max depth you'll fish for bass 2024

guest reply :

Just how deep will you go to fish for largemouth.

What lures and techniques will you use to do it.

Banor reply :

My comfort zone is 7 to 20 FOW. Any deeper than that and I lose confidence with each additional foot. Drop shot is changing that and I look forward to exploring deeper.

I think I answered both questions indirectly at once?

SPEEDBEAD. reply :

My comfort zone is under 10 ft. Deeper than that i feel like I am in no man's land.

liquidsoap reply :

I catch fish in up to 20 feet of water, but I would prefer 10 feet or less.

There is not to many deep lakes around me...

senile1 reply :

I generally am comfortable with down to about 15 - 20 feet but I am trying to become more adept at fishing deeper. The lake I fish most often has depths down to 45 or 50 feet near the dam, but the average depth is much less. The thermocline at this lake tends to form at no more than 20 feet. I fished Table Rock this summer and I found that if I'm going to catch any fish in a deep clear reservoir I'm going to have to fish much deeper.

Catt reply :

One of the things I love about Toledo Bend is deep water structure fishing 8-)

My normal range is 12' to 25' but I've caught bass down to 40' with Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Jigging Spoons, and Drop Shots.

.ghoti. reply :

I'm much more comfortable in shallower water. But, sometimes the fish aren't there, and you have to look deep for a bite. In couple of my regular haunts, 18 - 25 feet down is about the limit. Doesn't seem to be much below that. I guess that depends on the thermocline. But, it's a good zone for mid-day bass fishing. I'll mostly use a T-rig with the largest plastics. 10 and 12" worms, 5 and 6" tubes, big brush hogs and creatures, etc. This is good place for the paddle-tailed worms. I'll start with a 1/4oz weight, and only go up if the wind demands it. This is slow fishing.

Next option is a jig with a spider or hula grub. In the 1/4 - 3/8oz sizes, these can be fished faster.

Then a jigworm. !/8 - 1/4oz ballhead jig with a thin ribbon-tailed worm, or a straight tail worm. A floating worm can be good when you need to really slow down, and just soak it in one place. I don't do this very often. It drives me crazy.

For all these, dark colors are the most productive for me.

As a side note, on Table Rock I discovered that a reverse rigged Fat Ika can be fished at 20' or a little more. It's a slow proposition, but I found it worked. The Ika, rigged backwards, sinks a lot faster than when conventionally rigged.

Matt Fly reply :

In Cali, you had to learn to fish some depths of 60 ft in winter to get bit.

I rarely ever go past 35 ft of lake Fork in the winter, but find the crappie and bar fish on Fork and drop a spoon down and you will also find bass, usually good bass. Swims, jigs, c-rigs all work deep.

Summer, deep structure and humps are very common to 18-28 ft depending on the thermocline.

I prefer the deeper, the shallows are always beat by bank pounders. until spring when all life seems to be shallower.

Matt.

5bass reply :

I have set brushpiles in 25' and in the hot summer they usually hold the fish.Any deeper than that,someone else can have 'em.

George Welcome reply :

Largemouth bass comfort zone is 25' or less. Remember, this is a fish that lives by no rules so could they be deeper - yep, but not commonly. Down here in the sunny south, 12 feet is deep.

FIN-S-R reply :

I stumbled into the world of deep water fishin a couple years ago and now I can hardly make myself fish anything shallower than 15-20 ft...Sight fishin' w/ your electronics is like a video game. Like someone else said, those deep fish dont get the constant barrage the shallow fish do, and they seem to relate more to food and structure, and less to cover. They also dont seem to be affected as much by boat traffic or weather changes. I am a drop shottin' addict in a big way. I generally have 3-5 drop shot rigs hooked up at all times...different configs on each. I throw lots of robos/flw finnesse worms (manns makes em now)/zoom finnesse worms/kinami cut tails/yum dingers/senkos/tiki drops/ and sometimes big stuff like a fluke or 7in dinger or a brushhog. Spot removers/ jewel spider jigs/ c-rigged everthing..even little c-rigged cranks all suit me in depths up to 80ft. I have caught a few fish down in the 80-100 ft range, but they died on the way up so I dont generally mess with any water deeper than that. I found that I catch many more quality fish, and "trophy" size fish pretty regularly...smallies and largemouth. Seems the largemouth deep bite dies down here in OK in fall, but pretty much all the rest of the year you can sack em' up (of course Im excluding spawn in that last statement). I have read alot about thermocline affecting the depth at which fish will hold and have seen it a few times, but I have some doubts about that really dictating the depth zone at which they will hold...I notice it has a pronounced affect on the depth of the baitfish. I have had many experiences where the "dead" water started at about 15-25 ft and deeper, and caught all my good fish at depths of 35-45+. Could these fish be moving in and out of the O2 depleted water, or do they just stay down. I have also caught many fish at depths of up to 50ft , and had no problem with them equalizing swim bladder pressure. Anybody else notice this kind of stuff or have an explanation.

