Found a steep 13ft drop off. How would you fish it.

[32251]

Water temp will be about 50 degrees.  About 10 feet from the bank the water is 6 ft deep and very quickly slopes down to 19+ feet. 

Would you anchor in the 6 ft water and cast out to the deeper water or cast to the 6 ft water and bring it out deep?

Worms/jigs??? What would be your pick?

[texlwedge]

To me there are several ways to appraoch this, but first is there any cover on this 13 ft drop? If there is heavy cover I would either use a weighted T-rigged plastic, or a spinner bait. For sparser cover I would toss a rattle trap, spinner or possibly even a C-rig. You could even slow bounce a jig down the drop. Starting a DD22 or DD14 at the shallow and letting it dive down the outside of the cover might be an effective presentation as well. Start at the shallow and work your way down the drop. Fish could be suspended, or even on the bottom only coming up at certian times to feed. You may still encounter fish in the shallows even during the colder months. I would position my boat well off the area of the drop, cast back toward the shallow and let the lure fall down the drop.

[simplejoe]

He pretty much nailed it.

[Catt]

Water surface temperature is 50 degrees but what is the weather conditions?

[Crestliner2008]

50 degree water = hard jerkbaits for me. Especially on a quick drop to medium depth water such as you describe. You would search those shallow shelves with this bait for starters, then move off into the drop off areas. Nothing there, then search the depths with your sonar and find out where any decent spots on the structure exists; downed trees, large bolders, etc..

I'd approach the depths with only one tactic this time of the year - the drop shot.

[Tin]

He pretty much nailed it.

mmmm....that's usually what happens when you just name 7 lures. One of them is bound to be right.  ;D

Like Catt said what are the conditions?

How do you know they are even there?

Might be more a prespawn or summer spot later in the year.

[J-B]

I would use a shakey head or a tube bait tossed up towards the bank and slowly walked down the drop off.  With the shakey I would pull till it finds a rock or something and  start shaking it.  For the tube I would fish it slowly by dragging a bit and then raising the rod about a foot and letting the bait fall down on a half slack line.  If you find fish suspended you could also put the tube on a bobber and suspend it around the depth of the fish.

[J Francho]

He pretty much nailed it.

mmmm....that's usually what happens when you just name 7 lures. One of them is bound to be right. ;D

Like Catt said what are the conditions?

How do you know they are even there?

Might be more a prespawn or summer spot later in the year.

I kind felt the same thing.  Good thing is, just about ANY bait in his bag will work, and he'll be able to tell if the fish are there in about 20 minutes.

Hard jerkbaits for the upper reaches, and as you go deeper, finesse jigs and a small drop shot worm.

[32251]

Weather will be 52 degrees, combination of sun with some clouds so basically partly cloudy.  This is a 40 acre lake max depth is 20-24 feet, so this drop off is to the deepest part of the lake. I fish this lake a lot and just found this drop.  The lake has some big but very snooty bass that feed all time on shad.  They are hard to catch on lures and worms.  I have much better luck at night in warm weather on plastics, but the night time weather temp will be in the 20s...no way I am out there!!!! Last time I was out there under just about the same conditions I had no luck as a shad kill had them stuffed. That was 2 weeks ago.

I  have a day to fish it coming up this Sat hopefully and wanted some advice.

[bighed]

drift or tm the boat across it and look at your graph. If there is no bait move on. If there is, fish it with a jigging spoon. Simple as that.

[Fish M4ST3R]

C-rigs and possibly med spinners fished from shallows

jerkbaits could work as well

[32251]

drift or tm the boat across it and look at your graph. If there is no bait move on. If there is, fish it with a jigging spoon. Simple as that.

Can someone give me some info on what jigging spoons I can get at Bass Pro that are good.  I have some heavy hammered looking spoons, but I think that they are too heavy to jig up and down.  Wouldn't you want a thinner metal bodied jig that would actually flutter as you jig it.

