First thing is making sure I’m on a body of water that holds or can eat least grow big fish. Most bodies of water around here can produce 3lber, but not every body of water can produce a 4-5lb fish or bigger, which are the ones I’m after. This is usually based on the abundance of baitfish like yellow perch or golden shiners.
Another factor that is important to me is depth. Apart from early and really late in the season, most of my big fish come from 8’ of water or deeper, up to 17’. The shallower I’m fishing, the shorter the fish tend to be, unless it’s April/may or October.
So my two most important factors are depth and forage base when I’m PB hunting.