Advise on how and where to find bass, Part 1

[FloridaBassAssassn]

Since I decided to guarantee my baits to catch fish, I thought it necessary to help the beginner and novice fishermen find fish. Â*I'm going to add this info to my web site on how to find bass. I thought I would run it by you guys here first. Before I put it on my website.

" I’m going to talk a little bit here on how and where to find bass. This page is geared more for the beginner bass fisherman, but even you guys that have been fishing a few years might pick up some good info here. First off let me say that bass lake structure varies greatly across the country. Bass lakes range from the huge shallow lakes of Florida, or a muddy deep reservoir in Virginia , to the deep super clear lakes in California. However some things hold true in almost any place you fish. One of the first rules of bass fishing is “Wood is Good�. Almost any kind of wood that’s in the water, or just above it will often times hold fish. Whether it is a fallen tree in the water or just some submerged bushes, wood holds fish. Willow trees that overhang a lake or pond, or hanging into it is even better, will almost always hold a ton of fish and is one of my favorite places to fish. You want to look for little pockets to cast into. This requires some skill in learning to put your bait where you want it, but will pay off many times over in putting more and bigger fish to the boat. If your not getting hung up in the bushes or on a submerged limbs some of the time your not getting your bait in there you need to be. Overhanging trees for the most part, the farther you can get your bait back under that tree the more and bigger fish you’ll get. Sunken trees, stumps, brush piles, are all good fish holding structures. The next rule is, if wood is good , “Green is Great�. By green I mean weeds, most all weeds in the water can and do hold fish. The key is to figure out what kind of weeds, and where to fish them. I’d say the most important part of weed structure is weed edges of any kind. Cattails, lilypads, reeds, grasses, hydrilla, and probably 100 other water plants will hold fish. The secret as to whether or not any given patch of weeds hold fish is based on just a couple things. First it must have cover for the fish to hide in, but it must also have either good depth or a pretty solid mat of weeds on top to keep the light low. BASS PREFER low light conditions, but they also need ample cover and deep water nearby. To achieve that they hide under weeds such as lily pad mats or in any weed that looks like a little underwater forest and has 6 or more feet of water depth. Water clarity is very import in this equation too. The clearer the water the more depth a bass needs to feel comfortable. In very muddy water bass can be found in 1 foot of water without much cover, but will hold tight to what cover there is. In bass fishing you’ll hear a lot about outside and inside edges. Many times you will find weeds near the shoreline that have a small to large gap of open water between it and the bank. The side of the weeds that is nearest the bank is the inside edge, and the lake side is the outside edge. Generally speaking your outside edge is where you will find most of the bigger fish, but it depends on time of year, weather and other factors where they will be any given day. Lets look at the drawing below and I’ll explain what to look for on the lake you fish, for bass holding water. From left to right, first you have some scum that has blown up against the bank to make a good sun screen. In that same place you have a deadfall tree in the water that goes down 8 to 10 ft. This is perfect bass habitat, as the fish have 3 forms of cover. Water depth is an important means of cover to the fish also. Add that to the deadfall tree and the layer of scum on the top and it equals FISH! Any time you have more then 1 type of cover together the better the spot will likely be!



End part 1 please see part 2