Bottom Comp's...

[Tin]

Up here not too many people talk about or pay attention to bottom composition. In the Classic and recent events on Florida lakes (shell beds?) I have been noticing more talk about what makes up the bottom of the lake. We have beach sand, different types of gravel, mud, and rock bottoms up here. I know why and when fish relate to rocky bottoms, but what about the other three? :-/

[Guest muddy]

What very limited stuff I have learned,mostly from Zel and LBH, this is becoming somewhat helpful. It seems to be locked into on what the Bass need at the time you are fishing. We have a Lot of Rocks/Boulders in our lake. During the spawn, the flat tops of the boulders, in about 8 to 12 feet of water actually held spawning beds on top of the rocks!

 The smaller rocks that are next to them are filled with crawfish. Where the rocks end, there is a somewhat muddy bottom that leads to a submerged weedbed, that area is killer, I do not know why, but I find bass there every time I go to it.

 Like i said it's limited for me and I hope to continue to put this together.

[Tin]

Ok, I guess it isn't just RI fish that spawn on the tops of rocks and stumps. Last year I acctually saw a fish that had a bed in a shopping cart that was on it's side in 2 feet of water.  

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Ok, I guess it isn't just RI fish that spawn on the tops of rocks and stumps. Last year I acctually saw a fish that had a bed in a shopping cart that was on it's side in 2 feet of water.

I know it seems like I am stating the obvious here, but lets not forget that fish do not see things like we do.  

While we may see a shopping cart, momma bass sees something that will hide her bed from predators and is protected on 4 sides...  

I am still trying to figure out the depthfinder showing soft vs. hard bottoms, so I hear ya...

[Tokyo Tony]

Good question, I'm kind of curious myself.  I do know that often when you find cover on or near changes in bottom composition, you'll find a good fish-holding area.  Some of my better smallie spots are in the areas where grassy bottom with stumps meets rocky/sandy bottom.

Oh man I can't wait until the ice breaks in NH  

[Catt]

I learned years ago what type of grass grows on what type of bottom and what type of trees grow on what type of bottom. If I see a change from one type of grass to another or one type of tree to another I instinctively know the bottom compassion has changed. While many people look for crawfish around rocks I know for fact crawfish hibernate and spawn while burrowing underground so I look for soft bottoms.    

[burleytog]

Ok, I guess it isn't just RI fish that spawn on the tops of rocks and stumps. Last year I acctually saw a fish that had a bed in a shopping cart that was on it's side in 2 feet of water.

There is one local lake that uses old tires bolted together as a shore-stabilizer.  It doesn't work all that well as the bank washed out just as fast.

Anywho, these tires are a few feet deep over a little deeper water.  The spotted bass spawn in those tires every year.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I learned years ago what type of grass grows on what type of bottom and what type of trees grow on what type of bottom. If I see a change from one type of grass to another or one type of tree to another I instinctively know the bottom compassion has changed.    

Yes, something I learned at fork.  A curving line of trees often marked the edge of a creek channel.  Only the hardwoods would grow there so they are the only trees left standing.

It's cool, in some places, it's like a road was carved out with hardwoods lining the sides.

Matt Fly pointed this out on day 1 and I knew I was in a different world,lol.

[Tin]

Ok, I guess it isn't just RI fish that spawn on the tops of rocks and stumps. Last year I acctually saw a fish that had a bed in a shopping cart that was on it's side in 2 feet of water.

I know it seems like I am stating the obvious here, but lets not forget that fish do not see things like we do.

While we may see a shopping cart, momma bass sees something that will hide her bed from predators and is protected on 4 sides...

I am still trying to figure out the depthfinder showing soft vs. hard bottoms, so I hear ya...

I was always told the thicker the bottom looks on the graph the harder.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Black-hard   grey/pixilated-soft

[Guest muddy]

      Granted crawfish do hibernate and spawn in the mud,but here in the North On Mauch Chunk,Lake Haptcong,Greenwood Lake and the Leigh River you will find way more craw fish associated with rocks and boulders than the mud come June til Late Sept. Thats from years fishing them. Yhe one exception to this locally is the Susquehana River, where the Nescopek empties into it, by Lime Ridge, the big slow moving muddy bttomed holes are filled with crawfish and smallies smakin em hard.

Thats why you see a lot of guys this way staying out from the shore and going over like 12 to 20 ft of water, working cranks and jigs parralell to the shore and trying to follow the line where the water gets deeper ( I do not know the technical name) and where the rocks , meet the gravel, of where the gravel turns to weeds. These spots are especially hot, in man  made impoundments if the original creek bed is near by.

[Tin]

  Thats why you see a lot of guys this way staying out from the shore and going over like 12 to 20 ft of water, working cranks and jigs parralell to the shore and trying to follow the line where the water gets deeper ( I  do not know the technical name) and where the rocks , meet the gravel, of where the gravel turns to weeds. These spots are especially hot, in man  made impoundments if the original creek bed is near by.

Yup same up here, it must be a north vs south thing. Most of the craws can be found in areas with rocks.

A little off topic but do you guys down south ever see bass spawning on very muddy flats? In a few lakes up here bass will spawn in a swamp-like portion of the lake where you can go up to your middle thigh with mud (long story how we found that out) and it appears to be where most of the largies in these lakes spawn. Rumor has it they spawn there because the mud does something for their eggs. :-/

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

  Thats why you see a lot of guys this way staying out from the shore and going over like 12 to 20 ft of water, working cranks and jigs parralell to the shore and trying to follow the line where the water gets deeper ( I  do not know the technical name) and where the rocks , meet the gravel, of where the gravel turns to weeds. These spots are especially hot, in man  made impoundments if the original creek bed is near by.

