My home lake has a max depth of around 70 ft near the dam. Very little of it is deep. There are alot of 30-40 foot areas and the amount of brush in those areas is insane.

 

I know the thermocline in the summer sets up around 18 feet.

 

In your opinion do largemouth and spotted bass use the deeper 30-40 water areas and what time of year would be best to target these areas?

 

I know summer time is out since they wont be below the thermocline

Just generally speaking since we don’t know the exact lake and its dynamics. Largemouth maybe, but probably not. They tend to stay a bit shallower, but spotted bass - I’d say a good chance you’ll find them in that 30-45 ft zone from late fall through winter, especially if the water is clear and you have a threadfin forage base. Otherwise, maybe not - lol.

Most likely they would be in or near drops into those deeper areas in the winter months. 

56 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Just generally speaking since we don’t know the exact lake and its dynamics. Largemouth maybe, but probably not. They tend to stay a bit shallower, but spotted bass - I’d say a good chance you’ll find them in that 30-45 ft zone from late fall through winter, especially if the water is clear and you have a threadfin forage base. Otherwise, maybe not - lol.

Threadfin shad is the main baitfish. There is also gizzard shad, but no bluebacks.

 

It is lake greenwood in South Carolina

1 hour ago, Jimmy Pinson said:

Threadfin shad is the main baitfish. There is also gizzard shad, but no bluebacks.

 

It is lake greenwood in South Carolina

Yeah, first thought is largemouth will stay at 20 or less with the gizzards and the spots will follow the threadfin out to 30+ in winter. That would be my initial plan of attack until proven otherwise. 

During the cold months bass being warm water species locate at the depth the water is warmer. 

If your lake has Threadfin shad they can’t tolerate water colder then 45 degrees and may go very deep for warmer water near the bottom.

in SoCal were I fish LMB are often 60’-80’ deep during the cold water period, if the shad are that deep. 35’-40’ is our transition depth prior to moving up for pre spawn. Warm water period following the spawn bass are scattered from very shallow to 35’-40’ depending of water temps and DO levels. 

Depth is a major factor to solve in deep structured lakes, sonar is your friend.

Tom

2 hours ago, Jimmy Pinson said:

Threadfin shad is the main baitfish. There is also gizzard shad, but no bluebacks.

 

It is lake greenwood in South Carolina

I fished Wateree in the piedmont of SC for decades. It's a very similar lake. The dam is 100'. But most of the "deep water" is 30' or less. I never caught a bass deeper than 18-20'. Even if I fished around steep structure that dropped off very deep, the fish were almost always shallower than 15'.

21 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

I fished Wateree in the piedmont of SC for decades. It's a very similar lake. The dam is 100'. But most of the "deep water" is 30' or less. I never caught a bass deeper than 18-20'. Even if I fished around steep structure that dropped off very deep, the fish were almost always shallower than 15'.

 

This has been my experiences too, I just didnt want to be overlooking a potential killer pattern but I havent had any luck fishing that 30 ish frrt brush, which is a shame because there is a ton of it

If I see fish arches on good structure , I'm fishing it . I caught bass 40 foot on Twain one fall and the thermocline is never that deep in the summer . They were on an old highway .

My main lake gets down to 100 feet deep, and is generally around 60 feet though most of the main lake parts.  I don't you'll ever catch anything below about 30, maybe 40 feet.  The reason is the water is pretty stained, and at those depths, it's pretty much pitch black, even to the sensitive eyes of a fish.  Plus, there's probably not a lot of oxygen down there, as it doesn't get mixed up much with the water at the surface.