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All About Bass Fishing - The Big Secret

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It’s Not WHAT You Throw, It’s WHERE You Throw It

By Rick Seaman and Dan Westfall

Bass Knowledge Center

Most bass anglers spend too many disappointing days on the lake which can be blamed on one general problem. Most bass anglers get so caught up in worrying about “what” lure or “what” color is catching bass and fail to focus their attention on “where” the bass are located. If you don’t get anything else from this book, make sure you engrain this concept into your brain… “it’s not “what” you throw, it’s “where” you throw it that matters.

3 Most Important Factors About Where to Fish
  • Determining the location of the bass is way more important than choosing one lure over another.
  • Once you know where to fish, then select the best lure to effectively fish that water.
  • Then choose lure colors based on matching the food source, water conditions and water color.
Fish The Right 10% Of The Lake
Bass Fishing

Knowing where to look for bass is critical every time you head to the lake. Begin by reading and understanding the ‘seasonal” section of this book for the current time of year. This should give you a pretty good idea of what areas of the lake should hold the most bass. Often it is a good idea to eliminate areas of the lake by determining where the bass should “not” be at this time of year. Armed with this general information, seek out local information to see if particular areas of your local lake are producing over others.

Once you have target areas in mind, concentrate on locating the bass using the lures and techniques described for the current season. Once you determine “where” populations of bass are gathered, then you can make adjustments to “what” lures and presentations to use. Let the “what” be determined by the cover, water clarity and aggressiveness of the bass. Details and tips covering these subjects are located throughout other sections of this website.

The Big Secret Is All About "Where"

Understanding the combined factors of season, weather, lake levels, water clarity, cover and food sources combine to tell you exactly “where” to locate the bass.

Migration Routes.

Bass use three general areas in their movements, both seasonally and on a daily basis. These areas may vary in size depending on the contour of the lake. Most often these areas will be within 100 yards or so of each other. In some cases they may be considerably farther than that. Depth of these areas will vary by geographical location and the general depth of the lake. Basically the areas are, first - a deep holding area, second - a mid-range feeding/holding area, and third a shallow feeding area.

Area number 1 is their deepest “holding area” where they spend the bulk of their time during the cold of winter and the heat of summer. This is generally nearby the two shallower feeding and holding areas. Most often this will have even deeper water close by, if the lake depth allows. The bass are looking for comfort and security in this depth range. Feeding is not a priority but they will eat offerings presented in a way that does not require a lot of effort on their part to partake.

Area number 2 is a mid-depth holding and feeding area. When the bass spend a great deal of time in area number 1, they will move up to this level to feed then move back to level 1 for rest and security. During times of the year that this is their holding area, they will move shallower to area number 3 to feed.

Area number 3 is the shallows where their primary reason for spending time here is feeding. For brief times of the year, they may also hold in these shallows for the comfort of water temperatures present, even when they are not feeding.

Seasonal Migration Routes.

Beginning with winter, the bass hold primarily in area number 1. When they feed, which is less often than other times of the year, they typically move to area number 2.

As spring arrives, the bass move up to hold in area number 2 and start using area number 1 as their primary feeding area.

During the height of spring, area number 3 can be their primary area, using area number 2 as a holding area when conditions or caution dictates. This seasonal pattern includes all phases of the spawn as well. Because the bass are looking for shallow water at this time of year, area number 3 may expand to large areas in the river end of the lake as well as the backs of major coves. Current can also be an attracting factor as bass seek out warmer water.

As spring turns to summer and the shallows warm to temperatures above ideal, bass begin to migrate to the deeper holding area number 1 and use area number 2 as their primary feeding area. During this time the bass may use all three areas and feed in area number 3 early in the morning and at night. Also, area number 2 may expand is size for many bass as they move horizontally across larger areas following schools of bait fish.

During the fall the bass move up and use area number 2 as their primary holding area and feed there as well as in area number 3.

Then, back to their winter patterns.

Daily migration routes.

Throughout the seasonal movements, the bass move from one area to another when feeding sprees come and go. During the warmer months, this movement may happen as often as four times per day. In the colder times of the year, it may only happen once a day or even less. The transition from one area to another may take up to 30 minutes to allow the bass to adjust to the depth change and adapt to varying water temperature at different depths. During any given season, finding bass at a given depth/location would be an indicator that they will return again to this location at their next feeding time. When you locate bass in their holding spots they will spend the majority of their time here but will not feed as aggressively.

The key to migration routes is realizing that when you find bass at any given point in time, you have identified one of the spots in their daily and/or seasonal migration. Spend time in the area and try to determine where the other two areas would be. Also return at different times of the day to see if the bass have returned to a given area.

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