Alpster reply :

I have tried a couple of times to fish a jig, drop shot and carolina rig in deeper water 25-35', but I don't have a clue what I'm doing at that depth. I will stick to 15' or less most of the time. I like fishing in cover that I can see.

Ronnie

RoLo reply :

It's easy to forget that the fish we call 'bass' is not a true bass, but is a 'sunfish' (bluegill family).

Barring the chain pickerel, the 'sunfish family' fills the shallowest natural niche of any gamefish.

In Canada, where I fish for pike, the bass practically climb up on the bank (pike are the dominant predator).

Although bass prefer to cut their living in shallow water, they live in so many diverse ecosystems

that it's very often impossible. This is particularly true on many deep manmade lakes (impoundments).

There's no doubt that bass will adjust to any depth necessary that provides Food & Cover. It looks like bass

not only determine what lure, what speed and what color, but they also dictate 'what depth' (hate when that happens).

To answer the thread question: I guess I have no max depth for bass fishing, they won't let me >

When I lived in Georgia, we routinely fished 10 to 15-ft deep in West Point Lake (mostly spotted bass).

Since moving to Florida, the lion's share of bass from natural lakes are taken from 2 to 5 feet of water.

Before the hurricanes of 2004, the bass were DEEP (that's a joke). The magic depth was 8.5-ft,

because that's where the hydrilla crop was most dense and lush. Since the hurricanes denuded the flats of hydrilla,

the bass are once again scattered in 2 to 5 feet of water. I'm not complaining though, they're more fun to catch in shallow-water.

Roger

Bassassasin12 reply :

I'll take shallow water fish any time, I like catching them shallow much more. My preferred depth zone is 2-8 feet. Sometimes I will venture out to 15 feet if I am casting Parallel to drop offs or if its bluebird summer days and I have to get to offshore brushpiles.

Craw reply :

My lakes around here are "highland reservoirs" and the mid to lower ends are steep and deep but if they're(the bass) any deeper than 20' then I have a lot to learn. 20' can really be key but I have no experience any deeper than that.

fourbizz reply :

I lose confidence around 40 feet, but I have caught them deeper. You can keep contact in 35 feet of water very easily with a 5 ounce bait.

paparock reply :

60 feet with jigs like a Hopkins Shorty, and heavy metal baits like Silver Buddies and Tailspinners like Little Georges.

MALTESE FALCON reply :

ST. CLAIR IS A SHALLOW LAKE. I TYPICALLY FISH TWELVE FEET OR LESS. IF I FIND A SPOT OVER FIFTEEN FEET I FEEL LIKE I FOUND A BOTTOMLESS PIT. MY REAL COMFORT ZONE IS TEN FEET OR LESS.

IF I FISHED IN SOME OF THOSE DEEP IMPOUNDMENTS, I'D HAVE TO LEARN TO FISH ALL OVER AGAIN. THE BAIT MONKEY WOULD BE VERY HAPPY THOUGH BECAUSE I'D HAVE TO FILL ANOTHER TACKLE BAG WITH DEEP WATER EQUIPMENT.

jb_adams reply :

Beaver Lake has 110ft. river channels from the original White River basin. After the river was flooded to form the lake, there are sunken churhes, buildings, cemetarys, etc. So the main channel can get deep. Currently, the lake is about 8 below normal pool but that's still deep water.

Since I can see my dbl. willow leaf blades turning about 8ft. below the boat, I'd say that shallow water fishing in the fall is not the best scenario unless you can cast really far and quietly. The fish tend to hang around 10-20ft. on clear days when their active and they appear to be going into deeper water up to 45 or 50ft. to hide out when the fronts come in.

