Ledges, those meandering sharp edges that rapidly fall into creek or river channels, provide some of the best offshore fishing for summer bass once the spawn has concluded. But since the typical reservoir features miles of ledges, here’s how to efficiently find the best areas and then properly fish them, from bottom to top.

Scan for the Best Ledges

Time spent scanning channel edges before making a cast is time well spent. Use side imaging, down imaging, and traditional 2D sonar to search for not only bass and baitfish, but ledge-associated cover that will hold fish. Think brushpiles, rock clusters, foundations, bridge abutments, stumps, and cribs. Such cover provides ambush points for bass and will often collect crappies and other sunfish that provides bass fodder.

Typically, bass will show up as groups of horizontally-oriented fish, rather than vertically like crappies. Be alert for both baitfish and gamefish suspended in the water column, the presence of which will suggest lure choices when it comes time to make a cast.

Side imaging allows you to evaluate greater expanses of water. Down imaging and traditional sonar often reveal bass better. Running all three views at the same time allows you to compare and mark fish-holding areas with waypoints.

“Bottom Ledges”

Having found potential bottom cover along a ledge, the next step is choosing the correct bait/lure choice. This largely depends on the depth of the spot. If the cover lies in water within reach of a deep diving crankbait – roughly 15 feet or less – tickling the cover with such is a wise choice. Suspending jerkbait can trigger bass holding above the cover, while a classic Texas-rigged worm or skirted jig can pick the cover apart for less active fish.

Another good option for bass holding off cover such as a brushpile or submerged tree top is a glide jig, the kind which northern anglers have been using for several years to dupe walleyes. But they also work on bass. For bass holding 20 or so feet away from cover, drop a glide jig right on top of them and then snap the bait off the bottom several times. Bass will either hit it immediately or ignore it.

Bass scattered along a ledge are ideal targets for a flutter spoon ripped off bottom and then allowed to flutter back to bottom on a slack line. Fluorocarbon line transmits slack line strikes better than either mono or braid.

Mid-Depth Suspended Bass

Open water baitfish often travel along channel ledges and pull bass out of cover. Having noted the general depth and location of suspended baitfish and gamefish, a couple lure options are appropriate, one being a soft swimbait. By tailoring the weight of the bait’s jighead along with retrieve speed you can sift various levels of the water column.

The blade bait is underutilized as a warm weather lure but excels when targeting suspended bass. The compact lure can be cast a long distance, even into the teeth of the wind. And like the soft swimbait, can be worked at various depths via the countdown method.

Bass on or Near the Surface

Just as ledge-oriented bass will suspend at mid-depths, so will they rise close to the top, movements inspired by baitfish location.

Often, such activity is obvious as schooling bass feed in a near-surface frenzy. Noisy topwaters like a Rapala X-Rap Prop mimic the sound of baitfish and feeding bass and are often crushed.

But it’s often the smaller bass that are right on top. A Donkey rig, aka double fluke rig, can be fished a bit lower in the water column. The tantalizing look of the baitfish profile of a fluke(s) often results in much bigger bass, ones that hover below the ruckus, picking off the easy prey.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle