Hey guys,

As you might have read in the summer, I bought a 17' fishing boat.  My problem was that every time I went out, I stuck real close to shore every time I went and was not able to find many fish, prob because they were in some deeper water.  I think the reason i did this was because I fished from the shore my whole life.  My question is are there any good books that I can read that will help me be able to locate more fish at different times during the season?  I feel like I need to utilize my fish finder a little better to find and fish structure found not so close to the shore.

Thanks,

Matt

Use the articles in the toolbar above.  There are some great seasonal pattern articles in there

I personally don't own a boat, but my uncle has a sick boat, and a couple of my buddies have nice boats. Whenever we go to a lake that is new to us we sometimes drive all around close to shore, or a little deeper, and when there are fish on the fish finder thats always a good sign that there are bass in the area. This is especially good to do if you are shiner fishing. Another thing is to slowly cruise around and just look at the contours, every good brush pile that my uncle fishes he found himself, no one told him where they were. Also, in Spring fishing the shore like you do is good! Thats also a really fun way to fish. Just don't run the trolling motor too long without cranking up the boat!!

To quote Takehiro Omori "Just fish more, thats the only way to tell a fish is a fish and a log is a log"

This book should be a good starting point for you.

Largemouth Bass. A In-fisherman handbook of strategies.