Fishing Drops?

[DJD]

Just read the reference article and i agree it was one of the best i have ever read. I can always use more education on these topics...great thread.

[Todd2]

Thanks for all of the replies. After reading all of the posts, I think I'm probably not being patient enough. I always know that I can hit shoreline cover and usually catch some fish here and there and yes they are usually smaller. Maybe one day I'll hit a motherload of big ones out on a drop. This thread has helped, thanks again...

[flippindrew]

Fishing drops, ledges etc. is without a doubt something that MUST be done with patience. If you want to learn how to fish these types of structure I HIGHLY recommend a trip with Dave Stewart. Fishing drops, and ledges is without a doubt one of my favorite types of fishing. One thing that I have learned about this type of fishing is that it REALLY takes a lot of time to learn. One thing I can tell you about some of my best drops, ledges I have fished is that it took me a lot of time to figure these spots out. I have found several drops that I have sat on for 1-2 hours before catching a fish. Once you catch that first fish, you get clued in and really do some damage. You've got to learn how to look at the water and visualize how the drops lies before your going to do much really. Visualization plays a huge role in this because after you learn that, you know where your bait is on the structure at all times and then can almost duplicate that on other drops. After you learn how the drop lies you can really narrow your time down on fishing other drops and ledges.

[F16ENGMGR]

If you've never tried jiggin spoons go for it. They're great to fish drops. I've caught as many as 7 different species in one day using them. I remove the nickel plated hooks and replace them with wire hooks. Also use braided line 40-50 lb test. If you fish areas prone to hang up, you can usually straighten the hooks especially if you're close to location where bank fisherman congregate from snagging on to old line. If you watched Ultimate Match Fishing recently Kelly Jordan was slaying the bass at KY Lake. Also Stanley Mitchell won the Bassmaster CLassic using a spoon.

[Moose1am]

Fishing drop off or ledges in deeper water can be the ultimate challenge. During the summer months if fish are caught in this deep water and not released asap or handled too much they can get too stressed and die.

If you fish deep water remember that bringing a fish up from the depths suddenly can give them the bends and they get really really stressed.

With that comment the one thing you need to do is find water that's both deep but with good access to shallows. That's the key to finding the fish.

Fish will come up out of the deep water along long sloping points and feed in the shallows periodically during low light conditions. Fish being predators have to sneak up on their prey. If not they may expend more energy than the take in while chasing bait fish. Think of how a lion or tiger sneaks up on it's prey. Bait fish can detect pressure waves as well as big fish can.

Think of how the USA and the Russians play games with sonar and play hide and seek in the oceans. These nukes use the underwater terrain to escape and hide from those hunter subs and destroyers that seek them out.

Sound waves travel though the water can be deflected by ridges or deep channels or sharp bends in the channel.

Not every point is going to produce every time. Fish move around the lake looking for bait fish. Wind direction plays a key role in how the currents are setup in a lake and where the plankton will be found. Follow the wind if it's been constant for some time. And expect to try something new when the wind direction changes. Winds create currents differently in different lakes due to variations in the depth and contours.

Some key spots are more likely to hold fish than others under a variety of conditions.

You may have to fish a spot several times and for long periods of time before you finally run into fish and catch a few. You must have confidence when fishing in deeper water.

If the fish are there they will let you know. If not then move to a different spot and give that one a try.

Buck Perry said that the fish are either in the deep water or shallow or somewhere in between. Remember that fish often (Bass and Crappie) will suspend at the same depth of the top of a ledge but away from the drop off out over open water. These fish can be harder to catch as they are in a neutral or negative mood. Fish in the shallows or in the mid depths may be on the move and actively seeking food.

It took me years before I figured out now to fish deeper water with plastic worms. I can remember fishing a drop off on Cypress Bay on KY lake where I thought there should be big bass. This drop off is located near a shallow flat that goes out from the shoreline and then drops off into the 30 ft deep channel. I still think that spot should produce. But so far the only fish I ever caught on the drop were all up on the flat in the stump beds. I used live night crawlers which were injected with air with a syringe and only got some bits from bluegills biting the tails of my night crawlers. But I still would bet that someday that spot will produce fish.

