The simplicity of consistently catching bass 2024

Catt reply :

Knowing what structure is, knowing how to truly identify it, knowing how read it, and then fishing it effectively, is the quickest, surest means of consistently putting bass in the boat.

"Take nothing for granted," Buck states flatly. "Never assume bass are shallow, because they may be deep. Never believe they will hit a fast-moving lure, not a slow one. You've got to work an entire structure from shallow to deep with lures that touch bottom [but do not gouge trenches in it], and at different speeds, to be certain the place has been completely checked. If no fish are found, move on to the next good-looking structure and repeat the process. By checking two or three or more structures in this manner throughout a fishing day it's a good bet an angler sooner or later will hit a school of active, feeding bass. When that happens, you can fill your limit fast, and you gotta work quickly, because a school won't stay on a break or breakline long. Elwood L. " Buck" Perry

Of every thing Buck said during the entire week long class the above paragraph has stuck in my memory more than any, I can recite it verbatim. The sooner you accept what is stated in that paragraph as gospel the sooner your catch ratio will increase 10 fold.

Yea but Catt it can't be that simple Buck has failed to mention highland/lowland type lakes; the west coast, east coast, or third coast regions and he definitely fails to mention spring, summer, fall, or winter. Wrong dude it is that simple and it works on every lake found anywhere in the world; ask any of the most productive anglers on this site including guides, tournament anglers, or big bass gurus and you will get the same answer it's all about location. The timing can even be off and you can still catch non-active bass; but find the proper location and couple that with the proper timing and you had better hold on tightly to your rod!

Consistently finding bass is a process of elimination and duplication. Eliminate patterns and waters that are non-productive and duplicate waters and patterns that are productive.

Pigsticker reply :

Such good info.

favorited

But what you said was still too complicated. :

Jimzee reply :

Thank you Sir.

MattStrykul reply :

Awesome info, thank you!

NitroMan reply :

Great info there Catt thanks for making me think about this topic!!!

roadwarrior reply :

Excellent!

8-)

slomoe reply :

Great post Catt

firefightn15 reply :

Thanks for sharing Catt. Another one for the favorites button.

5bass reply :

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By checking two or three or more structures in this manner throughout a fishing day it's a good bet an angler sooner or later will hit a school of active, feeding bass.

Thats funny. Keep moving 'til you find 'em.....

Catt reply :

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By checking two or three or more structures in this manner throughout a fishing day it's a good bet an angler sooner or later will hit a school of active, feeding bass.

Thats funny. Keep moving 'til you find 'em.....

I think it means until you find active, feeding bass which does not mean there are no bass on the other structures.

Movarus reply :

Wow, that is some great info. I always love to read stuff like that, especially with my first tourney coming up this weekend. I'll definitely keep it in mind.

fishinfiend reply :

That will be printed out and posted on the wall. Thanks, Catt!

basser89 reply :

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That will be printed out and posted on the wall. Thanks, Catt!

My thought exactly! Thanks Catt!

paul. reply :

"You've got to work an entire structure from shallow to deep with lures that touch bottom [but do not gouge trenches in it], and at different speeds, to be certain the place has been completely checked."

very informative. thanks catt. couple of questions though. first, why would you not attack a structure from deep to shallow? if the object is to maintain maximum bottom contact, would this not be the best method as you are less likely to lose contact with the lure? not to mention deep to shallow creates the funnel attack presentation.

second, why would you limit yourself to bottom bumping lures? it seems to me that by doing this you are eliminating 2/3 of the water column. what about fish that might be suspended over the structure? although usually difficult, these fish can at times be caught- but it would be unlikely to catch them with a bottom bumping lure. perhaps mr. perry was not considering these as active fish.

not criticizing at all buddy, just trying to understand. thanks again for posting this.

Raul reply :

I assume that for Catt that 's the way it works for him.I fish crankbaits and spinnerbaits the most and I like to slice through the different levels of the water column with them, I 'm not fond of bottom bouncing baits ( worms & jigs ) and only cast them after I 've sliced through the water column.

