So, you know how to catch largemouth bass. But where do you catch largemouth bass? I remember someone saying 90% of fishing is finding the fish. I believe this is completely true. When I fish for bass I am constantly changing areas to fish. Most of the time I believe bass will either strike a lure or there are no fish nearby. What I usually do to an area when bass could be anywhere (for example, excessive weeds on bottom of lake) I try fan casting.
Fan casting is where you cast your lure through a vast amount of space. What you do is cast from left to right until all the water in the area has been fished. Now, only do this 1 or 2 times and then move on to another area. A good example of when to use the fan-casting technique is a small, featureless pond where pin-pointing the place of a bass is next to impossible.
When fishing a lake always ask yourself these questions, does it provide food? Does it provide cover? And is it the right temperature?
Finding the right temperature is easy. Most of the time largemouth bass can be found in 10 feet or less of water. That is because that area of water is usually the warmest and largemouth bass like warm water.
Cover is used to hide away from predators and to easily ambush prey. Good examples of cover are drop-offs, flooded timber, edge of weedlines, and lily pads. Though, lily pads are best fished when there is no other cover nearby. The best type of cover is cover that is close to deep water.
Many people confuse structure with cover. Structure is any change in the bottom of the lake. A sudden underwater point on the bottom of the lake is considered structure, while submerged trees or lily pads are examples of cover. A good rule of thumb for structure is anything that looks different from everything else.
Now if you can find a place between 2 to 15 feet of water, some structure, and some cover, you may have just found a potential hot spot.
