Special Places

[Mobasser]

The old sunken road bed. The bend in the creek channel. The sunken fence row. The rock pile on the deep side of a point. That drop off in the river channel. Like many bass anglers, I started out strictly fishing shallow. Cruise the bank, throwing a spinnerbait, or top water. I caught fish, but mostly in spring. After summer came to my area, deeper water was where most of the action took place. Learning and understanding deep structure fishing is a process. For fisherman who would say it's easy, I have to disagree. Finding the best areas, depending on all factors, can be a challenge for sure. I'm still learning about structure fishing, even after all my years at bass fishing. Many fisherman become secretive and tight lipped about their own favorite places, and in some ways I can understand this. They've done their homework to find these areas, putting in the hours, months, and sometimes years looking for that spot within a spot, that offers the best combination of structure, and cover and often will produce quality fish. One of my own special places is a drop off 10ft from the bank. A rocky shoreline which stays level for 10 ft, then quickly drops to16ft. A huge blowdown on the bank provides additional cover. We can usually count on a couple of fish here, through much of the season. Deep water is a relative term too. For some, it may be 10ft, for others it could mean much much deeper. Baits for deeper structure? Many will work, but I've settled on Texas rigged soft plastics as the best tool for me. Others have their own favorites too, based on what works best in their waters.  After 35 years pursuing bass, I'm still learning about structure fishing. It's one of the most fascinating aspects of this sport. Always looking for those special places, and bigger bass. What are some of your favorite structure types? What baits do you like for this fishing? Do you fish deep water often, or not much? Have you found some prime spots by accident, or have you searched for them?Tell me about your deep water bass fishing.

[scaleface]

One of my favorite  places is a point that juts  out about fifty yards then when it reaches about 14 foot it drops down to 25 foot . It gets fished a lot but what a lot of anglers are missing is the end of the point is shaped like the end of a Milk Bone dog treat . The point widens out in both directions . I  hit those nodes thoroughly with a Dredger 17.5 , plastic worm and bounce a Red Eye Shad on them before moving on .

[A-Jay]

Two of my favorite places are what I like to call 'hiding in plain site'.

They are both areas that despite seeing fair amount of both fishing pressure & recreational boating traffic throughout the mid summer season, hold some great fish.  It's a early & later season and timing thing; almost always is I guess.  

 

 One is shallow clear water flat, that has an inlet that feeds it, isolated weed to hold bait, and a very critical but easy to miss, mini-drop that goes from 4 feet to 5 feet.  That little drop is 250 feet long and absolute MONEY !  As for the timing - the 'magic' only happens from the very start of daylight to 1 or 2 fingers of a sunrise. Then that deal is done.  But many times, that 60 minutes or so, has been awfully good.

 

 The second is also a clear water, fairly busy & mostly walleye lake.  It's a shallow water flat that is well away from any of the deeper stuff that is most often trolled for walleye.  The 'juice' is an 8-10 ft deep, 100 x 200 ft area what's got sunken timber spread out all over it.  Seems left over from some logging operation.  It's all that petrified hard stuff and it sort of flat & right on the bottom; meaning it doesn't poke up more that a few inches. 

 Super early season, seems half the pre-spawn brown bass on the lake come & sit on this stuff, I think it's warming a little faster and they like it.  Either way,  I like it - a ton.

Funny that I fished this place for almost 9 years, never knew it was there. 

Thank you Side Imaging. 

 

This wood on the bottom lake is usually the first place that opens up annually and the first place I usually visit for my initial shake down cruise.

Lost a next level brown bass there the year I found it and have been looking to settle that score.

Maybe in a couple of weeks . . . . . . .

A-Jay

 

 

[Brew City Bass]

This clear water lake I fish is deep and rocky, holds some giant small mouth. It was a hard lake to figure out though. I thought they'd be holding at the island by the big rocks, but never had luck. I even went snorkeling there and didn't see one. 

Last year though I was driving to one of my spots and went over a massive ledge. I'm talking 10fow point that drops down to 80fow in a matter of 10-20 yards. I thought that was interesting as there is a bay right to the west of it, and it's all shallow flats up there. I hit this point hard last spring and caught multiple 5's and 6lb smallies that I believe were staging to spawn. I wondered what made this spot so good compared to the other points so I dropped my underwater camera down and did some poking around. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but there's an old truck sunk in about 30FOW. I was pulling smallies off that truck all summer long with the occasional giant walleye thrown in too.  

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, Brew City Bass said:

I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but there's an old truck sunk in about 30FOW. I was pulling smallies off that truck all summer long with the occasional giant walleye thrown in too.  

Keep on truckin .

