One of the most puzzling question to a fisherman this time of the year is how deep should he be fishing. In my opinion on any given day, some of the best fish will always be shallow and some will always be deep. Even in the coldest part of the winter with ice around the bank I will hear about someone catching a limit of bass or maybe a trophy fish in less than 10 feet of water. Also on the same day someone else will catch an equally impressive stringer of fish in 25 to 45 feet of water on the same lake.

The condition of the elements like water, clarity, temperature, rise or fall of the lake level, wind, barometric pressure and a few more variables may cause one or the other of these group of fish to be more active.

A good example of this could be the day I was jigging a spoon on the bottom in 55 feet of water and catching some real nice crappie. These fish were so deep that when I reeled them up the water pressure would cause their eyes to bulge out. When I returned to the dock that evening I met a friend of mine who had been fishing for crappie with minnows and a float. He said he was catching his fish about four feet out of brush tops.

Another good example of this would be the day I caught a nine-pound largemouth bass on a jigging spoon in 45 feet of water. The high temperature that day was 39 degrees. The same day a friend of mine proudly showed me the 8-½ pound large mouth he had caught under a pier on the jig in four feet deep water. This is proof enough to me that all of the fish in the lake do not do the same thing at the same time.

Personally I prefer to fish deep in cold weather because there is one big difference in deep and shallow water fishing and that is what you catch. In shallow water you will catch all the crappie you are fishing for and all bass if you are fishing for bass. If you are jigging a spoon in deep water you will usually catch a variety of fish like bass, crappie, stripers, white bass, and catfish. For some strange reason all kinds of fish will gang up together in deep water making it more interesting for fishermen.

Spoon jigging works better in clear water so Lake Martin and Logan Martin are our best choices around here. First you must slowly search out the lake bottom with you depth finder. When you find something on the bottom that looks different just drop a spoon down to the bottom and jig it up and down a few times. Anything from a slight tap to a bone jarring jerk could be fish. Keep your boat straight over your target and jig the spoon up and down slowly. Bring plenty of spoon because they will get hung.