Bass Travel Routes

[RHuff]

Some general questions about bass traveling routes…

 

1. Do bass winter on the deepest end of a long main lake point or in a creek channel or both?

 

2. Do they travel the creek channels from the end of the points onto the backs of the pockets or creek to spawn or do they travel along depth contours paralleling the banks? (I know they stop at particular stopping points)

 

 

[Catt]

12 hours ago, RHuff said:

1. Do bass winter on the deepest end of a long main lake point or in a creek channel or both?

 

Yes but that ain't the only places. Some bass actually stay "shallow" year round.

 

12 hours ago, RHuff said:

2. Do they travel the creek channels from the end of the points onto the backs of the pockets or creek to spawn or do they travel along depth contours paralleling the banks? (I know they stop at particular stopping points)

 

Again yes but not the only answers. Depending on the size of the body of water some bass spawn offshore. 

[scaleface]

13 hours ago, RHuff said:

1. Do bass winter on the deepest end of a long main lake point or in a creek channel or both?

 

Dont know . But I catch bass late in the year on the end of points

 

13 hours ago, RHuff said:

2. Do they travel the creek channels from the end of the points onto the backs of the pockets or creek to spawn or do they travel along depth contours paralleling the banks? (I know they stop at particular stopping points)

Dont know. But I fish from the end of  points to the back of pockets in the spring to catch bass. 

[Deleted account]

13 hours ago, RHuff said:

Some general questions about bass traveling routes…

 

1. Do bass winter on the deepest end of a long main lake point or in a creek channel or both?

 

2. Do they travel the creek channels from the end of the points onto the backs of the pockets or creek to spawn or do they travel along depth contours paralleling the banks? (I know they stop at particular stopping points)

 

 

Depends on the body of water and it's location.

[Captain Phil]

In my early fishing years, I invested a lot of time thinking over this issue.   I read magazines like "Fishing Facts" where authors would talk about offshore structure, break lines, depth contours and creek channels.  I built my first depth finder (flasher) from a Heath Kit. Armed with my new electronic wonder, I combed the depths looking for bass hideouts.  I had some success in deep water.  I once found a rock pile where I caught over 50 bass while anchored in the dead heat of summer.  Interestingly enough, my offshore results never matched my shallow water fishing.   I concluded this was because the majority of our lakes are shallow swamps with little offshore structure.  Our offshore bass have little on the bottom to draw them to, so they suspend following bait schools.  My eyes were opened to deep water fishing when I fished my first tournament in a reservoir north of the Florida State line. 

 

We now know there are always some fish in shallow water.  Shallow fish are active fish.  They may not be willing to chase down a bait, but they are there nonetheless.  This is why flipping works year round.  Not just any shallow water holds bass.  Like offshore fishing, some areas are better than others.  I've caught big bass in 90 degree water less than 6 feet deep.  The best flipping months for me has been August thru October.  I have seen them even shallower in winter.  It is common in Florida to find bass hunkered down in a foot of cover during a cold front. 

[king fisher]

The only for sure travel rout for bass that I know of.  On more days than I like to admit to, they travel in a straight line away from me.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Depends on the body of water and it's location.

 

^^This^^

 

How bass travel on Toledo Bend ain't much help in South Louisiana marshes.

[TnRiver46]

They prefer to travel along routes where there’s something to eat and they won’t get killed. And some of them don’t travel at all 

 

Seems like I’ve even read studies where a big white tail buck never traveled more than a 1/4 mile. Add in water overhead and big ole bass can hide in a small space for years 

[Tennessee Boy]

I spent the first 20 years of my bass fishing life learning the rules of bass behavior and the last 20 years learning that the bass don’t follow the rules.  ?

[Choporoz]

I find myself more consumed with 'Why are bass moving?', than 'what is the route'?

 

   Which seems a bit crazy at first, because we rarely ever know what a bass is thinking; but where a bass is at a certain time is much more objective.

 

  There may be a hundred other factors, but I usually think a bass moves for food, temperature, oxygen, or spawning.   They just don't seem predisposed to choose a location or path for any reason other than one of those factors.  So understanding the environmental factors and favorite meals is probably more important than route rules.  If the rule is fish steep inside channel drops in mid-fall, but the bass took a detour and are now chasing bait over shallow flats, you could be in for a long day.

    I have to tell myself all the time that bass move.  And even in summer and winter, some are moving a lot.  I just haven't had a lot of success predicting what route they're on.  But I do better if I think about why they might be elsewhere.

[Catt]

Radio telemetry studies on Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, & Lake Fork show a portion of the population lived their entire life within a certain distance from the bank. Another portion of the population lived their entire life never seeing a shoreline. Another portion of the population moved between the two. 

[WRB]

^^^^^this^^^^^ supported by every tracking study I have read.

Bass behavior can only be generalized because they act as individuals that sometimes group up.

Tom

[slonezp]

Study up on Buck Perry

[WRB]

You mean learn to troll!

Tom

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, WRB said:

You mean learn to troll!

Tom

I read an old reply of yours on trolling a few weeks back and it was great.

 

I've learned how to wear out 1-2lb fish trolling, but I've yet to figure out how to catch a bigger one doing it.

 

I had no idea how many of these 1-2lb fish were in the smack dab middle of the lake.     I also never heard of Buck Perry but just read this article on him.   Sounds like a legend.  

Buck Perry - The Bass Fishing Hall Of Fame (bassfishinghof.com)

[slonezp]

4 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I read an old reply of yours on trolling a few weeks back and it was great.

