Learning To Fish Plastics From A Boat And In Deeper Water ?

[Chad Corrin]

Hey Guys,

Well I just got my brand new 2012 Bass Tracker and i'm really exited to start doing some more serious boat fishing. Ive upgraded from an old valco aluminum boat. I really want to start to expand my skills, i mostly am only successful only fishing shallower water and visible structure. I've never been able to get the hang of fishing deeper water and i struggle with boat control. Im not sure where to start as far as learning to fish for deep fish and reading my electronics as apposed to where to actually cast.

I have a foot controlled minn-kota up front, and i'm starting to get better at controlling the boat. I have a really hard time fishing plastics on the boat because i always seem to drift into my line or pull it tight before I have a chance to work the bait on the bottom due to the boat moving around in wind or waves etc... A weightless worm is almost impossible for me to feel when dealing with this. Does anyone have any tips on how I can learn to fish plastics properly when dealing with boat drift?

I tend to throw spinnerbaits a-lot as well and have a similar problem, I find that I start to drift and cannot keep the spinner-bait near the bottom. I'm trying to learn to use my electronics as well. I don't have anyone around that i know to learn from so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Guys!

[Lund Explorer]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new boat. Short of trying to write an entire book, I'll give you two things to consider.

First is to turn that boat into the wind and practice holding your position by setting the speed dial on your trolling motor. Secondly, you need to put some weight onto that worm. Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, Drop Shot are all good deep water options but you have to have enough weight to be able to get bottom contact.

Keep that weightless rig in the rod locker until you move back to the docks!

[Crestliner2008]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new boat. Short of trying to write an entire book, I'll give you two things to consider.

First is to turn that boat into the wind and practice holding your position by setting the speed dial on your trolling motor. Secondly, you need to put some weight onto that worm. Texas Rig, Carolina Rig, Drop Shot are all good deep water options but you have to have enough weight to be able to get bottom contact.

Keep that weightless rig in the rod locker until you move back to the docks!

X2 - learn your boat control first. Then do a search on sonar application here. There is a lot of great information to be gleaned from previous postings.

[Catt]

Learn structure

[Nitrofreak]

I agree, you really need to be comfortable with your boat not only for fishing but for safety reasons.

Next you need to explore with your electronics, get used to what you see on the sonar screen, find some different structures and cover to pass over, ridges, drop offs, brush piles, rock piles, etc... note what these look like on your sonar and get very familure with the individuality of each one.

Next thing you want to learn is your lake, get a topo map of the lake, study where all the old creek channels run, look for bends and twists, chances are there will be some pretty productive ridge lines at those bends, the best thing in my opinion, is to look for an intersection or a "Y" that is to say where there is two creek channels that come together as one.

You find in cases such as this you will have multiple points to fish and a lot of structure to cover toward the middle.

Get very cozey with your patience, ask yourself the questions as to why you catch fish here but not there, pay attention to detail on your sonar when you do start catching them and look at the structure you are catching them on, does it have any cover close by? etc...

The C-rig and T-rig are going to be your two best friends for a while until you get to know your structure and what cover the structure holds for you.

The C-rig in my opinion will be the one you want to get most familure with, it will give you a greater feel for what is down there, rocks, gravel, timber etc...

Hope this helps in getting you started, good luck and be safe !!!

[Catt]

Turn that trolling motor off & drop anchor

[Blue Streak]

You have to be in contact with the bottom, you need to be able to feel your bait and it will take weights to do that. Don't over do it, but use enough so you can feel the bottom and without slack in your line. Boat control is not all that difficult it will come rather quickly.

[smalljaw67]

First off don't beat yourself up, we all struggle with wind and waves, but how you go about fishing in it is the key. When using a texas rig in wind learn to use the 3/4oz and 10z worm weights, the weight isn't only to get your bait down but it is also a tool that helps you maintain contact with the bait in wind since it will move your bait as well as your boat. When you find a spot to fish use visual triangulation to keep on or near your spot, you do this by lining up points on the shore in conjunction of where you are positioned at. Find an odd looking tree on one part of the shore and maybe a rock further down the bank and make a mental note of where those things are from where you are, and begin to fish, then take a look after a csat and see if those spots are still lining up, it isn't hard but you do need to make adjustments, in the wind it is constant adjustment. When looking for deep structure and cover you can start at obvious places like points, cruise over them at different angles and watch the screen on the fish finder, if you have a color finder you can tell if a big object is weeds or wood pretty much by the color, before color was available you would use gray scale to determine the hardness of an object.

