Professional anglers take their bass fishing seriously and keep notes and records of their catches and the catch areas. This helps them to develop a pattern they can use as part of their repertoire of bass techniques. This is called pattern fishing and it helps anglers know when and where it is best to fish for bass. Bass have certain structures and areas of the water where they tend to stay during the different seasons of the year. In winter and summer, the fish are usually deep, while in fall and spring they are easier to catch in shallow waters.



Use the depth sounder on the boat to find out where the fish are located. When you do locate fish, record the time of day and the date along with the specific location. Then every time you go out on the water, you can check this spot to find out if the fish are still in this area. In some places you will find that there are fish there everyday for a certain period of time, such as a few weeks or a month. However, they will not be there all day long. You may find that they are not there early in the morning, but they are there in the afternoon or early evening. These are the things you must take note of so that you won't spend hours fishing in a spot and catch nothing.

You will notice the same patterns in all types of bass. Once you determine a time when the bass are most likely to be present, you can start arriving a little early and you may even witness their arrival shortly after you. There are factors that could cause a ripple in the pattern though, such as weather patterns, which will cause the fish to remain dormant. Through instinct bass know when there is a cold front coming and will feed enough to fill them. Then they will be inactive during the front and for the next day. When you know how the bass behave, it makes it easier for you to develop a pattern for your fishing.

Serious anglers consult their records to make predictions of where the fish would be at a certain time of the year and the best time of day for fishing. Once you start developing a pattern, you will feel confident that when you go on the water you will be successful. There are other days when you know it will be a waste of time to try fishing the bass no matter what your techniques.

If you find that you are catching bass in shallow water and that it suddenly cuts off, this is because the fish have moved into deeper water. Simply moving as little as 20 feet offshore could result in successful fishing. Once the bass cuts off in an area, move to another area and take note of where you next find the bass. For example, early in the morning, you could be catching bass on the bank of a tree row, but after the sun comes up, you may be catching them off a ledge farther out.