Wayne P. reply :

I think some of you are missing the point in Catt's post. He was quoting Buck Perry "The father of structure fishing".

Mr. Perry was teaching how to find and catch bass that are not on the bank and that was before sonar was used for fresh water fishing.

His spoonplug in various sizes was his fish finder and fishing lure. His presentation allowed for light bottom contact by letting out more line as the water got deeper before changing lure size, thus the shallow to deep route and lack of "trenching".

I remember hearing him talk about being out in the middle of a body of water and catching bass, whooping it up so the bank beaters would notice him catching when they were not so they would ask him about his technique. He was a good teacher, but some have to be shown something different works before they will believe it. That is pretty much true today.

J Francho reply :

Anyone serious about fishing for bass should read Buck's books. Period.

WRB reply :

Location, location, location is everything. Seasonal periods and lake classifications help the fisherman eliminate a lot of unproductive locations and focus on locations that have the right conditions for bass, IMO.

Buck Perry was promoting his spoon plugs, a trolling system using metal spoons shaped like Flatfish lures, that ran at different depths. Troll around the lake long enough and you will run across active bass because you can cover a tremendous amount of watrer. Buck Perry is considered the father of structure fishing and desevers the title. He promoted fishing outside structure when nearly everyone else was pounding the bank.

WRB

Muddy reply :

There is no ONE SYSTEM for always catching bass. I read Mr.Perry's work, on a reccomendation from Catt, it was very informative. I still have a problem with schooling bass, b/c techincally they do not act as an organized school, in many ways They act t like thier cousins the Blue Gills and Sunnies by agreagating by size and close to food and shelter. They do not act in a unit for feeding and defensive formation massing.

I am not an expert fiserman, but one with a little bit of experience and knowledge, When Mr.Perry wrote his book it opened up an underwater deep fishing system that works. In todays world I find it's best to know when to fish deep, when to be on the weeds, when to be on the points and rocks and yes there are times when fishing shallow will get you a nice fish or two.

Catt reply :

-paul- think about it for a minute

If you are in 30' while casting to 8' by the time you lure is half way back to the boat your lure is no longer in contact with the bottom correct. But if I'm in 8' casting towards 30' my lure is in constant contact with the bottom all the way up the hill back to the boat correct.

Second if the bass are suspended they are most generally inactive so why bother targeting these bass? On the other hand active bass will at times suspend over structure targeting bait fish on or near the surface.

I suggest everyone take a breath and reread the first three sentences Take nothing for granted," Buck states flatly. "Never assume bass are shallow, because they may be deep. Never believe they will hit a fast-moving lure, not a slow one.

Most people let seasonal patterns and lake classifications cloud their thinking when it comes to effectively fishing structure. Most publications will tell you to abandon deep water structure during spring for shallower water and while some bass will venture shallow others will remain deep never seeing a shore line in their life time.

I spent 5 days in one of Buck's seminars and not once did he mention Spoon Plugs; as for trolling that was one effective means of finding offshore structure since depth finders were not the norm during the early years. Buck used spoon plugs, I used Hellbenders while others used Mudbugs.

If nothing else I got y'all to open your minds & do not worry I like to be critiqued as much as anyone but be advised I will critique back!

Muddy reply :

Quote from Catt: If nothing else I got y'all to open your minds

and thats what you do best! I read a quote from that pro guy Iconelli that went something like

Fish today and not your history

I am trying more and more to do this. When Mr.Perry wrote his book , a loy of folks were not putting any pressure on what seems like most of the bass population There were no electronics, and it seems a lot of the material was written fishing m large man made impoundments.

