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Deep-drop fishing

Method · Last reviewed 2026-08-10

Fishing baits several hundred metres down with heavy weights and, usually, an electric reel — a method defined entirely by what depth does to everything else.

Safety: boat safety — can cause serious injury or death. 5 more points apply here.

What each one does, and what reduces it ↓

Barotrauma and pressure injury — Can cause serious injury or death

Fish brought up from these depths suffer catastrophic and irreversible barotrauma — swim bladder expansion, displaced eyes and gut. A deep-water fish cannot be returned successfully, so every fish brought up is effectively a fish taken.

What reduces it: Nothing reliably reverses it, which is why the decision has to move earlier. Decide what you will keep before dropping, stop when you have it, and do not fish for numbers on stocks that are frequently very slow-growing and long-lived.

Deep-drop fishing is bottom fishing taken to depths where nothing about it works normally. Baits are lowered to two hundred metres and beyond, over structure located on a sounder, with weights measured in kilograms rather than ounces.

Everything difficult about it follows from depth. A drop takes several minutes each way, so a session consists of very few presentations and each one has to count. Line stretch and current mean the terminal tackle is rarely directly below the boat, and keeping it near-vertical is the whole craft. Bites are barely detectable through several hundred metres of line, which is why most practitioners use electric reels — not for the retrieve so much as for the ability to hold position and feel anything at all.

The fish are worth understanding before the method is. Deep-water species are typically very slow-growing, late-maturing and long-lived — some of the species taken this way live for over a century — and they suffer catastrophic barotrauma when brought up from depth. A deep-water fish cannot be released successfully in any meaningful sense: the swim bladder has expanded, the eyes and gut are displaced, and a descending device helps only sometimes and only from moderate depths.

That combination — long-lived fish, no viable release, and a method that reaches them — is why this page spends more space on what to take than on how to catch it.

What it is

Bottom fishing at depths beyond the practical reach of conventional tackle, generally from about two hundred metres downward, using heavy weights, multi-hook traces and usually an electric reel, over structure located with a sounder.

What it is for

To reach species that live below the depth any conventional method can fish, over ground that can only be found electronically.

Setting it up

  • Weight for the depth AND the current. If the line is not near-vertical the trace is not where the sounder said, and at these depths there is no way to tell by feel.
  • Braid, because several hundred metres of stretch removes any prospect of feeling anything.
  • Know what you are dropping onto before you drop. A wasted descent costs ten minutes.
  • Decide what you will keep BEFORE the trace comes up. These fish cannot be released successfully, so the decision has to be made earlier than usual.
  • Watch the drift. A boat moving over uneven deep ground drags a heavy trace into it.

What it catches

5 more

What you fish it with

How it works

A heavy weight carries a multi-hook trace to the bottom, with the drop timed and the line watched to judge whether it is going down vertically or streaming away in current. Once down, the terminal tackle is held just off the bottom. Bites are frequently invisible and the first indication is weight on the retrieve. Electric reels do the recovery, which at these depths is otherwise a serious physical task repeated a handful of times a day. Lights on the trace are conventional, since there is no daylight at working depth.

Conditions

Deep dropping needs a manageable drift and a sea state the boat can hold position in for the length of a drop. Strong current makes the line stream and defeats the method regardless of weight. It is a settled-conditions activity a long way offshore, so the binding constraint is usually the weather window rather than the fishing.

Common mistakes

  • Dropping without watching the line angle, and fishing somewhere other than the mark.
  • Under-weighting for the current.
  • Continuing to fish a spot after it has produced, on a stock that cannot absorb it.
  • Assuming a descending device makes release viable from these depths. It does not.
  • Treating the electric reel as the skill. The skill is knowing where and when to drop.

Advantages

  • Reaches species available to no other recreational method.
  • Very selective by depth and by ground — you are fishing a specific structure at a specific depth rather than a general area.
  • Excellent eating in most of the target species.
  • Electric reels make it accessible to people who could not physically fish these depths otherwise.

Limitations

  • Few presentations per session, so a bad decision costs a large share of the day.
  • Bite detection is poor to non-existent.
  • The target species are typically very long-lived and slow to replace.
  • Release is effectively impossible, which removes the usual way of correcting a mistake.
  • Tackle is specialised and expensive, and losses over deep structure are costly.

Where people fish it

9 places FishingHQ holds name this among the ways they are fished, across 4 coasts and systems. Being named here describes what sources report, not that the method is permitted — check the local rules before you fish.

