This is a bar I fish, the lake has Large Mouth, Small Mouth, and Stripers, the area highlighted in Blue is the creek channel, the area in red are the areas I fish, I do catch fish up on the crown of the bar, but most are small. I'm using C-rig, T-rig, and square bills near the crown of the bar. My question is, how would I position the boat and where should I target the bar to increase the quality of the fish we catch? RD

hey man! nothing but experience beats knowledge, but here's my best bet. in the photo below I
circled two areas- on paper, these two areas would carry the most bass. why? well, firstly, there both areas bass can easily ambush and round up prey. the one on the left side allows the bass to come in and narrow them into a single corner/edge where baitfish and other prey have no escape. the one on the right is similar- since it's a drop-off, and it also has a similar shape where bass can ambush and target prey. id put my money, that you'd find some good quantity and big bass in those two spots during mid-late fall and possibly during the spawn. I'm not so sure about boat positioning since I'm only getting into boat fishing since I'm in a high school fishing team rn, but for the right one, position the side of your boat parallel to the bank and throw from there. for the little bulge on the left, id go perpendicular from the bank and fan cast around that area.

This is a familiar looking setup. Never fish this spot without hitting the orange dots. Many times you will find the biggest or the most fish stacked up on these little spots. Go at it with a long cast from about a 45 degree angle and perpendicular to the shoreline after you have finished with the outer point.

good advice given. taking some notes myself always wondered what exactly people were looking for.

Another possibility is the particular area wont ever hold those better quality fish. Not every point, bar, hump, channel swing, etc will hold those better quality fish. The creek that runs along side of this area doesn't appear to be very big, its possible that this area just doesn't hold a larger population of fish.


Other questions to ask yourself.......

What is the bottom composition of this area?
is it prone to getting blow-out quickly with a moderate wind?
Does this area have large waves that crash into it when the wind blows hard?

My money is on that isolated dock on the topside of the map.

After years of fishing offshore structure, I am of the opinion that there are no "rules" that apply to every body of water. Current, water temps, cover, and bottom composition all come into play.

When looking at a new lake, or trying to find new places to fish, I have found these things to be true in most cases ..........

The fish will tend to congregate and loiter in the places where the grid lines get close to each other. That is: sudden and constant depth changes.

The fish will tend to leave these places to feed and go into the nearest shallow areas to feed provided that food is available there.

Points, ditches, channels, etc are usually best when there is a sudden and consistent depth change nearby.

Like I said ... in most cases. Not always. And things can change hour by hour in some cases.

These are really good threads. With the map, it is much easier to interpret the explanations.

yes

Especially since that creek swings in there pretty close to it!