There is an inherent truth in bass fishing that many anglers overlook. That truth is that to catch fish you must first find fish. This seems so simple but the truth of the matter is that most of the time when we are fishing, we are throwing our lures where there are no fish present! There is an old old adage that says that ninety percent of the fish are in ten percent of the lake. This is more than just an old fisherman’s saying… it is the gospel truth.

To grasp this concept, one must understand that a bass is a very basic creature with very basic needs. Just like all the rest of God’s creatures his needs are very few, he wants to be comfortable, he must eat, and he must reproduce to perpetuate the specie. These are the very basic needs of all creatures, wild and domestic. When we learn about the habits of the fish and how he meets these basic needs we can narrow our search down dramatically when we go to the lake in pursuit of the largemouth bass.

Keep in mind another truth. A bass is a bass, is a bass, is a bass… wherever he is! A bass in Lake Havasu in Arizona, or Seminole in Georgia, or Santee Cooper in Carolina, or Lake Fork Texas… IS STILL A BASS. His actions are pretty much the same where ever he is, and his needs are pretty much the same where ever he is. This makes him pretty predictable most of the time. Note here I said most of the time. There is one more truth that throws a fly into the ointment, that being that when bass are involved never say bass will always do one thing or another. More correctly say that in these conditions bass will generally do.

Since it is impossible for us to walk to the waters edge and look at where the fish are in the lake let me draw you an analogy that you can visualize to understand why fish are not all over the lake. Assume you are driving down the highway and you look out over a 100 acre pasture where there are about thirty head of cattle. If you will notice, the cattle are not spaced equidistant from each other. In other words, there is not one cow per every three and one-third acres. Instead a few head will be bedded in a shady area underneath a grove of trees, a few head will be grazing along a small creek channel where the grass grows a little more lush and green than the surrounding pasture. Over in the corner of the pasture, the bull is showing interest in a cow that is coming into season.

Remember the basic needs? Those in the shade are resting, those along the creek are feeding, and the natural urge for reproduction is being manifest. Also, about ninety percent of the pasture is void of any cattle. The same thing is going on in your favorite lake… you just have to learn the factors involved in being able to eliminate the unproductive water so that your fishing time in productive water can be maximized.

To accomplish this we will break this process down into four factors: seasonal patterns, a lake’s personality, the current weather conditions, and the current water conditions. With these four factors and a little experience anyone can go to any body of water anywhere and locate fish.

Seasonal Patterns

This is the most valuable of any of the factors. If a beginning angler learns nothing else, he should learn seasonal patterns and how they affect the movement of fish. The search for fish begins with seasonal pattern simply because it tells the angler what part of the body of water to expect to find the fish. In other words, where to start looking. To further explain this, let us go completely through the calendar year and discuss seasonal patterns or movements. Keep in mind that water temperatures are what triggers the fish’s movements and in this article I will be referring to seasonal changes on Texas lakes. If you live further north or south, the times of the year may be different because of the difference in time of seasonal changes.

In January the fish will be in a solid winter time pattern. The water is the coldest that it will be during the year ranging from the upper thirties to lower forties. Expect to find fish in deep water, related to deep structure like creek or river channels, road beds, submerged pond dams or other deep water structure. On deep rocky lakes formed by the impounding of rivers, also look on the bluff banks along the outside of the river bends. The fish in the winter time will not travel far and their movements tend to be of a vertical nature instead of a horizontal movement.

By mid-February, the fish are beginning to feel the urge to move to shallow water in preparation for the spawn. The water temperatures will still be cold, in the lower to middle forties. This is the time that the anglers flock to Lake Fork in hopes of catching the big pre-spawn females. The big females that are filled with eggs will weigh about twenty percent heavier now than when they dump their eggs. The fish will begin to stage along migration paths like creek channels, road beds, and tree lines as they move back into the coves in preparation for the spawn. During late February, should there be a few days of warmer weather, the first movement of bass to the shore will occur.

This first movement will be the male fish. The males always arrive before the females seeking good bedding sites. The entire population are really feeding during this period of pre-spawn as they stock up food reserves to get them through a relative fasting period during the active spawning period. When the water temperatures reach the mid to upper fifties, most of the fish in the lake will be in or adjacent to spawning areas. This usually happens around mid-March depending upon the arrival and severity of cold fronts. When the water temperatures reach 62 degrees the spawn will be in full force. Keep in mind that these activities do not happen all over a lake at the same time. The shallower ends of a lake (the furthest from the dam and deeper water) will warm first, so the spawning activity will occur there first. The warming of the deeper end of the lake may happen a full month or more later. For example, the spawn on the north end of Lake Fork is normally in full force by mid-March, and will be completed by the time it starts on the south end of the lake during late April and early May. I have witnessed spawning activity on the south end of Lake Fork near the first of June!