Safety

Barotrauma and pressure injury is set out at the top of this page, where it cannot be missed.

Boat safety — Can cause serious injury or death

This is offshore work in deep water, frequently a long way from help, with heavy equipment and long periods stationary. Weather deteriorating during a session is the ordinary risk; the boat being unable to move promptly while gear is down is the specific one.

What reduces it: Check the forecast for the whole window. Lifejackets worn. File a plan ashore. Carry communications that work beyond phone range. Be willing to cut away gear rather than stay on a mark.

Line under tension — Can cause injury needing treatment

Several hundred metres of braid under load with a multi-kilogram weight on the end. A parting line or a snagged trace released suddenly returns weight and hooks at speed, and hands in the line path during a powered retrieve are caught against the reel.

What reduces it: Keep hands clear of the line and of the reel's line path, particularly with an electric retrieve running. Never pull for a break by hand. Wear eye protection and keep others clear.

Precautions that always apply here

  • Wear a buoyancy aid or lifejacket. Cold water incapacitates strong swimmers within a minute, long before swimming ability matters.
  • Tell somebody where you are going and when you expect to be back.
  • Carry a charged phone in a waterproof case, or another means of calling for help.

Check the rules before you fish

Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.

Check with:

  • Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
  • Current local bylaws
  • The relevant fisheries authority
  • The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
  • Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use

Where to go next

Related techniques

Skills behind it

Sources and evidence

  • Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: That release survival depends on the physical trauma of capture, and that barotrauma from depth is a principal cause of post-release mortality.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Good Fish Guide — Marine Conservation Society (Conservation authority)Relied on for: That longevity and late maturity are material to whether a stock can sustain harvest, which applies with particular force to deep-water species.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Why the 21 connections on this page are here, and the sources

What it catches

What experienced anglers do — 13 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Atlantic goliath grouper

    A practitioner claim about how Epinephelus itajara is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for goliath grouper.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for goliath grouper and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Atlantic halibut

    The page names the depths and the tackle and says the scale of both makes this a serious undertaking. Deep-drop fishing is the technique those constraints produce, and the release-based conservation position applies to it specifically.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Documents which fishery and which technique takes this species.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Independently corroborates the species' recreational capture and range.Background and mechanism onlyPassage read and verified

  • Axillary seabream

    A small-mouthed bottom feeder over sand and mixed ground in the same depth band the Canary bottom-fishing modality works. Hook size rather than bait choice governs whether it is caught.

    • Canary Islands regional angling guidance sites — Various Canary-based angling and island guidance publishers (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Canary shore angling practice: the techniques and tackle used from rock, mole and beach, and the species each is used for.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Guías de zonas de pesca en Canarias — Tenerife, Gran Canaria y Lanzarote — GuíaCanarias (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The techniques named for Canarian fishing — rockfishing, jigging, light bottom fishing and squid jigs — and the species attached to them.States this directlyPassage read and verified

  • Blackspot seabream

    Adults live between 150 and 300 m and are taken on baited multi-hook rigs and deep jigs from a boat. The species is Near Threatened, long-lived and late-maturing, and nothing brought up from that depth can be returned — so the bag decision on this ground is made before fishing rather than at the rail.

    • Marine fishes of the Azores: an annotated checklist and bibliography — Santos, Porteiro & Barreiros — Arquipélago, Life and Marine Sciences, Supplement 1, University of the Azores, 1997 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: That Pagellus bogaraveo is recorded from the Azores as goraz and peixão and is a named fishery species there.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The widely restated practitioner account of deep baited-rig fishing for blackspot seabream.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Bluenose warehou

    Fished over deep reef, pinnacle and seamount in its usual band of 260 to 490 m, on large squid and fish baits and increasingly on deep jigs. The depth is what defines the method and it is also why release does not work on this ground.

    • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Identification, distribution, habitat and fishery description from the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The widely restated practitioner account of how this species is fished.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Flapper skate

    A statement about how a species is fished, which is angling convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling practice as reported by practitioners, including ground, seasonal timing, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional angling practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Hapuku

    A practitioner claim about how Polyprion oxygeneios is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for hapuku.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for hapuku and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Large-eye dentex

    Lanzarote's own authority describes bottom fishing in deeper water near the seabed as one of its six modalities. The large-eye dentex is one of the fish that modality takes, on multi-hook baited rigs and deep jigs over shelf edge and drop-off.