While I fish a smaller impoundment, my favoriteare mid sized natual Northern Lakes. What I am grateful for , the way Catt helped me with this material, that while there are not many ledges and no original creek beds or flodded road beds, there is structure and cover that might harbor bass in these lakes more than others

And I just have seen from experience there are times YEAR ROUND that I do better in shallower water than deeper water. I do better on weedy flats in natural lakes in 10 plus feet of water than anyother place.

paul. reply :

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-paul- think about it for a minute
If you are in 30' while casting to 8' by the time you lure is half way back to the boat your lure is no longer in contact with the bottom correct. But if I'm in 8' casting towards 30' my lure is in constant contact with the bottom all the way up the hill back to the boat correct.

o.k., cool. we are on the same page then. i usually fish uphill (that's what i meant by fishing deep to shallow). i just wondered if there was a better way. glad i'm on the right path.

WRB reply :

Catt, getting bass fisherman away from the bank isn't easy, it's like they are tied there by the length of a cast. Been trying to get fisherman to look back over their shoulder out toward the main lake for nearly 40 years.

Your posts are excellent, we just don't see eye to eye on the seasonal elements of bass fishing. I'm not a bed fisherman, so I spend nearly 95% of my time on the main lake structure areas where, IMO, 90% of the big bass live that I'm fishing for.

Keep up the good work.

WRB

FishinDaddy reply :

OK, that sound great for impoundments. I have used that strategy for fishing the local phoshate pits with a lot of success. BUT

will someone please translate that to natural shallow lakes. For example, Lake Kissimmee. 35K acres of MAX 18' of water where a 1' depth change takes 25-50' to find. There is NO structure other than brush piles complements of a hurricane or two that happened before I started fishing. Thanks to you guys I am starting to have some consistent success pulling the fish out of the cover off the bank but I really would like to understand how to find them elsewhere.

Muddy reply :

I have no experience with Kissime, but i do with natural lakes. The name of the game for me is WEEDY FLATS, especially in water deeper than 10 ft. I even fish over them at night with topwaters, with good results. Read the Perry book, it is an excellent starting point

On natural olakes there are humps, while there arent many ledges there are weedy and rocky slopes that hold fish. Docks can hold them and there are some very large rocks and some deep pockets to look for and these always produce for me.

You want to find out about Fla lakes i would ask Rolo or Avid, they seem to do grat on those lakes.

Mobydick reply :

I've learned more in the last 15 minutes than I did at school last year!

This stuff is great, thanks guys!

Ian

Randall reply :

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OK, that sound great for impoundments. I have used that strategy for fishing the local phoshate pits with a lot of success. BUT
will someone please translate that to natural shallow lakes. For example, Lake Kissimmee. 35K acres of MAX 18' of water where a 1' depth change takes 25-50' to find. There is NO structure other than brush piles complements of a hurricane or two that happened before I started fishing. Thanks to you guys I am starting to have some consistent success pulling the fish out of the cover off the bank but I really would like to understand how to find them elsewhere.

Good structure is relative to what else is in the area or lake. If there is a flat that is 6 feet deep on almost all of the flat that is a mile long and 500 yards out from the bank I can find a drop to seven or eight feet over ten yards or so that is good structure in that lake. It can hold as many fish as a big drop from 10 to 20 feet in a highland type lake. Good structure is relative to what other structure can be found in the same area and lake. Doesn't have to be a big drop or rise just different when compared to what else is around it.

5bass reply :

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Quote

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By checking two or three or more structures in this manner throughout a fishing day it's a good bet an angler sooner or later will hit a school of active, feeding bass.

Thats funny. Keep moving 'til you find 'em.....

I think it means until you find active, feeding bass which does not mean there are no bass on the other structures.

Yeah, I know, I just can't explain what I meant in my first post without it sounding sarcastic so I'll just leave it alone.

Good thread Catt. Carry on.

Catt reply :

Another great misconception is that structure fishing is all about deep water but this is totally untrue. Structure starts at what I call bank shallow and extend out to what ever is the maximum depth of a body of water. The angler who fishes solely from the bank as well as the angler who loves to target shallow water from a boat must know what structure is, how to identify it, how to read it, and how to fish it effectively.

Catt how can I do this when I'm stuck bank fishing?

Look around at the lay of the land around the body of water you're fishing it will give you a pretty good idea of what the bottom looks like. If it's a man made body of water or small natural lake learn to let you lures tell what is below the surface. I often see or hear bank anglers catch bass never having a desire know what lies beneath the surface. They simply cast a lure out and if while reeling it back in it hit some thing like the bottom they simply get ticked.

