Ledges

[Needemp]

Do you ever fish ledges that have no real cover? No weeds, no trees, no big boulders, etc? And if you do, do those barren ledges ever produce? Even better, are those barren ledges ever really good? Thanks for your replies.

[Willzx225]

I have found ledges without cover to produce as long as they have something that forms a transition. IE a bend, change in bottom composition, or a change in the severity of the ledge.  Anything that produces an "edge" will hold fish it doesn't always have to have cover, but cover tends to enhance a ledge.

[Needemp]

Good point Willzx225 and thank you! I should have excluded that. I'm looking more for your basic run of the mill ledges. Usually around a 45 degree slope give or take. And no other additional breaks or major bottom compositional changes or any kind of definitive edge. Just plain ledges mostly.

So Willzx225, do you ever produce on plain ledges?

[Willzx225]

Some but not with the consistancy of a ledge that has a change or some form of cover.  The fish use the ledges as a highway so I guess it is possible to catch them when they are traveling from point A to point B but it isn't nearly as consistant as where two types of cover/structure mix.  

[Md]

Don't forget about current...

[Uncle Leo]

Ledges on points that transition from the main lake to a bay are highly productive regardless of cover, although cover is a bonus. These are a highway for the bass to travel and are especially productive in early morning and evening when they move in and out of the bays for feeding.

[Raul]

Do you ever fish ledges that have no real cover? No weeds, no trees, no big boulders, etc?

Yup.

And if you do, do those barren ledges ever produce? Even better, are those barren ledges ever really good? Thanks for your replies.

Yup

[Needemp]

Don't forget about current...

Current is a good topic. I assume you are referring to the current running perpendicular to the ledge? Without cover, how would this work? And also, are you talking ambush or roaming bass? Thanks Md.

[Lynx]

I found that fishing ledges can be good, if there is some sort of deep water escape, if there is some what of a current (not dead water, usually a river), & can produce a food source.

[Needemp]

Ledges on points that transition from the main lake to a bay are highly productive regardless of cover, although cover is a bonus. These are a highway for the bass to travel and are especially productive in early morning and evening when they move in and out of the bays for feeding.

That makes sense. Although this would only account for a percentage of the ledges in a lake, it's a great point (no pun intended). You mentioned morning and evening, do you waste your time mid-morning to mid-afternoon? Do baitfish need to be present in the morning and the evening?

[Md]

The ledges I fish have some sort of current...the best have current, cover and structure. But the main ingredient for the better ones is some sort of current (i.e. river current, hydro current, wind current, etc.).  

[Uncle Leo]

Ledges on points that transition from the main lake to a bay are highly productive regardless of cover, although cover is a bonus. These are a highway for the bass to travel and are especially productive in early morning and evening when they move in and out of the bays for feeding.

That makes sense. Although this would only account for a percentage of the ledges in a lake, it's a great point (no pun intended). You mentioned morning and evening, do you waste your time mid-morning to mid-afternoon? Do baitfish need to be present in the morning and the evening?

Baitfish is key. I found some to produce all day when they are windswept pushing baitfish up on them. Ledges that mimic stairs 5 to 10 to 15 feet are goldmines and may produce all day long working different depths throughout the day. Table Rock and Kentucky Lake have these features.

[cart7t]

A little tip on ledges when fishing the Rogue bite at LOZ in late Feb - March. As you cruise along in many coves, you'll often come across darker, ledge type rock outcroppings on some banks. This is a tipoff that the creek channel comes in close to that bank at some point and there will be more of those ledge rocks under the water. Those are dynamite spots most of the season, especially so early in pre-spawn and a real super hotspot if that area is adjacent to spawning coves.

[Willzx225]

Cart, I will be filing that little bit of info in the memory bank if I ever get the chance to get out that way.  That is good stuff to know!  Thanks

[CJ]

Uncle Leo hit the nail on the head. Sometimes a flat ledge becomes a supper table if baitfish are present.

[roadwarrior]

CJ and I watched Big O put on a show fishing a ledge at

Kentucky Lake last spring. If you haven't tried the Rage Tail

Lobster, you might want to give it a try!

8-)

[Needemp]

Uncle Leo hit the nail on the head. Sometimes a flat ledge becomes a supper table if baitfish are present.

I know you fish KY Lake. Do all of your productive ledges (I know that is a relative term) have cover? Are there any that you have that are barren, but still produce? Do you bother if there are no baitfish?

[ptomacbass]

I fish many ledges with no cover.

[Uncle Leo]

Uncle Leo hit the nail on the head. Sometimes a flat ledge becomes a supper table if baitfish are present.

I know you fish KY Lake. Do all of your productive ledges (I know that is a relative term) have cover? Are there any that you have that are barren, but still produce? Do you bother if there are no baitfish?

It is a funny thing, I have caught fish when I have seen nothing on my graph. Flat, featureless bottom, no pods of baitfish, no fish. Maybe I do not how to read a graph but fish were caught and at times multiple fish. This is why I never overlook a ledge and fish them all until I am convinced they will not produce.

[Raul]

It is a funny thing, I have caught fish when I have seen nothing on my graph. Flat, featureless bottom, no pods of baitfish, no fish. Maybe I do not how to read a graph but fish were caught and at times multiple fish. This is why I never overlook a ledge and fish them all until I am convinced they will not produce.

Not really that you don 't know how to read the graph, not understanding how the graph works is the culprit. Depth and cone angle have a lot to do with it, the fish may be oustide the cone angle and the graph doesn 't show them.

I don 't see the finder as a "fish" finder, it 's a fish finder when placed in the context of what I see above and I 'm able to see below ( bottom contour ).

[CWB]

Read this carefully:

http://www.fishin.com/articles/ledges.htm

[Jig Thrower]

yes the whole lake i fish is like that, i mainly throw jigs, shakey heads, cranks and jerks, and im starting to throw a drop shot

[The_Natural]

Points and ledges (or dropoffs as I called them years ago) are the main 'structure' I fish. This is probably due to the fact they are easy to spot. The classic creek channel bend next to a dropoff seems to always have a few fish hanging out. My favorite way to get down there and catch them is a 5/8oz Zorro short arm spinnerbait.

See that wire weedguard?  Greatness....

[Paul Roberts]

Read this carefully:

http://www.fishin.com/articles/ledges.htm

That's a well written article.