Depth question…..

How deep is too deep??? How shallow is too shallow???

Found some new log jams yesterday on my daylight scouting trip…..one of the best looking spots is upwards of 40-45′ deep…..and another good looking spot is only 6′ deep……Obviously these aren’t ideal depths, but are they still worth fishing?

wow i was going to ask that same question, just never got around to it. I found a spot yesterday that was only 5 feet deep…I am sure Briank and the other catmasters will be replying shortly

Jake,

6 ft. is great if it’s got good cover or interesting bottom structure, and most importantly current. I fish 6 ft. areas all the time. 45 ft. on the other hand, well I don’t know why they couldn’t be there…I just have no experience good or bad with anything over about 30 ft.

Jason.

I have a few spots that are 40 some feet deep. I generally fish the edges of deep runs. On any given night my average depth is 8 feet. One thing you can count on in a really deep hole like that is nobody else has pressured the fish there. I usually test a hole like that with night crawlers. If you get no bites the big flatties are there and have chased everything else out including sheepies and carp. That really deep spot should be fished in the hottest part of the day.

Oh, if you have any of those big musky jigs like 2oz or more. You can hit paydirt with a sucker or musky twister tail by drifting through like some pretty walleye guy would.

Yes, the fish will go into that 40+ feet of water… especially in the daylight in the hot weather months.

All the cats I have caught out of deep water were on mono, and most of them large fish(30+).. I didnt have any issues with pressure killing the fish, but I couldnt drag them up that fast either. If you do fish it, take your sweet time on pulling the fish up and they should be ok. The edge of the hole is usually best, the head and tail of the hole are not always productive.. why I dont know, but it is what I have run into.

The 6′ of water you are in the clear there.. I fish regularly as shallow as 3′, and have got them in less(at night).

I was reeling a small one in last week and once the fish came up over the break I spooked out a big one. That fish was in a foot…maybe 18″fow but you could see the width of his head. That fish was right in front of us the whole time and we never spooked him a bit till the little one buzzed by him. Pretty crazy… It was about 11pm and you could see minnows hoping out of the water. I figured it was them darn green carp chasing them but maybe not. The same spot we caught a 26# flat on a 3 inch sucker

Jake, I echo the above comments. Personally 29 was the deepest I landed one…earlier this year is was COMMON to land 30’s and at least on 40 out of 3 feet of water. I had my most action there…lately it’s been about 8 to 12 feet.

On the shallow side, a fella told me about a spot that he’s seen tailing flats…because the water was so shallow. We’re talking about just a hair over a foot deep. I thought…sure this may happen once in a blue moon. The night my brother in law landed his 40…we kept hearing this noise that sounded sort of like a coon in the water…used the spot light and not 20 feet away was this 6 inch tail splashing around in the same spot I was told! A flat in the 20’s! The light didn’t bother him…but casting a bully to him sure did!

After witnessing this…no water to too shallow. PS This was a major change in my outlook in searching for cat water this year.

Hey Briank, i know a couple of guys who fish guinni rods with large sunfish or bluegills floating on the top of the water. They fish them over shallow and deep water and get flats on all setups, i guess it depends on where the fish are feeding that night, they get some nice ones.

Mossy…Do you know if they fish them high in deep water…by any chance?

i agree with what FisherDave said, if you are fishing anything over 30ft deep, give the fish some time to adjust while you reel it in, or its swim blatter will be popping out its mouth!! LOL

I have never really caught anything deeper than 28′ probably, in all honesty i have poor luck in deeper water…..stuff over 20ft. But almost always fish @ night, and sometimes never get out until way past sundown. these fish could have moved out, or are feeding on the head/tail/edge of a hole and i was in the wrong spot.

But i have had my boat anchored in >18″ water and fished the snag which was in 3ft or so. Managed a couple fish, then it was time to move cuz it was a tiny snag.