How Do YOU Find Fish?

[Jigfishn10]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Find Open Water  . . . . . .

Use whatever 'methods' I need to find areas that are holding the bait.

Single out the areas that have bait & bass.

Establish when the bass are feeding, as well as what Prestation(s) or Techniques(s) will get bites.

Be there at the right time and doing the right thing.

Use the net & the scale - repeatedly.

Be thankful / grateful for my good fortune.

A-Jay

Well written...I only wish it were that easy every day...  

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Well written...I only wish it were that easy every day...  

Thanks ~

However, I conveniently and deliberately omitted

the 2 or 3 seasons that 'easy' process often takes me. 

No sense spoiling it.

A-Jay

 

[Jigfishn10]

Just now, A-Jay said:

Thanks ~

However, I conveniently and deliberately omitted

the 2 or 3 seasons that 'easy' process often takes me. 

No sense spoiling it.

A-Jay

A little "white lie" usually never hurts anyone, buddy. Your secret is safe with me. I'm sure no one is reading that last post.   

[the reel ess]

On 4/19/2022 at 4:16 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I would get a hook in the water ASAP. Live bait allowed? 
 

if not I would just drag a jig worm around , it’s the greatest fish finder of all time 

A C-rig is what I call the poor man's depth finder. If you fish an area with it you'll have an idea of the depth, bottom composition, cover and structure.

 

But if dropped on a lake and told I had to catch to eat, I would target docks. In the absence of docks, I'd target any wood cover I could find with a T rig or a jig. I might start the day with a buzzbait or a Spook in the shallows.

[fishinNWA]

If I just have to get bit then I will find a rockpile or brushpile offshore say 15 to 30ft and just milk a jig, shakyhead, or drop shot. Other than that this time of year I'm crankin 

[Tennessee Boy]

Well I expect a lot from myself when it comes to fishing so I would take the approach that most pros secretly use on water they don’t know well.  I would ask a local expert for some advice,  then I would fish hard and do my best to figure them out as I go.

[Catt]

Give me something I can work on top, something I can run 4-6' deep, & something I manipulate on the bottom.

 

Look at the shoreline, not where it goes from wer to dry. Pick your head up & look at the topography around the body of water.

 

Look for vegetation along & in the water. Look for "wood", brush/timber, look for rock. Feel for hard spots!

[Big Hands]

On a new lake? I'm fairly sure I would flail around, until I tried a little bit of everything I have with me until I get so drained of confidence that I just go ahead and ask a local what to do, and then try that.

 

I keep telling myself that if one tries hard enough and often enough, even a blind squirrel stumbles upon a nut once in a while. This year, so far, the blind squirrels have reason to mock me without mercy.

 

However, being the optimist that I am, I still have faith that the bass will soon home in on my patterns and once again take me from sub-zero to sub-hero.

[WRB]

Several years back I posted a thread on “Reading Water” that helps to find bass. Can’t find it so repeat some now.

Catt’s reply sparked the thought on what to look for besides the obvious. Be aware of the environment you are fishing.

Learn how to read water. Reading water is something intuitive for river and stream anglers because moving water creates current positioning the fish to face into it watching for prey.

Easy to see eddies, fast current and slack water, not so easy to see seams where faster water is moving against slower water that creates a break for fish to face into.

Lets look at a lake for differences in water color, temperatures, soil changes, sand, gravel, grape fruit size rocks, boulders, clay, mud, stick ups, brush, trees, stumps. wind direction or changing wind direction and velocity are all things you can see when reading water. 

There are always a lot of factors to focus on but sometimes we can’t see the forest from the trees or simply get distracted and fish robotically out of the zone so to speak.

Sonar is a very important tool for boat anglers to help locate everything under water, below the surface. What is above the surface, the terrain extends under water. If there is a shale ledge with clay at the base that ledge and clay may extend way out into deep water and your sonar can define that and indicate if bait fish or larger fish are located along the ledge or soil break. Clay is important because rooted plants can’t grow in clay creating a break line.

Bass are located where the prey source is and the prey needs to find a hiding area from the predator. You can see all this by reading the water.

Catching bass is more about timing, right lure, right location at the right depth.

Tom

[frogflogger]

Troll!

 

[InfantryMP]

I typically find the structure with my skeg, then I turn around and fish it. It happened to me last weekend, and I placed 3rd in my tournament lol. Gotta love those large rock piles, the smallies are on em all the time!

[MickD]

Main thing to remember is that if they are not here, they must be there.  And keep applying this principal until fish are found.  

[Boomstick]

I went to North Carolina last week on a lake that is a fairly ambitious size for a kayaker, especially this time of year. I started by looking for baitfish.  There were a few on the channel I was on, but not a lot. The channel north of me was essentially a giant flat, so I figured that would be a potential spot to find fish during the spawn, but there were no fish at all in that area.

 

So I moved up the late another channel and found found higher concentrations of baitfish and even saw some bass in my sonar, but still couldn't get them to hit anything. As soon as I switched from a small tube to a wacky rigged deception worm on a drop shot, I started getting bites. I found more fish on points in that general area afterwards.

[K1500]

Blindly grope around throwing my favorite baits until I get a bite….or not.

[Glenn]

 

 

 

[BassNJake]

On 4/19/2022 at 4:47 PM, BassNJake said:

It's prespawn/spawn/post spawn here.

Since I dont really like messing with bedding fish

I'll be fishing points, channel swings and any structure I graph in 10-20 feet of water

I'll be fishing a crank or a spinner/chatterbait and I'll be slow rolling it

I'm trying to target the first places they stop moving in or out to spawn

 

The water temp is right near 60 and thats when I also see shad starting to spawn

so in low light conditions on warm mornings I'm fishing shallow with some sort of fluke/swimbait

I have thought about this and I really did a crappy job of describing this.

I am always looking for at least 2 things on any piece of structure.

I like windblown points, so yesterday's weather is important for my fishing today.

Once I decide the part of the lake I think the fish will be located.

I'll map check all the wind blown points looking for abnormalities

It could be a quick depth change out along the point, a high spot, a ditch or depression, rock pile, brush or laydown maybe a change in bottom composition ....

 

Anything to put more variables on my side

 

I've got basic sonar so I drift over area to "map" them

As I formulate a plan of attack to the specific area I want to fish

I'll triangulate my position, This provides a reference point for where I want to be casting

in relation to boat position