Fishing deep

[GoneFishingLTN]

So quite a few times I’ve seen fish in the 25/30 foot range and have tried to fish it using a Kietech. The issue is I can’t seem to hit the target on the map this is what I’ve tried 

 

zooming in on the front unit 

Marker buoy (shocked this doesn’t work)

having a arrow on the unit and a being a distance of less than 50 feet Way.  
 

maybe I’m just not feeling the object but I cast about 8 times before giving up with the wind constantly blowing my Tin boat out of position 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

That’s a hard way to fish in the wind , I like something heavy like a spoon 

[scaleface]

If I'm reading this right , you are trying to hit some sort of deep object with a bait . I simply toss a buoy to the side , back off a little and cast at it . Sometimes it takes a few cast to hit it . Brushpiles are easy to hit . Stumps are hard.

[GoneFishingLTN]

1 minute ago, scaleface said:

If I'm reading this right , you are trying to hit some sort of deep object with a bait . I simply toss a buoy to the side , back off a little and cast at it . Sometimes it takes a few cast to hit it . Brushpiles are easy to hit . Stumps are hard.

This is correct I’m usually trying to hit a rock pile something I should easily feel at some point in the cast sometimes they are stumps

[flatcreek]

I would throw a football style jig in there

[TOXIC]

Rule of thumb for me is that the deeper the target, the heavier the weight.  Hitting your target at that depth with a swimbait would require at least a 1/4 oz head or more depending on what your line is.  

[Black Hawk Basser]

Don't forget that the mortality rate can be high for fish caught in 25+ feet of water due to barotrauma.

[Deleted account]

Throw a marker on it, then anchor off it a bit. casting a few times as the wind pushes you by probably not the best approach.

6 minutes ago, Black Hawk Basser said:

Don't forget that the mortality rate can be high for fish caught in 25+ feet of water due to barotrauma.

reel slower.

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, Black Hawk Basser said:

Don't forget that the mortality rate can be high for fish caught in 25+ feet of water due to barotrauma.

Barotrauma is only an issue of you put the fish in a live well.  Immediate release is almost never an issue.  Even then, I haven't had too many issue with fish caught from 35 FOW.  It's when you get close to the 40' mark.  You better have tools and skill to vent the fish, if you are keeping them in a live well.  

[Team9nine]

At those depths you might consider going vertical with a drop shot, jika or spoon, etc., that way you could use your front unit to just stay right on top of whatever object/fish you’re fishing and maintain a more direct connection to bait and bass.

[lo n slo]

i fish from a jon boat alot and at the depths you’re talking about. i pretty much agree with all the advice already given. i like to anchor upwind from my target and throw a 1/4 oz texas rig with the wind and start counting. i’ll fan cast til i hit my target and the rest is simple after that. you may not nail the location at first, but will soon get your mojo if you keep working at it. getting hung in your brush pile or rock pile while anchored can be a pain but it does happen. just deal with it and go on. sometimes it’s too windy and you have to try somewhere else. that’s fishing.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I guess I'm going by In Fisherman, who said they see all kinds of dead crappies and bluegills floating directly under the ice in winter from deep catch and release.  They also said that you'd have to reel in a fish over the course of like a half hour...sorry to get off topic.  I'm done.

[J Francho]

I don't see too many ice anglers practicing catch and release, but that doesn't sound like the same situation as this.

[WRB]

The data displayed on your sonar is below the transducer and  a history of what you passed over if moving forward or drifting back. If the TD is TM mounted and you are not moving the target is below you. The live real time sonar returns are displayed on the very right edge of the sonar screen, everything else displayed is history.

Fish tend to move so toss your marker the instant you see anything on the right right screen edge or make a way point.

I toss marker behind me to the drivers side of the boat about 10’ for reference.

Tom

[schplurg]

10 hours ago, J Francho said:

Barotrauma is only an issue of you put the fish in a live well.  Immediate release is almost never an issue.  Even then, I haven't had too many issue with fish caught from 35 FOW.  It's when you get close to the 40' mark.  You better have tools and skill to vent the fish, if you are keeping them in a live well.  

 

 

Good to know! So if I never use a live well I don't need a fizzer? I don't have one but was recently wondering if I needed one. Wouldn't hurt I guess.

[GreenPig]

With Spotlock holding my boat position in the wind and my 360 Imaging running I fish a 2.8 Keitech on a 1/8 oz jighead down to 40 FOW chasing Spots.  Under 30 FOW and inside of an 80' cast I feel as I can drag across targets the size of a car tire consistently. 

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, schplurg said:

 

 

Good to know! So if I never use a live well I don't need a fizzer? I don't have one but was recently wondering if I needed one. Wouldn't hurt I guess.

I use 25 ga needles left over from filling my insulin pump. It's been years since I had to fizz a fish - pretty much the same time it's been since I fished tournaments. Go figure?

