So, you roll up to a lake for the first time. What then? How do you survey a new prospect to even begin to know where the bass fishing might be productive?
It’s a little bit of science, art and angling experience rolled together.
“There are any number of ways to figure out how to fish a lake,” Raymond’s Chris Goode said. “It really isn’t that difficult to surmise where to drop bait, but it’s no guarantee the fish will be there.”
So Goode begins with a visual inspection of the lake.
“I like to take the long look at a lake,” he said. “With binoculars is ideal, but if the lake is small enough you can quickly scan the lake shores, edges, coves and other features looking for signs of fishing structure.
“Is that a tree fallen into the lake back in that cove? Are those lily pads covering the surface over there? I see a gravel wall bank across the end, a dirt dam, or a shallow grass field. I look for any features that might produce bass.”
Once he’s performed an inventory of likely fishing spots, he’s ready to dig in his tackle box and get busy.
“Once you look the lake over, then the only proof to your judgments is to get out there and try your luck,” Goode said. “I start with obvious bass cover and structure first: sunken logs, lily pads, drainage creeks running trickling fresh water into the lake, stumps and such.
“If you throw a selection of decent bass lures across these areas, you are bound to get a strike sooner or later. I’ve never had this approach not work.”
Goode also said he is not the most patient fisherman in the world, so he is quick to move to a new spot if he doesn’t get a quick bite.
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