Fishing deep intimidates some anglers. After all, casting to shore is relatively easy - you have a highly visible target (shoreline), and all you have to do is choose a lure and cover the water. If the fish are up shallow, that's the way to go. But let's face it - often, the fish aren't there. During the summer especially, when water temperatures soar and dissolved oxygen is scarce in the shallows, the bass will be more comfortable down deep. But warmer water means they need to eat more, so an angler who masters deep-water fishing techniques can be highly successful.
Clifford Pirch, a bass guide and tournament angler in Payson, Arizona, discovered deep-water fishing very early. In the lakes of central Arizona. Clifford has been making a pretty good living catching fish and showing others to do it. "Your first challenge is to find the fish," Clifford says. "Once you know where they are, figuring out how to make them eat is usually pretty easy." It helps to know the lake, where maps, depth finders, and GPS units come in.
Finding Structure
A good lake map is invaluable to finding structure, but it's just a starting point, says Pirch.
Marking a map with different colored pens at twenty-foot intervals will show you immediately know where the major drop-offs and points are. Once you've located a few of those, you need to get out there and go over the area slowly, watching your graph the entire time. Many subtle and even not-so-subtle breaks and humps will not be shown on the map. When you find them, mark them on your map. They are potential gold mines.
"One thing I've noticed is that a lot of times a point will run out long and deep," says Pirch, "and then it will come back up 'way out in the lake. Those humps at the ends of points are dynamite areas for big bass, and most fishermen don't find them." He ensures he follows each point out as far as he can and observes for any sign that the bottom is coming back up. Clifford zig-zags back and forth over the point for the whole distance, watching the graph and noting any break, rock pile, submerged tree, or hump. "A point is good structure," he explains, "but it can take a lot of time to fish an entire point. I look for structure ON the structure and concentrate on fishing that. It's where I usually find concentrations of fish."
Clifford examines channels, reefs, humps, and bluffs the same way. All these large pieces of structure can be intimidating and almost impossible to cover thoroughly when the bite is slow. Finding the hotspots within the structure is the key. When he comes to a large flat, Pirch always heads out toward open water, looking for the edge of the flat. If he finds a definite break, he's in business. A sharp break or a steep channel cutting through a flat is bass habitat from heaven. "Bass like to have a place where they can come up shallow to grab a quick meal and get back to deeper water real quick," he says. "Any place with all that is a good place to fish."
Pre-Rigged Worms
Clifford took us to the lake one summer afternoon to show us what he meant. He stopped the boat about a hundred yards from shore and moved around on the trolling motor watching the graph. "There is a big flat over there," he explained, "and a channel comes out next to it. There's a point on the other side of the channel, and it takes a turn right around here. The bend is covered with jumbled rock. I catch some nice fish here." Once satisfied with the boat position, Pirch took out a pre-rigged worm and dropped it straight to the bottom.
"These things are awesome for fishing deep water," he told us. "Sometimes the fish bite so lightly that you can hardly feel it. But with these pre-rigged worms, they just about set the hook on themselves." He usually starts out hopping the worm, and if he's not getting bit, he slows down. Pre-rigged worms are light, so he fishes them on spinning gear with 6- to 8-pound-test line. When he feels pressure on the line, he starts reeling to set the hook. "With this light line, you need to back off the drag when you get a huge fish on," he warned us. "The hooks on these things can straighten if you're not careful."
Almost an hour passed with no fish, but Pirch was convinced that the bass were nearby. He fished carefully, moving the boat around over the structure. And it paid off - he finally found the fish on the side of the bend, and within a half-hour, we had six fish in the boat. "That would be a good limit in a hurry, wouldn't it?" he grinned.
Pre-rigged worms are excellent deep-water lures when you already know where the fish are. If you're searching, a split-shot rig or a Carolina rig might be a better choice, he says. "I don't start looking for how deep the fish are until I get to the spot," he explains. "Once I get where I'm going, I watch the graph. If I see baitfish, then that's the depth I fish. If the fish are right on the bottom, I throw a jig, a Press-Ur-Rite worm, or a Westy Worm. If they're suspended, I'II start with a spoon or a Carolina rig."
Jigs
Gary Dobyns is one of those guys who prefers to throw big stuff whenever he can. For deep-water fishing, a one-tonner jig is a lure he gets a lot of mileage out of. "I like these one-ounce football head jigs a lot," Gary says, "because they get down deep fast, and you can do about anything with them and still catch fish." Dobyns favors Yamamoto Hula Grubs on his jigs - they combine the skirt and twin-tail in one bait. "I'm just lazy, I guess," he explains, "and I like to be able to deal with one bag instead of two." Other anglers like the grubs and skirts separate so they can combine colors.
Dobyns is a meat-and-potatoes fisherman. He likes to keep things simple and effective. When he throws a jig, he casts it out and starts crashing it on the bottom. "You can bounce it, crash it, hop it, drag it, or swim it," he says, "and you'll still catch fish on it." These big jigs in deep water require some stout tackle, so Gary uses a Loomis flippin' stick and 15-pound-test P-Line. If he's crashing the jig around on rocks, he checks his line and knot often. "Nothing ruins your day like losing a big fish at the boat," he says, "especially when it's your darn fault!"
"Once you get a bite, you need to reel up and get the line taut," says Gary, "and then you need to set that hook HARD. There's a lot of line out in deep water, so make sure you use good jigs. I like the Yamamoto ones because they're made with Gamakatsu hooks. Once you have the hook set, keep that fish coming. He can throw the hook if you let him get any slack at all. Don't keep switching the rod back and forth - keep him coming one way and never let up on the pressure. And it helps to have a net handy when you get him to the side of the boat!"
Dobyns likes to throw big football head jigs on anything that looks like crawfish territory. "I think the bass treat those jigs like crawdads," he says. "Sometimes they hit it real hard, but they don't take it. It's like they're just hitting it to stun it or kill it. They'll come back and eat if you don't move the bait too much. Wait until you feel some pressure before you set the hook."
"Sissy Stuff"
Better not call finesse baits "sissy stuff" around Don Iovino or Mike Baldwin. Both of these guys have made a ton of money throwing finesse baits. "Heck," says Baldwin, "if the big bass are cruising the shoreline eating crankbaits and blades, you'd be a fool to mess around with little worms. But small baits and light line can save you when the bite gets tough." Baldwin should know - he spends a lot of time fishing the clear waters of the Colorado River impoundments, and when the bite gets tough there, it's REALLY tough. When he can, he catches fish by pitching blades and jigs to the rushes, but a lot of times, he's forced out into deeper water. That's when he finds that split-shotting, drop-shotting, doodling, or bouncing a grub on a pea-head saves the day.
"When the fish move out away from shore, I throw whatever can be worked the easiest," Mike says. "I mean, if the fish are hiding in deep brush, I have to use something that can get in there to them. That's usually shaking a worm. But if I come to a sharp wall, I'll bounce a little grub down it on a pea-head jig." If Baldwin needs to cover some open ground, he'll use a split-shot or a drop-shot rig.
"One of the keys is to know when to switch," he says. "I was in a tournament on Havasu once, killing them on spinnerbaits the first day. But I couldn't buy a bite the second day, even in my best areas. I tried for a while, then I finally moved out and started dragging a split-shot rig around. In no time at all, I started catching fish. You have to know when to give up on the shallow stuff. It can turn off in a heartbeat."
There's no denying that most anglers would much rather fish shallow than deep. And when the fish are cooperating, that's great. But during summer and winter, you'll find more fish deep more often. If you take the time to find the most likely spots, then fish them thoroughly, it will pay off for you.
Reprinted with permission from Bass West Magazine
