A common question that comes up is, "How do you determine how deep your baits are running?"
There are many suggested ways to try to determine this along with some charts that were developed. Here's something that I do to "guesstimate" how deep my baits are running...simple yet effective for me. I do this with each set of baits/lure of varing weights since different weights will run at different depths. Also, diffent line types (mono, braid, dacron, etc) make a BIG difference as well.
- set baits in water and make sure they are running right (hair is straight back and not over hook or line, shad swimming true not sideways, etc), many people just "PLOP" their baits in the water and drop them back
There are a couple of methods to do this...first method...which is the more accurate of the two methods since the line is in the water which accounts for water drag
- let out 10 feet of line while keeping an eye on your baits
- place your rod tip down so it just touches the surface of the water
- look at your baits and see how deep they are
- now you know how deep your bait will drop for every 10 feet of line you let out
Second method to do this....
- drop your bait back 10 feet
- now this time you're going to raise the rod tip up until the bait is right at the surface...if you are using an in-line weight, hold the weight at the surface
- now you look at how high your rod tip is above the water, this is the depth of the lure at 10 feet back, so again you know how deep the baits drop for every 10 feet of line you let out
This is not an exact science but it will give you a feel for where your baits are running. Also, take into consideration the final placement of the rod in a holder, if you end up placing your rod in a rod holder that raises your rod tip higher than when you gauged the depth, you have to factor that into the approximate depth of the bait...While doing this depth check, you can vary the distance you let the baits back, 20 feet works well too
Guesstimating Lure Depth - How Deep are they???
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