Submitted photo In summer, largemouth bass will relate to structural elements like reed stands, especially with rocks or other structure mixed into the vegetation.

When it comes to just about any species of fish, an element of structure is often key in catching them, especially in summer. Even the roving schools of white bass on the waters that hosted my formative years of fishing related to nearby weed edges established in the summer months, against which they’d forage on young-of-the-year fish utilizing those green walls as an element to herd their evening dinners against and make feeding a bit easier. Elsewhere, fallen timber for bass, mid-stream boulders for trout, and sunken rocky reefs or flooded gravel roads for walleyes have all been summer go-tos on my GPS or just from memory to find whatever quarry I’m after. 


Combinations of structure too form those ideal spaces and spots-upon-spots that make fishing more successful, and when found they’re worth a mark on the sonar screen and a sentence or two in my daily journal about how they held fish and what came together to make things great. Whether it’s a toppled tree hanging out over a rocky shoreline of a river for smallmouth bass, a stretch of lily pads against a dock for largemouths in a bay, or some sunken tree reefs along a breakline for crappies, when structural items come together, fish have more reason to hang around all season long. 


Those reasons are many. The crevices and crags of rocks help hold prey items from small fish, to crayfish, to insects that predator species rely on for food. Sunken timber does the same, but goes even deeper into the food chain, bringing together everything from tiny items like daphnia and other microorganisms, to dragonfly and caddisfly nymphs, to minnows and young panfish which form the wide base of the biological pyramid that sustains gamefish species. Additionally, that structure provides cover and shade for those game species, protecting them from prying eyes above, including raptors such as ospreys, and riverine avians like pelicans and herons, keeping them safe while providing an ideal space to seek out and take their own prey without becoming lunch. 


In moving water, structure provides the additional benefit of providing a break from swimming against the flow. Thus, boulders, stumps, docks and other items of cover often draw downstream interest from fish looking to conserve energy in addition to providing that coveted ambush point to jump out and grab whatever’s edible-looking being carried by the flow, from small fish to insects. Keep an eye for those items that create eddies, seams, and slick spots behind them in the moving water, and the odds are that fish like smallmouth bass and trout will be close by, if not in the middle of those spaces which provide a relief, thanks to the structure disrupting things just upstream. 


From stands of reeds, lilies, weed beds and other vegetation, to rocks, reefs, and wood, to obstructions like bridge pilings, docks, and piers, structure is an important factor in successful summer fishing. Keep tabs on those items — be they natural or man-made — that influence a flow, congregate food items, and give predators a place to safely stake out their next meal in order to find more success in your angling efforts. By doing so, you’ll gain a better understanding of what makes good structure great and produces more enjoyable and productive times on the water … in our outdoors.