The other morning, while having coffee, the subject of fishing deep came up.

Now, I know that it’s hard to believe that something involving fishing would come up with a bunch of guys having morning coffee, but it does happen from time to time.

One of the guys just returned from a few days of bass fishing at the St. Lawrence River in New York state, where they caught some nice smallmouths in the deeper water. It turns out some of those bass were taken in water 40 feet deep and even at greater depths. Now, we’re not talking about fishing for cold water species here like trout and salmon but rather warm water species like bass and various panfish.

It’s no secret that when we get into these warm summer days, and water temperatures move higher, the fish will move into deeper water in search of more comfortable surroundings.

That’s not to say that you can’t catch some nice bass in the shallows at this time of year; you certainly can, but timing has a lot to do with that. Early and late in the day may be productive, and certainly, after sunset and into the evening, it can produce some great surface activity. I’ve taken some good bass fishing a surface lure well after dark when you can barely see the lure coming across the surface, and sometimes when you hear the splash — just set the hook.

Overcast skies and rainy days may also produce some fairly shallow water action at times, but generally speaking, it’s probably more productive to seek out deeper water during the summer months.

Of course, the word “deep” has a lot to do with where you are fishing. The St. Lawrence River can reach depths of well over 200 feet deep, while the neighbor’s pond may be lucky to reach a depth of 10 or 12 feet. Most of us fishing our local Pennsylvania lakes will seldom see depths over 40 or 50 feet, so when I “go deep” here, I often fish in depths of maybe 15 to 20 feet.

A perfect example of how fishing at the right depth can affect your fishing success is when fishing for crappies. In the spring of the year, when crappies move out of the deep water and into the shallow bays and shorelines to spawn in the warmer waters— especially areas with good weed and wood cover — fishing can be downright crazy. It’s not unusual under these circumstances to get numerous strikes and land dozens of fish, and we are fishing in depths of 3-10 feet.

On the other hand, fishing in these same locations in the mid-summer will not be anywhere near as productive and more likely a waste of time.

Now it’s time to change depths; when summer rolls in and the spawn is over, and the water warms, the crappies move to deeper water. Come summer, my fishing buddies and I will be found scanning the depths looking for schools of crappies in water 15-20 feet deep if available.

Of course, fishing in the right place and the right time has a lot to do with your success rate, but on the other hand, fishing the right lure or rig is also a critical factor leading to success.

In addition to the right lure in the right place, it’s also important to fish the right lure with the right equipment and use the best techniques, but these are subjects to be looked into in future articles.

In the meantime, fish the deeper water during the hot summer days.