Monte Burch - The Pocket Guide to Seasonal Largemouth Bass Patterns: An Anglers Quick Reference Book

Copyright 2016 by Monte Burch

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau
Cover photo credit: iStockphoto.com/VasiliyVoropaev

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-810-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63450-819-3

Printed in China

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The extremely popular black bass family, from the genus Micropterus , are actually members of the sunfish family. They include the most popular game fishes in America: the largemouth, smallmouth (often called brown bass), and spotted or Kentucky bass, as well as lesser known cousins like the Redeye, Guadalupe, and Suwannee bass.

The pugnacious attitude of the bass family is one of the reasons for their popularity. The habits of sunfishes are fairly similar. They are ambushers waiting in submerged cover for their prey. Primarily sight and sound feeders, theyll readily attack almost anything that moves, including the thousands of lures that have been designed just for these popular species.

Probably the main popularity of the black basses, however, is their wide distribution across the country and in a variety of different waters. They have been transplanted and spread far from their native ranges, from north to south, east to west. Almost anyone in the United States can find some kind of bass fishing fairly close to home.

Black bass also attract anglers from all walks of life, from the cane pole fisherman with a minnow to the avid tournament angler with thousands of dollars in boat and equipment.

Successful bass fishing may be enjoyed throughout the year (in areas with open water) by understanding the seasonal habits of bass. Rather than continually casting the shorelines and hoping for bass, concentrate on locating bass-holding areas. These areas can vary with the seasons from shallow to deep water, as well as a wide variety of cover and structure. The key is to not only discover these areas, but also the migration routes between these holding areas.

This is called patterning the fish, or determining where the fish will be in a given lake, pond, reservoir, or even river at different times of the year, depending on several factors including: amount of daylight, water temperature, water clarity, water conditions, and so forth. The exact dates, including the length of the various patterns, will vary across the country, but the biological and seasonal patterns will remain the same.

The bass fishing year can be classified into eight specific seasonal periods: early spring, pre-spawn, spawn, post spawn, summer, early fall, late fall, and winter.

How to Use This Book

The illustrations in this book are based on a typical good bass fishing reservoir in the Midwest. Some southern lakes will have more shallow water and (usually) less clarity. Highland lakes, and the Great Lakes will be deeper and have more clarity, as will many western reservoirs. Not all features will be found in all lakes, but those shown indicate the best locations for bass throughout the various seasons on that particular lake. Each of the eight different seasonal bass time patterns are described along with approximate water temperatures, clarity, and water conditions.

Typical locations of bass during each period is indicated on a drawing of the sample lake.

The best choice in lures and best tactics are also described for each of the patterns.

In addition, the following two pages contain a handy Quick Reference Chart with the information condensed and available for instant use.

The majority of the information concerns fishing for Americas favorite fish, the largemouth bass, but references are also made to specific tactics for the other species. Information on fishing rivers as well as strip or mining pits and ponds is also covered.

Tools

Todays bass anglers have a number of excellent tools. The most basic are hydrographical or lake maps. Compare your lake map with the illustrations of the hypothetical example lake and mark the locations of suggested prime fish-holding areas on your map, according to the seasonal patterns. For instance, you might wish to label early spring pattern locations with A, pre-spawn locations with B, and so forth. This will help eliminate unproductive water and give you an idea of where to start prospecting once you are on the water.