Tips For Finding Fish

[bmasters]

I fish a local reservoir close to my home.  It is about 2000 acres,  is pressured pretty good by fisherman.  I have caught some bass in it, one here one there no definite pattern.  There is some community holes that I know of and have caught some fish on them, but everybody knows about them.  I have gone and watched the weigh in on a couple of tournaments that have been held there and there is good fish there I  have seen them weighed in.  I have fished this reservoir several years and have never caught any bass like they weigh in. I have tried different areas and beat the banks with little to no success.  The reservoir doesn't have much structure other that the community holes,  it slopes from the bank out to about 25 feet of water in most of the reservoir. I have tried many different tactics in fishing and just have not had much success, what do you think I'm missing?  Any tips or ideas to go about trying to unlock the puzzle.  Not looking for  a miracle just some ideas to go on that maybe I have overlooked.

[jbsoonerfan]

Bank or boat fishing?

[bmasters]

I'm fishing from a boat.

[Paul Roberts]

Can you join the club? Likely the quickest road.

[papajoe222]

Finding quality fish on pressured waters is a daunting task, but if you're willing to put in the time it can be worth the effort.  If you can get a topo map, look at those community holes on it.  What do they have in common? What is the bottom content? Is there a common depth to the productive areas of them? Now it's time to do some homework, first on the map. Look for small areas that share similarities with those community holes.  There are often off shore points that are visible on a map, but don't appear to be related to the shoreline and they may only run from one depth to another. They're similar to an off shore shelf, but have the features of a point that extends from shore. Follow the creek bed on the map looking for small swings and areas where it parallels small flats.  Lastly, get on the water and leave your rods in the locker and check those spots you located on the map with your depth finder.  Look for signs of forage and cover on them and mark the ones that have either or both present.  No go back and fish them hard. Hopefully you'll discover a pattern you can use on multiple spots.  Hope that helps.

[Crestliner2008]

I do hope you have a good sonar, some lake maps and a GPS (handheld or otherwise). With these tools you should be able to scout out decent looking structures (points, humps, drop-offs, etc.) and fish those that have bait moving over them. That should put the odds in your favor. Whatever lake I fish, regardless of the structures I find, I rarely fish where there is no bait available. Has worked well for me over many years.

 

If the lake you speak of is rather "feature-less" and shallow, then it's just a run & gun approach. But I'd still try to search out bait, even on very minor structural changes in the basin.