Catching Bass In Deeper Water From A Kayak...

[BassinBoy]

One of the benefits to a kayak is getting into shallow spots most people cant go... but what if you want to fish deeper water such as ledges, points, channels and you dont have a depth finder.

 

AND you dont have a map of the lake.

 

How can you find these structures as well as deep grass and brush piles without a map or depthfinder?

Anybody willing to share some tricks would be appreciated

[Hanover_Yakker]

Pay attention to topography and the geography of the area around you.  There is a video by our own Glenn that outlines how to do this.  Use your google prowess and find some contour maps.  Many of your state DNRs have them for each public lake.  Once you have a high level feel for what might be there, tie on three different lures on reels with braided or flouro lines- a 1oz jig, a deep diving crank and a lipless crank.

 

Mark the line in 1' - 3' increments with a black sharpie and then drop the heavy jig down for vertical drops to identify where the ledge transition occurs.

 

Cast the deep diving crank out and countdown to where the depth is and just run it back to you paying closs attention to any changes in the line direction or lure behavior.  This can help you identify depth changes like holes or the variations in a ledge transition.

 

The lipless crank is one you can use for a variety of things, but it is very useful in finding submerged grass.  You can "feel" the rattle stop and when you rip it, it comes free.

 

If you are going to do this though, make sure you have a strudy plug knocker or use soft treble hooks that you can bend and avoid losing a bait or two.

 

Take a printout of the are you are working and a fine point sharpie or paper mate marker to make notes on the print out.  Go back to your computer or ask some locals to confirm or refute your findings.

[Marty]

As far as I know, marking your line and using a 1 oz. jig, as the previous post mentioned, was pretty much standard in the days before electronics.

[jhoffman]

What about when some idiot comes by that doesnt understand the trim feature of the motor