I'm fortunate to have a house on a cove of a very large lake.  I'm typically a catch and release guy unless I'm preparing for a fish fry for the family.  I read a tip somewhere that if you are having trouble locating fish, try a location where tournaments leave from because there could be bass there that are released after weigh in.  Does this imply that bass don't tend to travel far from the point of release?  Generally, what's the range of mature bass?  If I bring my catch back to my cove and release at my dock will those fish tend to remain close by if there's good forage for them there?

Some will and some won't.  

MDC used to tag fish for studies on our lakes.  They paid for fishermen to remove the tag and send it in.

They found that some of the fish didn't move over a distance of hundreds of yards while others moved several miles.