Find Fish Structure And Fish Cover Together For A Fishing Hotspot

Fish structure is the natural or man made features of the underwater habitat of lakes and ponds. Knowing the underwater hydrograph of the lake or pond being fished can really make a difference in successfully catching the fish you are looking for. Different types of fish hang more around certain types of structure. Fish cover refers to trees, weeds, rocks and other objects in the water that fish hide and congregate in. When fish structure and fish cover are combined a hotspot is created.

A ledge is a fish structure representing a drop in depth which attracts many freshwater species like muskie and walleye. Humps are called underwater islands. A hump is a shallow area totally surrounded by deeper water. Bass are found more around humps than ledges. Holes are found on the bottom and attract bottom feeders like catfish. There are variations of these basic fish structures but fisherman often focus on points of land which commonly have ledges dropping off into deep water which are good fishing spots.

There are several reasons fish like structure. Fish often congregate in structure as it can make it easier to ambush other fish and also easier to escape to deep water plus they can corral baitfish in structure.

Structures are not always feeding areas though so they aren't always good areas to catch fish. Usually the fish closest to the structure are the ones actively feeding and more prone to take a bite on a lure. However, there are still lots of other fish located off the structure that can be caught. The fisherman may need to change lures for deeper water when fishing off of a structure but this area can be productive. There are other factors that determine if structures have fish about such as temperature, oxygen supply and light penetration.

Fish cover near ledge can be very productive. The addition of say a downed tree near a ledge provides both an area for fish to feed off of the ledge and an area to hide in for safety, to spawn or to provide cover for hunting.

Artificial fish attractors can be placed near ledges or humps to provide fish cover. The honey hole tree shrub provides excellent fish cover near any relatively shallow fish structure from 3' to 4' deep. Shallow water is the area of the lake or pond where small baitfish live and breed and thus very appealing fishing ground for larger fish.