Structure vs. Cover

"Our glossary of terms states:

 ‘STRUCTURE - the bottom of the lake with unusual features that distinguishes it from the surrounding bottom area.’ We must note the word BOTTOM. It is used not just one time in this sentence, it is used TWICE. 

At no time did it say structure was a weed patch, dock, tree, bush, rock, stump, etc.

That's because those are types of cover. 

The bottom of the lake (reservoir, stream, pond, etc.) was what it said, and what it meant.”

Buck Perry

📸 Fishing Facts, Feb. 1978

Man-Made Structure...Fish It!

Spence Petros On Man-Made Structures

Spence shares a few thoughts from his article detailing his Sep. 1973 trip to a couple Illinois reservoirs made with Buck Perry, John Buoy and fellow Editor Carl Malz.

✅ Buck pointed out that the easiest structure to find, recognize and fish productively are man-made structures. This includes the areas of the dam, roadbeds, bridges, causeway or anything else of this type that will extend to and meet the old river channel. 

✅ This type of structure gives the fish something to relate to, something to follow or travel along in his movements from deep to shallow and from shallow to deep. 

This type of structure is what is meant by saying that one of the ways to catch the fish is to find shoreline structure that reaches the channel. 

In the two flatland reservoirs we fished, a number of good fish were caught off these man-made structures.

✅ In all instances, when we fished the rip rap, we trolled. If a fish was hooked, we immediately made another trolling pass over the same area. Several fish hooked in succession would then lead you to believe a school of fish might be present. The immediate area should then be fished from a casting position in an attempt to locate the school.

✅ One thing you must remember is that most of the time you troll to find the casting position. A good troller's catches will almost always come from a casting position he has established after precise, exact trolling.

📸 Fishing Facts, 1974

Northside In Spring

Lowrance Scientific Fishing: Tip #8 (1974)

Surface Water Temperature

YOU'LL GET YOUR FIRST SPRING LIMIT IN THE NORTHERN COVES!

✅ Here's why: Before gamefish spawn, in early spring, they head for shallow water and tend to gather where the surface temperature is 10 to 15º warmer than the main body of water.

✅ As sunny days begin to warm the surface water, southerly winds push the water in a northern direction. This results in "Stacking" warm water against the northern shores and increases the temperatures in northern coves by as much as 15°

✅ These warmer temperatures attract fish to shallow structure adjacent to their deep-water sanctuaries. So, look for warm surface areas where gamefish have easy access to both deep and shallow water structure and you'll be most likely to find real action.

✅ The new Lowrance LTD-200 Surface Fish-n-Temp will help you scientifically locate warmer currents in spring or cooler water in summer. It's a permanent mount unit that accurately reports water temperatures even when you're running at full power.

Deep Water...Find It!

How Deep Is, 'Deep Water'?

Well,... it varies. And here we will tell you why it matters more than any other factor in fishing. More than weather, or lures and lure color, or rods and reels, fish finders, and so on.
In fact, Karl Malz answered this most important question of the day in this way…

✅ Karl Maltz....

<< We have to remember that the words "deep water" are relative. 

To a lake trout fisherman, on the one hand, "deep" could mean depths greater than 100 feet. 

To those who fish all types of natural lakes or reservoirs, it could mean anything from 8 to 10 ft. to well over 25 feet. 

But the important thing to remember is this:

We should deliberately seek to orient ourselves to fish near the deepest water. But, we must also keep in mind two little words that Buck Perry added yo his comments on the issue..., "...in an area." 

That is, "...you want to seek the deepest water in a given area."

This is because every body of water is different, and that includes creeks, streams, and rivers. Meanwhile, each body of water can be further broken down into distinct "areas." Each of these areas will be a unique environment within the larger body of water.  We naturally do this mental organizing, but we must shift our focus to concentrate on the deepest water in area as the primary target - everything else revolves around that.
Why?
Because, the adult fish we most want to catch will orient to this deeper water, too...it will be their "safe home." Then, they will come to know the breaks and breaklines in that particular area which they will follow in their feeding movements to and fro. It would be well for we fishermen to do the same. <<

- Fishing Facts, 1974.

