My goal has always been to study maps and learn to recognize the coves, creeks, flats, and structure that is required to find bigger Bass. Once you learn this you will have no trouble following them to their comfort zones as mentioned below.

In most reservoirs, bass reside on ledges and drop-offs adjacent to shallow-water feeding grounds. They travel along these areas in search of food. On the deep side of the ledge or drop-off, bass experience comfortable temperatures and better oxygen levels. The depth provides shelter while the shallow side provides food sources such as Minnows, Bluegill, and Crayfish. To determine where to start your search, look for ledges and drop-offs with a significant edge. The faster the drop from shallow feeding grounds to deep water, the more comfortable a bass feels in its environment.

Keep your boat in the 20 depth range following the contours that you have studied before your trip. For safety and to preclude outside disturbance, bass will always move back to positions near deeper water when not actively pursuing food. The depth range that I have found to be most productive is between eight and 15 feet. Therefore, the most potentially productive ledges will be within that range. I think isolated cover is always the deal. It doesn't matter whether you're fishing deep or shallow, wood or grass, clear or dirty water; bass are going to be holding around isolated cover. Use baits that will search for these pieces of cover along that route to the shallows. You must select the ones that can be cast long distances from the 20 ft. contour to the Irregular Features that the Bass will be using toward the shallows.

Cover consists of weeds, brush, grass or timber, and is used for ambush. It is not used for his protection. Bass will develop a route from there comfort zone moving from one piece of cover to another until they have fed up then return. Sometime they have to continue along this route all the way to the shoreline. Structure is for resting, comfort, security and for feeding just outside of the cover. The best of two worlds is finding a piece of structure as shallow as possible with cover on it.

A productive structure feature is one which provides ready availability of food or serves as a reference point during periods of inactivity. In most cases, the bigger bass will be found on the best piece of structure that has cover and baitfish. When a bass experiences fear or senses danger, his instinctive reaction is to dash for deep water.

Unless actively feeding, a bass will always hold near the edge of the drop into deep water. Of all available structure features, ledges and drops are the most common AND the most continuously productive. A drop is a contour change resulting in deeper water and has a downwards angler of decent of 30 degrees, or more. Any change less than 30 degrees is considered a slope and will not be as productive.

A ledge is the upper lip, or edge, of a drop. While ledges and drops usually exist throughout a body of water, those associated with submerged channels and the deepest water in the area are always more consistently productive. Ledges are a strange beast�sometimes you can fish a mile without any bites, then find several quality schools of bass in the next mile.

The quickest way to locate good ledges and drops is to consult a well-defined topographical map. Start your map analysis near river and feeder creek channels and look for strong bottom irregularities and rapid contour (depth) changes. Key in on those that fall within the 8-15 foot range. You will survey the general area for indications of cover close by as you fish these spots. The final step becomes to prioritize the list. To do this, I select the locations with the sharpest drop-off and deepest adjacent water and number them. Then they are rated using about 25 different factors that make a spot the best it can be. You now have a plan of attack which has been thought out in a logical manner. It is OK to use your instincts. I find a lot more fish with a rod and reel than I do with a depth finder.

I took a look at this screen shot and this is what I see. Before the lake was impounded farmers would dredge the river channel especially near the bends to open up the river and make it deeper. This kept some of the crops from flooding. The area to the NW is that kind of spot. I am seeing piles of rubble all in a row and those are man made deposits on somewhat higher ground. It makes for good fish if the contours toward deep water are excellent.

I am outlining the 22 ft. contour to get a better feel for how it lays. The best high spots are then RED Circled. This is an easy spot to side scan before fishing. Many spots that I pick on some lakes can not be scanned for fear of spooking the fish. Open water ares like this can be scanned; just keep the boat in 20 ft. or more to do so and only make one pass. 9 times out of 10 I am going to see a couple of fish then turn around and fish it. So with that being said just fish it to begin with. If they are going to bite it will happen pretty quick.

This is how I do it: Man in front of the boat cast to specific shallower water spots that will be marked with the RED X�s and RED Circles. Major protrusions will be Circled. The man in the back will drag a Crig as you will be keeping your boat on the deep water contour out and around each of these irregular features in 15 to 20 ft. of water. My baits of choice for casting a Trig or weightless bait to the shallows are: 7� Power Worm in Pumpkin Seed to the bushes, Senkos, Grande Fat Baby Ring Fry and Flukes to the rocks. Crig bait is the Baby Brush Hog and Grande Ring Fry in Watermelon Red.

The contours outside the row of rubble HUMPS are not super contours. They are wide and basically flat for long distances. The humps are all you have and there is nothing to bring fish to those humps. It takes super contours to deliver the fish. Side Scan to see them then fish for them. I have set up 3 controlled drifts with the SE wind only using the TM to stay on the RED Lines. You are drifting across the top of the humps and on the sides of some. Two long drifts going NW should do it. The short line drift is across the top of the 3 humps that are not in line with the others. Some humps range in an elevation rise of 7 ft.. others only 3 foot rise. Just don�t see much here to make fish feel at home and safe. The river channel is off the SE end of the formation; but the river at this section of the lake does not have river channel definition. It is just a wide depression which is narrow in some spots and wide in others.

Now the Shoreline RED Spray line is a different story. I have BLACK Lined the ditch that cuts through the Rubble field. On each side is a FUNNEL POINT marked in WHITE Circles. This is where your fish will be. Put the boat on Contour at 20 to 22 ft. and follow that line making cast to all the RED Circles. Slow way down when you get to the Funnel points.

This is a GREAT thread. The knowledge here being shared is pure gold.

I understand that deep water points close to river channels and swings are great places to fish,
but what about lakes that don�t have any river channels??