As the water warms on up and the spawn winds down, the fish begin to drift back toward the sanctuary of deeper water. The fish on Lake Fork are usually start to show back up on deep structure by the fifteenth of May. By the first of June the fish will be back out in mid-lake on deep structure similar to that they were using during the winter months.

The fish will remain on deep structure like extended points, road beds, pond dams, natural humps, etc. until about the middle of September. When the water cools to a temperature in the upper fifties to lower sixties it becomes cooler and more dense than the water at deeper depths and the upper strata of water sinks to the bottom causing a temperature inversion. This really messes up the fishing for a few days and scatters the fish.

As conditions begin to become more stable and the water continues to cool there will be a migration of bait fish into the creeks. The bass will follow the shad into the creeks and will remain there until the water temperatures fall below fifty degrees. At this point the shad being more sensitive to temperature changes will leave the creeks and migrate back to the deeper regions of the lake. Since the shad are the primary food source for the bass, they will follow thus completing the annual cycle of migration patterns of the bass.

On really large reservoirs like Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend, the larger creeks should be considered as lakes themselves as they have all the features of a reservoir within the creek itself. Also keep in mind that we are talking about the population of bass in general. The exception to the rule is that there are always a few fish in shallow water, as well as a few fish that never leave deep water.

The Personality of a Lake

Each body of water has it’s own personality that affects where fish will be located and the approach used to catch those fish. First and foremost is water clarity. How clear the water is in a lake will determine how deep that deep water is and conversely how shallow that shallow water is. For example, fish in lakes like Lake Mead or Lake Norman that are deep clear rocky lakes may spawn as deep as twenty feet. The water is so clear that the sunshine penetrates to this depth sufficiency to incubate the eggs so the fish have no reason to come shallower. On lakes that are heavily stained, shallow water is only a few inches deep. I have seen spawning fish in stained reservoirs with their backs and fins literally sticking above the surface of the water.

When the fish move back to deep water at Lake Mead they may set up on structure as deep as seventy feet or deeper. In medium stained lakes like Toledo Bend and Lake Fork, deep structure usually ranges from eighteen to twenty-five feet of water. On heavily stained waters like Lake Tawakoni and Cedar Creek where visibility is only a few inches, deep water is seldom more than seven or eight feet.

The second part of a lake’s personality is the predominant cover available. Is the predominant cover rocks, flooded bushes, submerged vegetation, boat docks, or man made brush piles? Bass are object related creatures and will relate to the predominant cover that the lake has to offer and clues the angler in immediately to the types of lures and presentations required to catch fish.

For example, deep clear, rocky lakes dictate the use of light tackle, small diameter lines, and lures that more closely resemble the forage available. Fish in clear water will feed more by site than by sound so lures must have a realistic appearance. Lakes that are stained allow the angler a greater variety of lure choices and the luxury of using heavier tackle as the fish’s ability to see will be somewhat diminished. The bass in a lake that is heavily stained will be feeding almost totally by sound so lures that move a lot of water causing pressure waves and those that rattle will attract more fish because these are fish that feed by sound.

When vegetation is present in a lake, always begin your search there. Green, verdant vegetation is more of a total ecosystem and will hold more fish than any other type of cover in the lake. Vegetation provides cover, produces oxygen, and grows algae and micro-organisms that bait fish and crustaceans feed on. Thus it is a total ecosystem. Dead wood like stumps and logs or rocks are great fish holding cover, but that is it’s only benefit. Bass will certainly relate to these objects at times, but these objects only provide cover. Green vegetation is always the beginning focal point if it is present.

Current Lake Conditions

Current lake conditions refer to the level of the water. Basically is the water stable, rising, or falling? Stable lake conditions force the angler to look more at the other factors and do not tell you much about what the fish will be doing. Seasonal patterns, predominant cover, and weather conditions are much more important during periods of stable water.

On the other hand water that is rising gives the observant angler a great edge in locating fish. Fast rising water will over-ride even seasonal patterns. Unless the fish are on a solid deep water pattern the fish will move very shallow as the water rises. This is especially true in the spring time, but I have seen them in inches of water during the coldest part of the year when the water is quickly rising. Bass really love to cruise through and around newly flooded vegetation. Freshets wash various terrestrials into the water and flush crawfish and small bluegill into the lake where the fish will gather to feast on the smorgasbord of foods. They will remain in shallow water until it starts to recede.

