When you go to a lake you’ve never been to before, and don’t know anything about it, chances are you’re going to be baffled at first as far as knowing where to start.

Depending on the season, a lot of times I’ll just set out fishing from point to point and see what develops as the day goes on. There’s usually always at least a few fish hanging around a point because bass like to move back and forth from deeper water to shallower water along them and they always have cover of some sort where bass can ambush the baitfish coming across.

A deep-diving crankbait is a good search bait that you can fish from shallow to deep, though if it’s prespawn you might start with an umbrella rig or a whacky-rigged soft plastic. For postspawn periods, a Zara Spook or a suspended jerkbait might work better. In summer, a Carolina rig is a good choice.

Here’s something that I’ve found useful over the years: When you launch your boat first thing in the morning, turn on your electronics and try to locate balls of shad. Make note of how deep they are. If most of them are about 5 feet deep, start out fishing something 5 feet deep on a point; if they’re 15 feet deep, find and fish that depth first. And if you locate good cover on a point at the depth where the shad are holding, that’s even better.

—– Chevy pro Jimmy Houston, Cookson, Okla.