# tips for fishing off shore



## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

While reading some posts on other subjects, I've seen a few people state that they would like to learn, or need to work on fishing deeper water. So I just figured I'd share some of the things I've learned over the years, in hopes of helping some people out. Believe me, I am in no way an expert on the subject. These are just things that helped me be more confident when fishing deeper off shore structure, for bass. 

Before you get started trying to fish off shore structure, there is one thing you have to have....You have to have patience. If you don't have patience, you may as well stick to fishing the bank, because you aren't going to put the time in it takes to find what you need to find. It is rarely a fast process in the beginning. I have spent up to two hours in one small area trying to find "the spot on the spot". I've also fished some of the spots I've found numerous times, before I ever caught anything off of them. Structure fishing is a seasonal and timing kind of thing. You may be trying to fish a structure that the fish aren't on yet. I understand its hard to be patient when you aren't sure that what you're doing, is going to pay off. But dont' give up. If you don't catch any fish on your new found honey hole the first few times you try it, you're probably going to lose patience, but don't give up. Trust me .... if you are willing to put in the time, and be patient, you can put a lot of fish in the boat in a hurry if you've found the right spot.

Before I go on, I want to define what structure is. Structure is a contour change in the lake bottom, that is usually associated with a depth change. Things like points, humps, and drop offs, are structures, and those are the kind of places you should be looking for. Things like stumps, weeds, and rocks, are not structure. Those things are cover. There's a difference. Rocks can be both cover, and structure, but let's not get confusing. lol 

Generally, the best structures will have some type of cover on them, and it's the cover that you are going to want to find. In the case of a structure without any cover on it, irregularities in the lip, or edges, are going to be areas you want to find. The key is that you're looking for a target. Something specific that you can cast to. 

When I'm deciding what structures I want to check out, I look at my lake map, and look for structure near areas that I know have fish in them during the shallow water seasons. For instance... If I have caught bass shallow in a cove during spring, I'll look for structure out in the main lake that is in the area of that cove. To save time, I'll assume you know how to find the kind of structure you want to fish, and that you've found it, and have it marked out with marker buoys. One thing that will help immensely is taking a pad of paper and a pencil with you so you can draw a map of the area you're fishing. Mark down the areas that have a more rapid depth change. Mark down where the cover is. If you don't have a GPS look around and determine a way to find the area again, and write it down. Don't worry about feeling silly doing it. I can guarantee you that you'll feel a lot sillier driving around looking for these kind of things. And you'll waste a whole lot more time looking for them if you don't have them written down. After a few visits to your new spot you won't need them anymore, and you can just take them home and keep them with your in home copy of your lake map. Ok....so now you have everything marked out and you're ready to fish. 

Once you actually start fishing, the basic principals of fishing deep water structure aren't much different than the ones you use when you're fishing shallow water. When you fish shallow water you're not just going around throwing haphazardly here and there, hoping to catch a fish. You're throwing at specific targets. You need to apply that same exact approach when you're fishing deep water structure. You need to be throwing at specific targets. The only difference between deep and shallow water is in the way you see your targets. In deep water you need to use your electronics and your fishing rod to find your targets. When I first start fishing a new off shore area I almost always start out using a Carolina rig. I want something that stays in constant contact with the bottom. I'll use a pretty heavy weight when I do this as well. I want to be able to feel and learn as much about the bottom content as I can. I want to know where the transitions from soft to hard bottom is. I want to know if there is a transition from gravel to rock. I'm looking for edges. Anything that can concentrate fish. If I get hung up, (and a lot of times I am trying to) instead of freeing my lure from where the boat is, I'll use my trolling motor to go over and use my electronics to see what I'm hung up on. If I'm looking for weeds I'll throw a crankbait that runs deeper than the water I'm fishing because I am trying to snag the weeds so I can see what kind of weeds they are. The key is finding your targets, and knowing where they are in relationship to the structure.

One thing that helped me when learning to fish structure was mentally equating it to something I was already comfortable doing. For instance, in my mind I would equate a deep water hump to say, a laydown tree. If you think about it, the two are pretty similar in concept. Both are a defined area surrounded by open water, and they both have specific sweet spots that concentrate fish. Those sweet spots are your casting target in shallow water, and they are your target in deeper water. Reguardless of what water depth you're fishing you need to have a target. I keep stressing the word target because for me, once I finally got it through my thick skull that I needed a target, both my confidence, and my sucess rate went way up. It was like the proverbial light bulb going off in my head.

Like I said earlier.... don't give up on a spot you've found just because you don't catch fish right away, or all the time. You don't always catch fish when you're fishing shallow, and you're not automatically going to catch fish just because you are fishing off shore either. There is one thing you can be almost 100% sure about though...... and that is that the fish you're fishing for off shore are going to be seeing a lot less pressure than the fish along the shore. 

This past weekend was a perfect example of that last statement. I fished a lake that had a small bass club tournament as well as numerous other bass fisherman on the lake. My dad and I watched the parade of boats fishing the usual shallow water spots, while he and I sat off shore, and other than the occasional walleye fisherman that passed by, we were completely by ourselves. We didn't have to get in line, we didn't have to go out around anybody, and we didn't have to watch another fisherman catching fish in front of us. And yes we were catching fish. As you can see, there are definite advantages to fishing away from the crowd. 

Hopefully what I've written will help those that want to get better at fishing off shore. It's really not as complicated as I may have made it sound. Fishing off shore does have its disadvantages But if you learn how to do it. If you find the right places, and fish them at the right times of the day or the year..... you're going to catch fish. You just have to be persistent. And isn't that what fishing is all about?


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## mischif (Jul 14, 2006)

nice informative post man! Once I get my kayak back home and registered I will be sure to use these tips.


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## glock23 (Aug 3, 2011)

thats good info man. I always wanted to get somthing off shore but i always find my self going back to shore just no confidence i guess. but i will sure have to give it more trys.


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## Bass-Chad (Mar 9, 2012)

I love reading your posts bud. I always learn something when I read them no matter what the subject is about.


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Just another note on this about that...... When I discovered the wonderful world of structure fishing I found a sonar transducer on the front and one on the rear of my boat visible from my position up front was invaluable. At the time I used a flasher and a chart. It allows you to position yourself ever so carefully over the break. I is amazing what a difference this will make in your ability to stay in the sweet spot even at night and in the wind with little shoreline reference. Today's trolling motors might help but I think that set up will still put more fish in your boat.


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