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Understanding Largemouth Bass Location

Habitat

Largemouth bass prefer standing or impounded waters and avoid strong water currents. Many states have a wide variety of these waters that support largemouth bass -- small ponds, man-made lakes, river backwaters, flood control reservoirs, and natural lakes. In truth, the relative size of bass populations varies widely among these different types of waters. The man-made lakes and farm ponds support the highest bass densities, usually between 30 and 100 pounds per surface acre. Mississippi River backwater lakes contain bass densities ranging from 10 to over 30 pounds per acre. The natural lakes and large water-control reservoirs support bass populations of up to 10 pounds per acre. Differences in the population density between lakes is somewhat misleading since bass are not randomly or evenly distributed throughout a body of water. Rather, like all wild beings they concentrate into specific habitats at certain times of the year, a habit which makes them vulnerable to fishermen providing they understand bass behaivor. Even though bass density is generally lower in natural lakes and large reservoirs, bass fishing is often excellent when the fish are confined to habitats that are easily and effectively fished. No matter whether you are a beginner or an experienced bass angler, the most important factor is that you will want to exert the majority of your bass fishing effort in locations where the odds are greatest for catching fish.

Structure

Bass fishing success is ultimately determined by where you fish and the care that is taken in the presentation of the bait or lure. Bass have a very strong affinity for submerged structures for hiding cover and home ranges. The term "bass structure," which was coined within the last two decades, includes all of the physical features in a body of water which attract bass. Structures that bass most frequently utilize can be broken into five basic types. One of the most important is an abrupt change in bottom and shoreline contours. This type of structure includes steep-sloping shorelines, drop-offs, flooded creek channels, prominent land points, sunken islands, and just about any variation in the shoreline or bottom. Exactly what constitutes bottom and shoreline structure often varies from one water to another. Some lakes have numerous points, drop-offs, and others sudden changes in bottom contours, while others are generally dish-shaped and featureless. In lakes having an abundance of structure, the more time spent fishing these prominent features the more chance you will have for catching bass. On the other hand, in lakes that have a lack of bottom and shoreline structure the bass will inhabit locations where minor changes in the bottom contours occur. An abrupt 2-foot change in the bottom shape in an otherwise featureless lake will often be heavily utilized by bass.

Rock armoring or natural deposits, another type of structure, is also frequented by bass. Rock rip-rap that is placed along the face of the dam, on shoreline jetties, and land points to prevent wave erosion provide cover that often attracts and holds bass. Not many states have lakes with natural rock outcroppings along the shoreline, but in those that do bass are often found in great numbers. Bass frequently utilize submerged wood -- trees, stumps and brush -- the typical bass structure in man-made lakes and reservoirs.

Vegetation

An alternate structure type often inhabited by largemouths is aquatic vegetation. Nearly every bass fisherman has experienced the thrill of easing a lure off a lily pad into the water and had a bass immediately grab it. Many species of pondweeds, water lilies, coontail, elodea, cattails, and bulrushes provide excellent cover for bass. The amount and type of vegetation fluctuates greatly, and bass use of these structures also varies. Frequently fishing the edges and pockets in vegetation beds will let the angler know when bass are found in this habitat.

Man-made structures, such as tire reefs, stake beds, brush piles, boat docks, and boathouses are also used by bass for home ranges. Fisheries managers often add structures made from these devices to fishing water with limited natural structure. Other man-made structures, such as boat docks and boathouses, have concentrations of largemouth bass and should never escape the attention of a bass angler.

Most often combinations of submerged structure types found in the same location produce the best catches of bass. Examples of these super bass spots are demonstrated in the following illustration. Pay particular attention to any location that has an abundance of diverse underwater structure.

Some bass structures will be visible and obvious -- shoreline points, rock rip-rap along the dam face, lily pads in a shallow bay, and wood stickups that indicate submerged trees or brush. Many structure types, however, are not so easily visible. Two items are valuable to the bass angler in locating "invisible" structure. The simplest aid is a bathymetric map of the lake bottom. Contour maps are available for most lakes and reservoirs, and these maps will allow you to easily identify and locate drop-offs, submerged islands, flooded creek channels, submerged road beds and ditches. A more sophisticated device for locating structure is an electronic depth sounder, often called a fish-finder. These precision instruments serve several purposes. First, they are very helpful in pin-pointing structure location identified on coutour maps. Second, a depth sounder enables you to identify submerged beds of vegetation, trees, tire reefs, and stake beds. Sophisticated models, graph recorders and video sonar, will also allow you to locate bass with astonishing accuracy after some experience in interpreting images. The depth sounder is particularly helpful for fishing unfamiliar waters and especially if contour maps are unavailable.