Had the pleasure of getting to shoot a "Tips and Tricks" on Deep Water fishing yesterday with one of the best deep water fisherman around. Even I going into this was always skeptical of wondering into the depths of the unknown and trying to pull up a ole Bucket Mouth.

Well, after riding around with Lake Fork Guide Lance Vick yesterday on Lake Fork, I'm pretty sure I'm going to start gearing up for some excursions of shore.......WOW that's funny, even me talking about the write up I make it seem like it's a "Shallow" vs "Deep" thing. Lance put it best yesterday when he told me " I laugh when people start talking about shallow vs deep thing" The fish in 5 feet of water or the same fish in 25 feet of water. They didn't get smarter or harder to catch just because they are now out there, they just now have most anglers fooled.

Most people fear deep water fishing because they can't see what there fish......WRONG you can it's called a graph. That little piece of equipment can tell you everything about fishing deep your eyes can show you fishing shallow.

When Lance and I started talking about Deep water "Tips and Tricks", he told me that by the end of the write up, he would do his best to give people the confidence to add deep water fishing to there arsenal.......here's Lance Vick's "Tips and Tricks" on "Deep Water Fishing".

Where do you start?



Best intro in "Tips and trick"...AND A BASS.



Best times during the day on average to take advantage of the deep bite on Fork?
Primaries




What is the deepest he fishes at Fork?
32 feet is the Max Depth he will fish on Lake Fork.

What kind of place do u look for???? humps next to creek bends, with or without structure, creek channels alone, ledges????
All of the above, when deep water fishing, anything and everything can potentially hold bass.

Now his favorite spot to fish deep, is a simple main lake point, no bends no ditches nothing. WHY? Because the fish have less places they can be and will have to be somewhere on that point. Fish that point the same way in 25 feet of water as you would in 5 feet of water. it's still the same point you now just have to get your lure deeper.

Tip by Lance on Flipping Jig..Fish Nails Jig


Bass Asassin has an 11 inch curly tail worm that floats. It really has some great action. How does he fish it or how would he fish it? Carolina or Texas?
T-Rigg with out a doubt, if that's your confidence bait like a Grande Bass Megatail is to Lance, Texas Rigg it. Always remember to throw what you have confidence in.

Here's the Worm that Lance has a lot of confidence in



And how about one of his fish on the Grande Bass Megatail.





When to throw a deep crank verses a c-rig, jig etc?
[color:#000000]If it's pretty Windy 15 MPH+ he will go with a C-Rig over a Deep Crank, now that being said if he gets on some active big fish, he will use the Crankbait. On least windy and calm days he will go to a more stealthy approach with a Texas Rig, but try not to limit your self on the water, learn to use all your tools in every situation...You will see this example in a few video's today.

Knot video on "Double Improved Clinch Knot"



[/color]
How do you determine what depth the fish are gonna be?
Using the depth finder ( we shoot a video on this)

When the Thermocline shows up on the Graph does he actually catch fish below it? Does he fish below it or does he target the depth just above it? Also, What effect does the Thermocline have on fish and what does it mean? Maybe nothing I don't know. What is the deepest he finds Grass on Lake Fork? I know I have tons more but this is a start.
Just above the line, because that's the basses comfort zone, also bait fish really can't survive to well under the oxygen deprived layer. that is also another major factor in why he fishes above it.
YES, you can catch fish under it, but they are tough to catch and are usually spread out.

Here is a great write up on Thermocline.

Oh Yeah, 12 feet is the deepest he has found and fishes grass on Fork Right Now.

If you mark fish in 20 ft suspended over 30 ft,will you go to a spot where you know there is structure 20 ft deep,and the fish will be relating to the bottom,or will they just suspend shallower?



Retrieves. What are his methods of finding out what the fish want as far as retrieving his favorite deep lures.
And flutter spoon info.






What structure does he prefer to fish night time during the summer and what are his best depths at lake fork.
What baits and what retrieves.
Jersey Dan, first congrats on the Lake Buchman Record. This question didn't print out well, so i will PM Lance and get him to answer it on here.

Do you blind fish deep structure, i.e. no bait fish present, or do you need to graph structure until you find bait fish? In other words do you fish the structure or the bait?



I dont fish a lot of lakes with points, ledges, or other obvious deep water structure. In this case, what out of the ordinary deep water structure would you look for? Also, on humps, how defined do you feel humps have to be to be a holding spot for bass?
Bridge Corners, all you need is 2 to 3 feet of depth change to make a hump productive and sometimes less. On Fork in the fall less change is better.

how do you feel about vertical fishing vs casting? what do you prefer as far as search baits...crankbaits, c-rigs or what?
In the fall a vertical presentation is better when fish are tighter in groups, right now casting away from the boat as far as possible is key when trying to drag your bait across deep water structure. Crankbaits are one of the best search baits.

