Deepest Water In Area = 165ft

[Consigliere]

So, suppose you were scouting an area for productive structure and found some nice structure that runs all the way. However, all the way is to 165ft. You area is quite large, suppose say 1 mile square. You've trolled the shallows and deep and presented lures as deep as you can go (~60ft) bumping bottom. You must assume then that if you've fished properly so far the fish must be below 60ft, and given water clarity in this area is around 40ft, probably very likely they are deeper.

What methods, techniques would be recommended for fishing the deeper areas, and specifically the deepest at 160ft or so?

We were fishing musky at the time, hoping for a VERY big one, and so we turned to jigging 12oz plastics through the holes without a fish. Would this be the best solution?

[John Bales]

Specifically the 165 ft depth? I think that Mr. Perry said somewhere that we are supposed to look at the sanctuary depth where the fish spend most of their time at around 30-35 feet back in his day but he eventually took it down to 60 feet. Sounds like the St. Lawrence to me. Once you go through all of the depths down to 70 feet on the troll, if you have done it correctly, you would have to say that they are not there or your speed might have been off or they have not became active yet. Some slower speed controls would be to vertical jig the most productive areas with a fuzzy duzzit or a bondy bait. Both are good tools for deep water jigging but you just cannot cover much area like this so you must do it in the best places where you have a chance to catch a fish. Your trolling should have already have told you these places. It is not necessary to think to those depths over 100 feet. If the fish must go there, it is not likely that anything that you do will make him take a lure because he will be quite inactive. John

[Consigliere]

Thanks John. That helps eliminate a lot of water.

[Jerry Borst]

Hi Dave,

Received your note but been very busy working/fishing. Talked with Chris and told me you two met up on the water..... What were the chances, funny! 

Your question and of course John has given you the guidelines, however, this thing we call "water color".... Hummmmm .... And where we might find the fish..... All I can say from what Chris described is,,,, you got yourself a handful! 

The 1st thing I'll say is one must keep his eye on the prize my friend because this is only thing that will pull him through a extremely tough fishing condition such as this.... This is about as extreme as it gets. Most "sensible", ha ha Spoonpluggers would take a look that water color and those depths and RUN to the nearest "good water color lake" and go knock the crap out of em and be quite happy...one must ask, its not worth it? But when we're talking about some of the biggest muskies ever caught throughout history and the recent past it's no wonder why many come long and far to get their rear ends handed to them on the "Larry". 

Every single body of water CAN be figured out with enough t.o.w., even if it's gin clear however it may take going to where we never thought we'd have to go...... and is it worth it? Chris told me he's positive he could have got em much deeper as he loaded the boat with big perch jigging a blade bait in 160'+..... But is it worth it, I don't know.... The Muskie trollers troll suspended here,, when you can see your JB2 sitting on the bottom in 40'+ only when the weather and water conditions are perfect during the day will they ever hook up, but is a 50-60 lbs fish worth it? That's up to the fisherman.....

Can u say night fishing?

[Steve Craig]

Dang Dave,
Your situation makes mine pale! I thought I had it bad here, but compared to yours, I feel GREAT!
Not rubbing salt in your wounds, but I can give you the piece of advice that Jerry gave me a few years ago.
"Get your butt out there, and figure it out downstairs"!
It takes time.
But the satisfaction is more than rewarding for me personally.
And I aint done yet!
One thing is for sure.......you get to see first hand what Mr. Perry wrote about on these clear waters.
Even on good weather conditions, fishing sucks, and then gets worse!
But, one thing is for sure. Like the Banana Man says, "you cant catch'em if you are not out there!"
Keep us posted

[Consigliere]

Jerry, Steve,

Thanks for the replies. My partner and I are just a couple months into spoonplugging and have a ways to go obviously so from a strategy standpoint I think we need to move to areas where the structure and deepest water is within easier reach. We've certainly learned the challenges of presenting lures to the depths. Another difficulty is there is little info on "hot spots" and so we need to search out the productive structures on our own.

On the question of water colour etc, there isn't much water within an hours drive or so that is not clear around here. Quite a number of deep natural lakes so we figured might as well gamble and go for the big girls since other lakes present issues as well.

Too bad Chris didn't have better success while here. Would've been awesome to see a 50" with a yellow JB2 hanging out of its mouth!