Thank you.

[WRB]

Water temp will be about 50 degrees. About 10 feet from the bank the water is 6 ft deep and very quickly slopes down to 19+ feet.

Would you anchor in the 6 ft water and cast out to the deeper water or cast to the 6 ft water and bring it out deep?

Worms/jigs??? What would be your pick?

That describes about 90% of the shoreline on a typical highland reservoir. It's a normal steep bank, nothing to indicate that bass would be there, unless baitfish and bass are in the area.

Describe where in the lake this bank is located and why you think bass may use this area during the cold water period.

WRB

[32251]

This seems to be the the way the dam area is. All along the length of the dam and maybe a 100+ yards on the sides. 

One of the things that happens a lot in this area is the bass will herd the shad up into this area right above where the drop off starts.  Sort of keeping them against the sloping ledge.  When they do this there is deep water under them.  The younger buck bass say 2-3 pounders expend all the energy doing the herding and slashing through them and the big bass lay deep under them and wait for shad to fall down.  It is a heck of a sight to see them coordinate the outside edges with strikes at the same time to keep the shad in a swath. All I do is toss a big deep dive plug past the shad and pull it back under them.  Caught a lot of bass doing that.

[WRB]

Earthen dams with broken rock faces typically have steps that are very similar to what you are describing.

The step creates a break line, a zone where the bass can coral baitfish like shad. The fact the dam area is located in the deepest part of the lake makes this a good cold water period area.

Not knowing where you are located opens the type of shad to both threadfin and gizzard. The threadfin are smaller and feed on phytoplankton, the gizzard are larger and feed on zoo plankton. If you have threadfin, than lures 3" t0 4" in shad colors work well when the sun is over head in down wind areas. Gizzard are big bait fish and lures up to 8" can work good in shad colors, anytime of the day.

Tail spinners like the Little George and structure spoons are excellent when school size bass are actively chasing shad. Letting the lure free fall through the bait fish to the larger bass is a good presentation.

Thee are a lot of lures that can be used to free fall that have shad type profiles, all should work depending on what the bass react to best. Select a lure that covers the water column and the bass will strike. Under the conditions you describe my first choices are the spoon and tail spinners, then single spin spinnerbait, soft jerk baits, scroungers and small swimbaits. If the bass are not actively feeding, then the soft plastics and jigs are a good choice to saturate the area more thoroughly.

Good luck.

WRB

PS; take a look at Revenge structure spoons and tail spinners. Owner feathered size #2 treble hook works good with a 1/2 to 3/4 oz spoon.

[bass-ackwards]

50 degree watrer temp I would pitch an 1/8 oz football jig and drag it off the initial bluff and let it fall naturally bumping off the bluff.  I'd start with a naked football jig first and then add increasing size pork or combo's to a rage craw to increase the rate of fall until i hit gold.  I'd also throw a tube lure (again with light weight) and advance up in weight.  The slow spiral action of a tube is one of my favs on bluffs.

[Blade-Runner]

Depends on water clarity.

Probably either a jig or suspending jerkbait.

[32251]

Shad are threadfin

Water clarity has been affected by the rain. Never gets muddy, just a bit darker.  The lake is managed by a Pond Management co. They lower a disc in the water and at 14" they measure the visability of the disc and add lime etc to maintain a good water clarity.  In the winter they don't seem to need to  do too much. Mostly in the summer.  Man when they do come out and fertilize the lake, the fish are inactive for about 3 days. I have to check the maker they have posted at the dam area to see when they have been there.

[kikstand454]

all of this is great  advice.

all i can add is thati second the idea of motoring over the area and looking for cover and then after marking that... looking for baitfish. if theres no bait there wont be much there and if they are there they wont be too willing to play. however if you can find some cover.. you can always come back at different times during the day and see if  the bait has moved up.

and finally i have heard and recently read an article that on average... bigger fish are caught fishing UP an incline. from deep to shallow.

maybe start that direction and give them something different to look at. everyone is bouncing jigs down that thing. bounce a spoon UP it.

