I'm from the Farmington area Cyklops, I haven't fished Council Bluff a ton but visit it a few times every year. In regards to big bass, this is not the lake for it. It is 440 acres loaded with standing timber. We usually put the jon boat in at the southern end of the lake at Enough Boat Ramp. I have no electronics and just a trolling motor on the jon boat so we normally just work our way up the shoreline and hit the points and coves. We have had quite a few 20+ bass day but I will say that most of them are 10-12" inch range. Water is usually very clear and 4 inch senkos can be great, especially in a smoke pearl color. I've also heard from some good ol' boys that black plastics and black spinnerbaits/buzzbaits are terrific in low light/dark hours. I've never targeted them there, but Council Bluff has a reputation for some of the best red ear fishing in the state if you are after some meat. The lake I frequent the most would have to be Bismarck Lake, "Di Salvo Lake" as it known as now. It isn't a big lake, only 210 acres and it gets heavily pressured. On any spring/summer weekend expect over 15 boats to be out at a time. With that being said, I'd say 80% of them are crappie fishermen so it must produce excellent numbers of crappie considering the heavy pressure and the amount of people who continue to go there. The lake is shallow, usually 10ft or less throughout and in the summer is consumed in lily pads/vegetation. I can never catch a large number of bass there, but the fish I catch there are big girls. Water is always heavily stained/murky. I throw bright colors like fire tiger/chartreuse and black/blue jigs.