Thread: finding right depth where fish are

That's what I would do too. When fishing from a dock I'll start with a portion of a dock that I've had good luck with and start at a depth I think they should be at and then adjust up and down from there as needed.

Originally Posted by fishin_addict

That's what I would do too. When fishing from a dock I'll start with a portion of a dock that I've had good luck with and start at a depth I think they should be at and then adjust up and down from there as needed.

Same here, often if I’m not sure and I’m on a dock I just drop it to the bottom and slowly bring it up until I find them.


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I do that as well and it does work but always want to hear others techniques.

It’s a puzzle. If I had to pick one variable over all others it would be depth of the forage fish, in this part of the country that means shad. If you're dock fishing or without electronics then I’d say a combo of water clarity / sunlight penetration and water temp would be your best indicator. I do know this from my personal experiences, when I miss them, and I often do, it’s more often due to fishing too deep instead of too shallow. I believe not all fish hold at the same depth at one time in a body of water or even in a small area of the lake. If you have fish holding at 10 feet and some at 20 bet your bottom dollar the more shallow fish are more actively feeding and the ones at 20 are more neutral.

I start shallow and work my way down, a lot of the time on the docks the fish are just under the floats, and remember crappie bite up, Now in cold water, 40 or below I go deep, all the way to the bottom, sometimes in 50 ft. of water, and come up slow, and hold the jig still as I can, fish seem to be a bit slower on the bite in the cold water. summertime shallow early, deep late, 6' all the way to 20'.
and all the above can change at any time. My friend Rick , the crappie professor keeps a diary of his fishing trips, and has for many years, he can go back and form a plan from past trips.