Deep water question

[wishniwasfishn]

I know that i will never be a good fisherman unless i figure out how to fish deep water. I know the word deep is relative to the lake you are fishing. My question is how do you guys that are succesfull fishing deep go about finding the best deep area. Say you go to a lake, and you know the fish are on the ledges, what do you do? ride around with the depth finder, and look for area's that are flat that drop into deeper water, look at maps an just target a certain area? I have tried this many many many times with no luck. Can someone please explain to me how to go about finding these areas that may hold fish. I have fished points with some success, but nothing like i have heard about. Please any help would be great.

[stoner]

Maps are a god start the 2nd step is to contact Dave Stewart and let him teach you the rest and have fun while doing it.
Stoner

[artcarney_agr]

A good contour map paired with a good depth finder and GPS unit is your ticket to better ledge fishing. Good productive ledges are common in channel bends or where a feeder creek dumps into the main channel. When you fish a ledge for the first time, fish the length of it with a Carolina Rig to start off so you can feel what is down there. Keep a close eye on your depthfinder as well. I typically use a small bait like a baby Brush Hawg or something of that nature. You're basically looking for something that the fish relate to on that ledge such as a stump or rockpile. When you come across a stump or rock pile, fish it from many many different angles and at least try to get hooked up on a fish. Sometimes all it takes is the proper angle and WHAM! If you can duplicate that angle again, you usually get the same result. At that point, start using bigger lures to target the bigger fish. 3/4 oz football head jigs, 1 oz spinnerbaits, and DD22's are some good ones to try. I like to set a lot of GPS reference points along the ledges I fish. Eventually you can get good enough at fishing ledges that it becomes more like beating the banks in spring, only it's a lot deeper!

Usually the hardest part of ledge fishing is visualizing what you are fishing. If you can master that, then you're well on your way!

If all else fails, find a good ledge that you think needs a rock pile or brush pile and spend an afternoon putting a brush pile on it...then give me the GPS coordinates! There was a great article in FLWOutdoors Magazine a good while back on Terry Bolton and how he goes about putting brush out on Ky and Barkley Lake ledges. There's more to it than just sinking last year's Christmas Tree!

[buzzking]

pick up a copy of buck perrys "spoonplugging" written in the 60s or 70s and WELL ahead of his time, will tell you all you need to know about how to get started deep water fishing.

[stratosjoe]

Wishin, I have been a deep water basser for 15 years by no way a pro but have had good luck. If I don't have a map I look at the bank first looking for obvious points. I start with the depth finder up against the bank and work my way out untill the point runs out and then continue on for another 20' the reason is a lot of times the point comes back up creating a hump at the end of the point these places are dynomite. then I will crisscross the point . Usually I move on to the next spot letting the water calm down a little and come back. If a point has grass on it or stumps the better it will probably be. I fish 1/8-1/4 oz shaky style heads with 4-6" worms not curley tails but straight worms green pumpkin with black fleck is my favorite color for most bodies of water. In clear water I love salt and pepper 4" its clear with black flake. Whatever color you like and have confidence in will most likely work.
The best way to learn to fish deep water is go by yourself leave all other types of tackle at home forcing you to fish slow and methodical. Visualize the bait as you DRAG it slowly over the point or hump or off the drop off. Use 8-10 test set your drag a little loose. When they hit it and hit it they will set the hook with a sweeping motion you don't have to rip thier lips off. Hope this helps (points or ledges by mouths of coves and long slender islands in deep water are my dream come true. Hope this helps you some stratosjoe

[wishniwasfishn]

I appreciate the help, but i still dont understand what a ledge is, and how to go about finding them, i have a lowrance gps 520c, and have rode around, and around, but i dont know if i am looking at a ledge or just a do nothing flat piece of mud. I spend a ton of time looking, just not quite sure what i am looking for. I have spoken with Dave Stewart, and am planning on going out with him sometime in August, or whenever i can find the time, and he has an opening. You guys have great answers, just still not sure what exactly is a ledge, and what it looks like. I dont know if i am making any sense to yall, but still somewhat confused. Do you just ride around a creek channel say 35' to the edge, and follow that till it rises up to about 15', and then follow the 15' depth, until i see something on that depth? Sorry for the confusion on my part, just trying to make sense of it all.

[stratosjoe]

A ledge can be an immediate drop of water from 5' to 50' it can be against the bank or at the end of a submerged island in 10' dropping off to 40' in the middle of the lake or river. that 520 will show them very clearly get a good map and look for lines running besides each other with the depth dropping rapidly from 10 to 30' that is a ledge .

[wishniwasfishn]

So the ledge is not actually a flat piece of bottom, it is acutally a sloping piece of lake bottom. So wherever the contour lines are very close indicating a shard drop off, i should find that section, and just go over it with my depthfinder, to find as they say the spot on the spot. Thanks that makes alot more sense to me. I am on vacation all of next week, and Iam going to spend a whole day with a map, gps, looking and marking any type of ledges that i can find.

[artcarney_agr]

Where are you headed?

[trentonc2000]

everyone has provided some really good information. Really the only thing i can say would be to pay attention to the contour lines on both your paper map and the gps. the ledge doesn't always have to be a point. If you see a spot where the contour lines are close together (or closer than the rest of that area) its considered a ledge as well. With contour lines, the closer they are together, the steeper the drop. Look for some of these areas with some type of cover on it.

other than that, finding the sweet spots will just take time on the water.

[wishniwasfishn]

Where are you headed?

Probaly Rough River for a day or two, then Nolin, or Barren for a day.

[Dave Stewart]

You might read the article I wrote years ago entitled "Out on a Ledge"...some folks say it has helped them understand ledges better. You will find a link to it on the Ky Lake Reports page in the side column on this site.