Here's how this applies: Start with the deepest water IN AN AREA, and figure out the most direct path to shallower water feeding areas FROM that deeper water. Then fish along that "path of movement," from shallow to the deep water, or vice versa.
This isn't just endlessly casting lures at weeds and docks, hoping a fish made it that far.
It is a "total water view" that centers on the actual habits of the adult fish we all want to catch.

50 Places To Catch Fish... Part 3

 

In this series, we give you 50 structure possibilities to look for. These are general, and we could probably give you 50 more. And, under any of the generalized headings, we could name numerous sub-categories. What we tried to do was to demonstrate the most apparent, YET GENERALIZED, situations that the average angler would encounter in a day's fishing. BONUS 1 You can read articles like this and look at maps 'till you're blue in the face, yet the only way you'll truly get an understanding of the fish locating "procedure" is to find these structure and cover situations and go fish them yourself. In that way you become intimately acquainted with this important facet of angling.

BONUS 2 If you don't remember anything else, remember this: ALWAYS, ALWAYS seek the deepest water structure in an area, FIRST, then look for a direct connection to shallow water feeding areas exists on that structure. Mature fish won't normally leave their deep water safety to cross broad, wide open, flat areas, exposing themselves to bright sunlight and predation - when they can find and use a shorter, more direct route. FIND THAT ROUTE!

(27) A SADDLE (ST)

(28) ROCK PILE (ST)

(29) CREEK OR RIVER ALONG TIMBER LINE (ST)

(30) BRUSHY BANK IN A COVE OR IN THE MAIN LAKE (c)

(31) OLD ROAD BEDS (ST)

(32) OLD CEMETERIES (ST)

(33) DRAINAGE DITCH (ST)

(34) OLD DAM ON A SMALL LAKE OR POND (ST)

(35) OLD LAKES OR PONDS (ST)

(38) SUNKEN BIG TREES (c)

(39) SUNKEN BRIDGES (ST)

(40) SUNKEN FEEDER ROAD OFF MAIN ROAD (ST) (41) OLD FOUNDATIONS (ST)

(42) OLD FIELDS (ST)

(43) CUT BANKS: SHALLOW (ST)

(44) ISLAND (ST) (c)

(45) PILINGS UNDER BRIDGES (c)

(46) OLD CREEK OR RIVER BANKS (ST)

(47) CHANNEL, GULLY, OR NATURAL WASH ON A FLAT (ST)

(50) MARINAS (c)

50 Places To Catch Fish...Part 2

 Fifty Places to Catch Fish On Impoundments, Part 2

(This is out of order, thanks to the way it was reproduced. Just roll with it and youll be fine)

✅ Our first "typical" reservoir considered will deal almost solely with the patterns of movement of largemouth bass. This is because bass and their movements are generally consistent, and even predictable, once you understand how structure and fish movements work together. 

✅ We are attempting to produce an all-encompassing "typical" impoundment, aka, reservoir, containing a great multitude of structure situations. But you should also remember that all these bottom configurations may, or MAY NOT exist on every reservoir. Also they may, or MAY NOT occur in natural lakes.

✅ We arranged these various conditions so they would be more descriptive and more easily identifiable for you.
We also did not cover all the bases; instead, we attempted to dwell on the highlights.
✅ It should also be remembered that water levels, weather conditions, water conditions (primarily water clarity), season of the year, and several other conditions can have a bearing on the "movements" of the fish on any of these structure situations.
✅ The idea here is not to give you a map that guarantees a fish is waiting for you to show up. Rather, this is meant to acquaint you with situations that you might encounter on the water. We want to help you understand fish behavior and then to think LOGICALLY what your next step-by-step procedure could be.
✅ This map also is used as a springboard to demonstrate the differences that will be found between largemouth bass activity in an impoundment and that of a walleye or smallmouth.

