I have often wondered what strategies lead to the best approach to pattern fish especially when going to a new lake. I wondered if anyone had any secrets to share. I used to spend hours looking at maps prior to a trip and that was somewhat helpful but it only seemed to be little help because that was only a small part of the equation. Thanks for your help and expertise.

find one area, and pick it apart. establish a pattern from that small area, then you can push it around the lake and fish that pattern in other coves or main lake.

This morning I picked an area and fished a topwater pretty fast..Got a couple quick so I slowed it down and caught quite afew nice ones..My lake is post spawn for the most part so everything pretty much works..

I am no pro by any stretch of the imagination or will I ever, but when I go to a new lake I often will try a couple crankbaits, depth,size,color, etc just change it up. Working in and out of areas that look good to me on the water just not on a map. If you can be patient you can often have a great day when encountering a solid area. This my approach.