how do you fish deeper water and humps?

[Muad Dib]

hey fellas im always intimidated to fish deeper water and find the humps. how do you fish 30 feet of water with a hump on it to 25 or so. drop shot, jig, worm. i cant see getting a jerkbait or anythign else down that deep. some help would be nice or advice on fishing deep structure with a variet of lures.

[NateFollmer]

You can get jerks and cranks down that far, just need to buy the ones that go that far down. You'll also need to cast well behind that hump so you're lure has time to get that deep while you're crankin'. Unless it's a sinking model, then just let it sit (you'll have to know it's sinking speed and time it or just wait until you smack the bottom). Figure out what they want, work you're way up or down the water column until you find them. Running a crankbait about 3 ft above the bottom is a good place to start if you want to use that type of bait.

Fish the deep humps just like you do the shallows though. Don't let them scare you, the only difference is the amount of line you have out

[Crestliner2008]

First off, not all humps are created equal. Use your sonar to search over and down four corners of the hump, specifically looking for baitfish - not fish. If you can find bait on 20' - 30' humps or ridges, you have found a potentially productive structure. If you locate a weed bed on such a structure, all the better.

Once you locate a spot that looks promising, toss out a marker so you can stay on it, or (like I do) anchor ahead of the spot, upwind. This allows you to work the area thoroughly.

Deep diving cranks, blade baits, or my all-time favorite for fishing these spots, the drop shot, are all excellent presentations. Some folks like to carolina rig humps, but I don't like using that heavy a set-up, as I'm mainly hunting big smallmouths on off-shore structures like these.

Hope this is of some help.

[Jig Man]

Around here tubes are the best sm baits I have ever found.  3 1/2-4" are what I use.  I fish them as deep as 50' in the winter.  I just go for a heavier head as the water gets deeper (1/4 or 3/8 oz.).

When deeper than 25' I like to use a braided line with a fluro leader to give more sensitivity.

[iceintheveins]

I would use curly tail grubs or hula grubs on heavier jigheads. Should get you into some fish. You might even try vertically jigging with spoons too.

[singingdog]

Don't be afraid of weight. For a long time, I considered 1/4 oz heavy, until I started fishing deeper. You want to maximize both your feel of the bottom and the time that your presentation is down there. Tubes, grubs, worms....whatever you're comfortable with, use it on a heavier weight and get it down there on the bottom.

[BULLET21]

Fishing humps is all about using your graph. My bait of choice is a 1 5/8oz. Sweedish Pimple Spoon!

[Eternal Angler]

I either use a deep lip crankbait or a heavy jig head.

[Gorgebassman]

I do alot of drop shot in the deeper water like someone said earlier post dont be afraid of the weight.

With some of the current I deal with here on the Columbia river I sometimes fish a ounce to 2 ounce weights.