Fish Finding Struggles

[jr45]

I have read the posts in the Best of about finding fish. That is a huge obstacle for me. I want to become more consistent, and I know I can if I can find the fish. I think I'm observant, but maybe not. I hardly ever see bait fish on the water when I am fishing. Does that mean I am not in the right spots? If I could just get one good easy practical thing to do when I get on the water to try and find fish I would estatic. Thanks!

[vapredhunter]

Keeps it simple look shallow in spring and fall, deeper in summer and winter. Shallow in mornings and evenings or overcast days.

[BassinNY]

Learn what structure and cover are. Once you know what structure and cover are, concentrate on identifying it out on the water.

Structure= permanent structure (channels,humps,points.)

Cover=temporary shelter (vegetation,laydowns, brush.)

If you identify structure and cover, you will locate bass.

[grampa1114]

And don't forget to find edges, maybe the most important thing to remember is that fish relate to edges. Weeds, Dropoffs, Riprap, Bottom composition, Failen wood, The surface................they love edges, edges, edges.......don't forget edges.

[Nitrofreak]

I have read the posts in the Best of about finding fish. That is a huge obstacle for me. I want to become more consistent, and I know I can if I can find the fish. I think I'm observant, but maybe not. I hardly ever see bait fish on the water when I am fishing. Does that mean I am not in the right spots? If I could just get one good easy practical thing to do when I get on the water to try and find fish I would estatic. Thanks!

It does not mean you are in the right or wrong spot, finding bait fish is important, but finding structure that the fish use for their daily commute is more important, concentrate your efforts on creek channels that have cover at or near the back of them, like lay downs or brush piles, the bait fish will use these places to protect themselves from predators, EARLY in the morning the bait fish will leave their cover and group up to travel out of the shallows and find open water.

Fish at or near the back of coves around cover EARLY in the mornings, as the sun comes over the horizon, move toward the middle of the coves or channels and start to fish deeper, I like to stay around 20 yards off of the bank and fish parallel as I work out of the coves and channels, but that is not always the case, each body of water will hold different structure from one cove or channel to the next, you have to find what makes that particular part the reason why they use that point of travel, channels that offer feeder creeks are usually my first place to look.

Which coves and channels and where to spend time is learned from time on the water, my suggestion is to take a day or two and investigate all of the coves and channels you can, look for areas with as much cover as possible, and look for points that have creek channels close by if at all possible, start EARLY in the morning, if you find a good place that offers a good morning bite, then the evening hours should produce as well, if you find that then you have a great starting point, you can begin to fish the rest of the channel or cove for structure and find the fish.

[Christian M]

When I fish a lake that I've never been on before I usually take time to circle along the bank looking for anything that looks like it may hold fish, both with my eyes and with my electronics. I'll look with my eyes for docks, bridges, points, coves, islands, laydowns, stumps & timber coming out of the water, tree limbs growing out over the water, lily pads, reeds, rock piles, and anything else that looks like it might hold fish. Areas where different types of cover meet (especially underwater vegitation) are some of the best bass holding areas. If you can find areas with one or more of these characteristics that also has shallow water with access to deeper water close by, you will usually find the fish.

[Bassun]

I have read the posts in the Best of about finding fish. That is a huge obstacle for me. I want to become more consistent, and I know I can if I can find the fish. I think I'm observant, but maybe not. I hardly ever see bait fish on the water when I am fishing. Does that mean I am not in the right spots? If I could just get one good easy practical thing to do when I get on the water to try and find fish I would estatic. Thanks!

For me personally there were two things that helped me consistenly find fish: A - A good fishing log. B = A good map. I kept short notes on the boat while I fished, basic info water temp, time of day, lure, area etc. Then when I got home that evening, or the next day, I would transfer those notes into a longer more detailed note. Once I finished that I would get the map back out, and look at where I was catching fish and suddenly patterns started popping out all over the lake that looked the same.

Heres an example of the boat log.

