What section of lake to fish?

[AustonW]

How do you determine which section of the lake to fish? I  understand that the northern section closest to the river is going to muddy up first and works its way down. But I’ve heard your can breakdown lake sections by season, such as in the winter, fish the south end by the d**n because it’ll be clearest. But I don’t know if that’s the case or not. I’m trying to get better at lake breakdowns. It’s sad to say but I can’t even breakdown my home lake. Lol 

 

Thanks guys

[TnRiver46]

Well, some lakes flow north……. 
 

what is your home lake ? 
 

it’s not exactly a simple answer but I mostly fish the extreme upper end of my home lake because that’s where I live and I typically don’t want to waste all my daylight driving downstream in the truck or the boat 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

What TNRiver46 said, I mean that's dozens of smaller questions all within one.  

 

I'm in Alabama, I can perhaps shine some light on what your home lake might be doing, but you could be on a variety of different types of "lakes".  

The more you tell us about the lake, the more folks can give you information that's accurate for your situation.    

 

I read on here early on from member WRB about finding the life zone, in the summer that effectively cuts off half the areas in my home lake I have to look because of the thermocline, however in the winter these fish can go 30ft+ in my home lake now.     What he also said however is that after establishing that aspect, find bait.      I'm terribly paraphrasing but I really took that to heart along with having my first quality sonar unit, and now my main objective is to find bait on that sonar.  If you can do that, you can catch fish.......sometimes the bait this time of year with the warm patterns we get like right now going forward for 8-10days will push up way shallow, then after this huge 3 day deep freeze we had over XMAS, the main lake body in the deepest sections were holding a carpet of baitfish for a thousand yards.    

 

FIND THE BAIT

[scbassin]

This time of year try the north side it might be a little warmer. I have caught them in 1 to 3 feet of water.

[Susky River Rat]

Is one end shallow and one end deep? Does one end have more structure and one end have more cover? Where is the bait? Where is the launch? Is the lake long and narrow? Is it wide? When I go to a new body of water I fish it small. I will pick an area I deem to look productive and give it 3-4 hours if I know nothing about it. Really pick it apart. Then I will go to the “B” spot. If there is bait in this areas you are already onto something. Since you are talking about this being your home lake I’d take notes. Break it down small and I caught fish here at this water temp on this bait. Way point it. Write down the way point in your note book with all the info. Do this till you get your “milk run”.  This is not an over night process. You won’t always catch lots of fish but, it will show you what worked. 
 

Don’t get caught up in the “general rules.” learn to fish your body of water the way it is productive to fish. 
 

The more you try to run here there and everywhere on the water, the less you are fishing and learning.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Darnold335
Added content

[Catt]

10 hours ago, AustonW said:

How do you determine which section of the lake to fish?

 

Start where you launch, learn that area by fishing it from pre-spawn to pre-spawn. Then expand outwards from there.

 

 

[Woody B]

47 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Start where you launch, learn that area by fishing it from pre-spawn to pre-spawn. Then expand outwards from there.

 

 

I get a kick out of watching the guys that come flying up to a spot,  cast 3 or 4 times, then go flying off somewhere else, out of sight.  When I see these people later at the landing they always say something like "it was tough today".    

 

Obviously bass aren't in every single square foot of every lake, but I doubt there's miles and miles without any either.  

 

 

Edit/Added.  I talk to a guy occasionally at the landing.  He says he catches a bunch of bass when he's just fishing but get's skunked every monthly club tournament.   I told him he was probably losing his patience, getting in a hurry during the tournament.   He came up to me a few weeks later and said he slowed down, made himself be patient during his club tourney, and finished 2nd.  

 

 

Sometimes I enjoy riding around.  Sometimes my bad shoulder starts hurting and I'll ride around and explore until the ibuprophen kicks in.   If it's an "I feel like riding around day"  when I do stop I'm going to make more than 3 or 4 casts.   

 

I believe that if you caught fish in an area in April they won't be miles and miles away in December.  

[MickD]

Windy side, side with deep water close to other good looking structure or feature, like and inlet or point or flat.  

[RDB]

Easier to think of it as upper & lower ends v. North & South.  No absolutes but as a very general rule, the lower end tends to be deeper, clearer, and likely a little cooler (all relative).  There will be fish all over the lake but you may be able to use these types of generalities to help you locate easier.

[Jar11591]

The section that has contour lines closest together, simply speaking. 

[gim]

I usually start shallow and work my way deeper if I'm not producing any bites.

 

Bear in mind I'm not specifically referring to fishing right now in the "winter" because our lakes are frozen at this time.

 

In the spring and the fall, I believe its beneficial to have some sunlight and warmth, so I don't start quite as early in the morning.  Whereas in the summertime when its warmer out, starting early often produces better (or fishing at night time, or on a cloudy/rainy day).  Cooler water is a big factor in midsummer whether that be in the form of deeper water, thick weeds, docks, etc.

