Where The Fish Are

 STRUCTURE!  (1972)

✅ This Wiley Miller painting which follows is an underwater view of a composite lake which shows many kinds of STRUCTURE. 

No one lake has all these structures ... but every lake has many of them. Every lake is different from every other lake, but fish are the same all over. If you would find fish on the lake you fish, look for these structures and fish them:

(1) SUBMERGED ROCK REEF. Productive for walleyes and small mouths throughout most of the fishing season.

(2) SECONDARY DROP-OFF. This is the deep "break" where fish will usually pause in their daily migrations toward the shallows.

(3) DEEP HOLE OR CAVERN. In shallow lakes, an area like this will hold the whole concentration of game fish. Note: in very deep lakes this can be barren water. (No oxygen.)

(4) REEDS, RUSHES, LILY PADS. Productive for largemouth and smallmouth bass especially in spring of year.

(5) SHALLOW WEEDY BAYS. Good for largemouths, northerns and muskies early in the year and again for a short period in the fall.

(6) WEED LINE. This is where the weeds end as the penetration of light is so limited that plants can no longer grow. This is good for all game fish, particularly largemouth bass, northern pike and musky.

(7) ROCK DROP OFF. This generally holds crawfish and is good for smallmouth bass and walleyes in particular.

(8.) GRAVEL OR ROCKY FLATS. These are most productive in spring of the year for walleyes and smallmouth bass.

(9) SUBMERGED STUMPS. Especially good for walleyes and largemouth bass, but in some lakes may hold almost every species in that lake.

(10) OLD CREEK BED OR RIVER BED CHANNELS. Home area for

largemouth bass and walleyes in most reservoirs.

(11) MOUTH OF CREEK OR RIVER. Productive for all fish during early spring.

(12) SUBMERGED BRUSH AND TREES. Especially good for largemouth bass, walleyes in some waters, and for crappies in spring.

(13) STANDING TIMBER IN RESERVOIRS AND FLOWAGES. Outside edge of the timber is productive at times, and at other times you may have to move all the way into the timber itself.

(14) SUBMERGED WEEDY ISLAND. Productive for all types of fish in all areas.

(15) STEEP BANKS OR CLIFFS. In the south these are generally Kentucky (spotted) Bass waters. In the north, smallmouths, walleyes, northerns and lake trout in early spring (if other conditions are present).

(16) HARD BOTTOM SURROUNDED BY SOFT BOTTOM. By hard bottom we mean sand, clay gravel, rock, etc., surrounded by large areas of muck or silt, etc.

(17) DOUBLE DROP-OFFS OR STAIR-STEP LEDGE. (Below the weed line). Good for walleyes, smallmouths, and big northerns.

(18) SLOPING UNDERWATER POINTS SURROUNDED BY DEEP WATER. Productive for all fish, especially during the summer season.

✅ The underwater spots shown here can be found near shore or away from it... often on bars way out in the middle of the lake. In any of these areas, always look for a "break" in the underwater terrain. 

These "breaks" can be any of the following: (a) Points; (b) Rock and gravel piles; (c) Coves; (d) Dips; (e) Clam beds; (f) Sand rises; (g) Dips or rises in flats; (h) Inside and outside corners of off-shore bars; (i) Long thin fingers of shallow water surrounded by deep water; (i) Long flats on solid bottom accessible to deep water; (k) Sunken logs, submerged stumps or trees and isolated deep weed beds, old river beds, and in impoundments fish can suspend in limbs of submerged trees.

📸 Wiley Miller, Fishing Facts, 1972