If you are looking for staging fish or newly migrated fish from winter, what depth do you concentrate at?

For arguments sake, lets say you have 2’ water clarity, 55 degree water temp, and full pool stable.

I am wondering if you still cast to the bank or a little deeper.

Thanks

I focus on creek swings. I never look at the bank, I’m always following the creek regardless how close or far the bank is.

Deeper than casts to the bank

A typical place to start looking would be where a point intersects a creek channel bend at the mouth of a creek

Sometimes you can find a magic spot where they are grouped together feeding up for the spawn
A hump with early grass on it leading into a spawning cove

Tough question because there usually is always a population of shallow fish to begin with, and the spawn can carry on for quite awhile. So, it depends on if you are fishing those shallow fish, or the fish that do their winter routine off the bank on some sort of structure. I like fishing areas where those deep fish have access to shallow water...it isn’t so much a depth thing to me.

The first drop in water depth adjacent to a spawning flat or bank. This could be a creek, ditch, pond, etc. I find this to be a good place for fish to quickly fall back to when the conditions change. I had a ditch last year that was stacked with fish for 3 weeks and then we had a big rain and they all moved up into the spawning area. I could barely catch fish in this ditch once this happen. After the next cold front the fish were back in the ditch.

Same here Taj. Had a spot of Ray Bob a few years ago that was a ditch way out in front of the main creek that ran up to the back of a pond dam. 6' on top and 9'-10' in the ditch. For a few weeks it was on big time with Jigs and crankbaits. Then they moved into the creek and that spot was dry afterwards. I tried it after the spawn thinking they would stop there on the way back out, but nothing doing.

Fortunately bass don't all spawn at the same time. You can find prespawn, spawn and post spawn fish in the same lake over a period of weeks, plus female bass don't lay their eggs all at once and extend the spawning period. I've caught bass in + 6' of water beyond the shallow areas (usually in 4') and shallower in the same week.
Prespawn fish are usually feeding until they focus on making beds shallower. Post spawn males feed less if at all than females that once their eggs are laid are ready to feed sooner. Keith Jones described what happens around the spawn in Knowing Bass and which I've confirmed over many years.

i follow migration routes, not shoreline

W5f does that mean senko lol jk

could care less about where the shoreline is as mentioned in the OP, just follow the paths they use to move from one place to another looking for sweet spots along the way that holds groups of females. pretty simple.

4-12 ft

If you have time would you be able to point me to the section in Knowing Bass related to spawning behavior? I've looked myself and was unsuccessful.

This is exactly what I do with my Mapping Techniques. It is a long and drawn out process of studying the most Irregular Contours on a lake. These contours mean everything to the fish at all the stages that they will go through. I use these same contours during the winter feeding patterns, to the Spring Spawn and into the Summer patterns where I am looking for the top water bite during the early Summer. How to fish each of these patterns is a whole other ball game which I call; Developing a System that best supplements your style of fishing. Most fishermen never put the time in on the water to develop this system to its highest degree.
- Irregular Contours will produce fish year round and it takes lots of looking to find them.
- Contour lines will hold the irregular features that will produce big fish called Hot Spots on both sides and the front slope of the contour that leads to deep water.
- Big Bass just do not travel very far to do there thing during all seasons along this route; so they live close by on this same contour.
- The more compact that these contour routes are the higher the percentage the area will be for producing fish.
- These Irregular Contours show up in many different areas of your lake like: The River Channel Swing, Longest Points Leading To Deep Water, Creek Channel Swings, Creek Bends especially S-Bends, Gouges, Drains and Protrusions.
- All of these eventually connect to the shoreline in some way and usually provide that highway for staging and to bring fish to the shallows.
- You want to be fishing these high percentage areas at different seasons of the year and the key is timing. You have to be there at the right time of the day to intercept them.

I have written articles on both following Bass, From Shallow To Deep and Developing a System. If you cannot use the search function to locate the post please contact me with an Email Address and I will shoot you the articles on both.
OR: I can post them again. They are a long read.

Good advice right here

I can see 20 ft down on Amistad on a calm day, which you don't get too often here.