where to park on a shelf

[aceman387]

a newbie question, at the strip mine club i belong to I've seen these shelves that extend from the shoreline say 50 ft and then drops to deep water , a couple fisherman i was talking to were telling me park my boat on the deeper section and  cast off on to the shallow shelf the fish are down where the light green water meets the deep green water. in the weeds i tried this yesterday but didn't  have much luck. i think my newbie mistake was it was overcast and maybe the fish weren't down deep ? i also said to these guys  for me because i get tossed around in the wind it would be easier for me to park my little boat on this shelf and cast out into the deep water bringing the worm  up into the shallow shelf. wouldn't this accomplish the same thing ?the water on the shelf is 2-3 ft deep .these guys said no park out in the deep i didn't want to be disrespectful and ask why. i figured if I'm on this shelf and the fish are down the side they cant see me or can they?i see alot of bumps i guess you would call them out here and on windy days when the water is choppy i can make out the bumps and since i have a little boat that gets blown around i could park on these with a little anchor and cast off into the deep water all around me and crawl the worm up into the shallows a good idea? or do what these guys said and park on the deep.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

First off you have to hit these areas from different angles.Sometimes depending on wind direction and sun position it can position the fish as well. You may sometimes find active fish on top of these areas in the morning or evening. If the hump,shelf,ridge,etc is large enough I would park on top of it and fan cast all the different sides using texas rigs,jigs,carolina/split shot rigs,cranks,and lipless cranks,drop shot bringing the bait up into shallower water. I say that for a couple reasons.The bass like bait that is getting cornered or trapped in shallower water and it also allows you to keep constant bottom contact while feeling for the sweet spots.if you catch one then make multiple presentations to the same spot while changing speed or even baits. These fish tend to stack up on certain sweet spots.If the fish are suspended out away from it on your graph then a good choice would be to parallel the structure while trying to maintain the desired depth.Also look for any balls of bait at certain depths and fish spots on the structure that intersect that depth.

Like said though I normally go deep to shallow but I know the fish in those types of places can get real funny about which way the lures are travelling. If you can figure out which sides of these structures they are holding and which direction they prefer then you can pretty much duplicate it on all the other similar areas.

Hope any of this helps.I am sure that some of the better writers and structure fisherman will answer soon.

[bilgerat]

Our sand pits here have similar structure; "shelves" and sandbars with extreme dropoffs to deep water. Our strategy at times is to park over the deep and cast into the structure. Retrieve slowly to follow the contour of the structure. As Finatic said, sometimes working parallel to the structure is required and there are times going against the grain will work.

Two questions - Is the water you are fishing gin clear ? If so, fish are extra spooky in clear water. Approach as quiet as possible and keep your distance.

Second - I noticed you mentioned working a worm. Is that the only bait you were using ? Spinnerbaits would be a better choice, especially in choppy water. Crankbaits and perhaps jigs come to mind also.

[Bud]

If the condition allow you always park the boat deep and fish shallow.  The bait will look more natural falling down the ledge than the other way.   Bud

[Mottfia]

That would be cool to see. 50 ft shelf 2-3ft deep then boom deep water.  Now I'm a river rat so our conditions are different but I think I can help some cause we have bluff wall and shelfs.

 First I'd like to say that Bassin Finatic hit the nail on the head. I would try different presentations but don't get too complicated cause that can get confusing.

 If I was in the same location, I would fish pretty fast with a lure that gets to the depth you think the fish are at. I take the deep to shallow casting approach. I look for baitfish, a change in the shelf ( shallower, deeper, a cut or point on the shelf, or some cover) Generally if you find a good concentration of fish one will slip up and hit the lure no matter the angle. After that you can change your angle and presentation to refine your tactic.

 if you don't like fishing fast, you an still find those different looking areas and pound them as Bassin Finatic said and you should do well. Good luck

Mottfia

[DtatchD]

I fish strip mine lakes fairly frequently, but of all the different ones I have fished I can only think of one that has a flat like you described, and one similar to it.

The one that fits that depth more accurately had a good amount of vegetation on most of the flat. It has been a while since I have fished that lake but from what I recall there were good numbers of fish positioned throughout the flat around this time of year, particularly in areas where there were variations in cover (density and type) and near channels from deep water into the flat.

The other flat is slightly deeper, 5-7 feet, and doesn't sound like it had as drastic of a drop-off. This flat has sparse vegetation and I typically focus on lay downs and on the areas where there is vegetation, but less on the edge itself.

It sounds like the recommendation that was given may have been to fish the shallower water or right against it. If your there either early or late in the day (less wind to thrash you around ) I would try a buzzbait if the cover isn't overly heavy or a hollow body frog in the thicker cover or anything that covers water quickly. If you choose to slow down your presentation focus on areas that are slightly different than others around it. If you find fish off the edge of the flat try running a spinnerbait parallel to the drop-off particularly if its windy.

Hope this helps

[aceman387]

i just wanted to thank all you guys who responded  with answers , I'm amazed at the knowledge of some of the fisherman on this site , I'm hoping someday when i get more time in fishing and reading under my belt i can answer some questions instead of asking them. thanks again guys i cant wait to get back out there to try out some of these tips.