    • Pesca deportiva en Lanzarote — the island's own guide to sport fishing — Turismo Lanzarote (Cabildo de Lanzarote) (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The fishing modalities the island authority describes — deep-sea, trolling, bottom fishing near the seabed, coastal, rock and reef, and kayak — and the species it gives for each.States this directlyPassage read and verified
    • Canary Islands regional angling guidance sites — Various Canary-based angling and island guidance publishers (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Canary angling practice: the techniques and tackle used, and the species each is used for.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Red emperor

    A practitioner claim about how Lutjanus sebae is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for red emperor.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for red emperor and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Spurdog

    A statement about how a species is fished, which is angling convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling practice as reported by practitioners, including ground, seasonal timing, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional angling practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Swordfish

    A practitioner claim about how Xiphias gladius is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for swordfish.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for swordfish and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Wreckfish

    Cherne is named among the deep species of the Canary and Madeiran grounds, reached over wrecks, banks and the shelf edge. The islands' steepness is what makes that a boat trip of twenty minutes rather than of hours.

    • Canary Islands regional angling guidance sites — Various Canary-based angling and island guidance publishers (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Canary shore angling practice: the techniques and tackle used from rock, mole and beach, and the species each is used for.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Guías de zonas de pesca en Canarias — Tenerife, Gran Canaria y Lanzarote — GuíaCanarias (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The techniques named for Canarian shore fishing — rockfishing, jigging, light bottom fishing and squid jigs — and the species attached to them.States this directlyPassage read and verified

  • Yelloweye rockfish

    A practitioner claim about how Sebastes ruberrimus is commonly fished, following from where and how it feeds.

    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner accounts of fishing for yelloweye rockfish.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of the methods used for yelloweye rockfish and comparable species.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Related techniques

What experienced anglers do — 1 connection

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Sea fishing

    The definitional relationship, framed by the constraint that actually defines it.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of deep-water bottom fishing technique and tackle.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: That powered and electric reels are recognised within the angling rule framework.Passage read and verified

What you fish it with

What experienced anglers do — 3 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Fish strip and cut bait

    Below the light, a bait is found by scent and by lateral line. Cut bait releases scent downtide continuously, which is the property that matters at depth and the one the strip is cut to maximise.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Specialist treatment of which bait or lure family this technique is fished with.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The independently restated practitioner pairing of this technique with this family.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Multiplier and baitcasting reels

    That a practice conventionally depends on a piece of equipment, drawn from published description of practice rather than from testing.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Long-running published description of British sea angling practice, including reels, casting, rough-ground technique and terminal arrangement.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of equipment convention and its use, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Squid and cuttlefish

    Deep dropping subjects a bait to a long descent and a long soak before anything finds it. Squid is the bait the record identifies as the one that survives that treatment, and toughness rather than attractiveness is what decides the choice.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Specialist treatment of which bait or lure family this technique is fished with.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The independently restated practitioner pairing of this technique with this family.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Skills behind it

What experienced anglers do — 1 connection

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Depth as an environmental variable

    A method-to-mechanism claim at practitioner level.

    • Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Practitioner treatment of locating and fishing deep offshore structure.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: The classification of deep-set line gear and the depths it operates at.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Backed by research — 3 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

  • Swim bladders, buoyancy and barotrauma

    Deep-drop fishing makes barotrauma unavoidable and release conditional.

    • FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Species and habitat data underlying this connection. Deep-drop fishing makes barotrauma unavoidable and release conditional.States this directlyPassage read and verified

  • Thermoclines and stratification

    A link from a practice, an environment or a geography to the mechanism it rests on. It asserts that the mechanism is load-bearing here rather than merely relevant, which is the test applied throughout this file.

    • ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort — International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Hydrography, stratification, salinity structure and stock distribution across the European sea areas assessed, which is the physical basis for the mechanism named.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • NOAA National Ocean Service education on estuaries and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Estuarine and coastal process: salt wedges, stratification, tidal exchange and the way water of different densities behaves where it meets.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • What actually happens to a released fish

    A release-survival claim held to a scientific standard, because it is the reason this page's conservation section exists.

    • Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: That release survival depends on the physical trauma of capture, and that barotrauma is a principal cause of post-release mortality.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Good Fish Guide — Marine Conservation Society (Conservation authority)Relied on for: That longevity and late maturity are material to whether a stock can sustain harvest.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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