[K_Mac]

Learning to control an aluminum boat in the wind is a challenge. A friend who has a Nitro Z8, and I were fishing a small lake from my aluminum boat one windy day last week. I was retying and he took the trolling motor. He was talking to himself the entire time. I though it was funny, but a tin boat is far more vulnerable in the wind than a glass boat. Working into the wind is just a fact of life when slowly fishing a bottom contact bait. I have fished with guys who did not have a weight in their box over 1/4 oz. Some days that just won't get it done, and as Lund Explorer said, leave the weightless rig in the box until you get out of the wind.

There is a huge amount of info on this site that will help you learn. Time on the water is where you will learn to put the stuff you have read to the test, and find what works for you. Fishing with experienced bass fishermen who are willing to teach you will save you much time, money, and effort. A guy with a brand new boat should be able to find another fisherman or two... good luck.

[Chad Corrin]

Wow, alot of really great info. Thanks alot guys I really appreciate the input. One question I have also is with the trolling motor. What situation call for constant or manual control? Is it easier to keep the boat positioned by turning to motor up and leaving it on manual, then adjusting when needed, or keep it on a low speed to stay stationary in a current?

Thanks!

[Deadeye-1]

Turn that trolling motor off & drop anchor

At times this is the perfect thing to do. This past Wednesday I had been fishing for quite some time with no fish to show. I went to an area that forms a "Y" that had both current and wind blowing through it. I told myself that the conditions were right for the fish to be located off the point of the Y. As I worked a crankbait through it I finally caught one.

My first thought was "if I only had a Powerpole". Then I realised that I did have a poor man's powerpole and turned the boat around, headed up current and dropped the anchor. As I worked that area over I caught a total of 8 bass.

Sometimes dropping the anchor to allow you to work an area is the best trick of all.

[Nitrofreak]

Wow, alot of really great info. Thanks alot guys I really appreciate the input. One question I have also is with the trolling motor. What situation call for constant or manual control? Is it easier to keep the boat positioned by turning to motor up and leaving it on manual, then adjusting when needed, or keep it on a low speed to stay stationary in a current?

Thanks!

Turn that trolling motor off & drop anchor

X2

The only time you are going to need your trolling motor, is when you are working shallower areas, if you want to learn how to fish deep, a good anchor will be one investment you don't want to skip on.

Fishing deep takes time, it requires you to hold your concentration on your tackle and throwing in your boat position on top of that, just makes it much more difficult, especially if you find an interesting piece of structure.

[Lund Explorer]

Wow, alot of really great info. Thanks alot guys I really appreciate the input. One question I have also is with the trolling motor. What situation call for constant or manual control? Is it easier to keep the boat positioned by turning to motor up and leaving it on manual, then adjusting when needed, or keep it on a low speed to stay stationary in a current?

Thanks!

While I agree with the idea of anchoring, at times you do need to be somewhat mobile. When that isn't an option you're going to need to learn how to hold position using your trolling motor. Here is how it was taught to me.

Before you hit the water, go buy yourself a marker buoy. Don't get one of the bright yellow or blaze orange ones that attract everyones attention, but see if you can find one that is black. If you can't find one, buy a yellow one and paint it yourself. When you come upon a spot that you want to hold on, toss the buoy out and drift back down wind from it. By keep your foot on the power button, dial down the speed control where you are staying the same basic distance from your marker. I never use the constant on feature as I use cable steering. Without this feature, I can simply let off the power button briefly if I need to fall back a little or stay on it if I need to make up lost ground. If you have a power drive unit you may be able to get away with using the constant on, but you may need to override it if winds speeds are varying.

Casting your "weighted" offering directly upwind towards the buoy you may encounter a small amount of slack/bow in your line. The best ways that I've found to detect a bite is to hold my rod low to the water and watch the line where it enters the water. I also palm my reel so that the line runs over my index finger so I'll sometimes feel the bite that way. Finally, I will back off the trolling motor every so often (think 10 seconds) so that the backward motion of the boat will take the slack out of the line.

BTW, if you try this line over your index finger thing, remember to move your finger away before you set the hook. Those line cuts in the first knuckly hurt like the devil.