[bighed]

Yeah, hammered jigs 1/4-3/4 oz.  Use a snap swivel.  In 50 degree water they work great, no problem with too fast a fall all the way into the lower 40's.  As an alternative, a drop shot fished vertically is good too.  The fish don't seem to mind a boat over them when they are feeding.   

[WRB]

Shad are threadfin

Water clarity has been affected by the rain. Never gets muddy, just a bit darker. The lake is managed by a Pond Management co. They lower a disc in the water and at 14" they measure the visability of the disc and add lime etc to maintain a good water clarity. In the winter they don't seem to need to do too much. Mostly in the summer. Man when they do come out and fertilize the lake, the fish are inactive for about 3 days. I have to check the maker they have posted at the dam area to see when they have been there.

Threadfin shad and small shallow reservoir with managed water quality.

Lime is rarely used to manage algae water quality, it's more than likely copper sulfide (blue stone). The lake may also have an aeration system if being manage for water quality. The aeration system should also be located near the dam basin. There is usually a pump house with pipes running out into the deep water.

The aeration system is designed to minimize the thermocline affect during the warm water period and turns the lake over to prevent oxygen robbing organic matter from decaying on the bottom.

It's the cold water period transitioning to pre spawn nearly everywhere the next few months. If the surface water is already near 50 degrees, the bass should be fairly active. The threadfin should also be the primary baitfish along with crawdads in this lake.

Threadfin shad use cover during low light and night time. Cover is anything that provides a place to hide; under docks, underwater structure, any shoreline brush or trees. Weed beds are not available until the water warms and the days get longer, when the weeds develop the shad will hide in them. When the sun raises the plankton the shad school up and follow the plankton to feed on and the bass feed on the shad.

Classic cover/structure patterns during the low light and down wind structure pattern during the mid day.

Both shad and crawdad imitating lures will work, a lot of choices.

I would stay with the 1/2 oz size structure spoons and tail spinners, 1/4 -3/8 oz size jigs and crankbaits that dive around 7 to 12 feet; Bomber 7a and Norman DD14, original Wiggle Wart and traps in shad and crawdad colors. Spit shot rig should also work very well using 4 1/2 to 6" finesse style worms. When the water warms up to 55-58 degrees the bass should migrate towards any spawning areas and you should follow them. Increase the soft plastic to bulkier creature type baits or 7-8" worms in green/brown colors, put away the spoons and tail spinners and use soft or hard jerk baits and small (5") swimbaits. Buzzers and Popper (Splash-Its) can also be effective during low light hours the balance of the year.

Good luck.

WRB

[microman]

walk a slow spinner bait up the slpoe, wormit, or run a deep diving crank paralell to it. but worms are your best bet in the winter, when the water temp hits around 65 degrees, use small worms and cranks.

[sal669]

Lots of good advice so far.

It's important to know if it's a warming trend or cooling (fish move shalower or drop back deeper)

It's a small lake,you have time to go arround it a couple times a day and try different things.

I would leave my rods on the deck and "fish" with my electronics for a while.

Try to locate fish (bass or bait) and/or IRREGULARITIES; a creek chanel turn, a change in bottom content, a ditch in a flat going to deep water. Each of these will have fish on them at certain times; if you do the "rounds", you are bound to "stumble into something".Try shallower water later in the day .

It's not that much "what bait" but "WHERE"

I would start fishing a bit before noon and go till sundown.

Interesting that nobody mentioned T or C-rigged "lizards" or deadsticked "french fries". They are a must for me in spring.

PS: If you find them, make sure you mark the spots because they will be there every winter/spring and fall/winter.

Tight lines

[bobbyc]

A very interesting read, ty gentlemen.

[A-Rob]

carolina rig the slope

crank the slope

dropshot the bottom