DEEP water bassin?

[Andrew Coleman]

im going to a lake for vacation and there is quite a bit of a drop off. goes from 5ft-10ft-15ft-65ft. the deepest point is 70 ft. i dunno if bass will go this deep and am wondering if they would be downthere?

mabey a dropshot aproach?

[Catt]

I would search the 15-25' range with Deep Diving Cranks & a Carolina Rig  

[bassbanger]

Crankbait on a C rig ? Or a C rig?

[Catt]

Deep Crank Baits or a Carolina Rig  

[roadwarrior]

More important than the exact lure is location. If you can determine at what depth the baitfish are holding, you can be sure, the bass are somewhere close. Search on and around stucture, targeting suspending bass with baitfish in open water is very difficult.

8-)

[WRB]

Without a sonar unit you are really just guessing what may be in deeper water. The thermocline will dictate at what depth the life zone will be in any lake during both the summer and winter periods.

Without knowing where the thermocling is located, try to stay above 25 feet, that is deep enough in most lakes, unless the water clarity is allows you to see 25 feet, then go down below the depth of light.

If you have a good sonar unit, look for the depth the bait fish are holding and try to meter the thermocline, then fish that depth zone within a few feet, during the mid day time period.

Clear water lakes are usually excellent night or low light period lakes, so try night fishing, the bass tend tomove up into water less than 10 feet or so, during the summer nights. Smallmouth tend to stay deeper than largemouth so fish the deeper break lines for smallies.

WRB

[Brian_Reeves]

For deep water fishing I like:

3/4 oz football jig with rage tail craw trailer

1oz brass and glass carolina rig with 10inch worm

Norman DD22 Crankbait

LedgeBuster Spinnerbait

3/4oz casting spoon

And I don't LIKE a dropshot, but a 4 to 6inch straight tail worm is a good choice for suspended fish

I fish the football jig one of two ways.  One is I will pitch/flip/cast the lure to the area holding baitfish.  Letting the jig fall on a semi-slack line or a controlled spool, I'll watch for reaction strikes.  if it hits the bottem I'll either drag it like a C-Rig or I'll hop it as high as I can off of the bottem.  I fish the casting spoon with the same hopping technique.  

The deep crankbait and spinnerbait get fished horizontally, attempting to hit or maintain contact with the structure or burned through the baitfish school.

I fish the dropshot on heavy tackle (1/2oz weight and 12lb line) and will fish it like a really slow carolina rig.  I like my tag line to be about 2ft long most of the time.

The Carolina rig is fished very much like a carolina rig ;D

[djmax22]

Drop shot 20-25ft.

[Tin]

After my outings last week, I realized what crazy creatures bass are. We could catch mixed bags off docks in 6" of water and we were catching post spawn largies and smallies all the way down to 80 feet of water on bluff banks drop-shotting and throwing spoons. There were even reports of charters trolling for lakers in 120' catching mixed bags of bass. The water temps were 63-72* and Lake George had about 20-30' of clarity. Craziest thing I have ever seen or heard of. You never know where they are going to be.

[Joel W]

I really never fish much deeper then 30 ft or so and that's over known humps on several reservoirs.  The only presentations I use are 1 oz jigs, a drop shot, and a 3/4 oz spoon.

[detroit1]

Andrew - don't be shy of what lake you are going to, (unless it's too small to broadcast), there are alot of Mich. folks out here that may have experience on it, and could give you some local tips and spots.

[Crestliner2008]

Having a good sonar unit is critical. As well as having it set-up properly. Your goal should be to find bait, first & foremost. When you do, the bass will not be far away. This is what you should be looking for:

That's the anchor line going down btw.

And this can be your net results:

These pictures were from a trip to a deep, hill-land reservoir here in MA, yesterday. My partner & I both caught about a dozen smallies each yesterday, from 2 to 4.3 lbs.; and 4 salmon besides! Here's the biggest salmon:

Hopefully this will convince you not to be afraid of deep water. Just find the bait and fish close to it and you will do just fine!