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Until I got my Humminbird mega image I didn't know bream would bed in water as deep as 13 feet. I was looking at my side image today and found a ton of old beds. I've always fished beds up in pockets with water only about 3 feet deep. Do you guys think they would be Shell Crackers that deep or Blue Gill?
I've been told by some old fellas the bigger gills and shellcrackers will bed in deeper water.
I usually get my biggest ones in around 7-10 foot deep beds. I'm with CrappieDontTap It's probably bullgills and redears
theysaid
Both
when I was a kid I use to fish on the bottom with a small hook and cricket and a splitshot up the line. Would anchor up and just fish on bottom like I was catfishing. Caught a lot of bluegill in water up to around 12 ft or so even in pretty fertile green water. Also pickup channel cats too. On same lake though caught em so shallow backs about sticking out of the water. Catch some deep, catch some shallow.
Do the same thing with crappie...I don't get hung up on one line of thinking...I just go with the flow.Fish here ,fish there, fish everywhere...except where they ain't.
I was told by the dock operator at Fall Creek Falls.....back in 2014 I think it was.....that when I put my HB 899 in the lake with my kayak it was the fist time the lake had seen an si unit. Whether that is true or not I have no clue. The lake is known for big bluegill......one of the TN state record bluegill came from there. I had caught Gills off of beds in different lakes at a depth of 8-9 feet....Dale Hollow being one of those lakes. I have always known the deeper the beds the bigger the Gills. But I had no clue I was going to find the number of beds I did in water from 10-15 feet deep. They were all over the place. You can only put a canoe...kayak in the lake...no personal boats. The lake is over 300 acres in size....I no longer have any kayaks.....I wish I did I would be up there come spring. But the answer to your question, beds that deep are in all probability....according to my research and experience......are more likely to be bluegill than shell cracker.Quote:
Originally Posted by mustfish
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Doggone I fish the same way in the middle of summer. 20ft deep. I just thought they bedded shallow.
They will.....and do bed shallow. But as I said if you can find the beds in deeper water......bigger fish. I fish several deep, clear water lakes...Dale Hollow...Center Hill. There bluegill tend to bed deeper than the other places I fish....I also get bigger bluegill from those lakes also...generally speaking. My unit for the past 8 months is the Helix Mega 10 si. With the older core si units I couldn’t see through weeds to see beds. I am reading that with the Mega units you can see beds through the weeds. I hope so....that would be awesome. I found this bed last September....they usually go back to old beds.....I’ll be there...LOL. The Mega sure takes a great image.Quote:
Originally Posted by mustfish
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Mustfish I see from your profile that you are at Lake Gaston. My pulmonary doctor here in TN is always telling me I need to go there and fish it. I think he spends several weeks a year over there.
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They'll bed even deeper given the circumstances--some pics were posted near 18' or so. I never knew them to do it until getting my Garmin two years ago. Huge areas of beds. You can learn a lot with these units, especially those that put in the time to do so. I've found them at 10-13 fow here. Have to be gills as there are no shell-crackers in one of the lakes, and gills are predominant in the other one. One lake is fairly clear, the other not so much. Max depth I have found bed areas is about the same tho.
Never knew they bedded that deep. I learn something new on Crappie.com all of the time!
Sir, if you were to get one of these units--not one to push a brand, they all do the same job in the end--you would be amazed at what is down there. Even in places you may have fished for 30+ years. It's a heckuva tripQuote:
Originally Posted by Aquadog
I have a brush pile I fish on my local lake, it's in about 18' of water. One day while I was using side imagine I noticed beds in the channel side of that pile about 15' away from it, I never knew they bedded that deep but will fish it in the coming weeks to see what's on them, I'm hoping it is the big shellcrackers we have in this lake.
Pretty much my way of thinking.Quote:
Originally Posted by doggone
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Fishing on bottom (now called drop shotting ) is and has been a great way to target deep gills . Go to any bream bed and cast away from it into deep water and you are very likely to find a deep bed . No expensive depth finder required .
I fish both, the deep beds are the best for big bream.