I love this forum. I read it every day. Water temps, different lures, different colors, different times of the year all come into play.

But you have to know where the fish are, that is the key to catching bass all year long. Sure sometimes the bite is tough. If you know where they are some of them will bite. When you learn where they are fishing becomes easy. All the hot licks in your tackle box are no good if the  fish are on the other side of the lake. Granted experience has a key role in knowing where the Bass are hanging out.

A  little common sense will get you on the fish , get out every chance you can and soon you will look at a body of water and have a good idea where to cast and where to let the other guy fish.

35 minutes ago, david in va said:

 I love this forum. I read it every day. Water temps, different lures, different colors, different times of the year all come into play.

But you have to know where the fish are, that is the key to catching bass all year long. Sure sometimes the bite is tough. If you know where they are some of them will bite. When you learn where they are fishing becomes easy. All the hot licks in your tackle box are no good if the  fish are on the other side of the lake. Granted experience has a key role in knowing where the Bass are hanging out.

A  little common sense will get you on the fish , get out every chance you can and soon you will look at a body of water and have a good idea where to cast and where to let the other guy fish.

Yea, definitely need to have some instincts. Especially, bank fishing. Trying to teach my friend this who lives in a different state. Just don't cast out and pray. There's a lot more to it than most people think. I bank fish so I don't have any fish finders or other mapping devices. I try to look up details about the lake and take mental notes on land points etc. Once I get there I can usually have a good idea where they post up. 

Location is numero uno most important thing, you're right. Don't matter what you put down there, if they ain't there, you ain't catching them!

There's a common saying that if you find the fish you can catch the fish.  Gary Klein once told me that there's at least 5 lures that will catch any fish once he finds them.  He didn't mean 5 specific lures but 5 as a general number of types of lures he could throw to catch them.  

The bass are always biting somewhere...our job is to find somewhere!

'catching bass is easy. finding them is the hard part.'

Modern electronics have made it easier but, unfortunately, we don't always know if we've found the fish until we catch them.  I'm unsure WHERE this fits in the equation but it is true.  It's also maddening when you find the fish (with electronics) but then proceed to zero out.  Stupid fish.  ;  )

 

 

This used to make me so mad when I was a kid fishing with my dad. We would go ice fishing and sit in the same exact spot all day and not have a bite. You gotta find the fish.