How to Find Bass Structure
- 1). Turn on your fish finder and motor away from the shoreline.
- 2). Search first for drop-offs and weedlines, as these typically will be two structural elements that are closest to shore. A drop-off will appear on your fish finder as an area where the bottom slopes from shallow to deep. When you see a clump that extends off the bottom of the lake, it likely is a vegetation, and the weedline is the depth at which the vegetation stops appearing. A drop-off or a weedline alone can hold bass, but finding a drop-off with a weedline on it is a good recipe for success.
- 3). Try to find areas where the bottom forms points and turns, as these are areas that attract bass. To find these structures, watch the line on your fish finder that shows the bottom. When you are going over a point, the line on your fish finder will go from deep to shallow to deep. On a turn, the line will go from shallow to deep. It is easy to follow a point or turn by motoring along the edge where shallow and deep water intersect; motor along the shallow side.
- 4). Motor toward the middle of the lake and watch for reefs and humps, which are shallow areas surrounded on all sides by deeper water. You will know you have located a reef or hump when you are motoring along and the bottom goes from deep to shallow. Keep motoring over the shallow part until you reach deep water again; you have just driven over the entire hump or reef. You can determine the size of the reef or hump by locating the spot where shallow water begins falling into deeper water, then following that depth point. As with other structures, points and turns on humps and reefs are particularly attractive to bass.
- 5). Find the best spot on the piece of structure by locating the "structure on the structure." Simply, this means finding the small differences that hold bass. It may be a rock on the bottom, or an area where vegetation is especially heavy. To locate structure on the structure, drive across the structure in a zigzag pattern and note any places that are different than the area that surrounds them.