Fishing deeper water

[Bass_Akwards]

In my post about peoples fishing weaknesses, I noticed quite a few people said they weren't good at deep water bass fishing.  I have to say I'm not the best at it either.

Are there people on this board with suggestions for getting everyone better at bass fishing in water that's 15 feet or deeper?

[WRB]

I believe Catt has posted several good threads regarding deep water bassin.

Where I fish deep water is the norm; 15 to 60 feet 90% of the year.

1. You need to learn how to use sonar to locate underwater structure that is holding bass or bait and find the life zone or thermocline depth. Sonar with a GPS is handy to both find structure on maps and return.

2. Learn to use finesse presentations; drop shot & split shot, structure spoons, Carolina rigs, Texas rig with brass n glass (tungsten or brass) doddling technique, jigs, deep diving cranks, slow rolling spinnerbaits and swimbaits.

3. Learn to be a bird watcher; grebes that feed on shad are good fish locators.

4. Lake features like; main lake points, islands and underwater islands (humps) and river channels are easy to find. Survey each of those obvious structure for isolated rock piles, sudden break, weeds or grass, trees or stumps and bass or bait.

5. Boat control; staying on top of the structure out away from any reference points can be difficult. A GPS helps, or use marker buoys to one side of the fishing area to keep the boat positioned.

WRB

[SportMN]

I think people most get hung up with fan casting once they dont have a mental target to cast towards.  Fishing is still fishing.  It doesnt matter if you have 30 feet of line out and its only 2 feet deep or 30 feet of line out and its 20 feet deep.  You still have to cast at a target and work the lure/presentation affectively.

In my opinion, if you are serious about becoming a better deep water angler, as the above poster talks about.. Getting to know your electronics is key, having an underwater camera to back up what your electronics may even be more key.

[roadwarrior]

This should help:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1186055966

8-)

[Mottfia]

here is a topic from earlier in this year that has some of the top deep water guys talkign about targeting points. this should really help out

Moffia

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1238381807

[The Outdoorsman]

To expand on what WRB said, dont forget roadbeds as well.  A good topo map will help you locate those roadbeds as well as the main lake points you want to hit.  Electronics is key when fishing deep water.  Finding those little humps or even the creek channel are key.  I would definetly use a c-rig, deep crank, swimbait, heavy spinnerbait, spoon, and drop-shot rig to work these areas.  Oh, and a lipless crankbait is good too.  

[Catt]

Most people fish in 15 feet of water or less. However, during summer heat, deeper water that's adequately oxygenated generally offers bass stable and comfortable temperatures. Summer lakes can stratify into layers of warmer, oxygen-rich water near the surface and cold water nearly devoid of oxygen near the bottom. The two layers of water meet at the thermocline and that is where the fish will be.

As long as bass can breathe and feed they usually will not move far in deep water, as they don't feel the effects of changes in temperature or barometric pressure as much as do bass in shallow waters. In addition, they don't sense boat noises and feel fishing pressure as much as shallow bass do. If anglers can find one deep bass, they can usually land a pile from that one spot.

The challenge lies in finding that spot

[Hammer 4]

How do you find the Thermocline..?  BTW, great thread.

[FutureSoldier]

hard to fish deep water when u have no boat, but hopefully when my brother (bigfish88) gets back from the army he'll buy a nice jon boat