How To Stop Beating The Banks?

[MikeOGNR]

Hey Guys, so I am a fairly avid bass fisherman and have been so for roughly since I was 5. Now through my trial and error experiences I have come to notice that a lot of my fishing pertains to hitting shoreline structure and visible cover mostly shallow water fishing. Now this has worked for me a fair amount of the time, but I really wanna get into deep water fishing and fishing a lot of underwater structure depths that range from 10-20 feet because I know that if I do this my odds will increase drastically and I can catch some bigger fish as well. My situation is I have a small 6hp v hull boat with a trolling motor and no electronics. I am just looking to see what you guys can offer to help me get off the banks and into the deeper water so I can start catching some more quality and quantity fish. Any helps is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[MikeOGNR]

Also if it helps I live and fish in New Hampshire.

[Quillback]

No electronics makes off shore fishing tough.  I'd think about getting a depth finder.  Outside of that, I'd see if I could find a contour map of the lakes I was planning on fishing. 

[MikeOGNR]

With a depth finder I don't know really what to look for as to what to get seeing as how I have a budget you know. Also wouldn't I need a map of the lake anyways to put my fish finder to good use to find areas? and such

[Brian6428]

Hey Guys, so I am a fairly avid bass fisherman and have been so for roughly since I was 5. Now through my trial and error experiences I have come to notice that a lot of my fishing pertains to hitting shoreline structure and visible cover mostly shallow water fishing. Now this has worked for me a fair amount of the time, but I really wanna get into deep water fishing and fishing a lot of underwater structure depths that range from 10-20 feet because I know that if I do this my odds will increase drastically and I can catch some bigger fish as well. My situation is I have a small 6hp v hull boat with a trolling motor and no electronics. I am just looking to see what you guys can offer to help me get off the banks and into the deeper water so I can start catching some more quality and quantity fish. Any helps is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

I am in a situation very similar to you. I have a small boat with no fish finder, and I am working on fishing offshore structure. I have caught a few fish on offshore structure, and here is how I have done it. 

1. visit this website: http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp And find a topo map of your lake. If you can't, try to google your lake's name followed by "topo map". If you do use navionics, make sure to click the button on the bottom left of the screen that looks like a wifi signal turned upside down- it makes the map intervals less. If you fish a small lake and can't find a topo map by either of these methods, I know the feeling. I would suggest finding a larger lake to fish in the area that does have topo maps made for it. 

2. Spool up one of your reels with braid and tie on a heavy c-rig. Drag this on pre-identified points you found on the map to feel the bottom composition and contour. If you feel any cover, try throwing a texas rig or jig to that area. 

 

This is what I did. If you are still confused on what to look for, pm me. I have a copy and paste microsoft word document with 20+ pages about structure fishing all from this website. Some great posts from catt, speed bead and some other great fisherman on this website that i could email you.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Brian

[roadwarrior]

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/fishing_deep_water.html

[MrPeanut]

I would start by trying to find or downloading a decent contour map of the lake and look for some areas on the map

 

try looking for clues where underwater points etc are by looking at the shoreline. Example: if it spikes out into the main lake area chances are the ground under the water does something similar

 

even a relatively cheap depth finder should help get a start off shore. I'm on a tighter budget as well so i dont have anything fancy, but it at least can show depth and drop offs.  After you find somewhat of a good drop off or a small hump etc probe the area with something your comfortable with (c-rig, deep crank, jig, whatever) to find hard bottom areas holding fish

[Catt]

Brain nailed it for ya

[Dave P]

If you can swing it, about a hundred bucks for a new sonar will get you started fine for a starter setup. Or keep your eyes open for a used unit. If not the above post nails it. Did it that way for a quite a while.

[plumworm]

I just looked BPS and Cabela's catalogs. They both list 4 models for under $80.00. Remember, what is now $80 has the power and options that we paid $300-$400 for just a few years ago. All these models have a greyline feature that will tell you the type of bottom, ie: hard,soft,muddy etc. they will show depth, contour, structure etc. You already have a battery so there is no cost for that and the transducer can be mounted with 2-3 screws and some silicone. 80 bucks will give you a great start at deeper water fishing. Good Luck and don't forget, you can fish wacky rigged Senkos in deep water too.

[MikeOGNR]

Thanks for the help guys I am gonna try brains method first and maybe save up for a decent one to put into my boat. Ill let you know what I come out with.

[Bluebasser86]

Before I had a depthfinder and when I was fishing off a 2 man I had 2 techniques for finding offshore cover/structure. One was to fish a big, deep diving crank or heavy C-rig until I felt a difference in bottom composition, piece of cover, dropoff, or caught a fish. Points were one of my favorite places for this technique as they almost always hold some fish. The other technique, although frowned upon by some, was to watch other anglers that were fish offshore. Crappie fishermen especially tend to target offshore cover and structure. 

