How to fish deep open water?

[Spoon Feeder]

I don't understand the question.

[Ketchup]

He's asking if your fishing for fish, or for guys to promote your baits to. 

[Spoon Feeder]

I am not fishing at all. I responded to a question asking how to catch deep water fish. In my opinion there is no better way of catching deep water fish than using a jigging spoon. If it was March and he asked what the best technique to be using now was I wouldn't respond telling him to try jigging spoons. A few months ago I had a potential customer contact me through my website saying they were heading to Lake Norfork striper fishing and they heard that the Bink's Spoon worked great for stripers. This was my response.

Just wanted to let you know that the stripers are shallow now and unless you know where you can find them deep the spoons likely won’t work for the next three to four weeks. Norfork is so clear that you can’t get on top of stripers unless they are more than 30’ down. Top water action is really hot the first couple hours in the morning and then in the evening. After the top water slows down later in the morning small mouth fishing is awesome along the creek banks with soft plastic baits. For top water you can use spooks or bass assassins, bass assassins are my favorite. If they are not breaking the surface let the bass assassin sink for about 5 seconds before you start to work it. You can also use mann’s grubs on a ¼ oz gig head and 6 pound test  when they go down a little deeper and aren’t at the top. You cast it out as far as you can and watch your line as it drops and then slowly reel it in. If you see a twitch in your line when it’s dropping set the hook.

 

Good luck.

 

Kevin

Here is his response when he got back from his trip.

Wow what a trip. We caught sooooo many fish. Definitly gonna have to make time to do that again. We stayed at Kellers Cove resort on Hand cove. What great people. Everyone had plenty of fish to take home. The largest ones were about 12 lbs. Attaching a picture of one of the nicer ones I caught. Thanks again for the info.

 I don't sell spooks, bass assassins, or mann's grubs. I simply told him the best lures to use for the situation. 

[dan hufferd]

On 7/8/2016 at 9:11 AM, Haris122 said:

So yesterday me and one of my fishing buddies made it out to Perry County Community Lake, and caught a few fish. Thing is everything we caught was near shore and for my catches, unimpressive, and the lake is supposed to have Striped/White hybrids (Wipers) in it too; So, since I'm assuming those dwell mainly in the deeper spots away from shore, and also just in general to increase my skill fishing the lake proper, and not just have the vast majority of my successful fishing be beating the bank, I was wondering what some good habits/techniques are for fishing deep, open water away from the shoreline, and which species are more likely to be caught fishing there than close to the bank. Right now my deep water fishing is usually restricted to trolling a shallow to medium diving crankbait as I'm moving between spots close to shore or prominent structure, but usually there isn't much rhyme or reason to it, and I rarely use much else.

I have learned a bunch from this guy, and he fishes the lake that you are talking about. I am glad that Bink's is checking our posts they make a great product that really works.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2bkwHh-vncRuMMGLKkwXcg

 

 

[bfishn]

This is a great topic. For the 35 years that I've been fishing these deep Ozark reservoirs I've spent more than half my efforts trying to unlock the secret of deep fish. I still don't have a surefire method, but I'll share some observations that mostly apply to walleye & stripers, but enough bass show up 'accidentally' to suggest it may apply to them too.

The biggest revelation is to understand (and be able to identify) the difference between deep fish that are relating to deep structure, from those that are just roaming deep, open water in search of food. The former can be much easier to catch because they stay in the same basic area for a period of time. I say 'can be' because your timing must coincide with an active feeding period or you're wasting your time. For roaming fish, your odds of being in the same place at the same time are pretty slim, but when you can do it you'll find fish that are willing to eat.

Years ago I read some radio telemetry studies that charted schools of stripers daily movements in highland reservoirs. One in particular had the schools spending summer nights in the biggest gut of deep water near the dam. Shortly before dawn they moved out, reaching an area 35 miles uplake by midday, where they turned around and returned to the dam by shortly after dark. They did this daily until fall turnover. There were shad at the dam, but there were a lot more uplake.  Let that soak in...

My methods for deep fish are about 75% live bait and 25% jigging spoons or jigs with bait. Drifting or strolling slip bobbers set to put the bait 3-5 feet above the fish you're marking is my favorite simply because I never got over the childhood thrill of watching a bobber go under. I'm sure the artificial-only guys can figure out a way to adapt,

Spend some time searching the lower 2/3 of your lake to find where the most shad are now. Then break down that area for deep structure that breaks at the thermocline. Active fish will just be near that structure, not necessarily on it.

Deep fishing is often feast or famine. If you're the type that can endure the slow times by enjoying where you are, the feasting can be awesome. If you find yourself looking for a tree or bush to throw at, you might as well go do that.

 

[davelime]

I just got back from Lake George in upstate New York where the smallmouth were hanging in the 30 foot range near shoals and Islands.  We had success drifting with Yum Dingers and Zoom Finesse worms, wacky wigged.  The amount of weight varied with the wind.  I tried various soft plastics but the wacky look was by far and away the best.  We caught 10 that were 15 inches or better and lost a few more that size due to operator error.

[jdmidwest]

Electronics will help you target them.  You can increase success with even a minimal finder that shows depth and contours.  Black Bass will suspend on all sorts of structure, underwater walls, grass beds, trees, even uplifts and humps.  Downscan and sidescan will help you see even more.

Striped bass at Perry County Lake could be targeted best by trolling crankbaits, deep swimbaits, or using  spoons in the center portions.  Be prepared to lose some baits, lots of submerged timber. Anything to imitate the shad that they feed on should work.  The aerators are there for O2 and they attract the baitfish.  You can catch them feeding around those from time to time.

This time of year, Black Bass in lakes are best early morning and the last few hours of daylight.  Some even fish nights for them.  Middle part of day is usually fruitless for me this time of year on a lake.  Its too hot to sit out and work for what little action is going on.  Pull off and do something else during the heat of the day.

[Haris122]

Good advice guys, appreciate it. Hopefully will learn to utilize it properly in short order.