Fishing has been pretty up and down this past week. All the pictures below are from the past 6 days. While we have been catching some giants, the problem has been getting on consistent numbers of fish day in and day out. I rely on the deeper bite, and try to stick with it because I really believe that is where you have the best chance for a giant bass. I’m having to graph a lot of spots with my HDS units on most days. Some days when you do eventually find fish set up right on offshore structure, they still may be so scattered out that it can be tough to trigger them to bite. Ideally you’ll find them on or near the bottom in tight groups. This is when they are competitive with each other and more likely to hit a lure.

I am looking for deep schools of fish on textbook structure like the ends of main lake points, humps (which are often connected to a point in some way), road beds, and ledges. If I don’t see bass on my graph I move on to the next spot. Until it gets consistently hot enough for the thermocline to set up and push the fish out of extreme depths, fish can be found at just about any depth. I am looking on offshore spots that might top out in 10′ or maybe even as deep as 35′. Once I find them, I look at how the fish are positioned to determine how to fish for them. I always have a football jig, Carolina rig, heavy Texas rigged worm, and a crankbait on the deck this time of year. If they can be reached with a crankbait, that is usually my first choice. They will hit a crankbait if they’re on the bottom, or even if they’re suspended.