Understanding Where Bass Live - Bass Habitat

Inactive bass typically locate near cover, when available, where cover is an object that provides shelter, shade or an ambush point for opportunistic feeding. Also, bass will locate near structures that provide shelter, shade or an ambush point especially when there is limited cover. Active bass are off cover when they are actively feeding or moving for environmental, seasonal or other reasons.

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Why is Understanding Bass Habitat Important?

It is important to understand bass habitat to:

  • Find Bass: Locating cover and/or structures can be the key component in locating bass as bass are often tight to cover or near cover. If no cover is available or foraging away from cover bass will also associate with certain structures instead of cover.
  • Select the Best Lure: Specific lure types are better for targeting different types of cover or suspended bass. 
Understand Bass Habitat
  • Tight to Cover Bass: Tight to cover refers to bass that use cover for:
    • Ambush Point: Cover provides inactive bass an ambush point for opportunistic feeding.
    • Shelter: Cover provides inactive bass a safe place for resting, conserving energy, digesting and avoiding predators.
    • Shade: When it is sunny, shallow bass seek cover and structures that provide shade, offering ambush points, cooler water, and reducing their visibility from predators. 
  • Cover: Cover is an object that provides bass shelter, shade or an ambush point including:
    • Grass: Grass, also called vegetation or weeds, is shallow cover for bass that can be categorized as:
      • Submerged Grass:  Grass that is below the surface or has not yet reached the surface.
      • Grass Line: Also called a weed line or an edge, is a reasonably distinct line between grass and no grass typically resulting from depth changes or changes in bottom composition. 
      • Grass Clumps: Also called weed clumps, are isolated patches of thick grass, generally submerged grass.
      • Floating/Matted: Grass that is on the surface either attached to the bottom or freely floating.
      • Emergent Grass: Generally considered grass that extends above the water surface including above the floating/matt grass.
Grass Clump - Garmin Livescope
    • Rock: Rock, as cover, is any rock large enough to provide bass shelter, shade or an ambush point, also referred to as boulders. Boulders, by definition, are rocks over 10 inches, thus a size that provides cover. Rock can be categorized as:
      • Isolated Rock: Also called an isolated boulder, is an independent rock that provides cover free from other rocks.
      • Rock Piles: Rock piles, often large enough to be considered a hump structure, sometimes made up of a rock bottom but having multiple rocks of varying sizes.
      • Scattered Rocks: Also called scattered boulders, referring to larger rocks spread out over a larger area often on flat structures.
      • Rip Rap: Rip Rap is manmade cover of purposely placed rocks and sometimes broken up concrete often to combat soil erosion.  Rip Rap is sometimes miss-referred to as chuck rock as chunk rock generally means much smaller rock that by itself could not provide cover for mature bass.
Small and Large Isolated Rocks - Garmin Livescope
    •  Wood: Wood, as cover, is any wood large enough to provide bass shelter, shade or an ambush point.
      • Brush Piles: A brush pile is submerged brush or sometimes a tree with branches.
      • Laydown: A laydown is a tree that has fallen in the lake typically found in shallow water on shoreline structures.
      • Stumps/Standing Timber: Also called pole timber, are trees that have been cut off, worn off by water at the surface, or standing above the surface alive or dead.
      • Logs: Logs, common near old sawmills and also found in groups or isolated often on flat structures.
Brush - Garmin Livescope
    •  Docks and other Manmade Cover: Dock, floating or fixed, and other manmade cover including:
      • Docks: Manmade cover allowing bass locations for shade.
      • Bridges: Bridges provide shade, pilings for additional cover and current breaks.
      • Cribs: Cribs are the foundation of some docks but more commonly former docks are found on some lakes that used to feature old steamboat transportations systems. They can also be found in former industrial locations that used to host ships.
      • Channel Markers: Channel markers have an anchoring system that provides bass cover. 
      • Wrecks: Found in some freshwater lakes, for example the great lakes, wrecks are sunken boats, barges, ships, sailboats and other debris typically due to a storm or sunk purposely.
Dock - Garmin Livescope
  • Off Cover Bass: Off cover bass, often referred to as suspended, refers to when bass are not using cover for ambush points, shelter or shade. Off cover bass are either:
    • Near Cover: Bass will locate near cover presumably as bait fish, crayfish and other forage’s food is often located in cover or to return to cover when conditions change.
    • No Cover: Bass will locate where there is no cover presumably as there is forage nearby or no cover available in their chosen area.
  • Bass Movements: Bass will move from cover when:
    • Actively Feeding: Also called active bass, or “mood”, are bass roaming or moving purposely to find forage. Some suggest bass feed for a few minutes or up to a couple hours a day depending on available forage. Some suggest these feeding windows are trigger by time of day, weather or by other bass actively feeding:
      • Roaming: Bass moving around slowly looking for forage sometimes in small schools referred to as wolf packs.
      • Suspended Bass: Not all suspended bass are active, but some actively feeding suspended bass targeting baitfish often in schools.
    • Find Better Cover: Some suggest bass move to better cover if the quantity of forage is insufficient or good shade is no longer available or a predator is identified or if spooked. 
    • Weather: Change in weather can trigger bass to actively feed and/or move to new locations.
      • Changes in Barometric Pressure: Some suggest a drop in barometric pressure provides bass an indicator that colder water is coming, driving them to actively feed and potentially move to areas of more stable water temperatures.
      • Wind: Wind can create waves that move shallow bass deeper. It also creates wind current which some suggest results in bass moving to locations where the current stirs up food for baitfish thus attracting bass.
      • Cloud Cover: Some suggest that bass will no longer stay close to cover as they no longer utilizing the shade. 
      • Rain: Some suggest that bass will move to creek/river mouths and runoff areas.
    • Seasonal Migration: From their deep winter locations, to the spawning beds, to summer and fall locations -some deep, some shallow, and then back to winter locations.
    • Spawning Beds: Typically, bass spawning beds have no cover or limited cover as eggs need direct sun. 
    • Suspended: Suspended Bass typically refers to bass that are above the bottom or cover.
       
