By observing the specie of timber in an area, many times it will clue us in to some type of structure that we would not otherwise have gone over with the depth finder. This is not to eliminate electronics, but to increase our efficiency in their use by being able to see where to use them.

What I am saying is that certain trees grow on dry sandy soil, others are more compatible with wet marshy areas. The knowledge of what trees grow where, and what soil types are found where will be advantageous and help us narrow our search down because we have visual references to the terrain and terrain contours, even though we can’t see the bottom of the lake.

Ridges and mid-lake humps have always been super places to locate fish at any time of the year. These places far away from shore often have the right combination of soil type, cover, and water depth to be attractive to the fish when they are seeking out places to spawn in the early spring. On the other hand, many times fish will pull off the shore-lines and will use these areas to rest and recuperate after the rigors of spawning. Schools of deep water fish that never venture near the shore line will utilize these mid-lake ridges and humps as feeding areas. Of course many humps have no brush or trees above the water. The only way to locate these tree-less humps is with the aid of a good topo map and depth finder. However, when these “high places” have timber on them, a fisherman that knows how to see the trees instead of the forest has a definite advantage.

On the north end of Lake Palestine, is an area noted for producing fabulous strings of fish in the early spring. Most of the February and March tournaments on this lake are won in this area because it is laced with a vast network of shallow ridges with sloughs on either side of the ridges. These “sloughs” as the guides and regulars call them are not really sloughs but hardwood drainages, or as they are known in East Texas as “hollows”. Whatever they are called, they serve as migration routes leading from the creeks as the sow bass heavy laden with roe feel that first urge to move as the shallower water begins to warm.

Pine trees are the number one specie to look for when searching out sandy ridges. In the deep sand country of the South only trees with long tap roots can reach down to the water table. The more massive oaks and gums with spreading but relatively shallow root systems can only get the water and nourishment they require in low lying (but not excessively wet) bottom lands. Obviously a pine tree with needles and cones is easy to identify… but what about a water logged stump? Not to despair. Pine stumps, after the bark has sloughed away, bleach-out almost white. Pines grow closer together and as a general rule the stump fields will be quite dense, so dense in fact, that many times a bass boat cannot be maneuvered through them. The stumps will have few if any branches and will be in thick stands of slick poles, very symetrical in shape and very close to the same size in diameter.

The chinquapin is another specie that always bears investigation when one is seeking out ridges. There is a famous old place on the Lake of the Pines in east Texas called, of all things, “Chinquapin Ridge”. This elongated hump located far from shore is still a fabulous piece of structure, but nothing like back in the sixties when the lake was young. During this era worm fishing was just coming into being… quality monofilament line was non-existent… and the old Shakespeare President mounted on a solid glass rod was the state-of-the-art tackle. Depth flashers and graphs were also things of the future. So it was the old squirrel hunters who “stomped” the Cypress Creek bottoms who knew that the chinquapins and pines grew on the ridges. It was this knowledge that led to the discovery of this legendary hump where, for that summer and many summers to come, that the thump of boat paddles against aluminum boats could be heard in the muggy darkness of the Lake of the Pines.

The limit was fifteen back then, and in it’s heyday the ridge gave up many three-man limits per boat, all of which were three to eight pound fish. Chinquapin trees can be identified as being very “limby”. They contain a chemical similar to creosote that retards decay so they are some of the last trees in the lake to shed their limbs. Chinquapins, as a rule, are not large trees and usually the trunk of the tree is not above the surface of the water. As a result, all that can be seen is a clump of knarled, crooked limbs. Though difficult to describe to the reader, once you see these trees they are easily distinguished as they have a certain characteristic appearance.

Although one can depend on pines and chinquapin as hump locators there are other indicators of high places in the lake bottom. It is not by tree specie but by observing the stage of decay of the trees that clues one in as to the location of hidden rises. Lake Fork was filled in stages over a period of several years. As the lake filled the flooded timber died. The timber on high places and long extended points were the last to be flooded creating in some instances islands of living, green forest. Then as these areas were flooded these trees also died leaving patches of trees in different stages of decay. The first trees to be flooded are now decaying snags, but to the observant, patches of dead timber can be located far out in the lake, some still with leaves and many that have not yet shed their small branches and twigs. Today one can find many of these hidden treasures simply by running the boat lanes and looking for these patches of timber.

Just as certain tree species and stages of decay reveal the location of high places on the contour of the lake bottom; ponds, creeks, river channels and sloughs can be located by reading the timber. Willow trees are dead giveaway that a wet area existed prior to the lake being filled. A circle or ring of willow trees out in a lake will almost certainly reveal the location of an old stock tank or flag pond. Inundated ponds are excellent fish holding structure. The dams of ponds will hold good concentrations of fish in both summer and winter. In addition, submerged dams, when coupled with the right water depth make excellent spawning areas. Ponds in relatively shallow lakes are many times the deepest water in the entire lake and the knowledge of these places can really pay off when the dog days of summer hit.

Just as willow trees mark the location of old ponds, cypress trees always have some type of waterway hidden under their branches. Cypress trees have tall straight trunks with flared bottoms. The crown is usually quite small in relation to the rest of the tree but they retain their branches just as the chinquapin does. Don’t overlook these sentinels standing guard over the submerged shores of river and creek channels when the bass are related to these types of structure.

Another visual reference to and aid in locating creek channels is the presence of birches and water oaks. These large trees frequently grow along and adjacent to creek and river channels. These trees retain their bark until they are completely decayed. The bark on the water oak is dark and appears black when wet. The trunk of the water oak is usually quite large and has a large crown. The limbs, however, are more slender and petite than other oaks. The birches also retain their bark for years and the bark is quite distinctive. The trunk of the tree looks as if it were wrapped in shreds of light brown paper. Birches also grow quite large though the crown is not the same shape nor as large as the water oak. The twigs and branches are small and usually fall sooner than other trees.

Both these trees grow right on the bank of the creeks because both require a considerable amount of water. As the creek banks erode, the trees tend to lean toward the creek channel, the branches forming a canopy over the creek. But even after the branches are gone the leaning trunks are still good visual indicators as to where the creek channel runs. The root systems of these trees that have been exposed by erosion also make excellent holding places for the fish.

Fence rows are also excellent places to fish because they are so frequently used by the bass as highways as they migrate into spawning or feeding areas. There are two tree species that grow most frequently on the fence rows of the South; the sassafras and the persimmon. Fence rows almost always have thickets of these two specie growing along them. In addition to these thick stands of small trees, fences are often covered with blackberry vines and various small shrubs providing excellent cover for the fish. The bottom of most of our lakes were at one time farm land. Over years of farming activity, plowing or running cattle, the dirt from out in the fields gets pushed little by little along the fences and as a result the lake bottom along old fence rows is invariably from one to three feet higher than the surrounding lake bottom. A foot or so doesn’t sound like much, but in shallow water a foot rise can be the key to an area holding fish. Combine this change in bottom contour with the cover provided by old abandoned fences and one can see why the fish use them so frequently.

It matters little if you are in New Mexico, Louisiana, or New York, an idea what things look like under water can be drawn by observing the terrain on the shore. In most cases the flora on the shore extended to the lake bottom before the lake was built. Again, the ability to read timber does not eliminate the need for electronics but simply makes us more efficient in their use by having a visual reference to the places where we should use them.