Maintaining The Correct Depth

[Mobasser]

Lots of older fishing books have stated that a 1/4oz weight will sink about one ft per second.                                             If your fishing in 20ft deep water and you want your lure to run at 10ft, what method do you use to stay at that depth?                               The countdown method will work most times, but there's lots of variables. Bait type, size, and wind can all affect how your lure runs at a certain depth?                                                   Do you change how you count down, for different weights, or lure types, and do you factor in wind and the lenght of your cast also?

 

 

 

[J Francho]

Almost in every case, I'm in contact with the bottom, or just above it, so I don't worry too much about fishing depth.  Precise depth control is something left for trolling baits for trout.

[NHBull]

Count down is all I use....That said, If fish are suspending at 10 feet in 20 FOW, I try to move to 12 FOW.

 

[Team9nine]

If you’ve been around bass fishing media enough, you’ll realize sooner or later that every bait falls at about 1 ft per second in water, and so it really doesn’t matter. It’s like the universal constant of bass fishing. Any bait/manufacturer that states a ROF other than 1:1 is just doing it to sell more baits (note sarcasm).

 

On a slightly more serious note, if you let every cast hit bottom, you’ll always know exactly where your bait started from (depth). If you want to fish it shallower, don’t let it hit bottom ? 

 

With enough time on the water, a lot of this becomes second nature. For those just starting out, always count down every cast. You’ll quickly become familiar with all your baits.

[J Francho]

8 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

If you’ve been around bass fishing media enough, you’ll realize sooner or later that every bait falls at about 1 ft per second in water, and so it really doesn’t matter. It’s like the universal constant of bass fishing. Any bait/manufacturer that states a ROF other than 1:1 is just doing it to sell more baits ?

 

 

[Hook2Jaw]

Drop your lure to the butt of your rod, more or less making the length of line equal to your stick.   Place your rod tip at the water and chuck your bait near the rod tip.

 

If seven feet of line takes seven seconds to go taut, you've got a fall rate of one foot per second.  If it takes fourteen seconds, you've got a fall rate of half a foot per second.

 

I got this information from Fish The Moment and it's some of the newest information I've seen in bass fishing.

[Bankc]

4 hours ago, Hook2Jaw said:

Drop your lure to the butt of your rod, more or less making the length of line equal to your stick.   Place your rod tip at the water and chuck your bait near the rod tip.

 

If seven feet of line takes seven seconds to go taut, you've got a fall rate of one foot per second.  If it takes fourteen seconds, you've got a fall rate of half a foot per second.

 

I got this information from Fish The Moment and it's some of the newest information I've seen in bass fishing.

That's more or less what I do.  Sometimes I also use my fish finder to read the depth of the water that I'm in, and then drop the lure over the side and count how long it takes to reach the bottom.  Then divide that by the fraction of the depth I'm looking to hit.  Sometimes you can even see your lure on the fish finder.  Just make sure you draw out the line on your reel so that it's not dragging down your lure's rate of descent.  

[WRB]

The key to your ? is 1/4 oz weight. A weight being streamline shape metal.

Lures, some float, some suspend and sink at various rates if fall. Few anglers fish with just a metal weight, we use line tied to lures. Line has a major impact on ROF and the water temperature affects ROF, colder more dense water slows the fall believe it or not.

Having fished jigs the same weight over 1/2 century it's extremely difficult to maintain exact depth without knowing the depth the lure is at through the retrieve.

If I use 10 lb mono that is .010 D vs 10 lb FC .010 D using the same jig & trailer it takes a few additional seconds to sink 20' for example. Using .015D line It's difficult to feel the jig hit bottom, you see the line go slack but feel very little do to the line diameter.

Lots of variables to consider, wind being a major factor.

Tom

[papajoe222]

Yes, fall rate will vary depending on the lure's size and shape. The easiest way to determine what it is, is to count down the lure to a known bottom depth and then figure out what count down will get it to the depth you want to fish.

Maintaining a specific depth during retrieval is a different topic altogether, but, again, is dependent on size and shape because they affect its resistance to movement through the water, creating lift.  Both become skills that are acquired over time. 

For years I could not retrieve a spinnerbait at a consistent depth. When I was finally able to do so.Then, different blade configurations humbled me. 

[scaleface]

I dont know how to do it and just go by feel at what speed to retrieve . I use to  catch a few bass on bridge pilings counting down grubs and retrieving slow. 

[Fishes in trees]

This has been a problem for me as well, in that I know how to count down baits & stuff but I don't have the attention span to do it consistently.   So me catching my share of suspended fish has been problematic. 

 

WHAT I WISH SOMEONE WOULD DO  is to build and easy to use, easy to adjust count down timer.  Something that I could wear around my neck or on my wrist.

Here is a for instance - I'm throwing to a tree row in 12 to 15 feet of water.  I know the fish are most likely suspended underneath the major horizontal branches or in and around the root wad at the bottom of the tree.  Pitch at the target than hit the count down timer.  Set the timer at, say 17 or 20 seconds.  This gives you time to let the bait drop and then hang out around the bottom of the root wad for a while, and you don't have to do the counting.   I don't know about the rest of you but my mind wanders too much while I'm fishing to keep an accurate count for very long.  At the end of the set time, timer would semi-quietly beep, reminding me to retrieve my bait and do another drop.

 

I know some watches have count down timers built into them now, but every one I've seen so far has tiny, difficult to use buttons.  The count down timer that I use for grilling steaks is just a little too clunky.   Some tool that would help me keep track of seconds better would help me a lot in counting down baits.

[J Francho]

I can do all this on my iPhone using the clock app.  I do it all the time, but not for fishing, but looking at post back times doing web dev work.  Same difference, setting a timer quickly to react to while I'm doing something else.

 

[scaleface]

one mississippi , two mississippi...