WRB, I don't care what season of the year or what type of lake it is bass will be related to structure, breaks, and break lines either using it to travel to spawning areas or moving back into deeper water. For that matter even river bass are found on structure of some form just ask roadwarrior who catches huge smallmouth in those Tennessee Rivers.

Now Lake Kissimmee that is a horse of a different color, while I have not fished it personally from what I gather it is more like marsh fishing than lake fishing. George Welcome could explain it easier than I could because I'm trying to put something together on marsh fishing and all I've got is a couple paragraphs and a head ache. I'm also working on some thing for natural lakes that isn't to confusing.

Gatorbassman reply :

Great post Catt.

My favorite question that I have been asked many times on the dock is, "What were you doing out in the middle of the lake?" My answer is always the same. "Fishin" lol

You introduced me to Buck's book and I am forever in debt to you for that. I am more comfortable away from the bank because of it.

Muddy reply :

I spend at least 90% of my time away from the shore, including topwater fishing at night: THAKS TO ZEL!

I think it is important to know When to fish the shallows, or there will be missed oppurtunities. If 90% of the fish are in deep water and only 10% in shallow, on days when the agressively feeding bass are among those 10% it seems logical to concentrate on those instead of just always going deep. Is this the case or has it just been co incidence that this seems to pay off at times?

Catt reply :

Natural lakes bring us to the next step and that is breaks and breaklines.

Breakline: A breakline can have more than one meaning. It can be another word for a drop-off/ledge, or a point of any quick change in depth. It can also be used to describe the edge of a vegetation line. For example, a "weed break" is the area of the weed bed where the weeds meet up with open water; or, where one type of weed meets up with another. The last example happens when bottom composition changes, as different weeds prefer different types of bottom composition. A breakline can also describe a line where rock meets mud, pea gravel, etc. In other words, the most correct definition for a breakline is "Any distinct line that is made by cover or structure which leads to an abrupt change in bottom depth, composition, or cover transition".

Remember, bass must have a visible path of breaks and break lines on a structure from deep water all the way to the shallows, which is where the bulk of food is available to game fish. As bass move along a structure they pause or stop at "things" (breaks and break lines) on the bottom. It is at such "things" that anglers can expect to make consistent contact with fish as they migrate along a structure. This is why a certain stump or flooded tree, dock piling or submerged rock consistently produces bass for anglers.

Muddy reply :

Hey Catt can you answer the question about if sometimes ( rarely) it pays off to fish the agressive shallow fish, Thanks

Dominick

Brian_Reeves reply :

I try to find as many things about an area before I even travel there to mark structure or fish it. I look for key things like current breaks, depth changes, ambush zones, natural transition points, and potential cover.

One huge factor that I take into consideration fishing Louisiana Marshes and natural lakes is moving water. Generally, with the fluxes of river stages, heavy rains, irrigation or drainage will all have a huge effect on both bass mood and location. When fishing some of these "featurless" bodies of water, usually I will start by finding some sort of moving water entering the lake. That philosophy has helped me find bass on everything from highland reservoirs to marshes and swamps.

Once some sort of oxygenated, cooler, moving water is located, you can easily find ambush points, breaks, forage, and cover. Also note that when I find moving water, I rarely find bass hanging out where it enters the lake. They are almost always positioned near it, but out of the direct current hiding around something.

On highland impoundments, the key structure will often be near a creek or main river channel. Though this water is very slow moving, I will always try to fish the down-current side first if the situations allow it.

Raul reply :

Quote
OK, that sound great for impoundments. I have used that strategy for fishing the local phoshate pits with a lot of success. BUT
will someone please translate that to natural shallow lakes. For example, Lake Kissimmee. 35K acres of MAX 18' of water where a 1' depth change takes 25-50' to find. There is NO structure other than brush piles complements of a hurricane or two that happened before I started fishing. Thanks to you guys I am starting to have some consistent success pulling the fish out of the cover off the bank but I really would like to understand how to find them elsewhere.

