Fishing deep for smallmouth or find bigger fish

[lotw bassman]

Hello I'm from lake of the woods Ontario and I have some questions

I can easily go on this lake catch over 200 fish a day and bring in a 12 pound bag on weigh in tournament 

other people can catch 4 pound smallmouth consistently and bring in 17-19 pound bags all 3 days I don't get it are they fishing deeper? 

my average depth is 2-6 feet deep catching my fish

I've tried deep points and humps and nothing but walleye 

anybody know where I can find and catch these bigger fish I haven't seen a big bass in so long and its sad

just looking for tips and tricks

thanks

[Sphynx]

There is a really good chance those people have discovered the magic of jigs and or tubes, unless there is a reason to believe that the fish are exclusively keyed in to chasing baitfish, my best bass of any species have always come on jigs or tubes...I couldn't begin to tell you why that is, only that it is, if I were to fish a tournament tomorrow in your position, I'd put together my best 5 fish bag the first couple of hours then switch over to big fish baits like jigs and start focusing on kicker fish and quality upgrades, if you aren't great with jigs, it might take you a while, but really worth the investment of time and effort, same thing with a tube.

[ErieCan]

That's a tough one to know for sure. On Erie, sometimes the bigger bass will hold slightly deeper on a drop off. Sometimes the small bass are suspended and the bigger ones are holding closer to bottom. And the issue becomes getting your bait past the gauntlet of runts.  If it's a drop off, you can try positioning on the shallow side and casting past where the bass are holding into deep water. Then drag your jig or dropshot up the drop off. That way it's on bottom as it reaches the fish. 

[Sphynx]

On 7/14/2021 at 8:30 AM, ErieCan said:

That's a tough one to know for sure. On Erie, sometimes the bigger bass will hold slightly deeper on a drop off. Sometimes the small bass are suspended and the bigger ones are holding closer to bottom. And the issue becomes getting your bait past the gauntlet of runts.  If it's a drop off, you can try positioning on the shallow side and casting past where the bass are holding into deep water. Then drag your jig or dropshot up the drop off. That way it's on bottom as it reaches the fish. 

That is a very interesting way of approaching that problem, and I am going to shamelessly steal that for future use!

[cyclops2]

There are 2 basic types of fish types. Schooling  and lone ambushers.  once you decide on what type you are fishing for. It can become easier in massive lakes & rivers.

 

There are plenty of odd balls during mating & spawning seasons.   Fish & game departments have really screwed up big time on some stocking experiments gone very wrong.   40 ?  years ago Penn stocked STERILE ? Tiger muskies into the Delaware River. Lots of small fish disappeared in a few years.

I would find a pair going tru the active spawning motions in a very rocky point of shoal some years. The well oxygenated back wash & tall bushes was a perfect ambush place for sluggish fish to feed on weeds & bait.