Fishing an unfamiliar lake can be daunting. Anglers commonly question where to even start, and too often the decision is somewhat random.
Professional anglers regularly compete on waterways they have never even seen before, allowing minimal time for locating bass, and these anglers cannot afford to fish randomly. With that in mind, we spoke with 2008 Bassmaster Classic champion Alton Jones about his normal searching process.
"My first step will always be to find out all I can about the personality of the lake. I want to know whether it tends to be clear or stained, whether it has wood or rock, what kind of vegetation is in it, and that sort of thing. Every lake is unique, and general characteristics shape my underlying philosophy, providing ideas about the types of techniques and lures I think will work."
If Jones learns that a lake is deep and clear, for example, he’ll immediately think about a YUM Houdini worm fished on a drop-shot rig or a shaky head. If it’s shallow and has a lot of grass, on the other hand, the soft-plastic lures that will come first to his mind will be a big YUM Dinger, fished weightless or with a light Texas rig, or a Wooly Bug, flipped in the grass.
Jones then thinks about the season, and he likens each step to a funnel that narrows the search. Acknowledging that these are generalizations and the fish might later show him something different, he noted that during spring and fall, he’ll typically look first at creeks and coves, while during the summer and winter he’ll focus on the main lake or the extreme lower ends of creeks.
"By looking at the season, I usually can eliminate a lot of water," he said. "If it’s March, for example, and I know they fish will be spawning, deep water won’t even be an option."
At this point, Jones begins scouring lake maps. Taking what he has learned about the lake’s personality and seasonal factors into account, he’ll try to identify key features such as expansive flats that he would expect to be grassy, key points, major travel routes he’d expect the fish to follow and spots where creek channels cut close to the banks.
The final filter Jones uses before he launches the boat will be weather, including the overall recent trend and the immediate forecast. Knowing whether the lake level has been rising or falling (or stable) and the temperature trends help him know whether the fish are going to be moving up shallower or deeper and how they are likely to behave. The day’s forecast helps him pick the lures he’ll tie on first.
"Finally it’s time to put the boat in the water," Jones said. "By that time I’ll have a pretty good plan, as far as what I want to begin looking at, but I will try a lot of different things during practice and let the fish show me the rest of what I need to know. It’s important to experiment and let the story develop, and to listen to what every strike says"