting in one spot and loading the boat!

Success will bring confidence, so the comments about hiring a guide for a day are right on. He will also be able to show you how to identify good offshore spots on his graph.

Something that helps me is to remember that the "deep" water I'm fishing is often only about as deep as my boat is long.

Learning how to interpret your 2D sonar on your marine electronics is key to making the most out of fishing offshore. I will not stop and fish any areas offshore where I do not see many baitfish and bass close to the bottom. Idle over large mainlake points, roadbeds, humps, and ledges in a zig zag fashion to get a good idea of the primary depth where most of the fish are located at and more specifically where active bass might be holding at. The best weather conditions for fishing offshore are generally during sunny and windy days. When you locate some fish, which will appear as an arch like shape on your 2D sonar, try a variety of lures through them for no more than 20 minutes before leaving for another area. Oftentimes and especially during early May to mid June when bass are beginning to school up offshore and are feeding quite heavily you will catch a bass within the first few casts. Make sure to try 3/4 oz Carolina rigs, football jigs, flutter spoons, deep diving crankbaits, and heavy top hook swimbaits before moving onto the next areas. As you begin to catch fish in deep water and also do not get any bites offshore you will continue to learn more about how the position of the fish on your sonar will indicate how willing they may be bite your lures. I like to start with bottom dragging lures like the Carolina rigs or football jigs first then move onto fishing swimbaits, spoons, and crankbaits as these lures can often times pull the schools of fish off of the bottom which will result in less fish being caught. Recheck areas throughout the day as schools of largemouth can often move onto a deep offshore area within minutes. One offshore structure may be completely empty early in the day then loaded with bass a few hours and sometimes even sooner. On sunny days without much wind a dropshot fished vertically with very little movement seems to be productive when other lures are not.

Check out the below video for more tips on deep water fishing and at :50 seconds you will see what a school of actively feeding largemouth look like on your 2D sonar screen, this is a great example of what you want to find before you begin to stop your boat and start fishing any offshore structure. I hope this helps, good luck fishing!

I'd like to hear some thoughts on fishing deep on the highland lakes here in Central Texas where the bluffs drop straight off into 50 feet or more on some of these places. Deep fishing out here befuddles me. I can graph the E and N Texas lakes with confidence. Out here, not so much.

Great illustration

When I fish offshore, the first thing I notice with anglers in the back of my boat is their lure isn't on bottom.

You have to slow down a good bit.

You may be in 25' of water, but may be dragging through a tree that is 10-15' off the bottom. If you don't slow down your lure may not find its way back to the bottom. Especially true when fishing steep banks and ledges. If you aren't stripping line after moving your lure, its probably swinging back towards the boat like a pendulum in the middle of the water column.

The spawn on Alan Henry almost always kicks my butt. I do usually have good fishing in June. I will fish every steep drop off I can find in ~20' and the fish seem to be right on the edge of the bluff dropoff. If the lure pendulums back to boat, you don't get bit. If you can drag it off the ledge and let it fall nearly vertically along ledge you get bit on the fall.

Pm me I’ll be glad to help