Deep summer Bass

[bassmanET]

I have been mostly a shore fisherman, until last year when I purchased a crawdad jon boat. I also went out & bought a eagle 300 depth finder/fish finder.

I feel a little lost when I have tried to fish away from shore. I'm so used to throwing @ something such as lily pads, downed trees & big rocks.

What's your approach when fishin in summer for bass holding in deeper water? :-/

[roadwarrior]

Catt answered your question in a thread a few lines down:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1278473570

8-)

[Fishes in trees]

Start by thinking about edges.  You already know how to fish edges, i.e. the bank/shore edge.  Your depth finder will show you more edges.  Should your lake have a thermocline - that's an edge.  There will be places on the lake where the depth contour is sharper than  elsewhere - that is an edge.   Is it a man-made lake?  Somewhere out there are flooded bushes or brushpiles or rock piles.

Until you get real good at orienting yourself on open water, get yourself a few structure markers and use them.  Should you go over something that looks interesting - throw out a marker.  Do not throw it directly on top of the object - throw it off to the side.  Should you catch a fish you don't want it running you into the marker line.

Then, just fish it.  Try to hit whatever you've marked with a bait.  Anything 15 feet or less, you can probably hit with a crank.  Or drag a jig or texas rigged plastic through it.

Over time, you will learn what different stuff feels like.  For me, that hardest part was waiting on the bait to drop, to get to the bottom.  A countless number of times, I've started the retrieve too early and ended fish above my intended target.

Another approach it to use your depth finder to look for bait.  As soon as you find wads of bait, fish will be somewhere near.

Your depth finder will tell you the hardness of the bottom.  Solid rock is one thing - mud or soft bottom looks totally different.   What you're looking for is a semi-firm bottom - a mix of rocks and clay.  At that point, you've probably found where some crawdads live.  Fish a jig or shakey head there.

There is lots more to getting good a fishing water away from the bank.  I'm not an expert, but that is what I try to do most of the time.  Good luck

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Read through the link RW posted. Check the articles out, tons of info. The first thing you really need to do, is learn how to use your sounder. Become an expert with it at the settings you like, otherwise having it on the boat is next to pointless. Without a good knowledge of your electronics, offshore fishing becomes much more difficult.  Remember, it's not a fish finder; it's a structure finder.  If you can find bait + structure, you've probably found fish.  Catching them is an entirely different story....

[bassmanET]

Hey guys thanks!

I got out Sunday evening @ 5:30 fished til 9. I plugged in my depth/fish finder & was determined to find bass on the deep side. Didn't have much time before dark & then rain rolled in too. So, I searched close to boat launch site of Horn Pond. i was able to find fish with the fish finder but , wasn't always sure if they were

LMB. I was assaulted by yellow perch (5) & 1 good size white perch.

I was amazed by the yellow perch chasing my 1/2 oz baby bass spinnerbait! That's a big bait for the size of the fish?

Now, I thought that if there were bait fish in the area I was fishing, that there had to be some LMB on that side of the pond eating them? But, didn't catch anything. I tried the spinnerbait, a med diver crankbait, Deep diver crankbait & nothing. The North & west side of pond tapers slowly from 3-4 feet at shore out to 30 feet on the center. I did find some small humps & rock piles (that's where the perch were). As i was leaving a couple anglers where getting there boat out & packing up so, I asked how they did? They caught 3 on the other side of pond (figures right!) I'll try same approach next time on the east side? :

How did I do? Was I on the right track? Or would you have done something different? :-/