deep

Negative. I fish a few combinations and try to find what the fish might want on a given day. I fish 3/8 arkie heads with a casting style hook (5/0 long shank light wire). Skirt material is either rubber or bucktail. Trailers are the 5" DT grub, 4" DT grub, the smallie beaver, or superpork frog/ tadpole. The smallie beaver isn't a small bait. It's smaller than the other 2 varieties of course. But not small as far as jig trailers go.

Because I don't think bigger/ more action is always better. The GYCB twin tails have all the action I need when fish want that.

Ok thanks for the clarification. My next question would be what do you do when there's no shallow water that's not attached to a shoreline. Let me give you a couple of examples from one of my reservoirs. 1. I have an old roadbed there, most of it in 30 FOW or more. I have caught some nice fish off that structure (there are a couple of other structures the roadbed intersects with) fishing topwaters or shallow running baits. 2. I also have a hump that's in 40 FOW sitting of the tip of a point (with a saddle). Topwaters work great here in late summer. I don't know if the fish are suspended- but still relating to the structures- or what. But I can catch them. Are these shallow fish in your book?

It's based on effectiveness; just what works for me. You have to find out yourself what catches you more fish, that's why I said to "give it a try". Price is never a factor for me when targeting bigger fish is the concern. I also like RI smallie beavers/ GYCB baby fat craws for trailers under certain situations. There's a four part article on jig skirts, heads, trailers, etc on the last chance tackle blog page written by Matt Magnone. Might give you hints on some other things to try.

Good idea. Are we talking about fishing these on a long cast on the bottom (horizontal jigging) or short-line situations (flipping/ pitching)?

The spros seem to be good for bottom bumping in hard bottom spots, and red eye shads are pretty good on the fall. I fish the Xcaliburs the most.

Hey, it's all good. I guess part of the problem might be we all fish in different parts of the country. My lakes are tiny. A 50 or 100 mile stretch devoid of fish might translate to a couple hundred yards stretch for me. I think I owe Catt and everyone else an apology. When Catt said " I start deep and work inwards towards shallow water", he probably meant start looking, instead of starting fishing? my mistake. Thanks for the Buck Perry article, and the video links. The article was great, the videos I'm watching right now. Anyway, Catt, so you might still fish offshore, but are fishing for shallow fish (some of the time), right? A hump (underwater island) maybe?

The channels AND associated structures, the associated structures need to be in 30 FOW or less *. I'll tell you why, in the highland reservoirs I fish, the channels are 50 feet or more deeper, unless you're talking about the very back of the creek. I don't want to catch a bass that was sitting in 50 FOW (decompression problems). Suspended over channels**, yeah that's fair game. Like your hero, and mine too (they are different) both say, shallower structures are good only if they have a path to the sanctuary depths. * Besides, channels run from one end of the reservoir to the other. **hula poppers by the dam.

Sorry I missed the joke. Strike King Rage Tail Craw....$4.99 per 7 ...or 0.71 each Yamamoto Double Tail Grub....$6.99 per 20..... or 0.35 each Matt Allen turned me onto these for jig trailers. Give the DT grubs a try on the back of your jig, if you're serious about horizontal jigging.

Now do a price comparison between Yamamoto (DT grubs) and Rage Tail (Craws) trailers. You might be surprised.

Ok, I don't know what to say then. I cast big baits like I cast small baits, and I can cast far enough with stock Cardiffs. If the rod loads with the baits (they are kinda light), search for this Matt Allen video on youtube: "How to cast swimbaits". Might help.

and which question was that the answer to ?

Tell me if I understand this correctly. In a (any) man-made reservoir, or section thereof, (with main and feeder creeks), you go over to the creek channel. You follow a (the) breakline(s) that leads (lead) to the shallows, and keep doing that until you find fish. How do you know which breakline to follow if there are more than one? I'm sure there are a thousand and one factors to consider. If you could, why don't you pick a set of plausible factors, and tell us why you would choose the breakline you would?

Try one brake on, 5 off. Tighten up the spool tension a little. Check your casting technique if the rod loads up correctly. Let out 3 feet or more line before casting. Do a lob cast instead of an overhead one. Just a few things to try assuming the reel is clean and lubed. What rod do you have?

1. 9# 7oz 2. 8" Hudd ROF5 modified to ~ROF3 3. Small public reservoir/ VA

So you found the combo roadwarrior lost overboard? Good deal.

You're almost there; you got the brand right. Now just search for PLine PF.

Also, please refresh my memory a little. Perry has like eight or nine books, right? I think I read only two. Anyway, **You always interpret from the deepest water, but begin fishing in the shallowest.** The first part I understand, but tell us why we must start fishing from the shallowest.

Thank you. Now we might have something going. That was just an example; and as you pointed out, there are a bunch of factors that'll influence the correct answer. I do not know the correct answer myself, since I don't catch that many big fish (small ones don't count) to pattern it. I do know some of the factors it depends on, so I know what to start with (for the particular break I'm thinking of).

Yeah good idea, let's talk realism. First off, I think bigger bass are picky eaters (of lures), because in a normal reservoir, there's a lot of real food for them to chase and eat (or sit and eat). You have to press the right buttons to get them to react (positively) to your bait. Realism to me is a total package; size, profile, color, action, presentation, etc. Everytime you press a wrong button, your chances of catching them goes down a little (or a lot). It's amazing how some of the most realistic looking and amazingly swimming swimbaits do *not* have a good track record. "Certain vibrations are bad vibrations." (Yes, I stole that from Ken Huddleston's interview on STE). They are giving off some negative cues that turn fish off, for whatever reasons. I'm not a bass, so I won't know. You have to find baits that create and sell the correct illusion. Does a jig really look like a crawfish? Does a worm look like anything you ever seen in the water? You can fish a totally wacky color, but as long as it sells the correct illusion, we're good.

Thank you. I was hoping some of the members newer to fishing structure would take this forward. The problem I see is the stage the thread is at now, there's precious little to add. Maybe some questions then? Seemingly basic questions can generate new viewpoints. Perry's book is gold. I don't use some of the terminologies. For example, when I say "transition", I always mean transition of bass seasons, from winter to pre-spawn etc. Sharp (relative of course) changes in some parameter relevant to the reservoir bottom are called breaks in my book. Depth breaks, or bottom composition/ O2/ temperature changes, they are all breaklines to me (always related to hard/ soft structure, never cover*). I also don't agree with his deep to shallow migration theory unless we're talking about seasonal movement. That's another matter of course. * A weed-edge/ vegetations type change points my way to a break. But weeds don't stop growing without a reason. Maybe there's little sunlight penetrating that depth, or different species of vegetation prefer different substrates.

Yes, I think you're right. my mistake. The OP's second favorite mono in 6# test then.

What size reel, and does the rod load well with the bait? 6# Big Game would be good for a standard 2500 size reel.

4. Hollowbellies don't count.

Let's see if I can help add to the discussion. Catt, you talk about deep water. Do you mean the deepest water (as in a feeder or main creek channel) in the area? Also, let's discuss fishing a break line on a structure. Say a ledge running on a point. Do we parallel it, fish over and across it, pick a piece of cover on it and fish that? All of the above?