Just curious what everyone's favorite structure is. Your go-to first type cover?
Points, islands, rip rap, natural rock, flats, submerged stump fields, weeds, grasses, off-shore humps or depressions, steep rock bluffs, creek channels, feeder creeks or coves-any others?
I'm a firm believer in some basic structures, rip rap or natural rock first-then bluffs, then points. Let's hear what you like. Johnnie

My favorite structure is a honey hole that an old timer showed me. It's in a right angled corner with a very small island, maybe 20 feet wide. The island is close to shore, maybe 10 or 15'with a depth of maybe two feet between. Now the shore line has hundreds of small submerged lay-downs. The side of the island facing the lake drops off into about 30' of water with a few stand up timbers or trees. You couldn't design a better spot for bass. I've caught 20 to 30 keepers in this area, C&R of course. I won't go near the spot if there are other boats around, don't want some goof ilegally taking more than the creel, which sadly happens all too frequently around here. C

Wow Carl, that does sound like a honey hole. It takes some work to find these spots, but it's always worth the trouble. I once found an off-shore flat and caught hundreds of fish off it over a few years and one day I watched two guys fishing for over two hours and they never set the hook. I talked to them and they hadn't had a bite, I had already caught eight keepers off my spot so I took them there, showed them where to cast and what to use, they each caught seberal nice bass. Next weekend I went back, there they were with two other boats-lesson learned the hard way-the spot still rpoduces but not so good, I think they kept everything they caught. Johnnie

Wow Carl, that does sound like a honey hole. It takes some work to find these spots, but it's always worth the trouble. I once found an off-shore flat and caught hundreds of fish off it over a few years and one day I watched two guys fishing for over two hours and they never set the hook. I talked to them and they hadn't had a bite, I had already caught eight keepers off my spot so I took them there, showed them where to cast and what to use, they each caught seberal nice bass. Next weekend I went back, there they were with two other boats-lesson learned the hard way-the spot still rpoduces but not so good, I think they kept everything they caught. Johnnie

My favorite structure is dependent upon available structure in a particular lake, water clarity, sunny or cloudy, boat traffic, common forage, and current if applicable. So to provide a summary I list the following but in on particular order:
Docks
Points
Submerged vegetation
Emerged vegetation
Rocks, wood, sharp breaking sea-walls
Flats with adjacent deep water
Lilly pads
Channels
Weed pockets


Bassin Butch

Butch, I guess I forgot about vegetation being good structure-maybe the best at times. The Mississippi river used to be very good bass fishing then the flood of '93 took all the vegetation out of the backwaters and it never came back. Fishing has really gone downhill. No place for the bass fry to hide. Johnnie

Hope you get the vegetation back! On a side note many anglers only look at vegetation as cover, while it can be considered cover it is also quite often structure.

Examples:

20 ft of water directly adjacent to submerged vegetation that is 3 ft below the surface. The result is a 17 ft wall of vertical structure.

An outside edge of a Lilly pad field results in a structural line.

Just a little different way to look at weeds!

Bassin Butch

Butch, you're right! Our local bass club is working with the DNR to help seed and hopefully get some river grass growing again in select locations. If it works, maybe with a lot of help we can do more of the big river. Johnnie

Docks
points
stumps (on a channel edge)
rocks
rip-rap
grass under water or above

These are what I look for when I hit the water. No kinda order just look for them.

You know what's very strange here in Iowa?? Bass hardly ever use boat docks for cover or struture. I have no idea why??>
There can be a boat dock and a stick ten feet apart and the fish will use the stick-I can't believe it. Johnnie

Johnnie;
Now I must confess: Docks are nice but pontoon boats are better.

My pals claim "I have never seen a pontoon boat that I didn't like". I would venture a guess that you do have bass under the pontoon boats, I have never been to any lake that did not. Personally I like the boats with the outboard down, I skip baits between the outboard and each pontoon chamber. Nice slow retrieve and I feel that little bluegill tick, only to find a 3 LB LM headed to my well for weigh-in.

What I often find very odd is: for some reason many bass take a liking to a specific boat and have no interest in boat right next to their favorite. Additionally; I know if it begins to rain these boat fish will move out from under the boat, this is especially true if its a downpour. I have found that a broken tip pole that is re-tipped (shortened) makes an out standing dock pole. The shorter pole makes me far more accurate with skipping and no need play the fish just get it out from under the boat ASAP so not to have it wrap you up and/or break off.

Experiment with soft plastics as some skip great, and others don't.

I have an entire worm wrap bag filled with baits exclusively used for dock fishing.

Bassin
Butch

Good stuff Butch. Now I'm ready for some pontoon fishin'. Johnnie