 

I have caught a lot of smallmouths around an old  automobile dumped in a river  . Half of it is above the surface .

[FryDog62]

I fish a river up North for smallies... beautiful stretch of water.  Lots of chunk rock, lay downs, etc... so many places for the typical angler to pick out to fish, and do fairly well.

 

But the best spot I have found is an old cement bridge piling on a heavily traveled part of the river everyone goes by.  Kinda ugly piling too, doesn’t fit the scenery.  But it creates a perfect current break and seam the smallies sit in.  

 

It’s a smaller area and I don't usually get more than 1-2 fish off of it, but it’s always a sure bet for at least one, and tends to be the bigger, territorial type that enjoys relaxing in low current, waiting to ambush an unsuspecting (wacky worm) baitfish. 

[Catt]

7 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Two of my favorite places are what I like to call 'hiding in plain site'.

 

I have several spots on Toledo Bend that are either in a boat lane or on the edge. Traffic zooming by all day long & the anglers aint even watching the graph.

 

13 hours ago, Mobasser said:

What are some of your favorite structure types? What baits do you like for this fishing? Do you fish deep water often, or not much? Have you found some prime spots by accident, or have you searched for them?Tell me about your deep water bass fishing

 

My #1 big bass spot on Toledo Bend I found by accident! It's an underwater point that's 15' on top of it & drops into the Sabine River (45'). It's one that is on the edge of the boat lane which is the Sabine River.

 

My favorite lure are a Texas Rig & Jig-n-Craw!

 

Other the pre-spawn/spawn you'll find me offshore.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

14 hours ago, Mobasser said:

After 35 years pursuing bass, I'm still learning about structure fishing. It's one of the most fascinating aspects of this sport. Always looking for those special places, and bigger bass. 

I couldn't agree more.  The offshore world is so much more fascinating and fun to fish.  Kentucky lake has so much interesting structure.  When I first started fishing the lake,  the maps were terrible.  I found stuff by accident most of the time.  When good maps started coming out,  it was so interesting to finally be able to see how some of those old favorite spots fit into the surrounding structure.  90% of my offshore fish are caught on a texas rig, a carolina rig, or a jig.  I try to keep it simple.  

 

[NYWayfarer]

There is a current break made by two boulders in the stretch of the Hudson River I fish regularly. 

 

Not easy to spot from shore. I have a natural landmark I use as a guide to where it is. A short trip off a beaten trail and I am there. The spot produces above average size Smallmouth Bass. I visit it every time I am in the area. 

[N Florida Mike]

The deep hole in my home lake always holds quality fish in the middle of the day in the summer, and usually holds a few fish any time. A big worm usually does the trick if I make myself go endure the heat. I found it by swimming and a home made depth finder ,which was a long cane pole that me and a friend put electric tape around it every foot so we could dip it in, hit bottom and get a measurement !

The slightly shallower hole up nearer my house I found when wade fishing and just stepped off into it. It produced the lake record of 13 1/2 pounds, and I caught my biggest fish of last year

 ( 8.1 ) out of it.

[lo n slo]

there is a brush pile in 20’ of water that lies offshore of a rocky island on a small lake near me and i seem to be the only one paying it any attention. it always seems to be holding spotted bass, but it also yields some heavy largemouth, especially from Memorial Day on towards the 4th of July. i caught an 11 lb striper there last summer too....on a 5” lizard! i’ll position my little johnny in 30 fow, line up with some trees and throw a texas rig towards the bank, let it sink, and ease her though the limbs. the anticipation is maddening. 

[Way north bass guy]

I have a couple spots on some local lakes that aren’t exactly deep, but still offshore. These are northern, rocky lakes with some shallow weedy areas in some bays, but there’s about three or four cabbage beds that are a few hundred yards offshore, and only the size of about two boats. I’m pretty sure they hardly ever get fished, and from June right up to freeze up in late November, I can guarantee I’ll get fish off each one. It’s amazing how little pressure the fish around here see when they’re on the other side of the boat than where everyone usually casts ( not that there’s a ton of pressure in most lakes around here anyway). 

[Bluebasser86]

There's always fish shallow. 

[TnRiver46]

21 hours ago, scaleface said:

One of my favorite  places is a point that juts  out about fifty yards then when it reaches about 14 foot it drops down to 25 foot . It gets fished a lot but what a lot of anglers are missing is the end of the point is shaped like the end of a Milk Bone dog treat . The point widens out in both directions . I  hit those nodes thoroughly with a Dredger 17.5 , plastic worm and bounce a Red Eye Shad on them before moving on .

I bought 2 17.5 dredgers at the classic based on your research haha. Will report back if I ever throw them