The Spoonpluggers Forum

First, a praise report: I went out yesterday - Bluebird sky, not a cloud to be had. Temp 59, water temp 54.6, the second dry day after 4 days of rain, so the water was muddy with about 4" of visibility. I trolled a couple of bars without success (normal for me), and the riprap at the dam without success. Then moved to a causeway, trolling the riprap. At this point I could literally touch shore with the rod tip if I wanted to - I got a 4 pound bass on a 500 spoonplug and then about a 2 pounder on a 400. I lost the 500 on a snag - wind blowing toward shore & I didn't want to try using the plug knocker for fear of getting grounded. Calling it a successful day.

Steve/John - I now consider myself a graduate of the 500/400 spoonplugs - when I started, I couldn't even tell they were on there. Now I can tell if they are running correctly and I can tick them off the riprap without getting endlessly hung - Thanks!!

So, back to breaklines: I suck at the depthfinder - I'm actually going to look for a class to learn how to use this thing. I have an old flasher and I have Lowrance Hook2. For the life of me, I cannot pick out a breakline, even when I know they are there. This is what I see when I run off a bar from shallow to deep:

Sure, I can pick a depth at random and sort of follow it around a bar, but for some reason I just can't stick my finger in the water and say "there's a breakline at X feet. Have any of you ever had this problem, and if so, how did you get past it?

What lake r u fishing?

A break line is not always going to be a constant depth for very long stretches. Find the crown (high spot) on a bar and then look for where it has the quickest drop off to deeper water. Work that with the appropriate Spoonplugs walking the as much as possible. That will let you flollow the breakline.
Also when snagged on riprap loosen your drag or open the release on the reel and turn the boat around and drive back past the snag. Most of the time on riprap it will come free just turning around and driving past it

I'm not sure I can explain this: I have posted before about this, but still don't get it -- jeez, I feel like a dunce asking the same question over & over -- thank you guys for your patience!

https://www.spoonplug.net/phpBB3/viewto ... =19&t=3671

I just can't seem to pick up a breakline to throw the first 3 markers. I know the general shape of the bar fairly well, but as the bar drops off in any particular direction, I can watch it go from 6-7 feet all the way to 30 feet or more, but I can't see a definite break at any specific depth. The result is I end up randomly picking a depth (say 18') and call that the breakline. I contour troll around the shallows with the smaller lures, then do like Bink says and do straight passes and a run up the center until I hit; then stop and crank in.

Maybe that's all I need to do, but somehow I feel like I'm missing something . . . .

Ok I think I know what your trying to ask.
1. You’re fishing a very sharp breaking structure so there’s not always going to be a definitive breakline all the way around.
2. Don’t worry so much about where your boat is but more where your lure is. Your boat is not always going to be at 15’ if you’re trying to fish a 15’ breakline.
Think of it as pulling a water skier. Sometimes
You have to turn right to pull your plug left (if that makes sense)
3. If you have the shape of the structure figured out your doing just fine. Don’t focus on one particular depth it’s going to vary.
4. Look at the contour of the land above water. It can help picture what’s below most times

Mike,
For your understanding here we will say a breakline is nothing more than a QUICK change in bottom condition. In our case, it is a QUICK change in depth. Breaklines are what FORMS the structure. Go to page 213 in the Green Book and look at Figure 72. This is what you are looking for. Now turn back to page 209 and notice Figure 71. It has a Breakline running all the way around the Bar. There is a 3 foot change of depth, or as we call it a 3 foot breakline. But also notice that while it is a 3 foot QUICK change of depth, the TOP of the breakline has different depths all the way around the Bar. The left side is at 9 feet on the top. As it goes out deeper, it goes to 12 feet and then as it comes back around it goes back up to 10 feet, and on the right side it goes to 8 feet.
When running this 3 foot breakline,with our depth finder, we do not care at what depth the top is WHEN WE ARE RUNNING IT. We simply want to see the shape, where any turns or jogs is etc.
Always find the Crown, then drive off any direction and watch your Flasher for a sudden,QUICK change. Do not drive too fast, but dont drive too slow either. I like about 2 to 3 mph when I am looking for a breakline. Others may want a different speed. Once you "see" it, then start at that depth on the left side of a bar, always keeping the shallows on the left side of your boat as well. Lets say you find a 3 foot drop. Now ease your boat along and as soon as you see the flasher, go from whatever it starts at, and drops 3 foot, then EASE the boat back until it jumps back up 3 foot, then EASE the boat back until you see the flasher jump back down 3 feet. do this WHEREVER THAT 3 FOOT CHANGE TAKES YOU AROUND THE BAR! You only throw markers anytime you find yourself make a hard turn , either out farther, or hard turn back towards shore.
Breaklines come in all shapes and sizes. In a Florida lake, you may have a SUBTLE change of depth from 9 foot at the top to a long sloping area that might be several hundred yards until you see the BASE of the Breakline at 9 1/2 or 10 feet. These are VERY difficult for us to "see".
In Canada, we see many Breaklines that may run for hundreds of yards or even a half mile or more that are what we call a One Sided Bar. One very good one I know runs for half a mile and is 47 feet on top and breaks sharply to 52 and there is only 3 spots where that breakline changes directions slightly, but the fish will be at those 3 spots.

