Most people find that fishing in shallow water suits
them best, or at least it’s easier than deep water fishing. Some
regard deep water fishing to be too difficult, but to catch
smallmouth bass, you must be willing to go deeper than you
would for largemouth bass. For these folks, the shallow-to-
deep method works best, and it’s done on sloping banks.
Before we can successfully catch smallmouth on
a sloping bank, we must first ask ourselves; “What do we
want the lure to do in these situations?” To answer this
question, it might be helpful to look at deep water, and then
shallow water, and review the ways in which we most often
approach the fish.
In deep water, the object is to get the lure into the
strike zone quickly, and then to work it very slowly once
we get it there. We should spend a lot of time fishing heavy
spinner baits, worms and bugs right across the bottom in
deep water.
In shallow water, we want to keep our baits moving
in a horizontal manner back to the boat, in a slow, steady
clip.
But when fishing shallow-to-deep, something
different must occur; the lures must fall slowly from one
level to the next. It is during “the fall” that most strikes will
take place. The term “drop baits” signifies that these lures
are design to do just that, “drop”, and we should fish them
that way to get strikes when fishing shallow-to-deep.
If you’re from the midwest or the coast, where
flatland reservoirs or natural lakes prevail, you may have
never fished hilly country before. Those lakes often feature
very few sloping banks or hillsides. You may also just never
have fished a deep body of water. When fishing here, where
the topography is more varied, you must pay attention to the
contours of the surrounding hills. The same contours will
exist in the water where your lure will be.
A hillside is seldom smooth like concrete. Rather,
there are countless bumps, ledges, and other irregularities.
In a highland reservoir, the same thing occurs. There might
be an outcropping or boulder 15 feet down or a branch
growing out of the hillside in six feet of water.
Invariably, the sloping banks with the most
irregularities are the ones that hold the most and biggest
smallmouths.
Almanac
Fisherman’s
FISHING
SHALLOW TO DEEP
FOR SMALLBMOUTH BASS
by Bob King
Summer Topic
Discover Smith Mountain Lake
Summer 2014
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