[Bankc]

The best thing to do is to practice and experiment.  Since you have a home lake, just fish it often, in all different conditions.  Try exploring different areas, different times of the years, with different lures.  Initially, you'll have to rely heavily on luck, but with enough practice, you'll start to notice some patterns.  Each lake will be a little different.  What works on one won't necessarily work on all.  But there will be patterns that translate from lake to lake and season to season.  It's just easier in the beginning if you concentrate on just one lake to keep the number of variables you're juggling from growing too large to recognize the patterns that form.  

 

Go ahead and read up on how to break down a lake by season.  There's lots of articles and videos out there that discuss this.  But know that not all of that information will apply to your situation.  That's why experimentation is so important.  But some of it will, so it's good to have that knowledge at your disposal.  

 

To get really good at breaking down a lake, you need to take into account hundreds of factors and weigh them accordingly.  What matters and how much it matters will change, almost by the hour.  Learning how to do that well takes years, if not a lifetime.  But if you spend most of your time on just one lake, you can more quickly learn the patterns of that lake.  Then, when you're starting to get the hang of that lake, you can spread out to other lakes and take what you've learned from that one lake and apply it to others.  Some things will translate, others won't.  But with more practice and experimentation, you'll grow in your ability to break down a lake.  

[Tennessee Boy]

That’s kind of like asking which side of town has the best restaurants.   It depends a lot on the town.

[T-Billy]

The lakes I fish are 1k-2k acre impoundments. As a "general rule" midlake to the lower end produces more and bigger fish for me. 

[WRB]

Post a map and will try to break it down for you.

Tom

[AustonW]

Sorry guys, Eufaula is what I fish the most often. Forgot that much needed information 

[TnRiver46]

8 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

The section that has contour lines closest together, simply speaking. 

That’s how I fish too, but all the pros that catch way bigger fish than me always talk about fishing flats. 

[Woody B]

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

That’s how I fish too, but all the pros that catch way bigger fish than me always talk about fishing flats. 

I'm not a pro, and I doubt I catch bigger fish that you do but it's my believe that the bass that hang around near the ledges go up on the flats at times to feed.   

[Jar11591]

44 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

That’s how I fish too, but all the pros that catch way bigger fish than me always talk about fishing flats. 

I have success on flats too, but it’s seems like those flats are always adjacent to steep contours. 

[WRB]

3 hours ago, AustonW said:

Sorry guys, Eufaula is what I fish the most often. Forgot that much needed information 

This is a big lake 85 miles long 46,000 acres.

Catt’s suggestion is as good as it gets concerning massive lakes.

Each major creek arm is a lake unto itself plus the main lake river channel and dam area.

The basics are the spawn cycle so start here. Locate known spawning areas with wind protection and shallow water 1’ to 5’ deep with sandy soil and some wood to shelter a bed.

Next is pre spawn and post spawn near the spawning areas with deeper water access close by. Creek arms with Y secondary points leading to the spawning areas are good staging locations. These areas will hold populations LMB about 6 months of the year. 

It's the cold water period currently and the bass try to find the warmest water within a few miles of the 6 month spawn-summer periods, nor far from the fall migration locations.

Eufaula’s dam area has long underwater points dropping into the main river channel. I would check out this area during the cold water seasonal period looking for birds and baitfish schools near the point ends. Determine the life zone depth using your sonar and target bass at that depth. 

Each creek arm should have similar structure elements that you can locate using the same techniques.

Tom

[scaleface]

Rick Clunn had a series of articles on how to break down a lake back in the 80's . I tried his methods and failed . Being bass are  abundant  I tend to stay close to the  launch  area . 

[TnRiver46]

8 hours ago, scaleface said:

Rick Clunn had a series of articles on how to break down a lake back in the 80's . I tried his methods and failed . Being bass are  abundant  I tend to stay close to the  launch  area . 

Yep! Once I started snorkeling I was amazed. There aren’t many places in a river without a bass. That “90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the water” is total BS where I live. There are fish in every corner of the water. Electro fishing (or just electronics) will also make this evident 

[MN Fisher]

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

Yep! Once I started snorkeling I was amazed. There aren’t many places in a river without a bass 

Reminds me of a vacation back before I was even a teen. Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, I was snorkeling not far from shore, came around a fairly decent size rock - and was face-to-face with a good size bass.

[TnRiver46]

Just now, MN Fisher said:

Reminds me of a vacation back before I was even a teen. Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, I was snorkeling not far from shore, came around a fairly decent size rock - and was face-to-face with a good size bass.

They don’t even scare when you are down there with them! They probably think I’m a harmless pale manatee 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Yep! Once I started snorkeling I was amazed. There aren’t many places in a river without a bass. That “90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the water” is total BS where I live. There are fish in every corner of the water. Electro fishing (or just electronics) will also make this evident 

Absolutely on the whole 90%=10% stat.....there are Bass everywhere, place I had no clue until luck put one on a hook or sonar showed them to me.      Not only are there smaller Bass in the most wide open deep non structure type places, but so are HUGE fish that we are just now starting to understand.