    • Water Level Fluctuations: Reservoirs water levels frequently fluctuate as do some lakes over time which requires bass to relocate or opens up new locations for forage and new cover for bass.
Suspended or Roaming Bass
Cover Considerations

Bass also associate with:

  • Structures that Provide Cover: Structures that have steep drop-off, for example ledge, point, bluff wall, can also provide bass:
    • Ambush Points: Bass can reside in the shallow of the drop-off attacking forage opportunistically.
    • Predator Protection: In clear water where bass can see predators keeping a structure to their back protects them from predators in their blind spot.
    • Shade: When the sun is on an angle with a steep drop-off shade is provided.
  • Structures with Cover: Cover that resides on structures with drop offs, for example points, walls, ledges, can provide bass of partial/additional cover from both the structure and cover.
  • Cover’s Bottom Composition: Cover resides on the bottom except some floating grass, dock and some laydowns. This cover is sitting on the bottom where the bottom can be hard or soft. 
  • Secondary Cover: Some suggest, bass will prefer combinations of covers for example with rock that features grass, wood or other covers presumably due to the additional cover provided or the particular baitfish and other forage that associates with the secondary cover.
  • Best Cover – Big Bass Theory: In an area, some suggest the best cover commands the largest bass as that bass can push off the smaller bass. 
  • Transitions: Bass tends to congregate on transitions from one type of cover to another or transitions from a type of cover to no cover.
No Cover Soft Bottom Composition Shallow - Garmin Livescope
No Cover Hard Bottom Composition Deep - Garmin Livescope
Rock/Grass Intermixed - Garmin Livescope
Additional Considerations
  • Visually Identifying Potential Cover: Especially when fishing shallow, look at the shoreline as the objects on the shoreline are often the same objects that provide cover near shore. For example if you see rock, grass or wood on the shore it is possible that it represents the cover near shore. 
  • Cover and Bottom Composition Irregularities: Fishing irregularities in the cover, typically gaps in the cover, can provide bass ambush points. 
  • Current: Fishing cover in current provides additional guidance for spots and presentations. 
It's About the ALLURE™

Contacting Cover Lures
Targeting cover.

Suspended Bass Lures
Above cover – no cover.

Surface Contact Lures
Above cover – no cover.

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