So I know yall have seen my whiny posts on here about feeling defeated in tournaments as of late and me talking about how frustrated I have been… 

 

Well I’ve been studying, learning, etc about offshore fishing a lot lately so this afternoon I told myself I’m gonna take my time and apply the concepts I have learned and fish offshore the entire trip today…

 

I started in a large arm off the main lake and began idling using my sideview (Garmin 93UHD) on my console and switching the color from orange crawfish to midnight blue seemed to really help things click for me today.. I scanned a deep main like point and noticed a lot of baitfish in the 12-15ft range so I started idling up the arm in the 15ft range and marked several different rock piles, brush piles, and shadowy areas..  I found one really nice brush pile on side scan in about 20 ft and marked it with a waypoint, circled back and idled over it with clearvu downscan and tossed out a marker boey to help me triangulate myself.. Made several casts with a football jig.. then switched to a big shaky head worm… then the DT 16 in Citrus Shad and first cast caught one my true first offshore bass using the process I have learned.. It wasn’t a giant but it was a solid bass for the lake I was on (5 that size could win tournaments there.) I fished about a dozen more spots using the same method with no bites but today felt like a win and I absolutely cannot wait to go again tomorrow to try the same system on a different local lake! I feel like if I can learn to catch fish this way and learn to trust it while keeping my shallow techniques in my back pocket it’ll open a whole new door for me as a fisherman. I know to a lot of you this is probably bass fishing 101 but I grew up and learned to fish the bank and shallow water power fishing so every offshore I have had to learn for myself.

 

I’d like to thank Jonny at Fish The Moment and Tyler at TylersReelFishing for their efforts in helping average guys like me learn to fish just a little bit better..

 

 

4 minutes ago, RHuff said:

 

So I know yall have seen my whiny posts on here about feeling defeated in tournaments as of late and me talking about how frustrated I have been… 

 

Well I’ve been studying, learning, etc about offshore fishing a lot lately so this afternoon I told myself I’m gonna take my time and apply the concepts I have learned and fish offshore the entire trip today…

 

I started in a large arm off the main lake and began idling using my sideview (Garmin 93UHD) on my console and switching the color from orange crawfish to midnight blue seemed to really help things click for me today.. I scanned a deep main like point and noticed a lot of baitfish in the 12-15ft range so I started idling up the arm in the 15ft range and marked several different rock piles, brush piles, and shadowy areas..  I found one really nice brush pile on side scan and marked it with a waypoint, circled back and idled over it with clearvu downscan and tossed out a marker boey to help me triangulate myself.. Made several casts with a football jig.. then switched to a big shaky head worm… then the DT 16 in Citrus Shad and first cast caught one my true first offshore bass using the process I have learned.. It wasn’t a giant but it was a good bass for the lake I was on…. Fished about a dozen more spots using the same

method with no bites but today felt like a win and I absolutely cannot wait to go again tomorrow to try the same system on a different local lake!

 

 

I've been doing the same thing this summer and plan to continue the education during the winter.

 

Congratulations on your new found success offshore.

 

I definitely feel like to have a shot at fish that aren't absolutely hammered to death, it's an essential skill.

That's great! To add to your new found success, get a topo map of that lake and locate where you had success. Look for other areas in that depth range that look similar, try to find 3 or 4.  Mark those on that map.  Now next time you go on that lake and mark baitfish at that depth, you have multiple areas to choose from and if you're lucky enough to catch a fish on a certain type of cover, or bottom composition, you can eliminate other spots in that area and move to another of your spots with that same combination at that same depth.  You've eliminated a lot more water and saved time in the process and in a tourney, that's a win/win.

BTW, when you get to one or another of 'your spots' don't leave if you don't contact fish right away. Change your presentation speed and possibly the actual bait before moving on.

Believe it or not, off shore schools can and do prefer things differently than their cousins three hundred yards down that creek channel.  

13 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

That's great! To add to your new found success, get a topo map of that lake and locate where you had success. Look for other areas in that depth range that look similar, try to find 3 or 4.  Mark those on that map.  Now next time you go on that lake and mark baitfish at that depth, you have multiple areas to choose from and if you're lucky enough to catch a fish on a certain type of cover, or bottom composition, you can eliminate other spots in that area and move to another of your spots with that same combination at that same depth.  You've eliminated a lot more water and saved time in the process and in a tourney, that's a win/win.

BTW, when you get to one or another of 'your spots' don't leave if you don't contact fish right away. Change your presentation speed and possibly the actual bait before moving on.

Believe it or not, off shore schools can and do prefer things differently than their cousins three hundred yards down that creek channel.  

 

 I went jig, big worm, crank, dropshot in that order making 5-10 casts with each before moving to the next spot