5/8

- Raining on and off WT=72

- 10 am - 12" bass

- 3.5" white swim bait

- second arm of Z Cove - second tree on right

------------------------------------------------------

I would then change those scribbles into a longer note. (adding in other notes as fitting)

5/8/2012 - Lake X - Z Cove

Raining on and off all morning, water was lightly stained. WT = 72

Could still see down about 3-4 feet.

Brand Y 3.5" White Paddle Tail Swimbait.

Fished with a slow steady retrieve.

#1 12" Bass - First arm on the right of Z cove, right hand side first log lay down.

#2 10" Bass - Same arm, fourth laydown on right.

#3 16" Bass - Same arm, back right, looks like a beaver den.

#4 11" Bass - Same beaver den.

#5 8" Bass - Left side back of arm, Stump

#6 10" Bass - Left side under cover of a tree.

Or something like that. Now if you have a good plastic coated map you can use dry erase markers on it. If so, you can just "dot" where you caught fish. (Obviously over the entire lake, not just one arm of a cove) That will show you a pattern super fast. Then look at what the areas have in common. Are they long flat coves with a deeper channel, or maybe main lake docks just below a bend in the lake, etc etc. Look for other places like that on the map. Those areas are likely to produce fish at the same times each year. It's just a matter of finding them.

Now as fish transition from spring to summer, look at your spring notes. Where were the fish? Where are they likely to stop at on their way to deep water? If you are catching them in little arms of coves, maybe looking at the first main point in a cove, or an old road bed, or any good structure between there and deeper water (15-30 feet depending) could be a good starting point. You may find they are transitioning from these points and structur all the way to the back of the cove during later spring summer and early fall. If you can find places that allow the fish to easily move from sping to summer locations you can usually find fish somewhere along that route. Find where they are, and duplicate it.

Sorry that went a little longer than I intended but that's what helped me learn how to find fish. Sadly, I have to admit I've gotten lazy and don't log as I should anymore...

[aclark609]

I fish Table Rock on occasion (If that is the lake you are speaking of), and I fish Bull Shoals about once a week. I'm no professional by any means, but I might be able to help if you can give me some info on how you are trying to find and catch these fish.

Q: Do you own a boat?

A: If you do, that's a definite plus seeing as how Table Rock is quite a large deep lake and would be kind of difficult to bank fish, or at least, much less productive than in a boat.

Q: Do you have a sonar on your boat?

A: Bait fish can stay pretty deep in the White River Chain of lakes and sonar would definitely help in locating them. I have seen schools of baitfish up shallow, however, in all parts of the day.

Q: What type of structure/cover are you targeting?

A: Table Rock is completely absent of vegetation; therefore, points, channels, drop off, and rock transitions are the mainstay for finding bass. Find a place with all of these combined and you got a year round winner. Topo maps are great for finding these areas. Particularly the ones that show or draw out the creek channels. Apply this to what vapredhunter said,

Keeps it simple look shallow in spring and fall, deeper in summer and winter. Shallow in mornings and evenings or overcast days.

and you WILL find fish.

Q: What type of bait are you using?

A: A lot of times it's not that you aren't finding fish. It's the fact that the fish you have found just don't wanna bite your lure. I find myself going finesse a lot with some great results. Don't count out power fishing though. Ask for local advice. I can tell you, along with about anyone else in this area, you don't leave home without a War Eagle spinnerbait for fishing docks or buckbrush around the spring time, or any day where there's cloud cover and/or some wind.

In closing, there isn't one easy thing you can do to locate fish when you are out on the water. If it was simple, there wouldn't be any bass in the lake! Good Luck!

[jr45]

Thanks for the info.

To aclark609, I fish Table Rock, mainly the upper end. I do own a boat and it has a fish finder, its not the nice new ones, but it gets the job done. I usually target points, standing timber, and chunk rock to gravel transitions. I usually fish spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and texas rigged plastic worms

[aclark609]

Well chances are you ARE consistently finding fish but they just aren't biting. Fish are everywhere in our lakes. I like to go out, catch a keeper or two, then use the details of where I caught them to pattern them throughout the lake. It's pretty much a guaranteed limit if you'll burn the gas to do it. The difference between a big limit and a little one is noticing subtleties in the details of how you're catching them and sometimes a little luck.