Forum | Deep water fishing

I use 1oz c'rig weights exclusively. The Carolina jigs were 1oz as well. I suppose to much skirt n' trailer were part of the problem.

I tried 1oz. MoJo weights thinking they'd come through stuff better than an egg sinker and maybe they will except… boy do them things like the helicopter. One cast will put about 400 twist between main line and leader. So now I no longer experiment with my c'rig. I've never seen a big difference on leader length either. Mines usually 24-30″, more or less. If it gets too short my confidence level goes down and much longer than 30″ I'm not comfortable believing I'll get a good hook set if the fish is swiming towards me when I feel it.

lilmule said:Actually I think its one rod,several t anglers have invented mutiple baits one being tied on in front of the other for topwater fishing mostly.Cant think of the name of it but have one,it has a line tie in front treble hooks under and a line tie on the rear.Never caught anything on it but never used it on schoolers either or here for that matter.

It's called a "FrontRunner". I've got some and used'em when I first got'em. They never worked for me and made casting a bit more difficult so I quit using them.

The tournaments I fish stipulate only "one rod/reel at a time". Lotta guys throw double flukes. Also at one time I threw a carolina jig. It was a jig on a bullet weight which was used in place of a standard egg/bullet sinker. That way you were fishing a jig and a c'rig at the same time. Problem for me with it was it, the jig, did not transmit the bottom feel as well as a egg sinker does. The times I did use it… I never caught a fish on the jig part of it. I tried it because fishing on West Point lake in Georgia one time I did see an angler use this set up and he did have a hook-up on the jig.

Actually it was surprising how easy it cast. They had no tendency to tumble or tangle. Might try it again sometime.

Oh I have been known to take the unconventional approach. The best looking set-up I ever came up with was a rapala floating minnow bait and a worm on a c'rig. Used a 3-way swivel and attached a leader and worm to one eye and the rapala to the other – main line to the 3rd. Then set the length on the minnow so when you dragged the c'rig the minnow would dive and look exactly like it was nippin' at the worms tail – never caught a dang thing on that set-up but it sho' did look good!

The lindy rig weight…. I tried it many years back. Might be great for not getting hung up but horrible when trying to feel the bottom.

When fishing a c'rig if I don't feel "something"… chunk rock, hard bottom, bottom transition from hard to soft, stumps or laydowns I won't fish it very long – I'll try some to located that isolated stump, rock or other isolated cover. Not finding any in fairly quick order I'll abandon it quickly and forever.

Crankbaitin' on mono it's almost impossible for me to detect bottom composition. So, if I'm using mono I'll chunk the c'rig first. If I'm using braid/fireline on a crankbait it's much easier to detect "stuff".

Locating areas while prefishing… I won't go to just any hump/point and have enough faith to spend hours there – I may spend 30-45mins. trying to find "that spot". But….. all it takes is one single fish. I catch a single fish in the 20-25' depth I can pretty much figure it wasn't there alone. If pre-fishing and I catch one fish(keeper size) I hit the waypoint on my GPS and leave in search of another similar fish holding area/structure. Another good way of gaining confidence is to locate shallow fish then think "OK, when these fish leave the shallows where is the closest deep water?"  Find that…  THEN locate something unique, sharp drop, bend, bottom transition from hard to soft, stump… something different and start there.

About "That Spot"… Unless the fish are actively feeding "that spot" is going to be less than the area of a bass boat. Usually much less. Finding it does take time but time well spent once it's located.

Durning our first tournament of the year I spent hours on two points and caught one fish…. So it doesn't always work out. But what I was doing was searching for "that spot". I talked to guys in my division after the tournament and they thought "Day'um he must be loading the boat…" Nope, wasn't. But with no GPS capabilities on a lake I knew little about running where the fish were wasn't a choice I had. Guys have asked for my GPS coordinates and I have no problem supplying the information – why? Because my coordinates mark where my boat is sitting…. not the "spot". During the tournament it may take me a dozen cast to relocate that spot but… no one in my division has the patience to do that – 'least none I'm aware of.

First n' 'foremost though is confidence in the bait I'm throwing. If I'm fishing areas I have a ton of confidence in I'll use baits I have less confidence it just to see if they'll catch fish – there by gaining confidence in another bait. BUT…. If I'm prefishing and hitting areas new to me…. Only my highest confidence baits are going to hit the water!

I said:

"The key, for me, fishing deep water is having confidence the fish are there and sticking with it, much like jig fishing, waiting for them to turn on. I suspect they're actually deeper than I fish and begin to move up to feed at some point during the day."

Let me expound on that just a little. If I caught fish there I have a fair amount of confidence they'll be there again – though they may not be there when I start fishing that spot/area. As we all know fish move up n' down. What I'm trying to do is be there when they make that move. Sometimes they won't be there or won't be biting  - hence the hours in one spot. I also said the fish may actually be deeper and I catch them when they move up… but they could also be shallower and I catch them when they're moving down. Really doesn't matter me me – Long as I catch them!

 Another important factor in my decision to hang on a spot is – time of day. When prefishing I make sure I note what time of day/conditions I caught the fish. Fish are fairly habitual in route and timing – as long as conditons are fairly stable.

For me "deep water" is defined as 20-25'. If they are deeper than that they are safe from my attempts to put'em in the boat. There's one lake that I fish here in Texas, Lake Livingston, and it's the 3rd largest lake in Texas. There are some killer spots(locations) that simply have to hold fish at some point during the year. That said I've yet to catch a fish deeper than about 10' on that particular lake. The locals say it's a shallow water fishery and I have yet to prove them wrong but… if/when I do I'll have'em all to myself as nobody fishes deep. I have two one day ABA 'T's there in January and if the fish are ever going to be deep they'll be there at that time. My plan of attack is: C'rig, DT 20's/DD-22's and a stay see 90 ver.2. This particular lake stains up pretty quickly and the Stay See will probably be limited to the southern most part of the lake – by the dam.

The key, for me, fishing deep water is having confidence the fish are there and sticking with it, much like jig fishing, waiting for them to turn on. I suspect they're actually deeper than I fish and begin to move up to feed at some point during the day. I can fish the same point/hump for a couple of hours and not get a single bite then in about 45 minutes load the boat until the bite goes away again. At that time I'll go to another point/hump and repeat the process. During the course of a tournament day it's not unusual for me to fish only 2-3 points or humps. Typically I don't do much running when fishing a tournament.