(17) BRUSHY FLATS OFF A CREEK OR RIVER (c)

(18) OLD FENCE ROWS: (submerged, visible or both) (c)

(19) MAN-MADE BRUSH "ATTRACTOR" ON SLICK STRUCTURE (c)
- unless this cover is adjacent to deep water structure like a creek channel, you can ignore it in favor of better structure situations.

(20) CREEK "HUGGING" THE SHORELINE FOR A  CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE (ST

(21) BACK END OF A COVE (ST)
- where a creek enters, and there is a direct, deeper water situation associated with that.

(22) SUNKEN ISLAND DESCRIBED BY A CREEK OR RIVER FORK (ST)

(23) TWO OR MORE CREEKS OR RIVERS MEETING TOGETHER (ST)

(24) SLOUGHS (ST)
- where a drop to deep water structure is present.

(25) BRUSHY POINT - seen in part one.

Diagram: Wiley Miller, Fishing Facts, 1973

50 Places To Catch Fish...Reservoirs

WAYBACK MACHINE: It’s 1973, and Al Lindner is a busy man. His TV show is airing regionally in the Midwest this year;
He’s about to start fishing full-time on the BASSMaster tournament trail;
He’s been traveling and fishing the highland lakes of TN/KY and the Ozarks, researching what makes these lakes tick - and how the walleye and bass locate and move in impoundments This study that will ultimately lead to some of the early In-Fisherman Study Guide material, as well as their first complete I-F book on bass;
Plus, he’s still a Field Editor for Fishing Facts magazine.

In this article for the magazine, he teamed up with illustrator Wiley Miller to diagram and explain 50 places to catch fish on impoundments based on his research. 

It’s “All Al, All Day” as we highlight these key locations from this in-depth, eighteen page article…plus a little bonus revealed at the end from the creative minds of Fishing Facts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Most of the locations shown in this series will relate to "structure," as opposed to "cover."
Structure fishing was a big deal in 1973 when this was written, but is nearly forgotten today, thanks to the BASS-driven industry.
That multi-billion dollar business wants you to make a thousand casts with the lures they're selling,... and if lucky, you might hook up with a fish.
But structure fishing has another mindset: it primarily aims to understand the places where adult fish live - and how they get to where you sometimes catch them. If you know that, you can better find them.
So, to help clarify the difference between the two terms, and how they apply, I include this brief primer following the guidelines of Buck Perry, The Father of Structure Fishing:

Structure
Structure dictates the "undewater highways" and features of the bottom, itself, that adult fish use to travel to-and-from their deep-water sanctuaries, to their shallow water feeding zones. They tend to use these travel lanes consistently in their movements, so finding these structure "hot spots" should be a priority.

Definition: Structure is anything that is different from, or represents a detectable change in, the structure of the bottom and its contours. 
Key Characteristic: Structure creates defined "breaks" and "breaklines" (features where the depth changes), which fish recognize as "landmarks" and by which they orient themselves in their movements. 
Examples of structure: Drop-offs, river/creek channels, humps, sinks, underwater islands, old road beds, rip-rap, deep end of points, ledges, and distinct substrate transitions (e.g., going from mud to rock).
Why It Matters: Bottom, and deep-water, structure is a must for holding schools of mature fish, and our interest lies in where it connects shallow-water feeding zones directly to the safety of deep water. 
The adult fish live in the deep water and they follow the breaks and breaklines od structure to visit the shallow feeding areas...and occasionally you might catch them there if you "throw" lures enough times... but that is not where they live full time.

Cover
By contrast, "cover" is not structure. Nowadays, the terms have been muddled and many anglers use the word, "structure" when they really mean "cover." They simply don't know the difference.  

