The most important feature when locating bass?

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I'm with Burley, proper wick length for the respective depth you are targeting,....it ain't easy... ;D

[CJ]

Matt-Fly, I forgot about the bait. Great point.

I expect alot of different opinions cause of the different waters people here fish. I myself, think depth first and that may not be the key factor. I think bait is as important and ofcourse, what season you are fishing may cause other features to be "key".

Thanks for the input, keep it coming!

Bud, you better go check with a LC 78.  

[jrhennecke]

Structure & Cover

[Bud]

   Bud, you better go check with a LC  78          

Don't have to when you got the birds ;D ;D ;D

RW I cannot help it if you jerkbait hooks are dull : : :

[Paul Roberts]

It concentric:

Pick the right lake/pond

Pick the best area of the lake/pond for the season

Find out the best structure for the season and conditions

Find the best cover/breaks on the structure for that time

Divine the best tackle, lures and presentation

Fine tune the presentation

Adjust as things change

All the pieces mentioned in the original post are important. You just have to rule out the wrongs and narrow down the rights...

[jaymc]

I agree with everything I've read above with one other addition.

In this day and age some cover is very obvious. If the lake is heavily fished everone will pound that particular spot. So if you want to find a honey hole you need to find something that isn't obvious to everyone and then keep your mouth shut. 8-)

[RoLo]

It was Buck Perry who coined the word "structure", and I really wish he hadn't.

I read Buck's book called "Spoon Plugging" hot off the press. At that time the term "structure"

implied "manmade", such as buildings, bridges, highways and dams. Indeed, Buck's expertise dealt with reservoirs,

but anglers fishing natural lakes began using the word "structure" as a "placeholder" for the unknown.

Unfortunately the meaning has been so obscured that fishermen today find themselves debating

the differences between structure and cover. At any rate, I still refer to structure as "bottom contour",

the same as I did before Buck published his book.

A nagging problem between Bottom Contour and Cover is that some lakes contain cover

but are practically void of contour (my home lake is a good example).

Other lakes are chockfull of contour but are practically void of cover. Falling in this category

are many of Canada's oligotrophic lakes, which are clear, rocky and loaded with drop-offs and underwater islands but are virtually weed-free.

With that in mind, I believe that wherever a bass has a choice, it will gravitate first to "bottom contour" (rapid depth change),

then find the best "cover" thereat. In lakes that are practically void of contour (like the dishpan lakes in central Florida),

bass will always gravitate to the best "cover" For largemouth bass, weeds are their first love, followed by wood and lastly rocks.

For smallmouth bass the order is reversed (hard to soft).

As for depth, that's really another matter, sort of a combination of location and delivery (i.e. speed & depth).

Bass depth changes with the seasons, but it varies a whole lot more between natural lakes and manmade lakes.

Buck Perry's writings dealt chiefly with manmade reservoirs, so naturally he spoke of greater depths

than Doug Hannon for example, who lives in Florida. Buck spoke of a bass sanctuary in 30 to 35 feet of water,

while Doug maintains that the biggest bass are caught in less than 6 feet of water. Both gentlemen are correct.

Roger

[Paul Roberts]

RoLo,

Excellent!

[Glenn]

THE most important factor, in my opinion, is time of year.  All else falls under that.

[CJ]

THE most important factor, in my opinion, is time of year. All else falls under that.

WOW! Da Man spoke!

Thinking more about it, I think your excactly right. Time of year is the first thing to take into consideration.

A guy spends 1 day in the boat with Ike and he's a genius! LOL

[WRB]

The most important factors when trying to locate bass are;

1. Seasonal period.

2. Prey..

3. Water temperature.

4. DO levels.

5. Water clarity.

After you have determine what calendar period the bass are in, then you need to locate prey the bass are feeding on. Water temperature determine the location during the seasoanl period. Dissolved oxygen levels must be within the basses range of confort. Water clarity will determine how deep the bass may go during the seasonal period.

Structure elements are the phsyical feature under the water the bass relate to and cover provides a sancturary for both bass and prey. A combination of structure with cover is important.

Bass are never far away from their prefered prey and locate in water they are confortable in and provides both food and sanctuary.

The perfect ledge located in an area that is void of prey or DO is a poor structure under those condiitons. A boat dock located in shallow 85 degree water may be a poor choice. A tree standaing near a channel break, providing cover for both bass and prey, located in 75 degree water, 40 feet deep, standing 30 feet tall, with a thermocline at 25 feet, would be a good location, for example. A rock pile located in the same area as the tree, during the same conditions , would be a poor choice, due to low DO levels that may exist with the thermocline at 25'. However if you mark fish near the bottom, that would indicate the bass are confortable at 40' and the rock pile becomes a good choice.

WRB

[RoLo]

THE most important factor, in my opinion, is time of year. All else falls under that.

WOW! Da Man spoke!

Thinking more about it, I think your excactly right. Time of year is the first thing to take into consideration.

A guy spends 1 day in the boat with Ike and he's a genius! LOL

Everyone agrees that seasonal period is the "first thing" to take into consideration. This is especially true in manmade impoundments

where bass generally scatter in shallower water in spring (creek arms) but tend to aggregate deeper in winter (original river channel).

However, the responders to this thead were not alluding to systemic order.

Rather than our "first consideration", your question Chris, asked for the MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE.

Indeed, seasonal period is the logical first stepping stone, but in Florida for example, it's not a very important feature.

Bass in the Deep South may be caught in 3 feet of water during Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, whether they're spawning or not.

If your planning a trip to Florida, you'll probably want a little more insight than calendar month to really nail down location.

Roger

[CJ]

Rolo, whenever you decide to write the book, I'll be the first to buy it!

Thanks for your input, it's priceless.  

Chris