I have yet to try dropshot techniques but I can see that I may have to if I want to catch bass on this lake in any weather condition. I'm going to try finesse worms at 40 ft. with a 3/4oz. - 1oz. egg sinker off the bottom. If this doesn't produce, I'll just wait till spring when the bass are back in shallow water and actively feeding again!!

senko_77 reply :

20ft at the max. i like throwing 1/8oz weights so i lose feel once i pass 20ft.

guest reply :

When I first moved to FL, I fished a Phosphate pit in Ft Lauderdale. It was electric only and I had no depthfinder. I "mapped" out the entire lake with a 5/16 Texas rig. I thought I was around 30 feet or so, but several years later I took my Xpress down there that I had at the time. I was shocked to see that I was actually fishing on the bottom in 50 to 55 ft of water!! Fishing that deep, clear lake for 4 years eliminated any apprehension about deep water fishing.

Now to answer your question........ I'll fish as deep or shallow as is required to put a bend in my rod.

northgabassfisher reply :

I dont fish for LM alot, I fish for spots Ive gone 60 even 70 ft deep once or twice but I feel I can cover any depth of water, in shollow water(1-15ft) I will fish a jig t-rig c-rig and deep16+) I will fish a dropshot a spoon a big 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig

Fish Chris reply :

I've caught small Spotted Bass at 90 feet, and I have a buddy who has caught them at 120 feet ! These were caught at Lk. Berryessa, which is 220 feet deep by the dam.

But I never seem to catch big bass any deeper than 20 ft, and most are in 12 feet or less.

Peace,

Fish

gatrboy53 reply :

like alot of bass fishermen i was mostly a bank beater,and most of the lakes in n. fla. are shallow grass bowls w/ little undulation.about 5 yrs. ago i started fishing a couple reclaimed phosphate mines across from Bienville plantation that are structure fishermens heaven.continual undulations,humps ,drops, points,ledges up to 30' deep.i have develpoed and honed my structure techniques,and started applying it to the lakes i fish.this past sat. subman off the fbf board took me to kingsley lake (limited access thru camp blanding-military only)i have fished kingsley several times but over the grass flats in 13-20' of water.today we fished in 40'+ water.drop-shotting points and ledges.we caught around 20 bass most cookie cutter keepers,one over 3.we tried shallower drops and brushpiles and did catch the 3+ from one of the 25' brushpiles but marked bait and fish on the 40'+ stuff.i had a blast and found no problem adjusting to the depths,mike

Bass XL reply :

i went 60 feet with a trout colored spoon and tore them up

Siebert Outdoors reply :

Most of the time its 20 or less but I have caught fish up to 40 fow. Most of the lakes around dont get that deep.

Valascus reply :

I am starting to find that deeper water fishing is a nasty weakness of mine. I can catch 'em in about 15 ft of water...you start going deeper than that and it seems I start having problems. Even if I stumble upon some deep fish, I don't do very well with deep water hooksets when a ton of line is out. Something I need to practice.

Redtail reply :

Always 10 feet or less usually less. Once I get over 20 feet, I don't have a clue. One of the times I went out with LBH I caught a 4 lber in 20 feet of water because he wanted to fish the area, so maybe I should try it more. Everyone knows how important confidence is and in 20 feet I have none!

roadwarrior reply :

How 'bout more tha 300'?

Technically the water near Bull Shoals is VERY deep. A couple of years ago I was fishing a Lucky Craft Pointer 128 for walley off a sheer cliff. I was sure I had the WORLD RECORD hooked-up around 11:00 at night, black dark. This fish put up one heck of a fight. It fought so hard it turned into a gar!

I fish a few spots on the Tennessee that are sixty feet deep or more, but I would guess the deepest I have actually caught a bass would be either side of 30'. (Water mixes in a river system, there is no thermocline). I typically fish ponds in 5-20' of water, rivers and lakes 10-30'.

sodaksker reply :

The deepest I have ever fished for bass on a dropshot is 35-40 foot. I don't have a lot of confidence at that depth but have caught a few in the 25-35 ft range. I will typically be fishing water 12 feet or less.

BD reply :

0-25-ish I am good to go.

I've never had to try anything deeper.

12013

max depth you'll fish for bass 2024

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