Fishing Lakes
1. Check your local fish and wildlife, conservation department or whatever it is called in your area. Find out what species call that fishing lake home. These organizations usually have good websites, some with info on fish stocking reports as well as what types of forage are available to bass. 2. Get a contour map of the lake. Some state websites even have these for free! Even if you have to buy one, do it! This information is absolutely critical to finding ALL the good structure on the lake. 3. Identify what type of fishing lake it is. Bass in natural northern lakes relate to different structure than bass in man made reservoirs. The color of the water will help you chose your lures and line. Also try to figure out what type of food is available. Will craws be on the menu or is it shad. Perhaps smelt and shiners are the dominate bait fish. This will help with imitating the food source of the bass.
Using a fish finder in early cold water (40-50 degrees) conditions will locate groups of fish right on the bottom in deep water. These bass are in or near their wintering hole and this position shows the beginning of the migration route. From here you need to find the route they take toward their spawning area. They don't take a straight line toward the shore though. They will move from one point to the next point within view until they reach shore. The fish finder will help find boulders, sunken trees and creek channels that act as sign posts for the bass. When a cold front moves in, and as winter approaches, the bass will retreat to these sign posts, or breaks, on the way back to their home. These stopping points are your hot spots. When fishing gets tough, you follow the path from the shallows “where the fish aren't biting”, to these gathering points. Fishing lakes in the lowlands and in reservoirs, this can be as simple as moving to a nearby depression or the old creek bed. Deep weed edges serve the same function.
In the world of bass, life revolves around the desire to spawn. The easiest time to catch big bass up shallow is the spawn and just before it. It is also the easiest time to locate their movements on your particular fishing lake. Using polarized glasses you can pick them out on their beds. You'll see a light spot on the bottom and if you look close you should see dad guarding the nest. Big old mom might not be to far away. What you just determined is a point toward the shallows the bass head to when conditions are favorable. This area is where you can find a good number of bass during stable weather with overcast skies. The largest bass will only come in this far during the best conditions and also to spawn. The easiest part is finding the starting and stopping points of the migration. A little work with the fish finder and bottom bouncing lures will find the breaks on the route. Look for boulders and stumps, along with feeder creeks that enter the main creek channel if your fishing lake has them. Bass tend not to cross barren flats that have no smaller structure on them. They simply have no visual reference for navigation. Think of this process as zooming in on a Mapquest search. You have the start and stop points for your trip. Now you need to zoom in to street level to see all the small details. The more time you spend identifying these stopping points, the higher your catch rate will be on each trip. It is not unlike scouting for deer. You find all the runways from their bedding area to where they feed. There will be primary and secondary routes and not all the deer use all of these. Find the highest probability areas ahead of time, and you won't have to tramp all over and disturb the game. Bass “runways” are just harder to see, but they absolutely use them. A couple of shortcuts will help you find the hot spots on your fishing lake. Look for the fishermen. Is there always a boat in one certain area? Could be a good sign. Swallow your pride and ask the bait shop owner. You'll almost always find them to be very knowledgeable. Most of the time they'll talk your ear off and give you what works the best for them and other anglers. There may even be a map for sale with good tips in it. If it is in your budget, a fish finder with side looking sonar will make short work of any fishing lake. You should do this before season because they are so much fun to look at, you will end up driving around all day and not fishing.
Start from the shallows and work your way out to deeper water following the path you identified. Use natural color baits in clear water and contrasting colors for stained to dark water. Stopping points like sunken islands, depressions and large boulders can be covered with crank baits and spinner baits. A slow rolling spinner bait on a deep weed edge should show signs of bass in short order. The same is true of a stop and go retrieve with a stick bait. Before you leave a spot fish it thoroughly. Test the spot with a soft plastic tube on a light jig head or carolina rig. If you catch a few smaller bass, you are on the right path. Continue to the next deeper break until you find the big boys. Bass group up by size and the largest bass will rarely be found in the shallowest water. Fish your way all the way out to find that possible lunker patrolling by itself. If you are sure the bass are there, a few passes with a bottom bouncing lure trolled behind should pick up a few fish. Work from the shallows out. If no large bass are found, move to the next structure on the lake and repeat the process. After a few trips to your favorite fishing lake, you should have several spots that will produce consistently. Record all the details in a log book. Make sure to include water temperature, cloud cover, lure used, the depth of the fish and where they were caught. In no time you will start to see the patterns and this will give you a huge head start on your next trip.
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