Ok so I thought this was interesting let’s say you fish a small body of water let’s say 3000 acres

 

We know the high percentage areas but so does most other if not all anglers on the water. So are these high percentage spots still high percentage?

 

What is the target in this instance?

High percentage spots are always high percentage spots for a reason - think "community holes" - they are community holes because the fish always use them and people continue to catch fish off them year after year. Oftentimes it becomes a timing issue on these areas, either seasonally or daily. It usually comes down to a structural reason, but even that goes off the rails and gets confusing when we don't stick to proper terminology (see similar current ongoing thread). That said, you should always be on the lookout for smaller, or more subtle features, either isolated or related to larger structural features as these frequently get considerably less pressure. They just don't often have the size to hold large schools of fish, but instead smaller groups or a lone big fish.

all three lakes i fish most are about that size. they have the usual spots that everybody can see on the map and we have all fished them for years.these spots still produce because they are good spots. but lately especially in tournaments ive taken to fishing more subtle spots that may not have as many fish but the fish that are there arent constantly bombarded and i usually have them to myself.

You always adjust to their places & times.  No other way.

I think @Team9nine is "spot" on .   I have always caught more fish on community holes than on secret spots.  I have a few "secret" spots but they are very small targets that might hold one or two good fish.  I also have fewer secret spots than I did 25 years ago.  Technology has made it much easier to find all the spots.   You just need to out fish the other anglers by being dialed in to what the fish want and knowing the spot on the spot.  Everyone knows the point is there.  Fewer people know the best spot on the point.  Even fewer know how to fish it effectively.

Our local lake which is only 50 acres and 35ft at it's deepest part has produced fish at the exact same places for many years but each area is dependent of time of year and or water temps.

 

Are you sure that everyone else knows about these high percentage spots?  In my experience, the overwhelming majority of people who frequent pressured lakes aren't avid anglers, and don't really know what they're doing.  Serious anglers usually avoid small, pressured lakes.  

 

I say "usually" because for time constraint reasons, I do frequent these lakes.  One of them, I fish daily.  And I always do much, much better by hitting the "obvious spots".  The reason being, none of the other people out there know they're obvious spots.  They're fishing the places that have the nicest land around them, not the places with the nicest water in front of them.  

 

One thing I have noticed as well, all of that stuff about downsizing and finesse fishing for pressured waters, is not always true.  Since most of the people on those lakes are throwing live minnows, live worms, and stinkbait, your best bets are going to be crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and all of those big, power fishing presentations.  Dropshots and wacky rigs are nearly worthless.  

Nearly all the SoCal famous trophy lakes are less then 3,000 acres. These lakes are fished everyday all year and club or local bass tournaments nearly every weekend by skilled bass anglers. High bass fishing pressure doesn’t come close to describing what these bass are used to. There isn’t any secrets spots but you can catch bass consistently. Finesse is a way of life on these lakes and big swimbaits.

Our lakes are very deep with steep sided banks with sparse wood cover, no private docks. 

The Midwest finesse Ned rig works along with drop shot and slip shot rigs because they force anglers to fish slower and more precise. To be successful forget what you see pros doing in major B.A.S.S. and FLW tournaments and adopt what the MLF anglers are doing.

Tom

33 minutes ago, WRB said:

Nearly all the SoCal famous trophy lakes are less then 3,000 acres. These lakes are fished everyday all year and club or local bass tournaments nearly every weekend by skilled bass anglers. High bass fishing pressure doesn’t come close to describing what these bass are used to. There isn’t any secrets spots but you can catch bass consistently. Finesse is a way of life on these lakes and big swimbaits.

Our lakes are very deep with steep sided banks with sparse wood cover, no private docks. 

The Midwest finesse Ned rig works along with drop shot and slip shot rigs because they force anglers to fish slower and more precise. To be successful forget what you see pros doing in major B.A.S.S. and FLW tournaments and adopt what the MLF anglers are doing.

Tom

Interesting pay attention the mlf to be successful? Do you mean successful as in just catching fish or do you mean something else by this?

 

Several of the MLF anglers learned to bass fish on California’s highly pressured lakes and good finesse anglers. The power fishing pro’s like the Lane brothers have learned to use sissy spinning finesse presentations and sonar to make the cut. The fact is every MLF angler has adopted spinning tackle finesse presentations. 

Watch the casting skills the MLF anglers have, the majority of them are expert target casters essential to catching wary bass.

Tom