Joshuall wrote:
I've been watching the recent Woo Daves dvd I purchased on structure
fishing and doing some off season reading. Here's where I'm hung up I guess.
On the dvd with Woo he's fishing a lake, a big one and obviously there's
"some" current, but not like one would have on a river. And the rivers we
have around here flow pretty darn fast.

Knowing that large mouth bass don't like current, how does what I'm
learning about fishing off shore mix? I mean if I pull off the banks here
and try to fish a ledge 30-40 yards off shore the water's really flowing.
Will they hang on a ledge in deep water where there's current? And if not
isn't all this off shore stuff mute for where I fish? I"m haveing the same
visualization problems with all of the structure I've been reading about
e.g. humps, sunken islands, ditches etc. Anyone that can help reconcile this
for I'd sure appreciate it.

The other thing is that I know I can run over the structure with my
graph, but we have our fair share of rough fish here and cats etc. so it
will be really hard for me to tell the difference. Thanks in advance for any
thoughts or clarifying help.

Joshuall,

It depends, if you are talking LM, how much shoreline structure is
availalbe?? What other species inhabit the lake. Are LM the dominant
species, or do you have Pike, Walleye, Smallmouth? Bass naturally are
not a schooling fish. They may gather in packs to hunt, but school and
feel in open water when they are forced, such as lack of cover and prey
in shallow water. Are there weeds on these humps? If so, the current
will not be much of any issue. also how far down is the top of the hump.
If you have a lot of current you can use the hump to your advantage and
depending on how deep the top of the hump is. The fish locations on
the hump will be predictable if you have considerable current. View it
like a river, if the current travels north to south, and it is
significant, I would focus on the front of the hump and the back side of
the hump. Depending on how deep the top of the hump is again, the front
can be just as good, because as the current flows over the hump, the
water hits the front and flows downward creating a current break at the
front of the hump.

Now does your offshore structure even hold LM, again that depends on
competition for food, and availability of normal cover (weeds,
availability of prey, etc). If LM are your primary species you could
definitely find them out on open water, but if they are not, and you
have a lot of pike, and maybe walleye, and say the humps are just rock,
chances become slimmer. The first thing I do when I look at a map is
find spawning areas. I figure that is something as sure as paying
taxes. You know the fish biologically get the urge to spawn. From the
spawning area I widen my view to find points, humps, flats, and from
there I determine where they could possibly winter, and areas they can
use in transition. In searching for LM in open water, I never just pick
an arbitrary hump out in the middle of the lake. But then again I have
never fished a lake where there was a lack of shoreline cover, and bass
were the primary species. All I have to go off is books, videos,
magazines. I know the lake I fish LM are not the primary species, and
the walleye guys dominate the reefs, and smallmouth are packed on them
from time to time. LM relate to typical shallow structure, and our
deepest weedline is 5'. So for you , there are a lot of factors that
will determine if you have fish offshore, and if you do, what offshore
structure they use.

Questions I would ask if it was my first time on your lake is, primary
and secondary forage, other species, are bass the dominant species,
deepest weedline, location of spawning areas, what offshore structure is
availabe (are the humps covered in weeds, or just straight rock), and of
course that is all dependent on time of year, if the water was 55
degrees I wouldn't be fishing offshore structure (first).

Hope this helps

Chris