Yup same up here, it must be a north vs south thing. Most of the craws can be found in areas with rocks.

A little off topic but do you guys down south ever see bass spawning on very muddy flats? In a few lakes up here bass will spawn in a swamp-like portion of the lake where you can go up to your middle thigh with mud (long story how we found that out) and it appears to be where most of the largies in these lakes spawn. Rumor has it they spawn there because the mud does something for their eggs. :-/

They are going to use the "best" real estate possible.  Some small ponds,etc, are only a featureless mud bowl, maybe some leaves.  If that's all they have, that's what they use.  If they have the option of some of that beautiful, golden, pea gravel at Lake X, surely they would opt for it but you gotta make due with what you got.

Like the 3 little pigs houses.  If you have brick, you use brick, if not, you use wood, if not, you use straw,...they are all still houses but one is preferable over the other.

(I'm having pork for dinner,....got Barb-B-Que on the brain.... ;D )

[Pond Hopper]

  Thats why you see a lot of guys this way staying out from the shore and going over like 12 to 20 ft of water, working cranks and jigs parralell to the shore and trying to follow the line where the water gets deeper ( I  do not know the technical name) and where the rocks , meet the gravel, of where the gravel turns to weeds. These spots are especially hot, in man  made impoundments if the original creek bed is near by.

Yup same up here, it must be a north vs south thing. Most of the craws can be found in areas with rocks.

A little off topic but do you guys down south ever see bass spawning on very muddy flats? In a few lakes up here bass will spawn in a swamp-like portion of the lake where you can go up to your middle thigh with mud (long story how we found that out) and it appears to be where most of the largies in these lakes spawn. Rumor has it they spawn there because the mud does something for their eggs. :-/

They are going to use the "best" real estate possible.  Some small ponds,etc, are only a featureless mud bowl, maybe some leaves.  If that's all they have, that's what they use.  If they have the option of some of that beautiful, golden, pea gravel at Lake X, surely they would opt for it but you gotta make due with what you got.

Like the 3 little pigs houses.  If you have brick, you use brick, if not, you use wood, if not, you use straw,...they are all still houses but one is preferable over the other.

(I'm having pork for dinner,....got Barb-B-Que on the brain.... ;D )

Hey there, leave our Lake X's, small ponds, and featureless bowls alone  In the small bodies I fish they seem to spawn in anything close to cover or structure.  If that is not an option, it tends to be the warmer waters where the sun is hitting at its peak.  My 2 best sight fishing, spawning fish came off a stump, and a small lay down with the fish on the Northwest side of it.

[CJ]

The type of rock, sand, gravel,mud, etc. that makes up the bottom is the foundation to alot of patterns. What Catt and some others have posted is proof. An exception would be man made brushpiles cause they may be placed on any bottom type.

As far as the spawn, alot of fish on Ky. Lake spawn in the yellow flowers. It's only a smaller grade of gravel, sand, or mud they will grow.

[Guest muddy]

Hey CJ and LBH, just having started Jiggin last yeart it forced me to pay attention to the bottom. On the Chunk on one side are a lot of boulders, with points and coves all the way up on one side of the lake . Why is it that if you catch one on the point you catch em mostly that way and when they are in the cove ( Indented part between points) they are mostly there, all at the same time.

Let;s say first one I jig up is on the deeper side of the point, the next few or many will be on the points. When that bite slows down we almost always find them in the coves then WHY IS THIS?

also if they are on the points, does it pay to also fish for the stragglers in the coveside?

[Catt]

Muddy, bass will stage all over a point depending on bottom composition, access to deeper water, cover, tidal movement or a dozen other reasons. It has been said that points point the way to bass so with that in mind fish the entire point until you establish a pattern. Often times that straggler could be Big Momma!

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Muddy, bass will stage all over a point depending on bottom composition, access to deeper water, cover, tidal movement or a dozen other reasons. It has been said that points point the way to bass so with that in mind fish the entire point until you establish a pattern. Often times that straggler could be Big Momma!

Big momma is right!  Especially if "coveside" is deeper than up on the tapering point.

I think the fish you may be finding in the coves are not necessarily the same fish.  If they are, and this repeats itself with consistency, then maybe those fish are using the point to hold or stage before moving into the cove.

Like today, I know the fish will be outside out back coves, waiting for them to warm a couple degrees before they move in there.

There could be, in the case of the Chunk, 2 different bites, also.  If so, I would venture to guess that the fish in the cove are a smaller class than those out on the point.

[CJ]

Muddy,

Keep in mind, during prespawn especially, the fish will change their positioning to a point. Bass often suspend in the early spring and may change their positioning several times during one day. In other words, they may be hugging the bottom one hour and move out to suspend the next. Regardless they will hold the same depth. A largemouth bass' swim bladder will not allow it to adjust to a drastic depth change in a short time period. Sure they can come up and nail prey higher in the water column but they will return to the depth they are set at. I always will try to back up a jig with a lure that will produce on suspended fish, like a jerkbait, spinnerbait, or a wacky worm. Keeping in mind that suspended fish are more reluctant to bite during prespawn.

As Catt's and LBH's post above hints. The belief of bass making an unexplainable lateral migration within an hour, for instance, may fool alot of fisherman. I belive the fish you catch are different fish than the ones your catching inside the points. Whether they are bigger or smaller, they're probally a different class.

[Guest muddy]

Thanks, I am trying not to complicate things i know are more simple than I have already made of them in my brain