Lake Minnetonka - Milfoil vs. Structure

[Bass_Fischer]

Greetings Tonka aficionados, question for you..  I've long known that the foil holds the better fish (largemouth).  What I don't have figured out is how (if at all) structure fits into bigger fish location on northern foil lakes like Tonka.  Does the proximity of the milfoil to deeper water, points, drops or humps matter?  If so, how much does it matter?  And when starting a search for fish, do you begin with good structure and then secondarily look for the foil, or is it foil first and structure secondarily?  Thanks in advance for the feedback!

[MN Fisher]

My personal experience? Structure before cover. Humps, points, etc are the collection places...if they have cover, so much the better.

[Tennessee Boy]

Welcome to the forum!   

 

Absolutely look for structure first.    We always get interesting discussion on this forum and lot of different view points.  I'll be surprised if anyone disagrees that you should always start with structure.  To me it is second most important rule in bass fishing.  Second only to you catch more in the water than on dry land.?

[Bass_Fischer]

Thanks MN and TB appreciate the replies and the welcome.  So with structure as the first priority, how important is it to also find cover?  I've seen many a drop and point that are absolutely bare-bottom (although many are typically hard-bottom).  Do you spend time working structure that's otherwise empty?

 

I've heard it said that structure is the neighborhood and cover is the house.  It would seem pretty unlikely to find many residents in a neighborhood that doesn't have any houses in it, if you're in agreement with the analogy  ?

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, Bass_Fischer said:

Do you spend time working structure that's otherwise empty?

Oh definitely - maybe not to the extent of covered structure...but bottom-bouncing jigs (football), drop-shots and even Ned-rigs have produced on bare structure.

[Tennessee Boy]

10 minutes ago, Bass_Fischer said:

I've heard it said that structure is the neighborhood and cover is the house.  It would seem pretty unlikely to find fish in a neighborhood that doesn't have any houses in it.

I've used that analogy myself.  When you think about property values,  the neighborhood matters much more than the house but the house does matter.  A bare lot in Manhattan will be worth far more than a mansion in the middle of no where.  So find the good neighborhood then find the best house in that neighborhood.   Fish aren't always on structure but they always relate to structure.  You can spend a lifetime learning how to interpret structure.  Here a link to a very popular thread on the subject.  It's about Toledo Bend but @@Catt goes into depth on reading maps and interpreting structure.    

  

[Bass_Fischer]

Thanks for the link TB.  Juuust a little to digest in that one!