Definition: Physical objects or vegetation connected to or associated with the bottom.
Key Characteristic: While fish often hide in or around cover, we wish to emphasize that cover without a direct structure path to deep water won't hold the most productive, migrating schools of adult fish.

Examples of cover: Weed beds, submerged stumps, fallen trees, docks, rock piles, boat ramps, the "shorline"..., all the ususal areas you are told to cast lures to.
And while fish may be there under the right conditions, that is not a sure thing...which is why you cast thousands of times to any cover you can see hoping a fish might be there.
So, would you like to up your odds? If so, focus on cover with a strong connection to the deepest water in an area. THAT is the home of the fish, so adjacent shallow water cover is more likely to hold feeding fish.
For instance, a fertile weed bed or a stump field situated directly on or adjacent to a creek channel, or drop-off, creates an ideal ambush point. However, the structure breaks are the primary road to the cover from deeper water. The cover is where the fish may end up - an incidental bonus adjacent to the path.

In the drawings here and in the next two installments, I will identify, "structure" by (ST) and, "cover" by (c):

(1) WASHED OUT AREA UNDER THE DAM (ST)

(2) RIP RAP BANK (ST)

(3) UNDERWATER SPRINGS or OLD ACTIVE WELLS (ST)

(4) CLAY POINTS (ST)

(5) SMALL CUTS IMMEDIATELY OFF A MAIN RIVER CHANNEL (ST)

(6) POINT DIRECT TO MAIN RIVER CHANNEL (ST)

(7) CREEK WINDING THROUGH SUBMERGED TIMBER OR BOAT LANES (ST)

(8) "U" BEND (EITHER IN CREEK OR RIVER BED) (ST)

(9) HUMP BETWEEN TWO CONVERGING CREEKS (ST)

(10) STUMP ROW ADJACENT TO RIVER OR CREEK BED (ST) (c)

(11) POINT AT MOUTH OF COVE (ST)

(12) LILY PADS, WEEDS, OR MOSS BEDS (c)

(13) "S" BEND IN CREEK (ST)

(14) HIGHLINE AREAS where cable supports are in the water (c)

(15) JUNCTION OF WHERE THE CREEK MEETS THE OLD RIVER BED (ST)

(16) RIVER BED "HUGGING" HIGH BLUFF SHORELINES (ST)

(25) BRUSHY POINT ADJACENT TO RIVER CHANNEL (ST)(c)

(26) SUBMERGED RISES, KNOLLS or SUNKEN ISLANDS (ST)

(48) SMALL WASH OUT (c)

(49) STEEP, DEEP ROCKY POINTS (ST)

Seasons of Bass

 Buck Perry On Bass Seasonal Reservoir Location (1973)

✅ An important notation that should be made is that when working coves and bays in the cooler season, a good rule of thumb would be:

(1) - pick coves and bays that are close to the deepest water in the area (usually the channel.)
(2) - DO NOT SPEND TIME IN BAYS AND COVES WHICH DO NOT CONTAIN SOME SORT OF CHANNEL OR FEEDER STREAM. In other words, if a cove or bay is a wide, flat area, with no sign of a channel - stay out.

✅ A good rule of thumb, to apply to SEASONAL movements of bass and fishing in a reservoir, is this: start with the first part of the year.
In the colder weather the first consideration would be to the steeper shorelines with steep, short structures. 

✅ As the season moves toward the pre-spawning season, check the steeper shores less and increase attention toward coves, bays and short bars adjacent to these areas. These coves or bays, with their shorter structures, would be worked heavy during the spawning season.

✅ After the spawning season leave the steep shoreline, most of the coves and bays, and direct your attention to the longer, flatter structures in the main body of the reservoir.
In other words, the spawning season would be the dividing line between the steeper, shorter (cold weather) structures and the flatter, longer (warm weather) structures. 

✅ In the late fall, head back toward the cold weather side.

PS at all times, when seeking these structures, give priority to those whaich are adjacent to the deepest water in an area. Idealy you want a direct connection from the deeper water to the structure