This may be better in the tackle section so sorry if that's the case.

 

The question is if the water clarity is commonly 2-4 foot clear but the lakes have tons and tons of fishing pressure how deep do you think you should be fishing to be able to vertical jig effectively?

30' 😉

Is there a thermocline? If yes, right above it. If not, I've only gone to 30'. Past that and most freshwater fish (except lake trout) will get barotrauma with air bladders in their mouths, so be prepared to keep what you catch. Not a fan of fizzing, seems like a death sentence to me.

Cold water seasonal period or water under 55 degrees the vast majority of bass lakes the thermocline has dissipated allowing the fish to be at nearly any depth.

How deep depends on how deep the schools of prey/bait fish are located. 

Sonar is your most important tool to determine how deep the life zone is located. 

29’ deep is 1 atmosphere and bass can easily withstand a pressure that change. 30’ is a good overall answer.

My deep limit for catch and release bass is 45’ any deeper can do brain damage from fast pressure change.

Fizzing means poking a hole in the air bladder to release gases to reduce pressure on the expanded bladder.

If you are releasing the bass immediately you use a weight to sink the bass back down to the depth it was caught. A simple method is using a 8 oz torpedo weight placed in the basses throat with your line clipped on the opposite end and lower bass down, lift the rod to pull out the weight, works good.

Vertivle jigging structure spoons, jigs, ice jigs all work good.

Tom

It is common to go 50-60’ deep around here.  Bass and walleye don’t really get the bends.

All the way to the bottom……..

 

 

I’ve caught them vertically at almost any depth but if it’s cold, deep is good. Caught some vertical damiki fishing in 9 foot last summer 

I worded it poorly I apologize my question is if the structure is in 12 foot of water but I’m over the top of them, with water clarity being 2-4 foot that’s probably to shallow right? I’ll end up spooking the fish.  

More likely than not.

1 hour ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

I worded it poorly I apologize my question is if the structure is in 12 foot of water but I’m over the top of them, with water clarity being 2-4 foot that’s probably to shallow right? I’ll end up spooking the fish.  

If you're fishing weeds you're good to go at that depth or even half that depth if you're quiet. If you're just fishing structure without cover, you probably wanna back off a little. 

 

3 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

I worded it poorly I apologize my question is if the structure is in 12 foot of water but I’m over the top of them, with water clarity being 2-4 foot that’s probably to shallow right? I’ll end up spooking the fish.  

Here in East Texas, most brush is in the 8-25ft range. So when I didn't have livescope, I'd put the boat right on top of the structure I'm fishing and drop shot it. I've also used slabs jigged verticaly but dropshot is better in my opinion. This has worked for me in 12' of water with up to 4ft clarity. Just don't be banging around the boat and you should be good.

10' to 30', with 12' to 25' being where I do the best. I could jig deeper, but I don't choose to. 1/4 oz slabs are my vertical jig of choice, hammered gold if I had to choose one. They will catch all different sizes of fish, vertical to semi-vertical. I can fish them around timber too if I have a light touch and if I don't bury the treble, I can usually just shake it loose.

It's not normal but I've caught bass up to 45' with a 1/2 or 3/4oz spoon.  Usually about 30' is the maximum the bass will be at.

I have caught sauger in the Tennessee River vertical jigging in 80 feet of water in the wintertime.