[papajoe222]

Getting back to the original topic of hitting a target in 25-30 FOW.

You'll need a presentation that falls fairly quickly. I don't know how you have that Kietech rigged, but even if it's falling at a rate of 1ft. per second, you're looking at half a minute for it to fall to that depth. A lot can change, especially as you mentioned with the wind blowing the boat around, in that amount of time. Add to that the fact that your presentation doesn't fall straight down, it swings toward you as it falls.

A marker buoy is a good choice to help locating a piece of structure. Consistently hitting that target in deeper water takes patience and practice.  Good luck

[Catt]

On 7/16/2021 at 6:16 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

fish in the 25/30 foot range

 

On 7/16/2021 at 6:16 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

a distance of less than 50 feet

 

On 7/16/2021 at 6:16 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

I cast about 8 times before giving up

 

Try doing it with a Humminbird Super 30 flasher & a trolling with about 25# thrust.

 

I would place bouy markers on each side of the target & throw a Carolina Rig with at least a 3/4 oz weight.

 

8 cast! Really!

 

50+ years experience doing this & I still miss!

[Team9nine]

In the mid to late 90s, I was running a Stratos bass boat. I had in-dash Lowrance flashers front and console. On the front unit, I had the mechanic shave the puck mount base so it shimmed out (forward) at about a 12-15 degree angle when mounted to the troll motor, which was a 24V Johnson around 55 lb thrust. 

 

Anyway, this allowed me to rotate the troll motor head with the foot pedal and scan a circle around the front of the boat without hurting the performance of the flasher in regards to accurate depth. In 20-30 ft of water, I could scan about 7-10 ft in front of the boat, which allowed me to pinpoint things like stumps and brushpiles before rolling over them, and subsequently be able to pitch a bait to them. It was also killer for following weedlines, breaklines, dropoffs and channels long before GPS mapping allowed. In essence, it was FFS before there was such a thing, and it worked great - and probably still would today. To my knowledge, I was the only guy in the area running such a setup, and never told anyone what I was doing.

[Sphynx]

Well...I suppose since it hasn't been mentioned yet, there are deep divers that will work in that range very well if you have the time, money and patience to dort out the rods, reels, and line you'll need to get the bait down into your target zone, just remember that numerous factors (line diameter, line composition, length of cast, water temperature, rod tip, reel speed etc) will all play a part in how quickly and how long your bait will stay in the depth range you want it at.

[FishTank]

One technique I use in the kayak >not sure what it's called but it's outlawed in a few of the tournaments I fish.  Anyway, the idea is you cast (not a long distance 30-50 feet) as soon as you spot fish on the finder, letting line out, troll or row, in my case, away from the fish around triple to four times the depth (so 150-200 feet) of the fish and then start your retrieve.   This works best if you are using a crankbait and you can sort of mark your spot.  I use this technique when it is super windy or as a last resort and have done well.   

 

I also use this in different patterns, figure 8's and and boxed X have worked so far. 

 

 

[WRB]

Several fish species have air bladders just like bass have and they all look the same to a sonar unit. Structure doesn't move so finding it is a lot easier the trying to cast to a moving target. 

It’s always amazing to study structure in deep water and develop a minds eye of what you think is down underwater.

Our lakes drop 50’ to 100’ sometimes and we get to see what the structure actually looks like, always different then you think it is.

You mat hook a bass in 30’ of water that came up 20’ to strike your lure, that is a 50’ pressure change that can expand the bladder beyond the basses ability to swim back down. I just put a 8 oz torpedo weight clipped on a line, put the weight in the bass throat and lower it down 30’ or so and left up to retrieve the weight out of the bass. No need to poke holes in the bladder to fizz it unless tournament fishing.

Tom

 

[Sphynx]

1 hour ago, FishTank said:

One technique I use in the kayak >not sure what it's called but it's outlawed in a few of the tournaments I fish.  Anyway, the idea is you cast (not a long distance 30-50 feet) as soon as you spot fish on the finder, letting line out, troll or row, in my case, away from the fish around triple to four times the depth (so 150-200 feet) of the fish and then start your retrieve.   This works best if you are using a crankbait and you can sort of mark your spot.  I use this technique when it is super windy or as a last resort and have done well.   

 

I also use this in different patterns, figure 8's and and boxed X have worked so far. 

 

 

Long lining, and most competitive fishing environments prohibit the practice, that said it can be very, very effective

[GoneFishingLTN]

On 7/17/2021 at 9:27 AM, Catt said:

 

 

 

Try doing it with a Humminbird Super 30 flasher & a trolling with about 25# thrust.

 

I would place bouy markers on each side of the target & throw a Carolina Rig with at least a 3/4 oz weight.

 

8 cast! Really!

 

50+ years experience doing this & I still miss!

Bumping this post, Catt you fish out of tin right? You don't have a spotlock motor correct? Do you anchor down or just keep your foot on the trolling motor at 40/50 percent?