Favorite depths?

[landgills]

Just curious what specific depths everyone is looks for. Walleye, perch, crappie, pike..... Anything. I finally bought a vexilar and I'm planning on taking advantage of everything about it.

[andrlimo]

You should ask for specific lakes and species. Someone on here can probably help you out but the information will be different for different lakes.

[Sapper]

Try several depths in a new lake. Then zero in on the one that is most productive.

[JADWRENCH]

Electronics are the best tool a fisherman has today. Use your flasher to find fish and then see if they're active if they are not move to the next spot. You don't always need
 to fish were everybody else is.

[rippen.lips]

Shallow lakes I start close to shore and drill holes in a straight line out towards the deeper water....  deep lakes I start drilling my holes around 12 ft and work my way deeper i just jig each hole for 3 Min's unless i see active fish than i hang in that hole till the bit stops and i move on to the next hole
normally morning and evening I'm shallow and 11 till 2 I'm deepest

[fishm_n]

One lake I fish 27' is magic.  Other lakes I like less than 5

[Thomasjuno]

I like to start around 20 fow for perch and then move around from there

[BigTen]

So thought to answer since every body of water is unique.  That being said there are a pile of fish caught between 10-20 feet.

[gohawks]

Depends on the species but IMO, I look for contour lines/depth changes.  That IMO is the most important besides other factors such as some form of nearby structure.  I would argue that contours/depth changes could be considered as structure in some form though.  When I visit new lakes, I'll target 10-20ft with nearby depth change, whether shallow or deep. 

[diesel doctor]

Congratulations on the Vexilar!  A map recon of the lake prior to heading out will save time on eliminating nonproductive areas.

[moab]

Look for edges (weeds, old shorelines), funnel areas and transitions (mud/rock).  There is no magic depth.  Lots of our lakes don't even offer those depths.

[IceIceCrappie]

What depth is best to target jumbo perch?

[iceslick]

rippen.lips (reply#4): Good general approach when little else is known about an individual lake. No sense wasting time waiting for fish to come to you.

[Unclegillhunter]

You might look for holes where others have been fishing. Cut a whole and see what the depth there is. Look for signs that people fished the holes for a time. Or the idea of cutting holes from shallow to deep and checking for activity, if you don't see fish don't spend too much time there.

Keep it safe! JDL

[royjulius]

Also pay attention to time of year. Late winter perch school up in the deep water and suspend. Some of our lakes are 100+ ft deep. You really gotta drill a ton of holes to keep following them around. In shallower prairie type lakes, set up near the dam and wait til dusk. Sooner or later the party will start. That's my favorite tactic cuz I get to sleep in. 

[Zelecki15]

I have had a lot of luck doing the same in shallow lakes, not sure what brings them into the dams, but it works every time, well almost everytime.