Crankbait Fish


Tips by Lance




How do you know it is Bass that you are seeing on the graph?
Less fuzzy looking and will have a more defined shape, there's a video above that show's both on one shot. Bait fish and bass.




If he were fishing a lake like Ray Roberts that has no grass to key on, what structure would he fish?
Points, road beds, under water railroad tracks, pond dams, bridge corners.

What are the rod/reel/line set-ups he uses for Deep Cranking, deep jigging/worming and other methods.



How to know when they need to be fizzed?
If you catch a bass and try to release it and it can't go back down that a good sign, also you will see there are bladder. On thing that causes the alot is catching a fish 15+ or greater in the summer, now that's not saying it can't happen a little shallower. If you catch a summer time bass and don't have to keep it in the livewell, please practice C.P.R (Catch,Photo,Release) quickly.

Oh yeah, does ole Lance think there are any stones unturned on that lake? Are there deep water spots that have not yet been discovered? If yes how do you go about discovering a new deep water spots? How can you determine if a spot has the potential to hold fish?
Yes, there are many spots on Fork that anglers haven't really discovered yet, the key to finding these spots is time on the water and patients to search and explore.

Tip by Lance


Lance show us his NEW Signature Series Jig.


Tip by Lance


Ardent Flipping Reel..



And How about a AWESOME WAY to end a Great day of "Tips and Tricks"

Best times during the day on average to take advantage of the deep bite on Fork?

What is the deepest he fishes at Fork?

what kind of place do u look for???? humps next to creek bends, with or without structure, creek channels alone, ledges????

Bass Asassin has an 11 inch curly tail worm that floats. It really has some great action. How does he fish it or how would he fish it? Carolina or Texas?

When to throw a deep crank verses a c-rig, jig etc?
How do you determine what depth the fish are gonna be?

When the Thermocline shows up on the Graph does he actually catch fish below it? Does he fish below it or does he target the depth just above it? Also, What effect does the Thermocline have on fish and what does it mean? Maybe nothing I don't know. What is the deepest he finds Grass on Lake Fork? I know I have tons more but this is a start.

Jody
PS Thanks Casey for all you do for us guys that don't have the time to learn first hand all you have taught us over the past year.

If you mark fish in 20 ft suspended over 30 ft,will you go to a spot where you know there is structure 20 ft deep,and the fish will be relating to the bottom,or will they just suspend shallower?Also,how big of a role do shellbeds play in your deep fishing?

Retrieves. What are his methods of finding out what the fish want as far as retrieving his favorite deep lures.

And flutter spoon info.

What structure does he prefer to fish night time during the summer and what are his best depths at lake fork.

What baits and what retrieves.

Do you blind fish deep structure, i.e. no bait fish present, or do you need to graph structure until you find bait fish? In other words do you fish the structure or the bait?

I dont fish a lot of lakes with points, ledges, or other obvious deep water structure. In this case, what out of the ordinary deep water structure would you look for? Also, on humps, how defined do you feel humps have to be to be a holding spot for bass?

how do you feel about vertical fishing vs casting? what do you prefer as far as search baits...crankbaits, c-rigs or what?

you find the thermocline with bait around, you are using a crankbait, do you want the crankbait to be above the bait or below the bait?

If you graph a hump, roadbed, ect. and there is no fish (bass or baitfish) present on the depth finder do you stop to fish it or move on?

How do you know it is Bass that you are seeing on the graph?

If he were fishing a lake like Ray Roberts that has no grass to key on, what structure would he fish?

KB

I was hoping you would hook-up with Lance one day, Casey. What a great guy, and a great deep water fisherman. Let me know if I need to help you take pictures, film....

Oh...ask Lance if he would give me the GPS Cords to a big fish spot that`s not a community hole. I`ll only fish it during the McDonalds and then delete the spot.











That`s a serious question.

What are the rod/reel/line set-ups he uses for Deep Cranking, deep jigging/worming and other methods.

Well tomorrow's the day, any last questions for Lance before we head out in the Morning?

When is the Ray Roberts boat lane chip going to be ready? LoL!!

whats the deepest he catches largemouth in the summer?(what is too deep) Does he fish deep water at sun up or do those fish move out to those spots as the sun gets higher? How do you determine what to throw at em; cranks, carolina rig, jigs, spoons, ect.

How to know when they need to be fizzed?

How did you get your giant pimp ring with a Bass on it?

Ask him if you will ever be able to catch a bass.

Oh yeah, does ole Lance think there are any stones unturned on that lake? Are there deep water spots that have not yet been discovered? If yes how do you go about discovering a new deep water spots? How can you determine if a spot has the potential to hold fish? And why is the sky blue, and why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways?

Sooo...Any word on how things went?

Lets just say you guys will not be let down on this one,

Lance is a Great guy and a very knowledgeable angler, he really spilled the beans today and open many doors into the world of Deep Water fishing.

