When you're fishing a lake you've never been to, how do you go about finding the best shallow spots on the lake? In other words, what makes one shallow spot stand out from another?

Pretty well gonna be target oriented fishing.

The first time I ever fished Lake 'O the Pines was in the winter, January. I had fished most of the morning in Alley Creek becasue a friend of mine had told me that years prior he had caught them there. I caught one 5# fish there from 7 am til 10 am. It had been a slow morning for me.

I was running down the lake and noticed a bunch of coots on a shoreline. I pulled over to the shoreline and saw they were feeding on some type of green grass that was not visible on the surface. I threw a lipless rattling bait and caught 4 fish in 30 minutes to finish out my limit. I would like to say I went on to win but that was not the case. A couple of locals guys had 21+ to win. I did get a check.

The first thing I do is go get a lake map, then go to Google Earth and look at the lake, then slide the historical imagery tab back and look at the lake in the drought years, find my spots that have rock, stumps and points, and humps then I will go to my depthfinder and pre-mark those spots so when im running the lake I'm not having to look at a paper map.

I just watched day 2 of the bassmasters this year on Conroe, one of the anglers said he does the same thing.

Not that I'm a bassmaster ! I just love me some google earth. Great tool!

GRASS, hands down most important to me
Timber
Points
Flats
vicinity to deep water or channels

I really enjoy flipping/pitching soft plastics, but my tracker only has a 46lb thrust TM so the last few tournaments with 15-20 mph wind forced me on the calmer shore or had me on repeat (tie off/fan cast/move/repeat)

Google Earth with the historical images is by far the most powerful scouting tool available for shallow fishing. In almost every case, the best shallow spots I know have a creek, ditch or draw that is nearby or leads to an area with a mixture of cover options including vegetation, brush, stumps, rocks, points, and or man-made structures. A place with good habitat diversity is where I like to start, then figure out what the fish are concentrating on in that area, then extrapolate it out to the rest of the lake (run that pattern).

Shallow flats will usually be money if they have grass (with a mix of rock/wood), bait, and nearby deeper water ('deeper' being relative to the depth of the 'shallow' water)...look for channel swings, small drops or humps, or ditches/drains that meander through the shallow flats....

Donald Harper has a pretty cool system of finding 'fishy' spots at different depths...hopefully, he'll be along soon

I start with the paper map and look for these criteria and number the spots from 1 -60. It takes fishing 60 spot just to find the best 3. You get better and better at this as you practice on each spot to eliminate them. I would pick just one lake at a time and work that lake until I had those 3 shallow water spots. Then I would work off of those spot to find the 3 best mid-range spots as well as some of the others that I thought would have potential. After finding these 6 spots I wanted the best 3 deep water spots and most would be adjacent to these 6 spots. This is where the fish disappears to after the bite shuts off. This is where they live.

Lake Stats: ---------------------------------------------

Dog Leg Coves: ___________________________

Forked Coves: ___________________________

2 + Creek Coves: __________________________

Big Flats Coves: ___________________________

Main Creek Coves: _________________________

Deep Water Coves: _________________________

Far Away Coves: ___________________________

Flats Inside Bend: __________________________

Small Points:_______________________________

Channel Swing Bank: _______________________

Creek Channel Banks: _______________________

North Coves: _______________________________

East & West Coves: _________________________

Bridge Banks: ______________________________

Road Bed / Fences: __________________________

Island/Hum Banks: ___________________________

Pond Levies: ________________________________

Railroad Banks: _____________________________

Foundations: ________________________________

Winners, Fish More Than Once. Give Them A Chance.

________________________________________

In for the info

Start with your first 20 HOT SPOTS:
Number them from 1-20 for the ones that you have picked to be the best Shallow water spots with the most potential. On almost every lake it appears that you are fishing every nook and cranny the lake has to offer. If you are going to find shallow water fish that is exactly what you have to do. I am not on the water with you to point out the reasons that a spot is holding fish. Hopefully you will recognize the shore line and creek channel features with some cover in the water that is attractive to bass causing them to be there on a regular basis. You will have to be patient, just fish hard, pay attention to the cover and learn from your catch ratios what the Bass in your lake are wanting. These desires will be the same over the whole of your lake. Once you develop a pattern and pull in on a new spot you will know the potential it has right away. Try your best to fish those that are not numbered; you never know what is back there until you take a look and fish. Twenty spots will only give you one best spot. Now you will take the information and be able to select 40 more spots to fish. This will give you 2 more hot spots on your lake. It is a must to have the best 3 spots shallow to track the big Bass out to their comfort zone.

TIME SPENT:
Shallow water spots in the Summer months are good for the first 2 to 3 hours each morning. You must cover 3 spots each day. On cloudy days you can count on a couple of more hours to fish and maybe get in 6 spots for the morning. Some spots are way back away from the boat traffic and may not even be possible to get to during low water times. You will have to move out toward deeper water as the fish move. Bass do not move far from home; so the next best area toward deep water will be a new search point. Some of the spots will be up the river through all kinds of timber. Look at your map and stay in the creek channel to get to them. Also look for cleared fields close to the shore in even shallower water that may make idling back there safer on the old lower unit.

There are 19 criteria above post, that I look for in picking the best spots. You will use a Ledger to record your catches. You may want to consider giving some of these spots a second chance if you do not feel the weather conditions were right on the morning you were there. The number one criteria for picking and catching big Bass on a spot is cover. Again I am not there to see the potential. Your first indication is visible cover. That is a good start, but the cover under water out to the ledge or slope that these Bass call home is the most important. After you finish your 3 selected spots each morning and have been successful on one, start your search. A side imaging unit is your best tool. In the early years, I had to find all my underwater cover with a C-Rig and some times this may be the best way to find it especially if you are dealing with heavy grass and hard woods. Bass move from their comfort zone each and every day to the first drop using the same bush, stump or rocks to ambush pray. Then they move to the next one toward the shallows. She will use the same ones each day and only making changes if the hunt is not successful or the water level drops drastically. Find these pieces of cover and you will find a monster hanging out there.

THE LEDGER:
Use a ledger to record and keep up with the places marked. Your goal is to come up with the 3 best spots on the lake. Record the number of fish caught in each spot 1-60. Just take a guess on the weight of the fish caught. There is really no need to get out the scales on every fish. Now on big fish it is just nice to know and make a few pictures of your catch to share in your reports to me. This record is a must if you are going to find second level and deep water fish. Those shallow water fish are coming from somewhere and your goal is to find them. The way to do that is by finding the 3 best shallow water spots that your Bass are using year round, in 40 degree water, and in 95 degree water. They are always there and will be active if you are throwing the right baits for the season. Just a quick and short note on the ledger is helpful when you start going back to the best spots in the future. Always note any irregular features of these spots that they may have; such as heavy wood, heavy rocks and heavy grass. If the cover is not adequate the Bass have no reason to be there because the bait they are in search of also require cover.

Water level does it for me. If there is adequate shoreline cover and the lake rises significantly, bass typically will move into it year round no matter what lake

Usually I look for a bank that has plenty of cover and is near deep water. If there is a lot of cover up shallow, on a point, that's even better. I just want a bank that has good cover and is somewhat near deep water.

I love the systematic approach to it. This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks. Great post.