"I talk to you about fishing. That's it. I tell you things about bass you've never heard or read before, the results of these thirty-nine years plus 1700 hours of living beneath the water with the bass"  This is part of the introduction of the book "Lunker" written by Bob Underwood. The book was published in 1976! Over the years at FlyMasters I have read everything written on Bass Fishing. All of those books cannot add up to a chapter written in Lunker. In his introduction he writes this,

"Cover takes priority over everything else. Availability of food places second. Proximity to deep water appears to place third. Temperature rates low in priority. Cover must be such as to allow the bass to hide his heard (at least) when frightened. This rule is absolute!  More on this later!"

I read Lunker several years ago, someone found the book and gave it to me. First, I was impressed with how Bob Underwood presented himself. Very humble and straight forward, not a know it all. Second, I could not believe I had not heard more of the book before. Then I discovered that Underwood and his spouse were killed in an auto accident the year the book was published. Never able to tour and give talks about his experiences when researching the book. Very sad. But as Underwood says in his introduction, "Finally, some three years ago, I slipped beneath the waters and lived in the home of the fish. I invaded the very threshold of their privacy and swam deeper into their mysteries. I uncovered facts that will be a long time being accepted by those who haven't been there, restricted as they are to their world of wonder and theory above the surface (I define that as believing their own BS).  I didn't learn it all, by any means. I left more unlearned than learned. But I have probably gone further along the practical line than any man before me."

Buy the book at a used vendor. Buy the hardbound since this book is a textbook that you will constantly reread most of it and underline many parts to remember.  There are so many gems. You will be amazed and have more fun fishing for bass.