Weeds provide cover -- an important element for any bass habitat. Aquatic plants provide a feeling of protection for bass. Baitfish, crawdads and aquatic insects use weeds for the similar reasons, and in the weeds they provide a food source for bass. Weedbeds are ideal hideouts where hungry bass can wait to ambush prey.

But the vegetation that grows and thrives in Western waters provides more than just cover. The plants’ production of oxygen, through photosynthesis, is vital for aquatic life. Waters with healthy green weeds are often rich in oxygen -- a quality that bass will never pass up.

With a grasp of why weeds attract bass, your next step is figuring out where they are in the weeds.

“Before you even get out on the water, you have to do a little homework at the dinner table,” Barrack said.

Once you understand how the time of year, the water temperature and available food sources affect the bass and their habits, then you can go ahead and figure out how you want to attack particular areas.

“Just because you caught bass with a crankbait along a weedline on the outside of some rocks the week before, doesn’t mean you’re going to catch them on a crankbait today,” said Barrack. “The fish will still be somewhere in the vicinity -- they live there and they stay there. But you have to figure out what they’re doing at the time that you’re there.”

For example, let’s say you take a trip to your favorite lake shortly after the water temperature has climbed into the mid-60s for the first time this spring. The night before -- after watching the weather and telephoning the local marina -- you learned there’s a front approaching and that overcast skies are expected all day.

You decide to target weedbeds near both deep water and suitable spawning areas. With a stiff breeze coming out of the west, you find your spot on an east bank. Guessing that the bass are feeding on baitfish being blown into the weeds, you fish a spinnerbait parallel to the outside edge.

And you knock ‘em dead!

Back at the same area one week later, you find similar conditions. Except today the sun is high and bright, and there’s no wind. After throwing your blades for hours without a bite, you give up and move on.

What happened? The bass’s food source and behavior changed. Fish moved deep into the weeds, out of direct sunlight, where they could ambush small sunfish and other prey.

There’s only one time when you should avoid vegetation altogether. And according to Barrack, it’s when water conditions are on the decline.

When temperatures dip to 55 degrees, plants begin to die off. Instead of producing oxygen, decomposition actually uses it up. Before long, local conditions become so unsuitable that no aquatic life can survive.

“Bass will always move away from dying weeds, so it’s important to fish the surrounding areas or a bank that’s in close proximity to where the weeds were,” said Barrack. “But don’t stay away from the vegetation for too long -- in the West, weedbeds seldom die completely. The bass will move right back into those weeds as soon as the water stabilizes.”

However, you could target weeds in waters with current, even when the vegetation is dying. There will always be some “dead water” behind the weeds or directly beneath them.

But the current usually replenishes areas in the vicinity of the outside edges. Bass typically move to these edges, using them as ambush spots.