We are catching bass 30-50 feet down over 50-70 feet of water.  We are doing pretty well with swim baits.  Yesterday 35 of our 43 came from there.  We also have used casting spoons and jigging raps without success.  Im thinking that I would like to use a bladed jig.  I’ve got some 1oz heads baking and plan to tie them up this afternoon.

 

Have any of you used a bladed jig this deep?

30' is a long way down for a bladed jig to keep it down there.  I've gone down to 25 and you have to crawl it, even with the heavier heads.  You'll want thin braid to help keep it down.  I can't imagine down to 50'.

 

Do you have any live imaging to see your bait is at depth?

50’!?!? Those are some deep bass!

 

No help on the topic, but very intrigued on the depth you’re fishing. Played around on a mountain lake the other weekend that gets to about 350’ max depth, didn’t find any fish or bait looking out to about 35’, may need to slide out a little further.

At that deep it would be a bit difficult but still possible, a long wait and then a slow retrieve or a lift and fall. I doubt many of those fish have had bladed jigs come past them there so you might find a gold mine if you can get them to bite.

I have a few Siebert Tremors that are 1oz, and they seem good for around 25'. You may want to go a bit heavier for that deep.

1 oz is as big as I have so it will have to do.  We will be taking my boat next time with Mega Live.

I suppose it depends on how you fish it.  I have caught LMB over 20' deep on jackhammer.  But by fishing them more like a jig than a spinnerbait...snapping them off the bottom.  Should work for you, as long as you can watch with FFS and keep your pops in the neighborhood.

They usually are 10-20’ off the bottom.  

12 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

They usually are 10-20’ off the bottom.  

Big difference from 30-50

Yes it is.  Even with a 3/8 oz head it takes forever to get a 3.8 Keitech down.  I’m hoping the 1oz blade will sink as fast.  

3 hours ago, bigbassin' said:

50’!?!? Those are some deep bass!

No kidding I thought the same thing.

1 oz Scrounger jig runs that deep with a 6” Sluugo for a trailer.

your line is what creates lift so use the smallest diameter you can get away with, under .011D.

Tom

PS, you will need a bladder needle.

I've used a 1.25oz jackhammer down to 25-30'. Using it like a jig. I cast and let it hit the bottom and crank it up for 8-10 turns then hit the button and let it fall back to the bottom. Dunno how that would work in 30-50'. WRB is spot on with the bladder needle. Make sure you know how to fizz them (release the air out of they're swim bladder),

Those fish don’t need to be fizzed.  We’ve caught dozens of them and none have shown any signs of distress.  Our biologists say not to do it anyway.

If you can release the bass immediately and help the bass return back down then yes don’t needle them.

Tom