This question is deep and meaningful

HOW deep is deep? That’s the question being asked by a few anglers, who have inquired about getting lures to run to a required depth — specifically, where the fish are.

It’s no good running or trolling lures at, say, one to two metres and finding fish on your sounder at five metres. Sure, you may pick up the odd fish, but you need to get your lures down to where they are.

This can be done using several methods, and it’s important to know how to do this without affecting the action of the lure.

Most bibbed lures have different actions, caused by the flow of water on the bib’s surface.

A narrow bib will usually give a tight shimmy, which represents a wounded baitfish, whereas a wide bib will give a pronounced tail-swaying action, as if the fish was swimming along without a care in the world.

It’s important to know the action, because adding paravanes or lead-line can affect the action of the lure.

A well-known Swedish brand of lure will not perform well on lead-line or with a paravane.

Personally, I use a mini lead paravane to get my lures down deep. These are available at some tackle stores or online.

Run a one-metre mono leader back to your lure and you should be fine.

Lead-line can affect the action of a lure, but it is necessary if you are chasing those monsters.

I know of an angler who fishes the Great Lake and usually gets among double-figure fish on each trip. He runs a purple lure that is a shallow runner behind the lead-line, and some of the fish he captures are unbelievable.

Another option, which is a lot simpler, is to get your favourite lure in a deep diver.

Some lures now run to incredible depths without the aid of ’vanes or lead-line, and one I know of reaches six metres with no trouble at all.

In saying that, sometimes a simple solution is to just run a small bean sinker in front of the lure, which will get the job done.

Either way, try different methods yourself and your catch rate may improve.

However, don’t rely on the lure doing all the work. Search the water table and get the lure down to a different depth and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Speed of trolling is another factor. Some go too fast, with the lure “blowing out’’ on the surface. This will not get fish, because the lure loses its action. I find a fast walking pace, say one to two knots, to be satisfactory.

Also, you should always check the action of the lure to your rod tip. It should quiver and the action of the lure should be felt at the rod tip. If you can’t feel the lure action, it has usually blown out, or there is weed or fouled hooks inhibiting the lure action.

Experiment with your lures and you should get more fish.