I rediscovered a big natural lake that i used to go to as a child. All i really remember was catching a huge white perch trolling. Anyways I want to probe and explore the deeper exspanses of this lake. I don't want to just follow the shoreline and fish behind all the other kayakers and bass boats. I am fishing from a yak and i only bring a small binder of baits, no trebles so no cranks. I would like some thoughts on the ledgebuster spinnerbaits. Are they easy to slow roll in say 20+ ft. of water? Will big fish hit them? I think most of the shallow fish have seen spinnerbaits. But to the deep fish spinnerbaits might be fresh. In the meantime before i order some ledgebusters i have a spinnerbait that should work, (huge heavy head and tiny blades). As far as technique with these 1+ oz. baits I think I would just fan cast the depths and try to slow roll and stay in contact with the bottom and learn whats down there.  

I have had some luck fishing the Ledgebuster exactly as you have descibed fishing the lure.

 

Good luck!

Do you have any electronics on that yak? If the spinnerbait doesn't work you could try pumping them up with a blade bait, but you would have to change out the trebles if you can't carry them.

I don't have electronics so thats why i think a spinnerbait would be a good bait to cover water.

Fishing deep offshore structure is almost impossible without electronics unless you know where the spots are. You mentioned that the lake is natural, and one thing with them is oxygen content in deep water, the natural lakes I fish have only current in the form of wind and the deepest you will mark fish is around 14' to 16' but more fish will be closer to weed flats even in extreme heat. You may get lucky without electronics but there is a better way if you want to stay away from the banks. Look for points, both long main lake points and secondary points, position the yak a long cast away from shore, even a little more, then tie on a 1/2oz football jig with a twin tail grub for a trailer. Make a cast so that the bait is 10' off the bank or so and count how long it takes to get to the bottom, once you know that you can begin working the bait back to you by slowly dragging it or stroking it. I say this because me and a friend fished a tournament 1 year and not even 5 minutes after we launched his electrical system started having fits and we were forced to fish without sonar. We fished the banks for a bit but decided to fish just the points and we finished the day in 2nd place. You may have to hit a few points until you find fish but when you do remember the depth approximately the fish was caught and how the point looked, did it go into deep water quickly from the shoreline or did it slowly taper off into deep water? You can also use a deep spinnerbait or a lipless crank or a football jig or a heavy Texas rig but without sonar to find structure or cover off shore in deep water your best bet is to fish the points.

The Strike King Bottom Dweller spinner bait is a good bait for probing the depths.

It's made with narrower some what smaller blades which assist in keeping the bait from riding up off the bottom too far during the retrieve.

 

Another bait that's fairly effective in deep water, and one that's very easy to fish & keep deep, is a swim bait on a jig head.  Many of the hollow & solid body paddle tail baits work well. 

A 4, 5 or even 6 inch bait on a 1/2, 3/4 or even 1 ounce jig head may be something to consider.

 

A-Jay

I had a bunch of 1/2-1oz spinnerbaits laying around that I just modified for deep fishing. i made sure to keep the blades from over lapping like described in this vid.  I did it w/o taking them apart by basically use a coffee stir sliced open with a razor blade to add a 1/4" spacer. I wrapped it around the spinnerbait shaft and wrapped braid around it to secure it.  then drop of superglue. they slow roll nicely in 20+ft of water.

   

If you believe deep water is an abyes, why bother?

A spinnerbait wants to lift, that is what the blades do! Trying to slow roll or slow retrieve the heavier ledge buster without any idea what is down at the depth you are guessing at is a futile exercise. If you want to fish deep water get yourself an inexpensive sonar unit to save you from wasting time and effort.

Fishing below the thermocline for bass is also wasted time.

The most effective lures to explore deep water are structure spoons. luhr Jensen makes a spoon called a Crippled Herring, single hook, that is perfect for this type of deep structure fishing. Drop shot rig is also a good presentation. Like fishing the spinnerbait blind, spoons and drop shot are better when you know fish are down there.

Tom