Brush piles complements are not structure, structure is what those brush piles are sitting on ( the bottom ), so you have two elements: cover sitting on structure. What determines if the brushpile is improductive or productive or how productive a particular brush pile is in relation to the others is the location of the brushpile in relation to other elements that come into play which are other types of cover, other structural features nearby, where it 's located in relation to elements like wind direction, depth and current, that is why not all brush piles are as productive as others.

Lets say for example that the brushpile is sitting on a flat and there 's nothing else more attractive than the brushpile in hundreds of feet around, everything around the brushpile is barren terrain, then that brushpile will be the fish magnet, now let 's add something else, you got the same brushpile but there 's another a couple of hundred feet away but located shallower where light can penetrate enough to have a few weeds growing around it, the effect of those few weeds is so great that the fish would rather be on that one than on the other even though to your eyes the first one is better looking.

That 's exactly what you are looking for, the more features the better.

hamer08 reply :

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"Take nothing for granted," Buck states flatly. "Never assume bass are shallow, because they may be deep. Never believe they will hit a fast-moving lure, not a slow one. You've got to work an entire structure from shallow to deep with lures that touch bottom [but do not gouge trenches in it], and at different speeds, to be certain the place has been completely checked. If no fish are found, move on to the next good-looking structure and repeat the process. By checking two or three or more structures in this manner throughout a fishing day it's a good bet an angler sooner or later will hit a school of active, feeding bass. When that happens, you can fill your limit fast, and you gotta work quickly, because a school won't stay on a break or breakline long. Elwood L. " Buck" Perry

I kind of have to laugh a little bit at this, it is about as precise as a fortune teller reading. In others words, keep fishing and varying your tactics until you find the fish, then repeat.

I agree using "structure" and other transitions is a great way the focus your fishing on areas likely to be productive. The point I'm trying to make is its the fishing that makes a great fisherman. In the end, you don't know what is good and bad place to fish until you actually fish the lake multiple times, under mulitple conditions and actually catch the fish. Its easy to make up an explanation why the fish are in a certain location after you have found them. Its a lot harder to explain why the fish aren't where they are "suppose" to be.

The reason I say this is seems a lot of times people are looking for the easy answers. When they should really be taking the basic guidance offered here and beating the water at a specific lake to try to understand how the fish live. Then come back here a tell us what the patterns are at your lake.

Eddie Munster reply :

"Take nothing for granted," Buck states flatly. "Never assume bass are shallow, because they may be deep. Never believe they will hit a fast-moving lure, not a slow one."

Very good post Catt; Buck's philosophy seems to scream 'Keep it simple, stupid!' or not to let your ego get in the way of catching fish. Let the conditions, lake and fish tell you where the productive spots are at.

Catt reply :

Structure fishing is not exclusively about deep water; I don't think everyone understands this. Even when I'm fishing the shoreline I'm looking for structure and not just aimlessly wondering down the shoreline. Again remember there must be a visible path of breaks and break lines on structure from deep water all the way to the bank, this is where the bulk of food is available to game fish.

Muddy you never pass up bass that are aggressively feeding regardless of where they are

fourbizz reply :

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Muddy you never pass up bass that are aggressively feeding regardless of where they are

Unless they are small ;D

I can fish a spot with no cover, but I can't fish somewhere without one of the big structural features:

Points

Ridges

Humps

Creek Channels

Flats (must have immediate deepwater access for me)

As Catt alluded to, "structure" can be in 2ft of water. But I rellay prefer the 10-30ft range. That is my comfort zone.

fishbear reply :

My brain is on information overload..... I guess I am one of those people who have to see it to understand it. I need to find someone to show me how to fish structure. Because the middle of the lake is a foreign place to me. :-[ :-/

Muddy reply :

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Muddy you never pass up bass that are aggressively feeding regardless of where they are

Unless they are small ;D

Im feelin you 4bizz,unfortunatley :-/

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