I know everyone is talking about how low the water levels are now but there is a lake 20 miles from my house where the average depth is about 35 feet...and all the fish are showing up at 30-50 feet on the fish finder. How do i approach getting down that deep? Ill take any advice right now beacause i dont have a CLUE ...Thanks everyone Big B

Jig, spoon (vertical jigging) and a Gitzit. I particularly like the Micro Munch Tackle El Gordo tube with it's big profile.

First off, you didn't say what the bottom content was.  I've found moss and deep weed beds in water that deep, time and time again. But you have to search for it. Bass relate to those weed beds; obviously because the bait will too.  I've had a lot of success with the drop shot in this kind of situation.  Start by finding some type of structure; drop-offs, points, humps, etc..  Narrow down your search further by finding those structures with bait relating close by. Anchor over the bait and put one rig out with a wacky rigged Senko (using 8# test Fluoro line); then use a drop shot on another rig.  You will score on bass this way.  

Crestliner2007,

Welcome aboard!

Thankyou!  

More questions than answer to this inquiry. You are metering fish at those depths, do you know what they are? First, do you know about thermoclines? and how to determine at what level the themocline(s) maybe? What type of lake classification is this reservoir, a TVA high land power generation impoundment?

Lets assume the lake is a Highland, power generation reservoir with threadfin &, Gizzard shad, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.

What type of bass are you trying to catch; LMB? If so then a few presentations work well down to 80', but you need to know how to deflate the basses airblader if fishing deeper than 30'.

As mentioned structure spoons work well if the bass are targeting shad. Drop shot works well for most soft plastics and you can double up by adding a spider type jig for the weight. Spider jigs work well vertically jigged, however takes more practice to learn. Rapala ice jigs work good in the deeper water vertically fished.

Bass are rarely deeper than the deepest shad schools you can meter, because both shad and bass require the same DO (dissolved oxygen) levels. Weed, grass or whatever you call it where you are located can not grow below the depth of light and 30 feet is about the limit. Bass tend to suspend in deep water and those bass are not active, unless feeding on schools of deeper shad. Look for breakline like under water islands called humps and creek/river channels and long major points that intersect the deeper channels.

Drop shot; use a 1/4 to 3/8 oz drop shot weight, size 1 Owner or Gamakatsu drop shot hook and 8# fluoro-hybrid line like Yo-Zuri. The weight to start with is about 12" below the hook. Nose hook a 4 1/2" to 5" striagt tail finesse in shad colors; Roboworm baitfish, blue crawler or oxblood w.lt red flake works well for all the species of bass.

Drop the weight down to the bottom where you metered bass, then lower your rod tip about a foot, then raise it back until you feel the weight and repeat until a bass strikes it, then reel set.

Structure spoons; Kastmaster 1/2 oz blue/chrome, 3/4 oz Crippled Herring, 3/4 oz megabait black shad are good spoons. You drop the spoon vertically down to the bass and watch for the line to jump or stop and lift and reel, if nothing is their you continue to drop and lift the spoon through the depth you metered the bass.

Good luck

WRB

drop shot