Of Cover, Structure,and Bass

[BaSsFiShEr20]

Of Cover, Structure, and Bass


I remember well a fishing trip I took a good many years ago. Upon arrival at a lake I had never fished, I was shocked to literally see miles and miles of weeds in the lake.I was even more shocked to learn that I was having a great deal of difficulty finding the fish.
Finally, we located an area that had fish. We wound up with a limit.

You are probably wondering what made the difference. Time of day? Presentation? Lure choice? No, it was structure. Sure, we had plentyof cover, but the weeds were growing on a bottom that had no variation. One big flat, if you will. The area along the flat that held the fish had been dredged a few years before hand and had created ripples in the bottom . Kind of a texture, you could say. This textured surface is what drew the fish to the area.

How do fish relate to cover verus structure?

While solitary pieces of cover can and and often do hold a bass or two, many more can be caught if one looks beneath the surface.Fish will relate to structure much more than cover alone. Find cover on or near stucture and you have an ideal spot.

Cover can be a dock, a rock, a stump, an anchored or tied boat, tree, brush, etc.

Stucture is a point, a hump, depression, channel, ledge,or any irregual feature in the bottom of the lake.

The reason bass relate to cover near structure is this. The cover gives them an ambush point and an element of safety. The structure gives them an escape route.

My favorite piece of structure is a ledge. This is like a bedroom to a bass. They rest and feed on the top side or along the shelf of the ledge, but can quickly shoot into deep water if needed.

Structure fishing requires good electronics. Stop pounding the visible cover everyone else hits and seek out the "nothing"bank. Often these are untapped resourses. Find the most promising bottom features and fish them.

Some of the biggest bass I have ever caught was on isolated cover, located on or near structure, i.e. a single stump on end of a point near dropoff, a stickup on edge of depression, etc.

Another place I like to fish is along creek channels with lots of bends. These collect lots of brush and fish congregate to it.I crank these areas. Again, a combination of structure (channel bend) and cover (brush).

Don't get overly excited when you see lots of cover in an area. More than likely only a small portion of it will hold bass. Like the deer hunting saying goes, "Only 10% of the habitat will would 90% of the deer". This is also true with bass. Find the pockets or irregularities and you will be in an area with the best bass holding potential. Use your electronics and Polorized glasses to accomplish this.

Good Fishing,

Charles

[Rob Mak]

i also like creek channel's and ledge's some of my best bass came off a single ledge in a area lake.-please note i anit saying what lake-i also like humps with deep water near by.that and rip rap are my favorite choices to throw at..

although i have fished a lake with no cover what so ever.
bassman ever fish sharen harris???

zooker

[lilfish1]

Structure fishing rules! ;D I always look for the unique features in the bottom structure. Chances are, when I find that unique feature (whether it be a hole, a hump, a ditch or whatever) I will find the fish as well.

[mblk181]

good post......undulating bottoms also hold more bass in pads than flat.

[Worm_King]

Bassboss,

Great thread and thanks for sharing. Â*That's something I'll have to store in the old memory bank. We have a resevoir here in Indy that has a lot of cover on it. The only time I have fished it was with Lizards. When we got out on the water I thought we were going to have a field day because of all the cover. Didn't quite work out the way I had hoped. Maybe next time.

[bearpaw]

Shearon Harris is on our schedule for next year.

In the past we caught several nice bass off one set of stumps (not visible) in Highrock. We won that tournament with 37 lbs. This is no lie, it was on a local lake with alot of fish in the 5-7 lb range.

Lately, I caught 3 keeper bass on back to back casts to the same spot. I was away from the bank and the bottum was clean, except one small spot. It appeared to have be a little rough, perhaps from some brush or rocks.

Bassman30- so you say?

[bearpaw]

Thats right.
Join the sight we'll enjoy having your company.

[Rob Mak]

joining this site is not that hard so if ya got the hair resiter.

one thing i do know about bassman he is as honest as they come -more so than many-
the second thing you can count on is i have never had the need to lie about any fish i catch. basicly cause i find the truth much more enertaining.

ya may notice both of us speak in general terms of the lakes we fish. when ya hear me say specific creek -abbots for example-please note it IS 11 miles long and 3/4 miles wide.

zooker

[bearpaw]

Bassenforcer,


Don't worry RIGHT NOW. I won't post the items that I threatened to you on the phone the other night. LOL

[Rob Mak]

bassenforcer
YET!!!


ZOOKER

[bearpaw]

Zook,

I don't know if we'll enjoy his company or not.
He's kinda "wise" with his sense of humor.

Bassnman30

[Rob Mak]

bassman
most people think i am joking when

they see this

<----which part of this do ya not under stand?

this is NOT a joke . never was ,never will be.

zooker

[bearpaw]

No problem here. I definetely take your message seriously. LOL