What is you guys approach or position your boat? I have read some info on Tactical bassing and also from huddletons website but not many talking about this topic. I lately position boat close to shore/ledges and cast parallel or out in open water to search for fish.

Spring up fall down...

It depends on which way the wind is coming from, and how hard it is blowing. 

interesting topic, I try it all till something starts working. Lol! I would like to hear why other people choose fishing up, down, or parallel.

As Deep stated "Spring up, Fall down" is the classic rule with bass. Spring the bass are moving up into the spawning cycles, Fall the bass are returning to deeper water, i.e.; the direction the bass are moving.

You want to position your boat so it doesn't spook feeding bass so that depends where they are feeding and what they are feeding on. 

Points, nearly every boat angler approaches points from deep water, stops and casts to shallow water. Bass have a keen sense of detecting your presence using thier lateral line....they hear or feel your boat comming and stop feeding exiting to the safety of deeper water, usually swimming past you while you are casting where they were.

It's better to approach the point like a bank angler nearer to shore and cast to the base of the point from as far way as you can cast. Keep working slowly towards the point while casting deeper and paralell to the points side. Work your way out deeper, then work your way around to the opposite side and back towards shore. You will cover every angle and determine by trial and error what the bass react to. 

Tom

Used to fish a reservoir that was a series of flooded phosphate pits. Top was 4 to 8 feet dropping off rapidly to 12 to 20 feet.

 

Some days they wanted it coming up, some days down, some days parallel. The pattern would last for the day but I could never put any logic to it. 

 

It was consistent from drop to drop also, and there were scores of them.

 

You would run into a friend on the water and in addition to the normal pleasantries the question was always asked "Up or down ?" and everybody knew what the other guy was talking about.

 

In short - try all angles - it changes day to day.

When I'm fishing weed lines, and drop off I like to keep the wind to my back and let it slowly push me along, staying off the trolling motor and in stealth mode.  I often put out a drift bag to slow my movement.  This has helped me catch fish in silence when they are in a spooky mood.  Excellant when conditions are right.

 If bass are found at a  certain depth then position the boat to keep the lure  in the strike zone the longest  . 

from "Horizontal- an old angle for big bass"- WRB.

 

Depends on what kind of structure & where the bass are located on said structure!

Lets say I'm catching most of my fish  with a Fat Rap  in 5 foot of water .  It would be foolish to cast in 10 foot of water  but being it takes the lure a bit to reach five foot I can parallel the bank and still cast shallower allowing let the bait follow the contour down and still catch shallower fish plus the five footers  . Keep the lure in the strike  zone for as much of the cast  as possible .

Yes... It depends on the day.  Try all angles until you find what angle the bass want.  If they are hugging tight to bottom, uphill is the way to go.  If they are slightly suspending, fishing downhill works best.  I'll fish parallel to a breakline if I'm still searching for the fish-holding breaks on a structure, or if the situation dictates it.

 

Oh, and if I'm catching fish from a particular break it works best to slowly move the boat around it in a circle, so that the bass are constantly shown a different angle.  

Uphill, downhill or parallel?

 

Sometimes none of the above!

 

Many times it's vertical 

 

Creek channels, brush piles, bridge pilings come to mind.

I prefer to be presenting baits up hill the vast majority of the time.  

So I'm sitting 'shallow' & throwing 'deep'. 

Something that goes right along with this subject for me is wind direction and possible current.  

 I do not like fishing 'cross' wind at all - besides making many presentations tough - strike detection can be a little tricky depending on what I want (need) to throw, at least for me.  Either way I have more success fishing either straight into or down wind.  Now factor that into the up hill, parallel or down hill question, and I say I'll set up to fish the conditions first and the structure second, almost every time. 

Worst case scenario is trying to present something cross wind & current. I rarely find myself fishing parallel, I do it, but like I said not much.  Best case for me is straight into the wind & current and up hill.  I've had some very memorable days on the water doing that one.  I usually plan when & where I fish (which lake) based on which way the wind is forecast to blow.  This can offer at least a decent opportunity to fish effectively.  To disregard it can complicate an already complicated deal.

YMMV

A-Jay

If one way isn't working try the next. A lot of us get caught up casting at "targets" nothing wrong with that most times but other times we need to cast at something we can't see. Is it a gradual drop or a steep drop? If it's steep, casting parallel is probably the best option. If it's gradual, maybe uphill, maybe downhill, maybe move elsewhere. If you are in a boat and have electronics, you should be able to have some sense of where the breaks are at. You also should have some ability to determine wind and current. Fish with the wind. Fish with the current.

Thanks everyone, but more comment is still welcome.

i think I'm gonna try the point first since that easy to find than said structure on bottom where I'm not really good at yet.

As of now, water temp still around 70 and I seem not able to find active bass. The small lake I can catch dinks all days but don't know where the big one at. The main lake where I success the most (today caught another 4.5 lb) but mostly bank fishing, since taking my small Jon boat out it is a challenge by itself.

23 hours ago, deep said:

from "Horizontal- an old angle for big bass"- WRB.

 

Thanks, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Tom

When we use a boat we fish we're the submerged weeds are. We find the weeds then back off to deeper water as the weeds disappear we anchor the boat and cast towards the weeds and shallows. Using a split shot rig with a 6" black creme worm. We're talking tactics from the early 70's that still works today.

10 hours ago, JustJames said:

Thanks everyone, but more comment is still welcome.

i think I'm gonna try the point first since that easy to find than said structure on bottom where I'm not really good at yet.

As of now, water temp still around 70 and I seem not able to find active bass. The small lake I can catch dinks all days but don't know where the big one at. The main lake where I success the most (today caught another 4.5 lb) but mostly bank fishing, since taking my small Jon boat out it is a challenge by itself.

Fishing points from shore. I fish up them starting at the deeper water. I cast to the far side and bring my bait over the top of the point. Or I fish parallel to the point about 2 to 3' on each side. Don't be afraid to hop a jig around the point too. Don't fish too fast.