Important tips for finding largemouth bass

3 Important Tips for Finding Largemouth Bass

While there are hundreds of tips and secrets for finding bass, many of them are one-off tricks that cannot be duplicated across bodies of waters or seasonal changes. The most useful bass fishing tips are the ones that change your thinking and process. By improving the way you approach a body of water and target bass, you will improve your whole game and compound your catch rate. Here are three fundamental tips on finding bass that will improve you as an angler over the long run.

Bass Tip 1: 90% of Bass are Found in 10% of the Water

In general, bass are found in 10% of the lake. Not a specific location that makes up 10%, but a specific combination of characteristics that make up 10%. This could mean that bass are holding the entire circumference of the lake, but concentrated under the shade providing overhangs such as docks, branches, and fallen trees. It isn’t that bass are holding to that secret dock the bait shop hinted at, but that bass are holding underneath docks in general because of the extreme pressures of heat and sunlight. Thinking through why fishing are holding to a spot will narrow your options down to key locations that make up 10% of the lake.

Bass Tip 2: Characteristics Over Location

Successful bass fishing is not about finding a spot, but finding a combination of factors that are often spread out in pockets of the lake. Finding the right combination of depth, structure, cover, water temp and conditions is more valuable than a general location. You should approach a body of water with a few hypotheses on conditions and bass fishing tackle. Test these conditions and look for patterns that are replicable, such as a transition in depth and structure. A hot spot tip is great for that spot, but once you catch the bass holding their, you will scratch your head not knowing what to do next. It is more important to understand why that spot is hot and to duplicate the conditions paired with your lure selection.

Bass Tip 3: Mobility is Key to Locating Bass

Cover a lot of water to find the 10% where bass are holding. Finding out what works may take a little time, but time can be expedited when you efficiently search out your original hypotheses. Fish each planned spot for 10-15 minutes with a baitcasting rod & reel to speed up your casts. Keep moving and testing a variation of three 3-4 lures in each location. This means stocking up on popular bass lures and sectioning off a core few for each condition you target. Larger bass often form in pods of 2-3 or go it alone, so you will need to keep moving and duplicate the same 10% over more water to keep catching.

Post Contributed by Edward Hitchcock at Tailored Tackle