Oh what the heck, Ill throw my experience in here too. Shallow water makes me nervous, so I spend most of my time on offshore type stuff. Most of my biggest fish have come from fairly deep water. Doesnt matter what time of year (Ive never stuck a DD on a bed), its usually deeper than 20 feet. This includes spring (I prefer to fish for prespawn fish), especially summer, fall who knows, and definetly winter. One thing I want to point out is this. Not fishing the shoreline has hurt me in the past. While I was out dredging deep water, big fish were being caught in 1 foot of water. Just something to think about.