HOW TO SCOUT FOR BASS
An Aerial Look
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Have you ever wondered why bass angling professionals
can come to a lake they've never fished before, compete
for three days, and catch more and bigger bass than
the anglers who live on the lake? Actually the reason
is simple. Most of the work of locating the fish is
done prior to these professionals' coming to the lake.
Many times their preparation for the tournament may
have taken place months before the actual contest. They
also have another advantage that fishermen who angle
the same lake every weekend don't have, because these
pros don't have honey holes, favorite spots or places
to go to where they've caught bass in the past. So they
must rely on their own ability to find the fish on the
lake where the bass should be when the fish are supposed
to be there - without any pre-conceived ideas about
where the bass are.
 Rick
Clunn of Montgomery, Texas, has been one of the most-successful
tournament anglers in the history of bass fishing --
winning two U.S. Opens, four B.A.S.S. Masters Classics
and the Red Man All-American. One of the reasons for
Clunn's success is he doesn't waste his time when he's
scouting for bass. "By flying over a lake before
you fish it with a map in your lap, you visually can
see where feeder streams come in, where the structure
in the lake is located, where the water changes color,
how far out in the lake a point runs, and pinpoint areas
you can fish that you'd never see if you're riding the
water in a boat," Clunn said. "And being able
to see changes in  water
clarity are critical to catching bass. Bass may be holding
on the edge of stained water looking for baitfish that
are running the edge of the clear water. Oftentimes
those subtle changes you can't spot from your boat will
be visible from an airplane high above the lake. In
my opinion, there's no quicker way to learn where to
catch bass on a lake than flying over that lake in an
airplane."
Clunn once flew Lake Mead, Nevada, prior to a tournament
and was able to see large bass  holding
in the tops of bushes at the far end of the crystal-clear
lake from the plane. On the last day of competition
when he was well back in the pack, Clunn made a long
run to the area where he had seen the bass from the
airplane. Luckily the big bass were still in the bushes,
and Clunn caught enough of them to win $50,000. The
difference in scouting from the air and scouting from
the water was $50,000 on that occasion. Although most
anglers say that renting an airplane to fly over a lake
is too expensive, Clunn feels that, "When you consider
how much gas you'll burn in your boat running all over
a lake trying to find a place to catch bass, you'll
see that two fishermen's renting a pilot and an airplane
to fly over a lake for an hour to an hour and a half
is cheaper than if they had spent the time and money
in their boats to attempt to gain the same amount of
information on the water. If I need to know where to
fish on any given lake, I go up in an airplane."
TOMMOROW: THE WEATHER
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