I fish for smallies mainly in a certain deep, rocky, clear reservoir. Since it is clear, with a good pair of sunglasses I can usually see the smallies, at least in the spring. But now I've stopped seeing them... I suspect with temperatures rising they have pushed a bit deeper, so my main techniques - senkos, tubes, and craws fished in shallow water - won't work well (it'll take them too long to sink).

 

So I'm thinking maybe I need to do a little drop shottin'. Get my lures down deeper, but the problem is, I have no fishfinder. Is it possible to be successful drop shotting with no fish finder? Or should I just move to deep diving cranks?

id like to get some imput on this to. i have a cheaper humminbird that is good to mark structure and depth, but thats about it. and tubes on a jighead are killer for deep water smallies. just bump up to a 3/8 oz. or so.

Fish the same general area you do in spring just deeper. If you have enough wind to drift try that to help cover water. You could also use an electric trolling motor to keep you moving. The trick is go slow enough that you keep in contact with the bottom but still cover some ground until you get bit. After your first fish you could throw out a marker buoy & then work that area over more thourghly.

I would start with a crankbait to feel the bottom and find fish, and then slow down. Another good way to feel out the bottom is a football jig.

I'd do what Dwight mentions. Sounds like you already know the lake well enough where the sonar might not be as useful as you think, unless you're fishing 20+ feet deep and plan on "video game fishing". I don't really use the sonar to find fish, but more to look for irregularities in bottom composition such as breaks, points, humps, etc.

 

If you already know where they're at but don't see them, you just need to work the area a little more and probe around with your drop shot. I find on most days, you're better off just not moving the bait at all and letting the wind/trolling motor cover water for you.