In preparation for my next trip down to my parents' place at Kentucky Lake, I went to BPS to grab a few deep diving crankbaits in case I want to try the ledges. Being solely a bank angler up until they recently got a place and a boat, I did not have any deep divers. Didn't want to break the bank to start out with, so I got 4 SK 6XDs--one w/ chartreuse body (Green Back/Chartreuse, literally the only chartreuse body they had in stock); two w/ white body (Citrus Shad and Chartreuse Sexy Shad); and one more natural (TN Shad). 

 

Recognizing that the BR/bait monkey answer would be "4 isn't close to enough," shouldn't this take care of me for a first trip out to the ledges? Anything obvious I'm not thinking of? Obviously if I am going to keep fishing the ledges in the future, I will want a wider selection; just didn't want to spend a fortune for the first time out (the bait monkey has already struck me several times in the last couple of months).

 

Edit: Meant to add, I have also already gotten some big ribbontail worms and some swinghead football jig heads for fishing the ledges as well. So my range of ledge-specific presentations would now include the 6XDs I just picked up, dragging a big ribbon worm Carolina or Texas rigged on the bottom, or fishing a creature bait on the swinghead football head jigs. Anything else I'm missing? I see Jacob Wheeler tore them up out on the ledges at Chickamauga yesterday in FLW using a hair jig; that's not something I own.

8 minutes ago, plawren53202 said:

Recognizing that the BR/bait monkey answer would be "4 isn't close to enough," shouldn't this take care of me for a first trip out to the ledges? Anything obvious I'm not thinking of?

Do you have a lure retriever?

4 cranks can be gone on 4 casts when fishing the ledges.

They might be out on the ledges but they be around some type of cover that is out on the ledge.

All that cover likes to grab those treble hooks.

 

A swimbait is always a great option on the ledges.

Just make sure you have enough weight in the head to keep it down.

Scrounger jigs!

Tom

21 minutes ago, BassNJake said:

Do you have a lure retriever?

4 cranks can be gone on 4 casts when fishing the ledges.

They might be out on the ledges but they be around some type of cover that is out on the ledge.

All that cover likes to grab those treble hooks.

 

A swimbait is always a great option on the ledges.

Just make sure you have enough weight in the head to keep it down.

Yup, I picked up a lure retriever before the last trip down b/c I was planning on throwing squarebills to shallower cover. 

 

Also, I hadn't thought about swimbaits, but I've got plenty of those and some 3/4 oz. heads that ought to get them down to 18-20 feet without having to wait forever. Good suggestions, thx. 

We use swingheads a lot on the ledges. I really like the Strike King Jointed Structure Head with a Strike King Rage Bug on it (they were originally called Rage "Structure" Bugs and were made for this head).

 

Another creature that does well for us is the 4.4" Keitech Crazy Flapper.

Sounds like you got a good plan.  I despise deep cranking. But I can add drop shots and spy baits are worth a look.  Soft swimbaits on 1/2 once head work well for me too.  Work it just like you would a heavier spinner bait.  Sometimes the paddle tails work well when a spinner bait wont.