All lakes have it

[Catt]

All lakes have it

Most anglers don't have a clue how to recognize it

Most anglers don't have a clue how make it pay off

It is the bass's home; that irregular features on a lake's bottom that attract bass like a magnet.

Hump Defined: An isolated high spot in a body of water that is shallower on top than the surrounding area; usually a small piece of structure less than 30 yards across.

Hump Logic: Among the best offshore bass structures. The most active bass are usually found on the top of the hump, while less active bass relate to the deeper sides or ends. Humps are most productive during summer and fall, when water levels on most impoundments are at their lowest.

The Best Humps: Productive humps can be among the most difficult forms of structure to find because the best humps are usually the smaller ones, no more than 20-30 yards in diameter. Some may be marked on lake maps, others not. Key ingredients are proper water depth and cover: The ideal hump would be 8-15 feet on top and fall off gradually into deeper water. Humps with sharp breaks are better suited for winter fishing. Isolated patches of cover such as brush, Hydrilla, stumps make it all the more attractive to bass.

Fishing the Hump: One of the best techniques for locating bass is to use a Carolina rig. The key is to pinpoint the cover, once you find the cover switch to a Texas-rig or Jig-N-Craw and fish it vertical, straight up and down in the cover. A vertical presentation reduces the odds of hanging up in the cover and subsequently spooking the fish.

Coming soon Ridges

[Bassn Blvd]

Informative but why should you use the C-Rig to pinpoint the structure/hump when a depth will work.  

[slomoe]

Great post Catt.

[flechero]

Another excellent post, Catt! Humps are some of the most productive and underfished locations there are. (and they usually hold bigger fish)

Informative but why should you use the C-Rig to pinpoint the structure/hump when a depth will work.

You can't pinpoint exactly with a graph... most transducers are between 4 and 24 degrees of cone angle. 20 feet of water at a 20 degree angle and most of the time you'll miss the entire brush pile. Beyond that, you can easily feel the hump's boundries with a c-rig... the slopes, bottom composition and then the cover.

A c-rig allows you to "map" the hump on the surface so you can "see" it's feature's locations.

The graph gets you in the area and the c-rig gets you on the spot, exactly where you need to be.

[Catt]

Ridge Defined: A high spot on the bottom of a body of water, similar to a hump, but usually long and narrow. Because of the water flow in the river or creek a ridge has been formed on the outside of the bend.

Ridge Logic: Underwater ridges attract bait fish and predators alike, because they create a defined contour with depth changes. While bass will not relate to ridges 100% of the time but they are dynamite fishing when you find the bass at home. Ridges will be productive year round and are ideal structure when looking for post frontal bass.

The Best Ridges: The best ridges vary from one lake to the next; ridges that top out in water 25' or less with good cover are prime structure. Ridges like any other kind of structure will have certain places the bass will relate to for one reason or another; it may be a small point, indention, group of stumps, or a brush pile.

Ridge Tricks: Jigging Spoons, Swim Baits, Jig-N-Craws, Carolina Rigs, Drop Shot Rigs, Texas Rigs and Deep Cranks can all be productive.

Coming soon Points  

[fishfordollars]

Ridge Defined: A high spot on the bottom of a body of water, similar to a hump, but usually long and narrow. Because of the water flow in the river or creek a ridge has been formed on the outside of the bend.

Ridge Logic: Underwater ridges attract bait fish and predators alike, because they create a defined contour with depth changes. While bass will not relate to ridges 100% of the time but they are dynamite fishing when you find the bass at home. Ridges will be productive year round and are ideal structure when looking for post frontal bass.

The Best Ridges: The best ridges vary from one lake to the next; ridges that top out in water 25' or less with good cover are prime structure. Ridges like any other kind of structure will have certain places the bass will relate to for one reason or another; it may be a small point, indention, group of stumps, or a brush pile.

Ridge Tricks: Jigging Spoons, Swim Baits, Jig-N-Craws, Carolina Rigs, Drop Shot Rigs, Texas Rigs and Deep Cranks can all be productive.

Coming soon Points

Gerat post Catt. There are some good ones out from the mouth of Palo Gaucho. One thing, you left out the cordinates of your favorite ones. Thanks for posting.

[Big-O]

Great stuff Catt

Big O

[Paul Roberts]

Yup. Offshore "shallows" are summer bass magnets. I fish small reservoirs, quarries, and ponds -same deal. A lot, if not most, bass move away from shore and can really pile up on these offshore shallows.

Mine don't have as much cover as Catt mentions, and my waters are quite clear, so I tend to mark 'em with a buoy then come back and throw from a distance -a tube, or crank, usually. If the fish are deeper, I can get closer and crank, jig, worm, or jig-worm, the sides.

[Team9nine]

Good posts. I love structure fishing, and even more so the search for structure. I rely a ton on my graph, and I do a lot of idling instead of fishing. When I'm searching a new lake, or a 'new to me' section of a lake, I'll cross and recross a piece of structure until I understand how it lays out, where the steepr drops are, if there is any cover on the structure, how the shad are relating to it, what the bottom content appears to be, etc. I'm actually not interested right off in catching fish. I'd rather have a complete understanding as quickly as possible of the spot. Once I've done that, I'll know about 80-90% of everything I need to know about the spot. Only then will I throw on it, largely to reaffirm what I think I understand about the spot and secondarily to catch a fish. Many times you'd be surprised at how much intrusiveness a bass will put up with. Even if I don't catch anything that first time, the GPS gets punched and you can bet I'll be gunning for fish right from the get go the next time I arrive at the spot.  8-)

-T9

[wagn]

this is the best offshore structure and fishing information I have ever read. It is so helpful to have someone actually explain and break down the terminology. I am sick of reading articles where I'm told to fish a ridge, but no one has described what they mean by ridge and how exactly they would fish it.

