How do you figure out if there are bass in a lake?

by Sean
(Riverview Florida)

Q. There is this big lake up the road from my house and it has a lot of cat tails and frogs and such. The only fish I have ever caught out of it were bluegill and I though maybe if there's bluegill there are bass?

I have tried fishing for largemouth bass there but have had no success. Is there a possibility that there are no bass? How do I find out if there are bass? Maybe they only eat bluegill and wont hit spinnerbaits, plastic worms or crayfish?

A. I'm not for sure but I do believe that it is possible for a body of water to not have largemouth in it.
The 1st place to check is your local parks and wildlife website. This looks like the one for Florida.

They will usually list all the lakes in the state and give you the types of fish you will find in those lakes.

Now I have not found one that doesn't show to have largies in it but I have seen some listed with no white bass or smallmouth.
If you don't find that particular lake listed then the only thing you can go with is to use the knowledge you already have. You said all you catch is blue gill so you know what the bait fish are in the lake.

Make sure you are using lures and colors that mimic blue gill.
Try using blue gill swimbaits. They look very realistic.
Real Fish Bait company has some nice looking ones you can find here.

Also, if all you're catching is blue hill maybe you need to go a little bigger on your lures.
If you've tried all this then I would say move on. As many great Largemouth lakes as there are in Florida I'm sure the next one won't let you down.

Thanks for your question.