Deep or Shallow, how do you decide?

[Bluebasser86]

The answer is always shallow for me. There's always fish shallow and that's where I'd prefer to catch them, so that's what I do.

[TnRiver46]

8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The answer is always shallow for me. There's always fish shallow and that's where I'd prefer to catch them, so that's what I do.

I just figured there was no deep water in the mud puddles you hop around to!

[Bluebasser86]

13 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I just figured there was no deep water in the mud puddles you hop around to!

That's pretty much the case for the most part. 10' is pretty deep in a lot of the lake I fish, many don't hit 30' at their deepest points and not much there other than just mud bottoms.

 

I was actually fishing deep Sunday, Ned rigging fish in 30+ feet of water until I got them fired up and started jacking them on a spoon. When they're really grouped up and fighting over a spoon, it's a lot of fun. That was at a reservoir that has a lot of deeper water though.

[RHuff]

On 7/7/2020 at 7:10 PM, WRB said:

Easy, after determine what the seasonal period is I determine what depth the bait, bass and thermocline or life zone and target that depth.

My routine when I launch my boat is survey the marina area, looking at surface water temps, bait schools and if there is a thermocline eastablished. If the bait and bass and thermocline is located at 10', no reason to fish any deeper. If the thermocline /life zone is 25' no reason to fish much shallower.

Tom

Tom, when you say "if the thermocline/life zone is 25' no reason to fish much shallower," do you mean that the bait/bass will be just above the thermocline? Do bass usually go as deep as they can before hitting the thermocline?

[scaleface]

I went a couple of days ago after a month of sweltering hot weather . It was cloudy all day , light rain and mild temperatures . Even though the thermocline was around 18 foot  the shad were 8 foot and less . Shad are very fragile and seek out the best combination of dissolved oxygen and temperatures to aid in their survival . Tom refers to it as the lifezone.I actually learned this from him . It was constant shallow action all day . Junk fishing  with buzzbzaits , spinnerbaits , toads and hitting brush piles with Texas rigs .   I tried deep on a point and not one bite . So , just keep making decisions , thats all anyone can do . Sometimes we get them right .

[BassNJake]

I love topwater so I'm fishing shallow for largemouths

(although I have had some excellent smallmouth topwater days casting over 15-20 feet of water with a walking bait)

Just have to make sure you are seeing bait or other clues such as herons combing the shore or coots swimming around

I'm not talking huge schools of baitfish (although that'll work) either smaller groups of minnows or bluegills anything lower on the food chain will attract a bigger fish

 

You often see guys graphing deeper water with their electronics to find schools of bait or bass

I do the same thing running the shoreline but use my eyes watching for little bait flipping around or scattering when my bait hits the water. I can go down a stretch of water and tell if I got a chance to get bit. If I'm not seeing any action, I wont be getting any action

 

My lake is 2 rivers that have been dammed. It's almost all rock.

Dropoffs, ledges, pea gravel, chunk rock to huge boulders.

There a billion rocky things to try and target.

 

My best bet for catching and not casting is to go to the 10% of the lake that isn't solid rock and fish the isolated targets.

Instead of making 1000's of casts down the rocky shoreline or the 80 miles of ledges

I target the small group of rocks on the mud bank or the couple of bushes at the end of the point

Instead of fishing down the side that has 40 docks, I'm gonna hit that one lone dock

 

With that being said, there are always fish that can be caught offshore.

Sometimes those fish are easier to catch as they are not seeing as many baits.

But those are the hardest fish to locate and some are not as active

 

 

[RoLo]

 

'Shallow' refers to water depth, whereas inshore and offshore is another metric.

That is to say, you may be fishing 'shallow' on an offshore shoal, or fishing 'deep' on a shoreline drop-off.

On balance, fishing in a natural lake tends to be significantly shallower than fishing in a manmade reservoir.

 

Roger

[geo g]

In south Florida our water temps are in the high 80's right now.  I fish early or late in the day this time of year.  I usually start shallow in the weeds and pads this time of year, from there I move to the closest drop off or ledge I can find.  Bass will move up and down these ledges depending on light conditions.  Bass are either going deep as the light gets high in the sky, or they are burying deep in the sawgrass and weeds.  So I will fish both until I find some action.  

[schplurg]

I'm fishing a creek these days. It's only a few feet deep, with a few deeper holes here and there (maybe 5 feet).

 

Water is clear so I figure during the day they are either in the deeper areas, but only if they are shaded well, or under cover near the banks. If the water was stained I think I would find them in more areas, but since it's clear (and according to Roland Martin, bass don't have eyelids  ) they can't hide from the sun so easily.

 

I've caught every fish in either the deeper shaded areas, or under cover in a foot of water.

[Boomstick]

Usually I would go deeper during the day and shallow morning and night, but this past week I found fish holed up along a drop off near deeper water but they would not bite for the life of me so I targeted the shallows along the drop off and got a few. So it doesn't hurt to try both.