WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT A LAKE BEFORE YOU GET
THERE
Knowing How Deep The Bass Go And Where They Don't Go
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: According to Rick Clunn of Missouri, four-time
Bassmasters Classic winner and the newly-named best
bass fisherman of all time by bass fishing fans across
the world, "How to fish a new lake is one of the
most-common questions asked by anglers.” “I
particularly hear this question when I'm giving seminars.
I never remember having a seminar where someone didn't
ask me how to fish a new lake," Ken Cook of Meers,
Oklahoma, former fisheries biologist, Megabucks tournament
winner and Bassmasters Classic Champion in 1991, told
me. "If I had to pick one question I can bet on
being asked at any seminar I go to, it is about how
to fish a new lake," Larry Nixon of Bee Branch,
Arkansas, former winner of  the
Bassmasters Classic, told me. Apparently everyone is
seeking the answer to the same question. But one question
that always should precede how to fish a new lake is,
"What information should I have about a lake before
I go to fish it?" If you have the proper knowledge
about a lake before you arrive at a lake, then your
chances of successfully catching bass will be far greater.
Certain sections of some lakes don't produce bass.
Perhaps there is an acid runoff from strip mines, no
structure for the fish to associate with, or just a
region that for some unknown reason never has  produced
bass. By finding out this information from the fisheries
biologists ahead of time, you may be surprised at the
places you can eliminate fishing on your lake map. Also
fisheries biologists most likely will be able to tell
you the parts in the lake that have produced the most
bass and how deep the oxygen content is found in the
lake. Bass can't live without oxygen. If the oxygen
level in the lake only goes down 20 feet, then you know
that most of your fishing will have to be done above
that depth. However, if you are angling a deep, clear,
western lake where oxygen may be  present
at 50- or 60-feet deep, and the bass normally hold at
that depth, then you realize the types of areas you
may have to fish and the kinds of baits that will be
the most productive. This information saves time for
an angler on a new lake. The most-critical key to catching
bass on a new lake is how effectively you use the time
you have on the water to fish. The more information
you can gain, and the more water you can eliminate,
then the more time you can spend in regions that will
yield fish.
TOMORROW: USING AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE
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