I hope this is all clear as mud
Steve

Lots of written advice already, so I've labeled a picture showing the breaklines along a river channel from a screen capture on Kentucky Lake. In this case, there is a top breakline and a base breakline, but no obvious breakline inbetween them. Sometimes there are secondary breaklines further down between the two, but not always. The tree would be a "break on a breakline," and a possible contact point. You can see the fish just loaded on it.

Related to your example, the top breakline would be the 6'-7' and the base breakline could be the 30', but there may not be any breaklines inbetween. Sometimes they may be there, but be so small or subtle that graphs don't show them, but that's getting a little too far ahead.

In your other example, 'A' is a flat (no breakline) even though it drops off; 'B' is more like the top breakline in the example below; 'C' is more like the base breakline in the example below.

What u r trying to do is make your bar on woods lake like the one don maps in his video. You can't the 2 bars r totally different, your bar is just a ridge type bar. You have a breakline droping off the right side which is steadily going down hill. The red line is the crown cross this at 90 deg. to the shore it will show up. Also as u cross this u will see the quick dropoff on the right side.(BLUELINE) U need to drop markers or waypoints so u will know where its at. This is were u spend ur time fishing. Personally I would just cast this bar ,then maybe troll at 90 deg.the deeper parts,and the breakline starting deep and going uphill. Also there could be breaks on this right side deeper than the dropoff in the form of bush,stumps, most anything you have to check it out. .But there is lots of breaklines in this lake.

Thanks all. I appreciate the time and effort to craft the replies. Great information and a lot to digest. From what you all have said, I will have to say I think I am doing it properly -- I just don't have any confidence - that probably will come from experience.

Champ, I was all over that bar today without a bite. I hope that just means there wasn't a movement there. It appears to be a productive spot, as I see a lot of people fishing it by casting & live bait. Guess I will give casting a try. Thanks.

Most likely you should not have been fishing that bar today wrong time of year maybe just a quick check. This is where you should be spending your time , mostly casting ,this and the rip rap . If you are going to troll I suggest using crankbaits that will work slower than a spoon plug.

Champ - thanks. I have been trolling all winter long, learning to bounce the spoonplugs as my first step. I took my casting gear off the boat and have not cast a lure in 6 months. That may have been the wrong way to go, but I wanted to learn presentation and mapping. I probably also picked the worst time of year to start this way.

I have had my first success the last two days trolling riprap. Wednesday I caught two nice LM bass; yesterday I caught about 8 fish total including LM, smallmouth, and white bass. Only 2 of any size, but it sure was fun catching fish.

Mike
Like Champ says, that long narrow bar is more than likely a summer time structure. I would spend my time on all that steep area south of that bar, all the way down to both those coves. The bass will be heading towards the coves WITH CHANNELS in them. Early prespawn, they will be anywhere from the steep areas outside those coves, to HALF WAY BACK into the cove. As the season progresses, you will find them IN THE BACK HALF of the coves, with spawning taking place in as little as a foot of water. Casting is the way to go here.
Let a severe cold front come through and they will be right back just outside those coves, and then it will start all over again as weather gets better.
A mild front, and they may "settle down" somewhere in that cove.

I've got to say this has been a challenge. I do think my timing (winter season) has made it even more challenging. But thanks to you on this forum and those I've met in person & talked to on the phone, I'm getting there. Each trip is becoming less frustration and more fun.

I can't really thank you all enough - I am so blessed to have the means, the time, a supportive wife (& fabulous cook!) and the encouragement of this forum.

Cheers all!

- Mike