The only problem is that it's hard to find good information about the bait and it's life cycles on the lakes we fish.
Bait like Gizzard Shad are easy to located on KY lake with a good Depth Finder like a Lorrance or Humminbird Side Scanning device but they cost thousands of dollars and are not in the budget of most high school kids.
But you can do google searches on Gizzard Shad or Threadfin Shad or Crayfish and get an idea of their life cycles.
Bas will follow the big schools of Gizzard Shad but there are a lot of gizzard shad in most big lakes like KY lake. So you also should learn about how the lakes topography affects the bait fish and their lives. Also currents can have a huge affect on the small micro organisams that the bait fish feed on.
Light levels (day vs night and overcasts conditions vs clear sky) also have a profound affect on the microorganisams that the bait fish feed on. Most light sensitive microscopic creatures tend to swim down deeper with a bright sky condition and little waves to break up the light entering into the water. Overcast skys and windy conditions that produce the waves at the surface of the water keep light out of the water better. More light is reflected back to the sky by waves and dirty or cloudy water. Light penetration is the key to how high or how low in the water column (depth) microscopic animals inhabit in a lake.
Early morning and late evening with the sun low in the sky tends to start the migration of these microscopic animals towards the surface and high noon and clear skies in a clear water lake make these creatures dive deeper to avoid the sunlight.
The minnows and Shad will follow their food source and so will the bass follow the shad.
But bass will eat practically anything that they can get in their mouth. So they don't all just feed on Shad. They feed on small frogs, snakes, tadpoles, mayflies and a lot of other creatures.
Small mouth bass really like crayfish. Figure out where the crayfish are hanging out in big numbers and you may find some small mouth bass hanging around.
Other than having someone take you fishing with them and teaching you how to catch bass you can read a lot to learn how to large mouth bass.
In-Fisherman has many books and magazines that are devoted to how to catch various type of fish.
Don't give up and don't think that just because you entered into a few bass fishing tournaments and didn't catch a fish that fishing is too hard. Fishing should be done for fun.
If you find that you don't enjoy fishing then don't fish. You need to figure that out for yourself. I was lucky in that my father took me fishing and mentored me in the art of bass fishing at an early age. The rest I learned myself because I wanted to learn more. I developed an interest in the sport of fishing at a very early age.
Originally Posted by elnutsmalljaws
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