Flats

[Repoman]

when a person says that they were fishing the "flats" exactly what are they calling the flats and how do I find them on my map?

[zooker]

flats = slowly sloping lake bottom. a place between the shore and the drop off.. it can be 3 feet wide or 3 miles wide..

zooker

[carolina-rig-01]

look at your contour lines on a map. notice how steep banks like a bluff will show the contour lines really close together? on a flat they will be far apart. also be careful when running over them in a boat.

[Cranebird]

Its a shallow shelf of various sizes.Bass usualy use them as spawning areas, find something a little different. I look for a difference in the drop off as well.Fish will hold on the drop off of the flat as well as move up to feed on the flats.There usually is a sweet spot on the break of the flat that holds a bigger concentration of fish.Red rattle traps fished on the break off produce some nice fish when they are staging up to spawn.

[lunker-lander]

Good post! I have a question though....

In my one lake, there is a flat about 50 yards from shore to drop-off. It has weed "bushes" growing intermittently throughout it. About ten yards away from the true drop-off, there is a sharp, I mean sharp, almost 90 degree, drop that goes from one foot to three feet. Would this be a good spot to look for roaming Pre-Spawn bass?

-Lunk-

[zooker]

i fish flats in 15 feet of water...


zooker

[Rebbasser]

A flat is just that-flat. Think in terms of a football stadium. The field is the flat, and the seats are sloping banks, drop offs, etc.

Lunk, in a word, DUH! Just kidding, amigo. That drop is a great place to look for pre-spawners. They use creeks and channels like we use highways to get from one place to another.

[Cranebird]

Originally Posted by lunker-lander

Good post! I have a question though....

In my one lake, there is a flat about 50 yards from shore to drop-off. It has weed "bushes" growing intermittently throughout it. About ten yards away from the true drop-off, there is a sharp, I mean sharp, almost 90 degree, drop that goes from one foot to three feet. Would this be a good spot to look for roaming Pre-Spawn bass?

-Lunk-

Not just for prespawn, basically it will hold fish there, or very near there, anytime of the year.

[lunker-lander]

OK, thanks, Guys! I was thinking it would be, but I just thought I'd piss ya off a little!

-Lunk-

[bassintom]

It has weed "bushes" growing intermittently throughout it

Fish those bushes.It may look like there's no fish there,but I pull many big fish out of the willow bush roots in less than 2 ft. of water.Get some 50lb power pro,11/0 hook and dark color senko type bait and flip them right into the roots of those bushes.If you see the line move at all,set the hook and yank them out as fast as you can.

[PowerBass]

I agree with everything said here, but..

Sometime people refer to the Upper Chesapeake Bay as the "Flats"

but normally it is a flat in a lake, which has been described above