Cranking The Forgotten Depth

Everyone is wanting to search deeper with a deep diver or go shallower with a square bill these days.  And I must say, those are two of my favorite approaches to bass fishing.  But what about those times when fishing either deep or shallow produces little or nothing?  That is when you need to get back into the forgotten depth.

I call the forgotten depth anything from 3 - 9 feet.  Mid-depth crankbaits.  This zone can be effective throughout the year, but is particularly effective when fish are in a post-spawn pattern.  Fish begin to move off the shallow spawning beds, and will hold on the first cover they come to in deeper water.  This cover is often in 5-10 feet of water.  The forgotten depth.

For example, this last weekend I headed out onto Lake Amistad with a couple other bass anglers.  Some fish are still spawning right now and some are in a post-spawn phase.  I had not been on the lake in a few months, and was unsure of a pattern that was going to catch fish.  Everything I had been told was that you could catch fish in shallow water (around 4') or in deep water (around 20'), so that is where we started the day.

We fished shallow early, throwing jigs, soft plastics, and shallow running square-bill crankbaits.  We got a couple of bites, but not many, and not much of any size.  We then moved deep, fishing Carolina Rigs, Texas Rigs, and DD-22's in 18-22 feet of water, searching for a few more bites or bigger fish.  Again, a few fish were hanging around the deep rocks, but nothing of any size, and we were not getting many bites.  So, I suggested we moved between the two depths and fish water 5-12 feet deep.

We did.  My partners that day continued to throw soft plastics and jigs, but I tied on a mid-depth crankbait. One that ran about 5-6 feet deep for me.  The area we were fishing sloped from 4 to 12 feet of water, with most of the area being about 8 feet deep with scattered trees.  I would cast the crankbait up toward the shallower water, and would crank down until it hit the bottom (sometimes hitting the bottom).  As soon as it hit the bottom I would pause and then begin a slow roll until the crankbait would hit a submerged tree. I would then pause, and start the slow roll again until I hit another tree.  The crankbait did not spend much, if any, time on the bottom.  Most of the time was spent slow rolling about half way down the water column.

Generally the strike would come just when I started cranking again after the pause.  I picked up about 10 decent fish this way in just a few hours.  My partners continued to fish soft plastics along with some shallower or deeper running crankbaits.  They did not get another bite all day.  The forgotten depth was the key.

You can fish mid-depth crankbaits for bass holding in deeper water as well.  Often times, when a bass is in deeper water, they are still feeding shallower.  A crankbait that swims by over the tops of their heads can unleash vicious strikes from below, as they scream up to catch the "shad."

So, if your fish are in a post-spawn pattern, or are holding in deeper water, tie on a mid-depth crankbait and go cranking the forgotten depth.