-Thanks Catt for this great post

Chuck

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Good stuff! This might be a good read for the guys who think the only way to catch bass is to constantly pound the shoreline cover just so they can "see" what they are aiming at. : :

[roadwarrior]

Good stuff! This might be a good read for the guys who think the only way to catch bass is to constantly pound the shoreline cover just so they can "see" what they are aiming at. : :

Well, except for BassResource.com members,

I think the guys should stay close to the bank...

8-)

[WRB]

CATT, your difinations differ from mine, but I agree that most bass fisherman spend too much time tied to the shoreline a casting distance way.

Hump to me; underwater island, depending on the lake level. Humps become islands as the water pool lowers, regardless of ther size.

Not all lakes have humps, some natural lakes are often feature less out in the basin, due to siltation filling in the bottom.

Ridge to me is similar to ridges above the water, they just extend down under water; the crest of a point for example or a ridge line on any mountain or hill. I consider outside river bends that have erroded to be ledges.

There isn't any standard terminolgy, it's very regional.

Out west where I fish for example, the soil on both humps and ridges is mostly clay and rock, therefor little or no aquatic vegetaion grows on them. Isolated structure elements like rock piles, boulders, trees and brush are the primary targets located on or near the hump or ridges that tend to hold the bass. For that reason we tend to use jigs, drop shot. deep cranks and vertical structure spoons on the outside structure featrues. Carolina rigs used more on the flats where soil can support vegetation, near deeper breaks.

WRB

[Catt]

WRB common sense would tell you a hump would become an island if the water level drops far enough. The humps I refer to are always cover with water regardless of lake level.  

A ridge above the water line that extends below the water line and a point are one in the same.

Ledges are horizontal projections forming a narrow shelf on a wall cause by the erosion of a river or creek flow.  

I think I coved rock piles, boulders, trees and brush with relationship to these types of structure.

Carolina Rigs are productive even with out vegetation since this technique was in fact founded in salt water fishing long before it was ever associated with the state of Carolina.

[Paul Roberts]

I pretty much think of all high spots (humps, ridges, and points) as functionally the same -Offshore areas that get sunlight and produce (or attract) food.

I could see ridge-shaped high spots as possibly offering something different in terms of current flow at times, due to sharper features.

I fish all these areas similarly though -and depending more on depth, cover type, and prey present.

[Catt]

Point Defined: A finger of land that juts out into deeper open water. The most obvious points are main lake and secondary points that originate from the shoreline. Points also occur in conjunction with underwater ridges and humps. Points can also be found jutting out on underwater flats and have no visible area above the waterline.

Point Logic: Points create a slope contour that progresses from shallow water to deep but occasionally points will occur in stair-step form; these staggered series of drop-offs create additional structure. Bass relate to points for multiply reasons. Points provide a dining table for feeding acting as natural funnels for staging before, during, and after the spawn.

The Best Points: Choose points based on the season; in cold water concentrate on main lake points where bass can find significant depth changes without swimming great distances. In warm water concentrate on secondary points which are points that occur inside the mouth of a cove or bay when bass begin gravitating to shallows via creeks, ditches, and channels. Submerged points are ideal especially during adverse weather conditions. The ideal point has a channel because they provide them a convenient place to feed with deep water access. Points with some form of cover Hydrilla, brush, stumps, gravel, or chunk rock are generally more attractive than bald points.

Pointed techniques: Points are the most popular forms of structure because they are easiest to find and can be fished with any lure & technique which makes them the most pressured.

[roadwarrior]

Man, I'm full on my twenty "Favorites".

Now I have to decide which one to

delete so I have room for this thread.

Great job, Catt!

8-)

[Black Bass]

Thanks for the info Catt. It now also resides on my harddrive.

[Catt]

Don't copy & paste to fast cause Ole Catt aint done yet  

[WRB]

Catt, it's your story, tell it anyway you want. Try to keep in mind some folks live outside of the state of Texas.

WRB

[Mobydick]

Very good posts! It came at the right time, I am just now trying to learn to fish offshore structure! Thanks!

                                                                Ian

[Catt]

What's really strange WRB is you're the only member out of close to 16,000 that has a problem with my definitions of structure. You keep saying terminology is regional but what you are disputing is not terminology but definitions and definitions do not change with regions.

[Catt]

Roadbed Defined: The surface of a road can be dirt, gravel, asphalt, or concrete. County roads, farm market roads, state highways, old driveways or logging roads will hold bass provided they are situated at the right location.

Roadbed Logic: Roadbeds provide bass with a distinctive travel route with a built in edge and a Varity of bottom hardness's. Concentrate on sweet spots that offer something different from the rest of the road. Sweet spots are usually located along the edge of a road and consist of but not limited to drainage culverts, ditches, washouts, rocks, old hedgerows, stump lines, fence lines, and bar ditches. With roadbeds there are usually several sweet spots not just one or two; look for these spots around sharp bends and road intersections.  

The Best Roads: Flooded roadbeds located in the backs of major bays/creeks will hold bass during fall/spring while deeper roads on the main lake are best during summer. Roadbeds that top out 6-12' beneath the surface will always get my attention.

Running the rods: A Carolina rig is perfectly suited becoming familiar with a roadbed; after you feel comfortable with the contour and find the sweet spots any technique will work.

[johnkook73]

Wow, good information Catt. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[bkoguy07]

Would this be a good hump?

If you can see it its a 6' "hump" in the middle of deep water.  What do you think?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/Bkoguy07/hump.jpg