Fishing “deep” question

How often/or under what circumstances will you fish in more than 15’ of water without a visible target above the water(I.e. docks/timber) without marking fish on the graph?

I'll go out to 25' all the time if I like the structure on my sonar or sidescan

I catch them in 80 feet on Amistad in January with a 1.25 oz Flutter Spoon, just another day to me.

to add on to this topic, this is my biggest question about deep water fishing regarding electronics use..

Say you find some structure 20ft down on your down scan/side scan or whatever... How do you know where to position the boat to make an accurate cast down to that structure?

Not sure on Lowrance but on my Bird when I find a spot I want to fish I hit mark and then in settings I can set the distance to that mark. Little more complicated than that but that's how I do it. I can do the same with my bow mounted Garmin. Of course there's the old fashion way with buoy's too but you run the risk of poachers.

Marker Buoy

360

An incredibly good video on that by FishTheMoment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEai3-vLu7A

Okay but do you drive around till you find 80’ of water, find a brush/rock pile that looks good, or mark fish and drop the spoon?

To answer the first question, I normally fish deeper (15 to 30 ft depth) when in the middle of the summer and winter. When the fish are living there. I normally use a flutter spoon (asmentioned above, or a C0rig. Occasionally, I use a T-rig with a 1/2 oz weight or more on it On Lake Alan Henry, you can find fish deep most any time of year, you just haevv to figure them out. I LOVE fishing a deep diving CB around, under and thru suspended fish. Pause the lure then rip it and BOOM, a good fish, at least a few ties it has been a good fish. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

I fish 15+ the majority of the year and I will use the shoreline for casting reference. I will commit time to a spot that I’ve located fish on during previous trips when I’m pleasure fishing. If I’m in a tournament I want to see them down there. Often times on good holes they won’t be there when I idle over but if I just position my boat and start fishing and be patient they’ll show up. I’ve caught good bags doing this.

Summer and winter mostly, but there are some lakes I fish where a lot of them head deep immediately post spawn and stay there until the next spawn. These lakes tend to have minimal shallow cover and a good crappie population and the LMB feed on them a lot. They will basically follow the crappie all year.

In the summer, on most lakes, not much point in fishing below a thermocline, so if there's a thermocline, fish above it.

I'll typically only fish a deep location if I see bait fish and what appear to be LMB either active or in ambush positions.

However, I will fish a deep spot without visible bait fish or visible LMB if it is a really good one (has multiple positive attributes) and I'm not pressed for time.
--isolated timber/brush pile on a hump at the end of a point that touches a creek channel swing with a shell bed and rock changing to gravel.
If a spot is that good, I'll stop and fish it, even if I don't see bait fish or LMB on the sonar.

That being said, I can only go fishing maybe once a week for 6-8 hours. With limited time, stopping to only fish areas with baitfish and active or ambushing LMB is much more efficient.

Fishing off shore is a System for me. I have developed it over all these years so that it works best to cover water at the right depths as we try to develop a pattern. It is all about Mapping the areas on a lake that you are going to study and locate fish during the different seasons of the year. I am not a believer of driving back and forth over my areas and looking for fish. I have learned if the Contours are the best on the lake; meaning they are holding the best Irregular Features then the fish will be there and the larger Bass live close by.

I have written many articles on my work pertaining to the System of Mapping and the GPS Contour Maps for finding fish. If you are interested in reading how to do this then feel free to send me a PM with your Email Address so I can send the articles.

Point One antenna is your friend for this.

Do you prefer slow moving baits or reaction?

I use a two fold system with two fisherman in the boat.
The man up front is doing the reaction thing with search baits. He is trying to develop a pattern if possible. Until that patter is developed the man in the back of the boat is dragging a Crig with slow moving plastics. He is looking to catch the big fish of the day staging on the slopes or dragging across an irregular feature to catch her.

I have had 3 replies to send LINKS to the articles. These are on my computer with pictures, maps and write-ups on how to fish the areas. I must have an Email to deliver the information.

I fish deep more than shallow

I do most of my fishing in the summer deep, 25 to 35 feet.

Thank you very much for sharing this.

I actually watched it and used the marker buoy technique today..I went into it with a straight mind not expecting much trying to learn it.. If I'll be damned, FIRST CAST on a 14-23ft drop with a football jig... hung a solid 4-5 pounder. In complete shock I was.... I used the rest of the day doing this and got the hang of it quickly and easy. Caught a lot of bass doing this on mid-lake drop offs