So, you are moving into a cove or point and searching for a spot with fish, how fast do you work it? Do you meticulously hit the laydowns from every angle or do hit it once or twice on the way by and work the area fairly quickly till you get a bite? I have been watching some Elite and FLW pros do videos and they really seem to work the areas fast till they find a bite, then they hunker down and hit the area hard. I am fairly new to bass fishing and I have always really worked an area thoroughly (often with little success) and am re-thinking my process of finding bass. I am thinking I need to switch to hitting more areas and working them less thoroughly. What are your thoughts?

When actually searching for fish I just throw once or twice and move on. The pros are looking for active fish that are going to bite and if they are going to they will usually bite in just a throw or two. Now if I know there are fish in the area, like I have found them before, I will completely dissect the area until I'm satisfied.

Tournament bass anglers are targeting active bass, unless they sight fishing and looking for bed fish.

Your best tool for searching for bass is your sonar unit and your eyes, most weekend anglers do not use their sonar effectively and don't look for bass or bass activity. With your sonar you can eliminate a lot of areas that doesn't have any metered bait or larger fish, this tells you where the bass are not located as well as where they are located. You can see bass in the water or water movement, birds, baitfish that indicate bass are in the area.

Ounce you have located areas where bass are located, then you need to determine patterns of the active bass. Try different lures and presentations until you determine what the bass will react to. Then you can decide if it is more productive to run and gun a milk run hitting high % spots or slow down and saturate areas with populations of bass. Sitting on an area hoping the bass will turn on is different then sitting on a area or spot knowing the bass will turn on. Beating the bank and hoping to run across active bass or sitting on spot hoping the bass will bite becuase you caught them the last trip are the techniques the averge bass angler uses, both are fishing blind. Use you sonar and use your eyes and look for bass and bass activity, then fish the area with lures that resemble the prey in the areas you are fishing.

Tom

No boat or sonar here -- I do 2-3 casts before moving on. If I've caught fish at a spot before I'll do 5 or so before going to the next place.

WRB, in your opinion, do you think it is worth trolling into a cover, watching your electronics before fishing it? are you worried about spooking fish? Or are you mainly talking points and deep cover?

I will work the bait slower when the temps are colder, or very warm to leave it in the strike zone longer. When the temp is in 55 - 85 range I will work the bait faster.

Electronics are not necessary. I use a good swimbait that I am confident in. Most of the time I am fishing heavy covered areas, and electronics do nothing but tell me depth of the water. Basically disect the area, fish all angles and retrieve speeds. No bites, move on.

_{Good question. I wish there was an easy answer.}

_{Let's look at the situation from two different views.}

_{TOURNAMENT FISHING}

_{Are you going to cover lots of water searching for bass then you throw two or three times and move on.}

_{If you are throwing a moving bait, like a crankbait or spinnerbait, you throw two or three times and move on.}

_{If you are throwing sinking baits like plastcis, you flip and pitch two or three times and move on.}

_{Once you start to find the pattern you slow down and throw that pattern until it ends and then it is off to the races trying to find the next pattern of the day.}

_{After you get your legal limit you can then slow down and throw more at a target or go for the big ones with a swimbait.}

_{FUN FISHING}

_{For fun fishing, I go slow and throw 5 to 15 times at a target.}

_{I will hit a dock wood, pier, boathouse, brush pile, stumps, stick-ups, beaver's nest, shoreline, grass line, pads, humps, holes, rocks, towards the bank, parallel to the bank, out into deeper water, drop offs, road beds, etc. from every angle and fish slow since I am not in a hurry to find a pattern as you would want to do in a tournament.}

_{What you like to throw also has a bearing on how many casts you make to a target. If you like to throw plastics then you can takeyour time and skip, flip, pitch, Texas cast or Carolina rig your target many times.}

_{If you like to throw moving baits you can throw a crank or spinnerbait at a target any number of times until you believe there are no bass in the area.}

_{It is totally up to you and the patterns you find during the day.}