On an unfamilar lake give me your procedure for developing a pattern. Here is my technique:

Map study(lots of it). I will spend several days studying a section of the lake. I do not try to fish it all. I will pick a section depending on my strengths, time of year, and the type of fish and size the lake has a reputation of holding. I will photo sections of the map and hand trace the contour lines. I find lots of spots I normally would not see by doing this

When I arrive at the lake i shy away from dock talk; however, I will try to find out what lure is considered hot and clarity of the water, and what type of grass if any.

On the water I will idle for periods and watch the depth finder to see what depth the bait fish may be holding  and see if the thermocline will show up. Depending on the depth of the baitfish I will run and look at as many creeks that are within reasonable distance from the ramp. I will not spend a lot of time in any creek. Just cover some water until I get bit.

If I am satisfied that the area I am fishing holds a good concentration of fish and I cannot tell you how I know, I just know. I will go back through and idle over and around the areas I caught fish looking for anything out of the ordinary such as a brushpile on a river or creek bend ,grass beds, or ditches. Can't tell you anything else except I have that feeling that a spot will produce. After I am satisfied I will run some more looking for similiar spots and when I find them I will stop and fish. If I get bit I will idle around look it over then I am gone to the next. It has worked for me.

Tell me how you do it. I am always looking for an advantage.  

I do some of the same things you do. I find my spots at home. I will categorize spots according to the 'what ifs?'. The 'what ifs' are basically this- what if it is this season or that, this weather condition or that, this water clarity or that, is it low-light or bright sun, the forage are doing this or that, etc. Then when I get on the water having used the 'what ifs' to determine what the fish could be doing, I will go over the spot to look at the structure and find cover. If there is cover or just well defined structure, I will fish it to determine bottom content. To find a pattern I will fish close by those spots that should hold fish and try to determine what pattern they are on. I have found that when you have good spots, the bass will a lot of times be close by.

My ideal situation is to collect as many decent spots as I can and file them away for specific patterns. If I find bass are relating to something, I immediately look at my notes and my map, and go to the spots that are similar.

It's called confidence and I use it a lot.

Understand the seasonal movements.    

Watch the wind 3-5 days in advance.   Wind positions the planktons, plankton positions the bait/shad.

In Dec. Grass dies back some.   I watch the coots/mud hens, they tell you were the greeniest grass is.

Simple, I'm looking for big bass in the edges of hydrilla with a big jig with phat pork trailor.   Specially the wind blown grass.

For numbers, take a trap on the wind blown grass tops and run a red trap over the grass.

Dec, I don't expect numbers, so understanding the situation, I know quality is on the rise, and percentage of another double digit goes up with this approach.  #1 slow jigging.

On days bass are off bottom, spoons, dd-22, swimbaits.   Big bladed spinnerbaits slow rolled, 8 in Tx lizzards can produce their share of hawgs.     Oh yeah, launch at the dam and look for the 50 boats crappie fishing with in 100 yard stretch in 40 ft of water also.    You know what depth the bait is at.   And that will tell you the depth on the deep fish.    Humps , creek channels, points, ledges, breaklines and such.

 Which fish do you target?    Shallow or deep.    Fork in Jan and Feb is my favorite time of the year.  

1) Underwater islands, mounds, or humps: Bait fish will gather on the upper end of these mounds and the bass will bunch up to feed on them. Rat-L-Trap fished across these areas or a 7 to 8 worm can fill your stringer quickly.

2) Outside bends of a river or creek: Because of the water flow in the river or creek a ridge has been formed on the outside of the bend. Find the point of these ridges; Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Crank Baits or Jigs.

3) Spots where two creeks intersect or where a feeder creek intersects with the main river are areas experienced deep water anglers seeks. Inside the Y created by the intersection is where you want fish; Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Crank Baits or Jigs.

4) Submerged roadbeds: These are common migration routes to and from spawning areas in the spring, they also hold feeding bass in the summer: Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Crank Baits or Jigs.

I locate these on a topographic map or aerial photo & then pinpoint with my depth finder.

Here's a pattern the ol lady picked up on E Bay

Muddy,

  stitching is an excellant pattern to use when tossing a swimbait.

   good call on that one!   Even if your wife told it to ya.   LOL