[Rookie12]

Alright, I've marked fish on the bottom in 100+ ft. of water last week and heard of a nice blue coming out of that deep water. How deep will blues go? And, being that deep, they are probably not feeding, so would it take a small bait to get 'em to hit, or a bigger one to grab their attention? I now they'll go at least 50-60 ft. deep andclose to 70 so I guess they could go all the way to 100ft. Any suggestions?

 

[Bubbakat]

I have caught them in may at 65 feet useing fresh cut blue gills.

 

[cumberlandcat]

I heard some boys catching them on the Tn river in a 90 foot hole. But I know 70 feet isn't uncommon

 

[bumper]

I've caught blues from water around 100 ft. deep and I've heard of blues being caught that deep on the Mississippi River as well.

 

[poisonpits]

dont know bout blues but on discovery channel they was filming in the great lakes and a big flathead swam into and out of their lights and they was 1200 foot deep.

 

[tkishkape]

No doubt the deep water blues can occasionally be caught... but they will be dead by the time you raise them 100 feet. They get the "Bends" too.

Do them a favor and stick to the shallow water. Every fish that has been netted on my boat since last November has come from water less than five feet deep.

The resting or otherwise non-biting fish will spend time in deep water, but the actively feeding blues are cruising the shallow flats. The fiddlers are in the deeper water, channels and holes because the big fish capable of swallowing them whole in one gulp are up in the shallows feeding on the larger shad, bass, carp, and early-spawning fish such as the walleye and sauger.

If you want small eater-sized blues less than 10 pounds, fish deep. If you want braggin rights, fish the shallow flats.

Alright, I've marked fish on the bottom in 100+ ft. of water last week and heard of a nice blue coming out of that deep water. How deep will blues go? And, being that deep, they are probably not feeding, so would it take a small bait to get 'em to hit, or a bigger one to grab their attention? I now they'll go at least 50-60 ft. deep andclose to 70 so I guess they could go all the way to 100ft. Any suggestions?

 

[wayne1967]

In the winter they will be deeper. In the summer during hot weather really deep water looses oxygen. Hook a live bluegill and drop him to deep water this time of year and before too long he will be dead, eyeballs bulging out, mouth wide open.

 

[catfishcrazy256]

never have caught them that deep !

 

[mariofish]

No doubt the deep water blues can occasionally be caught... but they will be dead by the time you raise them 100 feet. They get the "Bends" too.

Do them a favor and stick to the shallow water. Every fish that has been netted on my boat since last November has come from water less than five feet deep.

The resting or otherwise non-biting fish will spend time in deep water, but the actively feeding blues are cruising the shallow flats. The fiddlers are in the deeper water, channels and holes because the big fish capable of swallowing them whole in one gulp are up in the shallows feeding on the larger shad, bass, carp, and early-spawning fish such as the walleye and sauger.

If you want small eater-sized blues less than 10 pounds, fish deep. If you want braggin rights, fish the shallow flats.

nice tips:wink:

 

[cumberlandcat]

TKISHKAPE are you fishing lakes or rivers. I hear guys talking about this all the time. I just don't know where to start, you can't mark fish on the sonar that shallow and how are you picking your spots. And it seems like current is key in blue fishing and in most of the shallow water I have access to there is no current. I would love to hear more about your tatics. I am going on a three day trip this weekend and would like to try this out. Would you suggest this at mainly at night or is this a day time thing too?

 

[Rookie12]

The fish I saw was 48 lb. and was released alive. so they can live coming out of that deep water. I guess you just couldn't horse 'em out of that water, bring 'em up slow, so they can adjust. I know that feeding fish are shallowere than non-feeding fish, but sometimes the big boys aren't feeding and you got to coax 'em. I know flatheads go deep in the winter, but most of the wintering holes I know are about 60 ft. deep or so.

 

[krowbar]

caught them in about 65 feet of water. never caught them in 100 feet. good question though.

 

[tkishkape]

I fish the Arkansas River. That said, I fish Kerr Lake and Webbers Falls Lake... two lakes that are formed by lock and dams of the Navigation project.

So, in reality I fish lakes that have the Arkansas River running through them.

Confused?

I won't go into a lengthy explanation of why the fish are found in the shallows... they just are.

If you want to learn more, come go fishing with me. We'll have a personal seminar!

 

[john catfish young]

My personal best was caught on Nov.13 in about 30 feet deep water. He weighed 47.9. He was an actively feeding fish. We have tried different depths all winter long and nothing was caught in the shallower waters. Only the furthest cast from the bank can reach the channel and that is where we caught all our winter blues. Now as the water is beginning to warm up ...fish are beginning to come up into a little more shallow water. We have made the change over to Flatheads now as the water temp here is fastly approaching 50 degrees.:wink:

 

[KatKaller]

I've quite a few caught blues as deep as 115'. Take your time reeling them up so they can expell their swim bladders and they'll be fine. I've never had a CPR fish not make it even from those depths.

If for some reason you have to reel them up in a hurry, just burp them before you let them go.

 

[Todd Strong]

I've quite a few caught blues as deep as 115'. Take your time reeling them up so they can expell their swim bladders and they'll be fine. I've never had a CPR fish not make it even from those depths.

If for some reason you have to reel them up in a hurry, just burp them before you let them go.

Good point there Allen on slow bringing them up or burping them.

 

[jerry9497]

heres that link on burping, in case anyone is confused. This is not me fishing and not my video.
http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43866

 

[Mac-b]

Chris, one of the best guide trips I have every had was on a lake in SC. The guide (Chris Simpson) was using 8 to 14" baits and we were fishing 100 to 120 feet of water. He was using Carolina rigs with a 1.5 to 2 Oz. egg sinkers pulling the bottom. You would get two small pecks and then the smackdown. When you pull them up from that depth, you do have to bring them up slowly or their air bladder will fill up with air and you will then have to burp them. On a return visit with Turfman, we found them in 50 to 80' of water with the same results. When you find them at these depths and you are using large baits, most of your bites will come from trophy cats. Mac

 

[Cuz]

The deepest I personally have caught a blue is 82 feet. I've heard they can be deeper as well.

Just because you catch a fish out of a deep hole does not doom a fish to perish. If your fishing deep water like that, bring the fish up slowly so as the fish has time to purge the air from his/her swim bladder. 90 percent of the time, the fish is able to adjust to the change in water pressure on the ascent and vent himself out. In some instances, even in 40 foot water a fish will not be able to purge out all of the air. When you go to release the fish, if it rolls over on its back belly up and cant sit upright in the water, the fish has air trapped in its swim bladder. IN this case you'll need to purge the air for the fish. I believe there might be some articles out there on the proper way to vent the fish out so as they can swim freely back down to the bottom. I'll see if I can find it. Another method I have had alot of success with on a fish that didnt purge is to put it in the livewell for a half hour or so. More often than not, the fish purges itself and I can release him at that time.

 

[TN-CATFISHER]

I think I'm more confused about water depth than before I started reading this thread :confused2: It was nice to hear all the different opionions anyway though. Sounds like the best answer is to just use your depth finder and look for the big marks and give it a whirl :smile2: