Offshore Fishing Simplified?

[KSanford33]

I've been thinking about how to more effectively fish offshore, as it's a big weakness of mine. Rather than reinventing the wheel, would it not make sense to use your fishfinder and once you find something worth fishing offshore, mark it with a buoy or waypoint, fish that area, and then move on and do the same thing elsewhere? This would eliminate the question of whether or not there are fish there and now it's just a matter of catching them. I think it's always best when you can eliminate any variables you can. I'm sure some of you may say duh, this is how you fish offshore, but like I said, it's always been a big weakness of mine because I've never known how to do it efficiently.

[Tennessee Boy]

Well that’s how I fish off shore.  I tend to spend a lot of time (hours) graphing and dropping waypoints before I start fishing but there are exception.

[Bird]

That's how I go about it also..... still use bouys.

[Deleted account]

Bass think gets in the way again. Find the fish and then present a lure to them. But yes, the FF plays a bigger role in finding fish the deeper you go, (usually).

[scaleface]

Thats the way I do it and on the way to the area I take note of the thermocline and the depth most of the fish life is relating to . If I see a lot of life at say around  15 foot , thats where I

 start .

[DitchPanda]

Let me say this upfront: I'm a shore guy..no boat. But I do have a few buddies I boat fish with for bluegills and crappies regularly. They are both superb pan fisherman and they use buoys often. I never really see people doing it...I feel like its just as or even more effective because it seems to be a lost art. All that said bass seem to school up pretty similarly to big gills so I'm assuming the same strategy would apply.

[WRB]

Off shore bass are there for 2 reasons to eat prey and sanctuary. Bass that  move away from shore or off shore structure / cover and suspend are a waste of time. 

Off shore bass that are active and catchable are feeding bass.

Accurate maps that clearly define off shore structure at a depth the bass are located and sonar unit to find those areas are essential.

Structure doesn’t move but not all structure is equal or holds a bass population. 

Todays bass angler have modern sonar with maps that help off shore bass anglers tremendously, if they have a good understanding of bass behavior and their prey source.

Tom

 

 

[papajoe222]

Like scaleface, if I see activity at 15ft., I'll search out structure at that depth looking for some form of cover or transition. I may check out two or three areas before contacting fish, but I'm confident that active fish will be using that depth.

[WRB]

Don Iovino calls the depth active bass are feeding the “life zone” and I agree totally.

Don is known for his finesse fishing skills however Don is also known for his sonar skills and instructs pro anglers how to use the state of the art sonar. Life zone depth is everything to off shore bass anglers.

Tom

[Catt]

Depending on the size of the body of water there is a resident population of bass that are shoreline related. 

 

There's also a resident population of bass that stay offshore & never see a shoreline their entire life. 

22 hours ago, WRB said:

Bass that  move away from shore or off shore structure / cover and suspend are a waste of time. 

 

Forward facing sonar has blown that theory to hell!

[WRB]

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

Depending on the size of the body of water there is a resident population of bass that are shoreline related. 

 

There's also a resident population of bass that stay offshore & never see a shoreline their entire life. 

 

Forward facing sonar has blown that theory to hell!

Off shore suspended bass that feeding are catchable active bass.

Agree we have a lot to learn about these green fish.

Tom

[Catt]

7 minutes ago, WRB said:

Off shore suspended bass that feeding are catchable active bass.

Agree we have a lot to learn about these green fish.

Tom

 

Unless actually feeding all bass are considered "inactive". Doesn't mean they're uncatchable.

 

Farword facing sonar is pretty  much proving suspended bass fishing is like bed fishing. Ya gotta figure out what irritates em, triggers em, fires em up. 

 

This technique of targeting suspended, inactive bass isn't new to the experience "offshore" anglers. Forward facing sonar eliminates a lot of the time required to locate this fish.

[WRB]

Bill Murphy caught a 72 lb 5 bass limit by trolling a modified Rapala CD 18 he added a hand poured trout tail end. Bill used monel wire line to get the lure to run 35’-40’ deep at San Vicente main lake deep water basin.

Mike Lembeck put radio transmitters to over 200 LMB up to 14 lbs. What the tracking study showed was a group of the bass were hanging out suspended over very deep water near the dam basin area. 

Bill being a pioneer and knowing approximately where these big bass were located came up with his deep running trolling trout lure. Bill passed away before he could finalize deep suspended big bass techniques.

Forward scanning sonar is opening that frontier.

Tom

 

[Catt]

Guys down here in the south are very adept in catching "suspended offshore" bass from years of fishing channel swings, ledges, ect. We know how to catch em, we just gotta find em. 

 

Farword facing sonar speed up the whole find em process. 

 

There's no "simplified" way to fish structure, ya gonna have to spend time looking.