I hear everyone talking about trying to pattern the fish or find a pattern. What exactly does this mean?

It means to find a type of location (i.e. a type of cover or structure) or a presentation that can be repeated over and over.

Fishing a pattern means to identify the bass behavior on a particular day.

For example, I may cast a spinnerbait past a windblown point and catch a nice bass.

I next cast my spinnerbait into the cove next to the point and catch nothing.

So I come up to another point and catch another nice bass.  The cove draws a blank.

I now feel pretty sure that I have found a pattern of bass behavior.  

They are holding off of wind blown points and want a quick moving bait with some flash.

I will now move up and down the lake seeking out wind blown points and ignoring the coves.(at least with the spinnerbait)

I have discovered a pattern.

There can be several patterns going on at the same time, so keep experimenting.

Have fun and good luck.

Thanks for the replies guys