FROGGIN’, FLIPPIN’ AND BUZZIN’

THROUGH MANY generations, bass fishing has operated on a simple seasonal rule of thumb: Fish shallow in spring and fall; fish deep in summer and winter. As with any enduring rule of thumb, there’s some good, solid advice there. After all, biological demands and weather extremes will dictate a lot of behavior, so most bass are going to follow that axiom.

But there are a few problems with it, too—problems we can’t and shouldn’t ignore. For one, not all bass are shallow in the spring and fall, nor are they all deep in summer and winter; there are outliers in every season. Second, most of us are more proficient when fishing shallow.

The deeper we fish, the greater our reliance on sophisticated electronics and the more hit-or-miss our approach becomes. Finally, just