Should be up tonight, late though, I have some grilling to do for the family...

Can't wait to see it...Thanks!!!

I am sure we are considered your extended family, so we'll be there for supper

Start typing. I'll come over and do the grilling.

Come on over, I have plenty of Chicken and Burgers for everyone.

Oh Yeah, Craig, I asked him your question about me ever catching fish, and he laughed and said.....I saw your Day On The Water, you better be really good with a net.....what does that mean?

Im pretty excited about this one. Its always been on my mind to hire a guide for a day to learn some deep water techniques and actually catch fish doing it. Maybe after this DOTW, it will give me the confidence to do that.

Remember guy this wasn't a "Day On The Water", one that wouldn't be fair after what I saw today and the fish he caught while just showing me tricks.

This was just a "Tips and Tricks" by Lance.

T-Ross, after seeing these video's you will probably be planning a trip in the near future.

Come on Casey. I have a club tournament this weekend and need all the help I can get.

Sorry about that! Tips and tricks is extremely informative and definitely look forward to the continuing of the series. This should be a great one.

You just show up for our Grudge match on Bonham and I`ll show you excactly what it means.

You really wanna do that?

You bet. I talked to your partner, and he said your the best net man he`s ever seen. Even went so far as to say you had some mad netting skills. I`m not sure what he meant by that, though?

I'm working on getting the videos edited right now, takes a little while when you have 42 video's ranging from 2 minutes to 5 minutes.

When he posts the results of today the forum server will probably crash..LOL....Keep up the good work Casey..!!!!!!!

Well, it's 3:40am and all the video's are done, and the write up is up.

Lance thanks for taking the time to show the TFF'ers some Deep water "Tricks and Tips", and letting me use the wireless MIC...man that made a difference...

Guys and Gals there was so much I couldn't get on video and put on here. If you ever get the chance to book Lance and get on the water with him for a day, you need to. He really opened my eyes to how FUN deep water fishing could be, and how if you have the right gear and right state of mind you could really stick a fish of a Life Time.

Thanks Lance

Im awake waiting for this!! Not really, I just got done moving in, so I dont have sound yet. But I can already tell that its VERY thorough and detailed. Bang up job old man.

This is definitely one of your best Casey, great job by both Lance and you!!

once again, great job casey.

Fantastic job Casey!

thanks Lance and Casey!!!

News we can use my friend, can't wait to get home and actually review these with the sound up.

Thnk you both for your efforts.

Maybe I am doing something wrong but I can't hear on the video, sounds scrambled and very low.
Looks like a lot of good info on here can't wait to get it figured out.

Awesome video guys!!! Thsi new jig will be out in about three weeks

Great job Lance.

And Casey, as usual, job well done on the coverage.

Guys,
Where do you find these videos?
I'm Clueless

Go back to page 1.

Thanks Chris

Really like the wireless mic! I can hear and understand what they are saying much better. Great info. Thanks for your hard work to put this together!

Great Job to both. This will help a lot of fisherman to better understand deep water Bass fishing & catching.

Awesome post I really enjoy these.

Thanks Casey for all the work to put this together ,
Thanks all TFF members for checking it out .
One of the questions we forgot to answer was from whodunthat
the question was why is the sky blue and i know the to that ....
Because God made it that way......
and I do not know why we drive on parkways and park in driveways
LOL

I'd like to add my thanks, too, to both you Lance for showing us all this great information and to you Casey for filming it and making it available to us. This is one of the best things about the TFF. Just awesome!

Maybe the best TFF post ever. Great Job, Lance and Casey.

where can i get some of those grandebass worms?

Thanks Lance and Casey. Great write up and videos.

PM sent.

I looked on the grandebass web-site and could not find them there. Are they even selling them ?

how can u put videos on here with out going though u tube

Thanks to Lance and Casey for all the good information.

I`ve been out of town for the past couple of days, so I just had the chance to view the video`s.
I think Casey has out done himself this time. What a great job by both of you. Super informative on a wide range of techniques, and baits. Thank you Lance, and Casey for a great job.

ZfastR1 I have nystagmus after watching your video!

Great Job Guys. Thanks to you both for doing that. Very informative videos.

I have one final question...

What is the deal with the pimp ring?

i think ike might have loaned it to him

He never did answer that did he? Sure is a nice ring, though.

I was curious about the ring as well.

For some reason I get a blank box for the videos with a little square in the corner. Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

When you win the Texas Toyota Bass Classic 2008, they give you that ring plus a big check.

great videos thanks

Great videos. I tried to find the Bomb grass jig on the Black Angel web site but couldn't.

Superfine!

That was good man, good job to Lance as well!

great job fellas

I'm gona mark this and watch it later. Looks like some AWESOME stuff. Hats off to the guys that did the work for a few of us to hopefully learn a little something.



Rob