When im fishing smaller waters, I usually take the jon boat and as of right now I dont have a fish finder in it. I have always fished the shores and structure that is visible, but is there any ways of finding structure in deeper water (10-20 foot) without the fish finder? What are some lures or rigs that I would be able to feel the structure if there is any?

Jig, carolina-rigged soft plastic, crankbait

Jig, carolina-rigged soft plastic, crankbait

x2, Especially burning the crankbait along the bottom to cover more water quicker in search of structure.

Before the advent of sounders, fishermen used a sounding lead.

The lead was hollowed out at the bottom and the cavity was filled with grease, wax, soap, or any other substance that could bring back a bottom sample, such as mud, sand, gravel, etc. The color of the bottom was also important, mud can be green, gray, brown, reddish, etc.

You'd be better off using a bank sinker or a piece of steel round stock, rather than a lure to determine, not only depth, but whether the bottom is hard or soft. You can feel the bottom by "tunking" the device along the bottom. Hard and rocky bottom will usually transmit an audible clink, where soft muddy bottoms will transmit nothing.  Steel is preferable to lead in this regard.

Using a sounding device will give you an accurate depth since it hangs perpendicular from the boat. Lures are iffy. Depth at which they run varies according to the speed of retrieval and length of cast.

And, if you cast and feel the bottom, how do you know at what depth the lure is actually running?

Unless it's out of your budget, your best bet is a fishfinder. I have an Eagle Cuda which cost 99 bucks. It attaches to the hull of my canoe with a suction cup.

Runs many hours on 8 AA batteries, so you don't need a heavy deep cycle battery to operate it.

It not only shows structure, with practice you can tell if the bottom is soft or hard.

Not only that, if you run it regularly, you will stumble across the occasional rocky patch, piece of ledge, or brush pile someone has sunk in the pond/lake.

    A heavy carolina-rig will be your best bet.

my gramps uses an OLD reel and rod with a piece of conduit tied on lmao but he swears by it and tells us what the structure or bottom is made up of and go from there. ;D

my gramps uses an OLD reel and rod with a piece of conduit tied on lmao but he swears by it and tells us what the structure or bottom is made up of and go from there. ;D

That would be hi tech in Gramp's day.  And mine too, though this is the first time I've heard of it.

It will also bring up a core sample of the bottom, except when it is rocky.  Then that piece of conduit will ring.

Sans a "fishfinder", sounds like the ideal technique to me.

nothin better than waiting for a hot day and taking the goggles and flippers for a little swim

nothin better than waiting for a hot day and taking the goggles and flippers for a little swim

That would work well most of the time. Depends on the depth of water, the clarity, and how long you can hold your breath.

I don't have gps (yet), so I like to take bearings from landmarks when I find interesting structure or bottom.

When I find a patch of bottom that looks like it has potential, I'll drop a float to mark that spot, then work around it, dropping other floats at the transition edges.

It gives me a visual perspective on the surface of the basic shape and size of that piece of bottom. I've found a lot of productive ridges and rough patches doing that.

Areas I would never have known about, and thus never fished.