Back to your survey, if you would include a choice that reads "Everywhere I'm Not", then that would be my selection. Big fish, whatever that means, seem to be allergic to me. Basically, if you want to catch a big fish, don't go where I go or do what I do. I should probably publish a journal or something so that anglers can rule out certain waters and techniques.

I like fishing large (6") topwater swimbaits (Super Spooks would qualify, but usually bigger baits), so I target large flats. Most fishermen don't fish my style, but they come up from deep if clear (20'), or 6 to 9 is stained. Love the explosions, don't catch as many, but can get more in weight with two fish than buddies fishing d/s on the back of the boat that get 10.

My 11.6 on a frog was a bed fish, not that I targeted her, was stained 4' of water, next to deep (20' for this lake-Otay).

My biggest bass was in 35’ foot of water but I rarely fish that deep. I have caught more of my larger ones much shallower. If I think about it it’s been a mix of thick & sparse stuff. It really just depends on time of year & what body of water for me at least.

4 DD’s here, none under 10ft.

Thick brush pile 13ft
Stump 12ft
Brush 12ft
Tree trunk 14ft

Everything 8 or better I’ve caught has come from 5’ of water or less, including my PB 11.5 lbs. A few in what I’d call heavy cover but for the most part I’d say isolated cover has produced more for me.

I've caught (3) under a dock and all on a black & blue sweet beaver ... one was 10.05 (I remember the exact weight on this one because it was during a tournament and another guy beat me with a big fish of 10.50 ) on LBJ Lake TX, One was 11 & change on Marble Falls Lake TX and the other was 10 and change on West Point Lake GA.

Depends on the lake and the time of year. Never caught a DD off of a bed, but I've caught numerous 8's and 9's out of 2 foot of water. Saw a 12+ on a bed in Florida but never got her to bite. All of my DD except one have come from 10 - 25 foot and either on structure or grass. That one exception came from, of all places, the edge of the boat ramp where I had launched. Also caught a 6 lb smallie in NY out of 40 foot of water.

So far Ike’s theory isn’t holding true for us then. I wonder if bass over 12lbs & up are where his theory would apply better. I’m still thinking NO, because of all the Ivie bass that have been recently caught.

I could coauthor this book with you.

If I had to fish only one area of a lake to catch a big bass, I'd choose a bridge and stay within a 100 yards of it in every direction.

Best is a 9.6 next to a cypress tree on Lake Mcqueeny. Less than 5’ of water. Miss fishing on that lake.

58 over 10 lbs to my credit only 3 deeper than 15 ft and not over 20, and some as shallow as 3 foot and over 100 degrees, out of 5 different lakes

Fish are going to be near food under any conditions in my opinion.

Had a 12.87 in the August heat in 3-4 ft foot. Never say Never .

I’ve got 6 DD and probably 200 between 8-10 over the years and I can tell you, not 1 of them has come deeper than 15. 1 DD off the dam at falcon, 1 DD off a boat dock, 1 DD out of Lilly pads and 3 other punching hydrilla in 8 foot of water. Half my 8-10s came off falcon cranking rock and brush in 10-15 foot.

My biggest was off the edge of the hump on Houston County. I guess you can call that open water with no cover. 15-17ft of waterish