One spot that my father showed me on KY lake was a channel that went though the end of an chain of small island into the bay between the shore line and the islands. This was what he always referred to as the "HOT SPOT". At one time there were three old 2" diameter iron poles that were driven into some stumps near the edge of the drop off. We use to always catch some bass on that spot. Then one summer the poles vanished. Either the ice or some people removed them. This happened when I was still very young. Maybe around 1959 though 1963. Years later I learned more about this spot from looking at the new digital maps. It was the classic type drop off situation. The head ends an Island would break the current when they are pulling water though the ****. So that's a plus for this spot. Also the channel prevents a sharp drop off which is near the shallow end of the island so you have deep water close by to shallow water.

The key is the transition zone between the deep and the shallow feeding shelfs. That's the key to finding deep water fish.

Also key is to know where the thermocline is located if there is one in your lake. Fish won't be below the thermocline for very long. They may go down there chasing some bait fish but in the hot summer months there won't be enough dissolved oxygen down there to stay for very long. You may see fish down there but they are more likely catfish or some other type fish that can live in less oxygenated water.

Another key to make sure that your wash all human scent off your baits. Did you fill up the gas tank before you went fishing? Did you get some gas or other scents on your fingers? Did you wash your hands before handling the baits? This can kill a fishing trip. Simply take some soap with you and wash your hands. Do you smoke?

Use a cover scent. I started using Dr. Juice back in around 1986. Before that I never used any cover up scents. My fishing got a lot better after discovering the benefits of Dr. Juice and other liquid and solid bait cover scents. I won't go fishing without my Dr Juice or my Crappie Nibbles.

I once spilled some liquid bait juice in a plastic container. I stored my buoys in this same container and the string that held the weights to the floats got soaked in this fish attractant. I noticed the next time I use the buoys to mark an under water brush pile (Isolated submerged tree in deep water) was producing more fish than normal. As the scent wore off the string the catches got less and less. Maybe I discovered something by accident. I suspect that the liquid fish attractant was being dispersed into the water all along the 20 ft of string between the lead weight and the float. With more than one float in the water it was putting a lot of this liquid fish attractant into the nearby water. The crappie were bitting like crazy that day. Since that time the number of fish I have caught in this very same spot has diminished this last year. I use to catch limits in this area but not this year. Luckily I found a new spot that's not as pressured. It's more out of sight than the old spot. The old spot was easily observed from the bank and near the boat ramp so anyone watching would soon discover this spot. Over the last two years I have seen a few die hard crappie guys fishing this spot. Others know it's there but don't take the time to find the single trees and fish it right. They may try fishing in the general area and then get tired and go elsewhere. You have to give this spot some time as sooner or later the fish will show up. It's a choke point for fish that are migrating and the submerged brush will hold the fish in this area from time to time.

And don't laugh. My last time out I caught some of my best crappie in this lake. Just for kicks and giggles I checked the time that I caught these nice slabs against the solunar tables best fishing times. Guess what? They matched almost exactly. This is not an isolated occurrence. Most of the times I catch a limit of fish it's during the good time periods noted on my GPS solunar tables. The Garmin eTrex Vista has the solunar tables in the Accessories page. I have found that it's worth my time to look at the solunar tables and the sunrise and sunset as well as the moon rise and moon set times. Now I still go fishing at all times but I have come to expect to catch more fish during the good times. Call me superstitious but it works for me.

If the position of the moon to the earth can create Earthquakes is may well also effect the fishing. Recent evidence that the pull of the moon on the Earth's Continental Crust Plates has produced more movement of these plates and thus increases the number and intensity of earthquakes.

We know for sure that the Moon's gravitational pull effect the Ocean Tides. But we recently are learning that the Granite continental crustal plates which float up the denser basaltic crust are also being effected by the moon's gravity. Don't understand the movement of the Continental plates or never took Historical Geology? Just look at the Eastern Coast Line of North and South American and compare it to the Western Coast Line of Africa? Do you seen anything similar between the two shapes? Humm? If that does not convince you that ocean spreading is real then not much will.


Many variables effect the fish and the more we know about how the environment works the better chances you have of catching more fish.

This summer I've been trying to leave the banks and fish the deeper drops, mostly channel drops and other deeper structure. I've had very little success. I have no problems marking fish, usually within a couple of feet from the bottom and I work the area throughly with plastics but usually get nothing. So I end up fishing shallow bank water close to some deep water and can usually get a few. I've been reading alot about structure fishing and it seems a little tougher than most articles let on. What are some of the techniques you guys use once you find the drops and mark the fish. Thanks for any info...