Fishing Tips

Choke Canyon Bass Guide

Fishing Tips

Cover and Structure Cover and structure are not necessarily the same thing. Cover is basically anything that can hide a fish or baitfish. Whereas structure is basically anything that causes a change in the bottom contour. Hydrilla, lilly pads, cattails, and trees are examples of types of cover. Points, humps, creek channels, bridges, and pond dams are examples of structures.
Which is best? It all depends on where you are fishing, the time of the year, and how you like to fish. I think most people would agree that a combination of structure and cover is best most of the time. In fact, I think most people fish both without realizing it. If you are a bank beater throwing at visible objects, you are fishing both - the objects are cover and the slope of the bank is the structure. In many instances, that can be a good strategy. However, on pressured lakes, those visible objects get pounded by fishermen every day making them less and less productive.
As a guide, I tend to fish structures that aren't visible to the eye, except by using electronics. Some of my favorite structures are humps, points, pond dams, and road beds. You can find many structures with the aid of a map and electronics, but so can all the other fishermen. I prefer the ones that can't be found on a map. However, they are few and far between. I also prefer structures that have some green vegetation close by. Plants come and go and change with the water level, so you never know when a spot will have greenery. You just have to put in your time or pay to find those kind of spots.
When the lakes are low, I keep an eye out for structures that will be productive when the lake fills back up. I especially take note of hydrilla lines that extend several feet away from the bank, knowing that when the lake fills up the average fisherman won't hit that spot. Thick hydrilla can be a combination of cover and structure by itself, providing cover for baitfish and contour changes for ambush points.

Choosing the right bait Choosing the right bait is a subjective topic. I suggest 3 main things when considering what baits to use: confidence baits, rules of thumb, and basslog history.
Confidence is extremely important. It doesn't matter how much you read or watch on TV, until you actually catch a fish on a lure you won't have confidence in it. Our tendencies are to throw the baits that we have the most confidence in - and there is nothing wrong with that. However, might I suggest that when your confidence baits are working their best, that is when you should try other baits and locations. Don't wait until you can't catch anything on your go-to baits in you favorite honey holes before trying new lures and spots.
Rules of thumb are good guides, but sometimes just the opposite works even better. It is good to be mindful of the rules of thumb and apply them when necessary (see the article on rules of thumb).
Fishing log history is probably the most useful guide to what baits to throw. A good fishing log can tell us exactly what caught fish under the same conditions. For example, say you are fishing Choke Canyon Lake in October. You just checked the weather forecast and it is supposed to be sunny. According to all the fishing reports, the water is clear. You know 4 bits of information you can search on. Go to the option to search the Fisherman's log on Bassmasters' Insider section, then choose for the lake: Choke Canyon, month: October, sky condition: sunny, and water clarity: clear. Next, you choose what results you want and whether you prefer numbers or quality fish. Then, start catching more fish by applying the same tactics that have been catching fish under those circumstances.

Rules of thumb I put together a set of bass fishing rules of thumb that I use to help me be more consistent. Following these rules of thumb may help you to become more consistent in your bass fishing. There are exceptions to every rule, especially in bass fishing. Keep in mind that while I may list it as a rule of thumb, other successful pros and guides may do just the opposite and be productive. There are also times when I disobey the rules.

Throw topwaters only when the water is at least 60 degrees and the sun is not visible or bass are schooling
Wait 2 seconds before setting the hook with a topwater
Fish shallow early and late and on cloudy days - fish deeper on bluebird days
Fish tight to cover on sunny days - cover more water on cloudy days
Throw single hook lures around heavy wood cover - throw treble hook lures whenever you can get away with it.
Use a medium to light rod when fishing with treble hooks - use a stiffer rod for single hooks (worms, jigs, spinnerbaits)
Use dark colors at night
Use brighter colors in murky water and on dark, cloudy days
Use colors that don't stand out in clear water and sunny skies
Use bigger and noisier baits in murky water
Work a bait faster in clear water
Use unweighted baits only in calm, shallow water
Use heavier baits in the wind, deep water, or strong current
Big baits catch big fish, small baits catch more fish
Match the size of the bait that the fish are feeding on
Use 20# or heavier line for fishing jigs and worms where big fish are present - use lighter lines for all other purposes
Work a crankbait in about 1/2 the depth the bait is designed to run.
The lighter the bait, the more line you should leave out when casting.
The percent of how full you fill your baitcasting reel is about equivalent to the percentage of your maximum casting distance. For instance, if you fill your spool 100%, your maximum casting distance is 100%. If you fill it 80%, you can only expect to throw it 80% of its' potential. Likewise, if you fill it 50% full, you can likely throw it to the end, which is about half the distance you could get if it was full.
Bass prefer long and skinny over short and fat - they prefer snakes over turtles
Rising water is better than dropping water
West wind is better than an east wind
Cold fronts will shut the bite down when the water is cold
You can't catch em if you don't go!

Setting your Graph Getting your graph set properly is getting easier with the evolution of better electronics. Many of the newer graphs will draw great pictures without changing a setting. However, most of us will want to tweak our units whether they need it or not.
There are really only a few things that I believe are important to tweak a graph. They are the mode, sensitivity, and range. I will discuss these in further detail.

Mode

Most units have an automatic mode and a manual mode. On most of the older units, either you let automatic mode do everything for you or you did everything yourself. Many of the newer units allow automation of separate components such as sensitivity and range. I believe this is a big step forward.
If your only option is manual or automatic mode, I recommend using the manual mode in most cases. The exception would be if you are learning the terrain and automatic mode is the only way to get the range to change with the terrain.

Sensitivity

Raising the sensitivity will show more targets, but will also show more noise and clutter. Lowering the sensitivity will show less clutter, but may miss some targets. I recommend that you have the sensitivity at least high enough to produce a double echo at twice the depth. For instance, if you are in 20 ft of water, set the range to at least 40 ft. If you don't see the bottom at 20 ft and again at 40 ft, increase the sensitivity until you do. Once you get it set, then set the range back to the appropriate depth.

Range

I like to have the range set to exactly what is under me. For instance, if I am in 20 ft, I like to have a 0 to 20 ft range. Unfortunately, the units I have used do not range as I would like. In manual mode, if you have the range set for deep water and then you go to shallow water, you will only be using a portion of the screen to display the entire cone. On the other hand, if you are set for shallow water and you go to deep water, you won't see the bottom without readjusting the range.
The older units only range automatically in automatic mode. The problem with that is that in automatic mode you lose all your manual settings. I have the newer units with the auto range feature. This is a great feature since it doesn't change my other settings. However, it still falls short in ranging exactly as I would like.
I have a graph on the front of the boat that doesn't have a 15 ft range. So, if I am fishing in 14 ft of water, I have to manually set the lower limits to that depth. It can be a chore, especially if I go back and forth between shallow and deep. I prefer to keep the lower limits as deep as I plan to fish. If I know I will be bouncing back from 12 to 18 ft deep, I will set the lower limits to 18 ft. I don't usually do anything with the upper limits, because I never fish deep enough to matter. You probably need to be fishing 50 feet or more for that to be an issue.

Annoyances

Annoyances are what I call features that don't serve a useful purpose. I'm not going to mention them, because there are more of them than useful features. If you ask me, the sonar companies could have made things real simple. If they had a sensitivity up and down button and a range up and down button, that would be all we really need. Wouldn't that be neat to just push a button rather than scroll through a bunch of useless features? I guess if they made them that simple, you wouldn't be reading this.