The fish have a built-in mechanism that alerts them to falling water and they realize that if they do not depart shallow water, that they might become trapped in back water areas. So they vacate the shallows immediately. This is especially true when gates are opened on flood control reservoirs or tidal rivers when the water starts to fall. They will pull back to deeper water to the first good cover adjacent to the shallows. They will stay here until the water continues to fall or rise again. A good tip for the tournament angler here is to mark the water level on an object near the launch on the first day of practice. Each day as you return, make note of the water level. This will give you a good clue as to where the fish may have gone that you find in practice. If the water level does not change, your patterns should remain pretty constant, but if the water level changes, you can bet your patterns will change as well.

Current Weather Conditions

Current weather conditions relate to the passage of frontal conditions. Similar to lake conditions, the weather conditions are either pre-frontal, post-frontal, or stable. Also in similarity is the stable weather and water conditions. These two factors tell the angler little about the fish’s activity levels or where they are apt to be located. But similarly to rising or falling water, the movements of frontal patterns of the weather will clue the observant angler in to certain things that he or she must do to have a productive day on the water.

All weather is controlled by the movement of low and high pressure areas. These movements also have a direct bearing on the activity levels of all creatures. Wildlife activity is always greater during periods of a low pressure, with peaks of activity happening just prior to the arrival and passage of cold fronts. When the low pressure (low barometric pressures) prevail, the weather is warmer. The air molecules are further apart allowing the atmosphere to retain more water, hence cloud cover! Our being in the northern hemisphere, low pressure areas are usually, but not always, associated with south winds. At any rate, producing cloud cover and resulting lower light penetration to the earth’s surface. The fish will be more active and will have a larger strike zone. In other words, they are more apt to chase a lure or forage several feet to intercept it. The fish are said to be active and chasing. These are great times to use running baits like spinnerbaits, Rat L Traps, buzzbaits, and crankbaits. These are all lures that will cover a lot of water allowing us to find and catch more fish during our day on the water. As the cold front approaches, the barometer will start to rise and the activity level of the fish will escalate and the bite get even better.

The air is colder behind the cold front and much more dense and the barometric pressure will be higher since the air is more dense and heavier. The molecules of the colder more dense air will not hold moisture and this is the reason that the sky the day after cold front is free of cloud cover. There are several factors at play now that directly affect how active the fish will be.

First, more of the sun’s rays will reach the earth’s surface penetrating the water. Periods of bright light make it more difficult for all predators to catch prey. This is why so many predator species hunt only at night or early in the morning or late in the afternoon. This is also why fishing is best just at first light in the morning and just before dark in the evening. The fish being predators know that the hunting is just not as good during periods of bright light and that they need to conserve their energy for better hunting times.

Second, the strike zone will be greatly reduced. The fish will still eat if the lure is placed very near them, but the will not move more than a few inches to take the lure. There are a lot of opinions why this is varying from an imbalance caused by higher barometric pressure, to just not being hungry after voraciously feeding during the pre-frontal phase. I do not claim to know why, but I do know that the strike zone is greatly reduced and precise lure placement is required to catch fish. The fish will no longer chase a crankbait or a spinnerbait or any type of running lure.

The best thing for the angler to do in these conditions is to go to those areas that he knows is holding fish and completely dissect the water. This is the perfect situation for flipping. The fish will move to the center of cover where they will be holding very tight and not moving. They are more tolerant of a close approach by the angler if done stealthily. The quiet lure presentation to precise targets is custom made for these conditions. Make several presentations to the same piece of cover as the lure must be placed right on the fish’s nose. Do not expect the bite to be aggressive. Many times the only indication that a fish has taken the lure is that there might be a slight pressure when the lure is lifted, or maybe the lure did not sink all the way to the bottom. A great amount of concentration is required to detect strikes.

One other thing that the angler can do is to completely abandon his shallow water fish and seek fish that are living in deep water as they will be affected to a lesser degree than those fish living in shallow water.

If Kentucky Spotted bass or small mouth reside in your fishery, you might try catching them as they are affected less by the passage of cold fronts.

As you approach your day on the lake, use your common sense. It is the best piece of equipment in your boat. It is more important than your depthfinder or any lure that you own. Everything that you do in your day on the water, do for a reason. If you find yourself going through the motions of chunking and winding, and you are not catching fish, the best thing that you can do is to lay your rod down, take time to drink a cup of coffee and think about all the variables we have covered. Do not continue to do the things that you have tried without success. Do something different until you solve the puzzle.

There are no shortcuts, there are no magic lures, you cannot buy success in finding fish. Success in finding and catching fish is a simple matter of a logical process of elimination until you determine where the fish are and how to catch them today.

If you will learn that all water does not hold fish and that by using the process of elimination you can find fish on any given body of water. The more times that you do this on your own the greater your confidence will be in your ability to find and catch fish.