One of my goals this year is to not rely on shallow cover so much. So for those of you who have used a swimbait or damiki rig or whatever to drop down on a fish you saw on your fishfinder, how has it worked for you?

Works like magic if you put the time into your 2D and the fish are actively feeding I've found.   Less is more in terms of imparting action on the bait as well.   They don't like that small presentation jumping up and down big time imho.    Learn the sink rate of your bait "manually" prior to using it in the game so to speak, it's not always that easy to perfectly track your bait down with 2D sonar, in windy conditions it's impossible.  Note the location of those active fish and countdown a couple feet above their heads, and lower it if need be.   They don't usually want this presentation below their faces.  

 

For neutral or negative feeding fish, I don't think it's effective at all.   Then again not much is unless you have FFS to try out various other techniques in real time. 

Started doing this back in the early 2000’s… still remember the first time it worked - fishing a mark in 50’ of water on Diamond Valley reservoir, and was able to track my drop shot down and wiggled it in front of its face. I still remember the ecstasy of seeing the mark move aggressively towards the bait and feeling the resulting tick when it sucked it in.

 

Done it a whole lot ever since… ice jigs at Casitas and Perris come to mind, but it is a beautiful thing when it sets up right and works out.

54 minutes ago, tunaman said:

Started doing this back in the early 2000’s… still remember the first time it worked - fishing a mark in 50’ of water on Diamond Valley reservoir, and was able to track my drop shot down and wiggled it in front of its face. I still remember the ecstasy of seeing the mark move aggressively towards the bait and feeling the resulting tick when it sucked it in.

 

Done it a whole lot ever since… ice jigs at Casitas and Perris come to mind, but it is a beautiful thing when it sets up right and works out.

How often would you say it works compared to how often you do it?

More often than not, under the right circumstances. When I see them close to, or at the bottom, a drop shot in their face is hard to pass up.

 

When you see the spaghetti strands on the bottom, the ice jig/spoon or something mimicking the forage fished erratically seems hard to ignore.

Works for crappie, probably caught 1-2 bass in my lifetime doing it 😂 

When I wanted to get off of the shore, a guide introduced me to Football Jig Fishing.  Not to sway you away from your mentioned presentations but you may find jig fishing a little more productive and it will give you more confidence fishing off-shore.

No electronics used, just verticle jigging SteelShad blade baits in 60ft of water.  Regularly use a dropshot in 45ft but normally on marked fish. 

37 minutes ago, Craig P said:

When I wanted to get off of the shore, a guide introduced me to Football Jig Fishing.  Not to sway you away from your mentioned presentations but you may find jig fishing a little more productive and it will give you more confidence fishing off-shore.

No sway needed. I already love jig fishing. I haven't tried them offshore though. I'll definitely look into it.

I used to do it with musky when I was bondy jigging them. Haven’t really done it for bass that much since I mainly fish rivers. 

On 1/11/2024 at 9:46 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Works for crappie, probably caught 1-2 bass in my lifetime doing it 😂 

 

I've done it for crappie, perch, and walleye over deep water. I also had it work for SM on the St. Lawrence.

 

Most of the LM water I fish is too shallow.  

 

 

I've been doing it for 40 years with success.  I also fish the St-Lawrence and that's how we fish for walleyes: drifting with the current and hoovering a jig just over the rocks.  It also works well for smallmouth summer and fall.  At lake Champlain, I catch lakers that way.  Jigging in a 100 feet of water just over the head of the fish.  Lakers are the easiest to see on 2D sonar because they are so big.  When they don't want to bite you raise the jig rapidly and they follow and eat it.  You see the line coming up and then it stops. Works for smallmouth also  (sometimes).  Nothing works all the time.

Keep in mind using 2D sonar everything on the scrolling screen has already happened, it’s history. The far right 1/4” is real time before it’s displayed digitally so watch that for feedback and the screen for details you missed.

Vertical jigging a structure spoon, Ice jig. spider jig, nail head-Neko worm, drop shot or doodling a worm all work at times.

The hook set should lift and reel without hard jerk set.

If you don’t meter bass try the area anyway as 2D sonar return area is small.

Tom