[Brian6428]

Before I had a depthfinder and when I was fishing off a 2 man I had 2 techniques for finding offshore cover/structure. One was to fish a big, deep diving crank or heavy C-rig until I felt a difference in bottom composition, piece of cover, dropoff, or caught a fish. Points were one of my favorite places for this technique as they almost always hold some fish. The other technique, although frowned upon by some, was to watch other anglers that were fish offshore. Crappie fishermen especially tend to target offshore cover and structure. 

Forgot to mention this but I do it too. As long as you don't pull up and fish right next to them its fine. I just usually make a mental note of the spot and return later when they're gone.

[flechero]

Great info already given, so I'll just add that for $2 or so you can have a couple marker bouys to toss out and keep stuff marked... in a small alum. boat, those were key for me as i was constanly getting blown around and having to triangulate, mentally, to stay on stuff.

[frogflogger]

I know this isn't used much anymore but when I started out I had no depth sounder but I was a fan of Buck Perry so I trolled and trolled, using crankbaits I would start around 8 - 10 ft and go deeper until I found fish. You get baits deeper trolling so it takes some fiddling and figuring but it is absolutely a deadly way to learn a lake and to find fish. After a few months of trolling I started fishing tournaments - won the first 3 I fished, offshore with no sonar. Of course I bought a sonar unit as soon as I could afford one.

[WRB]

A simple depth finder shows how deep the water is under the transducer and helps you more than we can explain in a few words.

Every man made lake has a dam and that is the deepest water area. Reservoirs are made by building a dam across a stream, creek or river. To get a general idea of what the lake bottom looks like, look at the surrounding terrain. Points are usually ridges leading down into deeper water with a revine at the bottom of the point ridge. Bass love points and the points are easy to find at the start of bays, coves, creek arms that lead back from the main lake body of water.

Start fishing points.

Next are islands. Islands are what is often referred to as humps, except an island is above water a hump below the surface. Islands you can see, humps you need a map and depth finder.

Tom

[FrogFreak]

Great info. I recently used the watch others approach and found a rockpile that I didn't know about. One other cheap piece of advice. I got a GPS app for my iphone (motionX) that allows me to mark waypoints once I do find a piece of structure I like. It's pretty simple to use and you can download a map of your lake before you go so if you don't have cell coverage, you can still use the map to find the waypoint.

[Fishes in trees]

Should you desire to get away from from bank oriented cover you are going to need a depth finder.  You can get a decent one for around a hundred bucks + or -.   I would recommend the Hummingbird Fishing Buddy.  You can go around and drag a heavy weight to determine depth, but that is a pain and it is easy to get lost, more trouble than it is worth, really.

 

Deeper water fishing has a pretty steep learning curve.  I am not real good at it myself.  I do know that you need a depth finder to start.

[MikeOGNR]

All these ideas sound very informative and helpful. For now I think I am going to try the C rig on the bottom and draggin it around points and other underwater structure that I can see on the Topo Maps. Another question how heavy should I go for a C rig? And also how will I know whats really on the bottom?

[derekxec]

why not just get out there and fish a time or 2 and see how it goes first? then see what you need or dont need

[EvanT123]

why not just get out there and fish a time or 2 and see how it goes first? then see what you need or dont need

I didn't read all the posts fully. Ill state that first and foremost. I beat the bank and don't have a problem with it. In fact I was reeling them in tonight as a guy was twiddling his thumbs in a boat 100 feet away. It's all how you approach it. Someone on here says all the time the guys on the bank try and cast out as far into the middle as they can and the guys on the boat are casting to the shore. I think there is some truth to that. Like derekxxec said get on that boat and try it out. I know that's what I'd be doing.

[WRB]

The heavier the C-rig weight the easier it is to get the weight snagged. You will have better results casting and retrieving, then strolling or dragging the rig along with a trolling motor. When you cast, you can count down the weight fall rate by first casting into a known depth.

The reason is bass are very particular at what depth they prefer to feed in, so it's always better to catch bass than to drag around a heavy weight.

A 1/2 oz egg sinker or bullet weight on 10 to12 lb main line is a good start for depths to 15 to 20 feet. You should be able to make 25 yard/ 75 foot casts with ease. Make a cast, retrieve, then move forward 25 yards and repeat. As you can see, a simple depth finder keeps you at the depth you need to fish without guessing.

Not to discourage you, but the right depth is the depth the baitfish and bass are using, not all depths in deeper water.

Without GPS it's easy to get disoriented when away from the bank, so you may also want to buy 2 marker buoys. Take a Sharpie pen and mark the cord in 5 foot increments; ie: 1 mark at 5', 2 marks at 10' etc. when you hook a bass, drop the marker over to mark the spot, then check the depth. Leave the marker floating while you cast around the area, the bouy will keep you from roaming too far away.

Then there is the thermocline, deep water summer bass fishing it is important not to fish too deep or below the thermocline. You need a decent sonar unit to meter thermoclines.

You may also want to invest in a anchor and 50' of anchor rope, handy in the wind to stay on the outside structure.

Good luck.

Tom