Learning to Fish Deep

Rich, Chabil & Kevin spent the day with me catching smallies. They had requested to remain on the bass so that was exactly what we did! From deep to shallow, we covered it all and they caught fish right until the last minutes of their fishing trip.

Rich & Kevin got the ball rolling early on the first drift over deep water. I had been catching good fish in the area and decided to give it a try. The winds were also more favourable than I had expected with the forecast of 20 to 40 km from the west. Fortunately we weren’t at that point yet and able to work the water properly! Their bass were decent but not the jumbo’s I was hoping for and were released quickly.

We made long passes in the deep and everyone caught bass on each one. Unfortunately there were more lost than landed, but that is almost always the case when people are new to this technique. Chabil seemed to be getting less bites but landing most of the ones he received!

After fishing the depths for a few hours, I decided to try some shallower areas and had them toss soft plastics for more bass. We made a run to an area I was sure would produce and both Kevin & Rich managed to get into a few smallies. Chabil wasn’t having much luck until he finally hooked a fish. To his amazement it turned out to be a walleye and was introduced to the livewell with hopes of others joining as well.

I had spent a while in the shallower water with limited fish bites and after Chabil landed another bass, decided to move back out deeper where I knew the better fish were. We spent the remainder of the day fighting both big waves and bass before we were done. On the very last drift, Kevin managed to bring a good one aboard that became our last pic of the day. We were officially done!

Today was a learning day for everyone as they got their first taste of vertical drop shotting in deep water. This wasn’t the power fishing that they were used to but rather a finesse approach to catching summertime smallies! Everyone had a great time and plenty of fish were brought to net, as well as lost! Hopefully the next time they are back it will be cooler and the fish will have moved back up shallow for them to catch. I know they are hoping for a more aggressive bite!!