Hey looking for some tips on fishing deeper ( 10-14 feet ) for largemouth. I fished both days this weekend, probing deeper waters with jigs, tubes, and crankbaits, with no luck. I'm fishing the edge of a weed flat, that drops from about 6 to 12 feet. I figured with the heat we've been having that the fish would be deeper, but my dad and I after having no luck fishing deeper, went shallow to the mats and lilly pads and caught some nice keepers on topwater frogs and swimbaits fished on and near the surface.

The picture is my dad with a solid 5.5lber, caught on a white frog.

What's your advice?

Location + timing + presentation = bass

My advice? -- keep fishing the pads with a white frog!!!

I understand that all the things you hear and read would tell you that they have gone deeper, but sometimes the fish forget what they are supposed to be doing.  This past weekend, I fished a club tournament and found that all the "big" fish were holding within 2'-10' of the bank in 4' to 6' of water, in the weeds - most of the rest of the field was out in 14' to 20' and couldn't get bit.

Fish are funny that way.

My advice? -- keep fishing the pads with a white frog!!!

I understand that all the things you hear and read would tell you that they have gone deeper, but sometimes the fish forget what they are supposed to be doing. This past weekend, I fished a club tournament and found that all the "big" fish were holding within 2'-10' of the bank in 4' to 6' of water, in the weeds - most of the rest of the field was out in 14' to 20' and couldn't get bit.

Fish are funny that way.

Yeah that's what I found to when I was out, they're still somewhat shallow. Thanks for the advice! Glad to hear it that the fish are shallow, because I don't have confidence when I'm fishing structure that I can't see.

If they're in the slop, why stop? Continue catching with the frog. If you want to try the outside edge in 10-15', try a 4" finesse worm on a slider or shakey head. Blue Fleck, Green Pumpkin or Red Shad are good colors.

Ditto on the keep going shallow advice. I am in NC. The water temps in my lake are 90+ at the surface. Sunday, I was throwing plastics at the shore and was picking up 4-5 lbers 2-3 ft off shore. They we hanging offshore in 3-4 ft of water and coming shallow and hammering anything that dared to hit the bank. Apparently they did not get the news that they were supposed to be staying deep. LOL.

Consider the fishing rules to be more like guidelines. If you can get them shallow then go with it.

With 88-90* water here it is common for the bass to set up shallow beneath the pads and tops of grass.

When I pre-fish for a tournament or just out fishing I always start shallow and work my way to deep structure.  Don't matter what time of year it is.

How deep is the water off that weed edge behind your dad? If there are nice fish feeding in that floating slop, there is probably a deepwater refuge nearby, likely not far from that weed edge on the nearest break.

For the 10-14' range in midsummer, I often throw 3/4 and 1 oz double willow spinnerbaits, sometimes with undersized blades, and try to tick weedtops and slow roll it along the bottom. Some of the more productive midsummer spots for me are the deep weed lines and breaks nearest to the productive slop areas, that I fish with frogs and buzzbaits during low light when the fish are moving in to feed.

Agreed with above...  If the fish are there don't move. Stay shallow until you aren't catching them.

There are Elite pros who rarely leave the shallows and for a good reason. Yeah deep structure fishing can be productive but the bass always find a way to fool us and show up where we least expect it.

he had a point. cochran has made a living fishing shallow....super shallow. don't know that i've ever seen him fish deep. All his big wins were in unbelieveably shallow water. listen to the fish, not your mind. Our minds are what get us beat most of the time.