What's On The Bottom?

[Rhino68W]

I bank fish a certain pond very regularly, but have no clue what the bottom is composed of, nor how deep it truly is. It is a gorgeous honey hole. I have read numerous places about using a 1oz weight and just drag it slowly to feel the bottom in order to feel what's there. But how in the heck am I supposed to know what is what!?! Another question, should I use braid so I feel more? Any tips for this would be great!!!

[deep]

You drag a bait in shallow water first so that you can correlate between what you see and what you feel. Braid, mono, fluoro almost anything will work once you get the hang of it. A decent rod helps, holding the line between your index finger and thumb (or however you might want to hold it) would help even more.

 

As far as depth is concerned, find out the rate of fall (sink rate) of a given bait first, preferably a slow-sinking one. Cast it out and count it down, (line type and wind/ current might affect your calculations of course).

 

P.S. Actually I think you're right. Braid on a taut line (big weight) might work better to decipher the bottom composition. I fish FC for bottom contact baits because it transmits vibrations so much better, and anyway I can feel what's on the bottom just fine with FC (well, I think so).

[FrankW]

Hi Rhino68W,

 

Well it seems that you have a pond and are catching fish since you calling it a honey hole.  What cover is on the bottom is not as important as where it is located.  I bet every time you drag across cover in a certain area you get a bite.  With a small pond I would make a map of the lake and keep tract of where you catch fish and where the cover is located.  Dragging a weight across the bottom would give you a good idea of where the cover is and some idea of what the cover is.  If you drag across a sunken tree it is pretty easy to tell what it is.  Grass is easy to tell where it is and if you use a hook, you can determine what type of grass it is.  If you are fishing plastics on the bottom then you can't beat braid.

 

You can measure the bottom with your same weight setup by adding a bobber that the weight will pull down.  Adjust the bobber above the weight until it doesn't pull the bobber down and that means the weight is on the bottom.  So if you put the bobber 4' above the weight and you throw it into the lake and the bobber is puller down, it is deeper than 4'.  Adjust to 6' and toss it out and so on until you find the bottom. 

 

Frank

[Verisimilidude]

In terms of sensitivity, (in my opinion) Fluorocarbon is more sensitive than braid which is more sensitive than mono.  

 

I don't do a lot of carolina rigging, but I've heard that that rig is often used to figure out bottom composition.

 

Also, tungsten seems to transfer vibration much better than lead.

 

Try dragging some pegged tungsten T-rigs.  Mud feels "mushy", weeds feel, well, like weeds -- being able to discern the difference in vegetation takes experience.  

[SHaugh]

Be bold... put on a mask and fins and go for swim...

[lectricbassman]

Great tip on the bobber trick frank. Im going to have to give that one a try

[Ozark_Basser]

I never need a big weight to feel the bottom.  Just cast out and hit the bottom and drag.  It just takes some practice to learn what you're dragging your bait through.  Once you get pretty good at it you can decipher what you're dragging through pretty easily.  If it's a pond you're probably not gonna feel a whole lot on the bottom because it's probably just packed down mud on the bottom as with most ponds.  

[Felix77]

A jig is a great way to feel the bottom. If you are unsure what you are feeling test in shallow visible water. Find different bottom contours and drag it through it. You will quickly determine sand from pea gravel from chunk rocks. If you are in mud or packed in muck you will be bringing stuff up with you.

[Heron]

Be bold... put on a mask and fins and go for swim...

Haha....THIS

[Josh Smith]

Haha....THIS

 

You know, I've actually thought about getting my SCUBA certification and doing this in certain spots.  I'm concerned about seaweed though.

 

Josh

[Paul Roberts]

Seaweed isn't interested in you. It doesn't bite. It's actually very beautiful underwater.

[Rhino68W]

Is this pond natural or man made? If man made does this pond have a dam?

You can tell a lot about what the ponds bottom structure is like from the surrounding terrain, the bottom composition doesn't change unless someone changed it or it silted in from soil erosion and plant decay.

37 acres is small area to learn. From shore all you can effectively fish is about 100' distance outward and all around the perimeter, unless you have some type of vessel to get on the water.

Pond bass are not stationary, they roam the bank. You need to learn where they stay when not roaming and the locations they feed at.

Tom

 

I have no idea if its natural or not. This thing has tons of laydowns and nice structure in it, but it also has 1 side that is a straight bank for about 60 yards that could be a dam. 

[WRB]

Regardless of what is on the bottom you should know the rate of fall ROF of the sinking lures you fish.

Easy way to do this is at a swimming pool with known water depth, cast and count down.

Is your pond man made? Does it have a dam, if it does that is the deep end.

The surrounding terrain is the same as the bottom of your pond, unless someone changed it. Most ponds are man made to store water and the trees were cut down leaving stumps, otherwise the bottom should be similar to terrain around this pond.

Without a vessel you can only fish the perimeter out to about 100'. That all the area you need to learn.

Pond bass roam the perimeter where you fish, learn where the feed, everything else has little value.

Tom