 

I've learned how to wear out 1-2lb fish trolling, but I've yet to figure out how to catch a bigger one doing it.

 

I had no idea how many of these 1-2lb fish were in the smack dab middle of the lake.     I also never heard of Buck Perry but just read this article on him.   Sounds like a legend.  

Buck Perry - The Bass Fishing Hall Of Fame (bassfishinghof.com)

His entire forte' is on fishing structure and how and why bass travel the way they do. His theory works for all species of fish. 

[txchaser]

8 hours ago, Catt said:

portion of the population anglers lived their entire life within a certain distance from the bank. Another portion of the population anglers lived their entire life never seeing a shoreline. Another portion of the population anglers moved between the two. 

this too

 

8 hours ago, Choporoz said:

There may be a hundred other factors, but I usually think a bass moves for food, temperature, oxygen, or spawning.   They just don't seem predisposed to choose a location or path for any reason other than one of those factors

I do wonder about whether bigger bass also key on "that's my stump/hump/ditch/brushpile, it's the next stop".  Anyone seen support for this in lake level changes, where the fish are deeper or shallower than the expected route would take them, in order to be on a key feature?

[Woody B]

My "guru" (an excellent 49 year old bass fisherman that I helped catch an 8 pound small mouth when he was 12) says there's 3 kinds of bass.   

 

1.  The dock bass.  Self explanatory.  They live around docks.  Around here these bass get fished to death. 

 

2.  The ledge bass.  These bass hang around drop offs and ledges.  They're also the ones that come up on the flats to feed.  

 

3. The deep structure bass.  They spend most of their life around deep structure.  There's usually some baitfish, crawdads, ect for them to eat so they don't move around much.  

 

 

I don't know much about their migration.   Everyone knows their stopping places and choke points during pre spawn.  

 

The power company usually keeps the lake level pretty consistent at the lake I fish most.  (nuke cooling)   They pulled it down ~5 feet for Hurricane Ian. (late Sept)   I don't usually target the dock bass this time of year due to fishing pressure but I believe the dock bass moved.  Most of the people I talked to at the landing were flipping docks, and catching nothing.   I caught 25 the day after Ian mostly on ledges and deep structure.   The lake stayed low for a while but Hurricane Nicole has brought it back up to normal level.   The lake turned over about the same time the level was coming up.  Last weekend(the day after Nicole) the bass were scattered pretty much everywhere.   I went up river and managed to catch 11 Saturday and 6 Sunday.  Mostly where small feeder creeks enter the main channel.   There weren't many bass around the bigger main creeks.   

FWIW 25 bass is an outstanding day for me.  10 is a "good" day.   I haven't been skunked at this lake since I bought my boat. (a year ago)  I've had a couple 1 or 2 dink days, but no skunk there.   

 

Lake Wylie, ~13,500 acres.  NC and SC.  

[Munkin]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:34 AM, Captain Phil said:

In my early fishing years, I invested a lot of time thinking over this issue.   I read magazines like "Fishing Facts" where authors would talk about offshore structure, break lines, depth contours and creek channels.  I built my first depth finder (flasher) from a Heath Kit. Armed with my new electronic wonder, I combed the depths looking for bass hideouts.  I had some success in deep water.  I once found a rock pile where I caught over 50 bass while anchored in the dead heat of summer.  Interestingly enough, my offshore results never matched my shallow water fishing.   I concluded this was because the majority of our lakes are shallow swamps with little offshore structure.  Our offshore bass have little on the bottom to draw them to, so they suspend following bait schools.  My eyes were opened to deep water fishing when I fished my first tournament in a reservoir north of the Florida State line. 

 

We now know there are always some fish in shallow water.  Shallow fish are active fish.  They may not be willing to chase down a bait, but they are there nonetheless.  This is why flipping works year round.  Not just any shallow water holds bass.  Like offshore fishing, some areas are better than others.  I've caught big bass in 90 degree water less than 6 feet deep.  The best flipping months for me has been August thru October.  I have seen them even shallower in winter.  It is common in Florida to find bass hunkered down in a foot of cover during a cold front. 

 

Winter in Florida? Water temperature gets down to what 60 degrees?

 

Allen 

[Captain Phil]

5 hours ago, Munkin said:

 

Winter in Florida? Water temperature gets down to what 60 degrees?

 

Allen 

 

The surface water temperature in Lake Eustis can get into the high 40s after a cold front passes. When that happens, older couples start chopping up their rocking chairs for fire wood.  ?

[Munkin]

30 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

 

The surface water temperature in Lake Eustis can get into the high 40s after a cold front passes. When that happens, older couples start chopping up their rocking chairs for fire wood.  ?

 

Here in the spring I am flippin jigs at the end of ice ledges like they are low to the water docks. Or trying to punch through the thin ones with a heavy weight. 

 

Allen

[Deleted account]

On 11/14/2022 at 2:36 PM, Choporoz said:

 because we rarely ever know what a bass is thinking

(a) Nothing

(b) Nothing

(c) Nothing

(d) All of the above

[Susky River Rat]

I’ve learned fish in general are in a location for one or a combination of these things.

 

comfort,protection,food and spawn. Sadly it does not matter if that makes any sense to us or not. I think we just all try to think best where a majority of the fish should be. It’s also safe to say that just because we aren’t catching doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Take notes learn your bodies of water for each time of year and water level but try not to get stuck in old ways either.