Method 1
Equipment
I fish baits at all depths, not just on the bottom, in open water. I always establish and fish deep lake structures. In addition to an understanding of the contours on the bottom of the lake, being mobile and being able to read your fish finder are keys. The tools I use are 8ft heavy action rods, circle hooks, live cut tarpon, balloons and the all important fish finder. I use 30 pound line, large capacity reels, 8 foot heavy action rods, 2 oz. Egg sinkers, barrel swivels, and #7/0 circle hooks.
Basically a Carolina Rig, I have a hook with an 18 inch leader attached to the ball joint of the barrel, which is connected to the main line, which is where the egg sinker is attached. My boat is equipped with steel rod holders, a hand controlled trolling motor, two fishfinders, a large dip net and marker buoys. My equipment is not the most expensive but it is practical. The most important thing to remember is to keep any equipment you use in good condition. Many are well aware of the disasters that old line and poorly maintained fishing gear can cause and Big Blues will test everything from your knots to your rod holders. If there is a weak link, they will expose it.
Find the big fish
You need to know how to differentiate between larger fish and bait fish while using your fishfinder.
There are two main structures I catch blue cats on: ledges and humps. Blue cats are edge creatures and seem to congregate on the brake lines of ledges and humps. The one-two hit is when you find these structures with bait fish and big fish mixed in on your finder. There are very few places I will stop and fish where I don’t see big fish or bait fish on my finder. The ledges I mainly fish on are the edges of old river channels. The fish may be scattered up and down the rim, but the best fishing happens when they are on top.
catch them
Usually when I get ready to fish these ledges I run my boat over them and drop my marker buoy where I see the fish. A little trick to using your marker buoys is to cast your marker upwind of where you are going to fish. If you drop the marker right on top of the fish, it will hit it and eventually move it around as the wind pushes it around. If you cast it upwind of the fish, you can run your trolling motor directly at it without the wind blowing you over the top.
Then I bait my rods, reeling them to the depth I see the fish. If the fish are up high, over 10 feet, I use a balloon and live tarpon on two rods. The other four rods will have half live, half cut tarpon, which I will suspend over the fish, continually moving it around the marker until the first hit occurs. In the warmer months, the bite will usually occur on live tarpon. The colder the water, the better the cut bait seems to work.
Keep moving the depth of your baits up and down according to what your fishfinder tells you. An easy way to determine the depth of your bait is to measure the distance between the first guide and the reel of your rod. My rods are two feet from the reel to the first guide, so when I pull out twenty sections of line between my reel and the first guide, my bait will be about 40 feet deep. Stagger the depth of your bait so you know how deep each one is. When you get your first hit, move your other rods to that depth. If no strikes occur within 30 minutes, move to another structure. I’ve sat on the same ledge for many hours and fished, but usually I’ll have to move after I’ve caught 5-10 active fish. If you don’t have a trolling motor, you can use anchors, but it takes a lot of heavy anchor lifting sessions and can soon take the fun out of ledge fishing. When the water is cooler, the anchor method will work better due to the inactivity of the fish below.
In other words, the warmer the water, the faster the fish under your boat will be spooked. The colder the water, the less chance the fish will want to move away due to their comfort zone in the water column.
Be sure to read Part 3 of this article to learn about the Captain. Jeff’s second atypical technique!
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